Nitro Rallycross 2021

[MissClarrpz]

The inaugural season is about to get underway with a good line-up and some interesting tracks.

Calendar:
September 24-25: Utah Motorsports Campus
October 2-3: ERX Motor Park
November 13-14: Wildhorse Pass
November 20-21: Glen Helen
December 4-5: The Firm

Rd 2-4 are all on off-road trucks tracks. Basically 100% dirt with lots of jumps and banked corners. Most circuits have an open crossover usually as a joker lap. ERX doesn't seem to have a joker lap.

Expected Entry:

Subaru Vermont SportsCar	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	Scott Speed
Subaru Vermont SportsCar	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	Travis Pastrana
Subaru Vermont SportsCar	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	Andreas Bakkerud
Olsberg MSE	Ford Fiesta	Fraser McConnell
Olsberg MSE	Ford Fiesta	Oliver Eriksson
Olsberg MSE	Honda Civic Coupe	Kevin Eriksson
Olsberg MSE	Honda Civic Coupe	Sebastian Eriksson
Monster Energy RX Cartel	Audi S1	Liam Doran
Monster Energy RX Cartel	Audi S1	Robin Larson
Red Bull Hansen	Peugeot 208	Kevin Hansen
Red Bull Hansen	Peugeot 208	Timmy Hansen
Dreyer & Reinbold EKS JC	Audi S1	Cabot Bigham
Dreyer & Reinbold EKS JC	Audi S1	Unknown Driver
Xite Energy Racing	BMW Mini	Oliver Bennett
Loenbro Motorsports	Hyundai i20	Steve Arpin

Format:
DAY 1
Solo Qualifying
One solo lap determines seeding order for Battle Qualifying.

Battle Brackets
Head-to-head tournament style bracket
Culminates in a final battle to determine pole position for Day 2
1 Championship Point is awarded for each battle win

DAY 2
Heats - 2 races // 8 cars // 5 laps
4 total advance directly to final
All other drivers go to semi final

Semi Final - 2 races // 6 cars // 5 laps
4 total advance to the final
All other drivers go to Last Chance Qualifying

LCQ - 1 race // 8 cars // 5 laps
Top 2 finishers advance to final
All other drivers are out

Final - 10 cars // 6,000hp // 1 winner
All starters are awarded points
Point breakdown:
1st: 50 points
2nd: 45 points
3rd: 40 points

[tbtstt]

Perhaps I am being overly negative but, despite a lot of people touting it as the future of rallycross, I am not convinced yet.

Obviously big names supporting it and fronted by a driver who should be able to pull in the sponsors to make it work. However I think it is hard to ignore the number of parallels with X-Games/GRC at this stage. I am sure this season will have some well attended events, but the real test for me is whether the series is still here in a couple of years time.

I am also not a fan of the gap jump: no doubt it looks spectacular, but can't help but think it is a very dangerous gimmick...

...but maybe I worry too much!

[MissClarrpz]

I think that they're trying to do things right. I like that they're trying to do things different to WRX especially with all the banked corners. I feel too many modern tracks are too hard to actually race side by side. Seems like they've learnt a lot of lessons from GRC and ARX. All except for the gap jumps. At best it's going to wreck a lot of suspension. At worst, well we can all imagine.

I hope it sticks around though.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

It's a solid entry list for sure (in names, if not quantity). I'm not so sure about the elaborate points/quali system or how the dirt tracks are going to hold up.

Big jumps seemed to actually work pretty well last time they used them, think the cars were hitting landings fairly clean, possibly cleaner than we've seen at Riga today.

I'm not sure it's proper rallycross but would like it to stick and then see Nordic RX grow and take over from ERX and WRX, it's certainly more watchable but perhaps needs a few more high quality entries.

[MissClarrpz]

The final driver has been announced. Tanner Foust in the DRR EKS JC S1

15 cars set for next weekend (well Friday and Saturday)

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by SnoodyMcFlude

It's a solid entry list for sure (in names, if not quantity). I'm not so sure about the elaborate points/quali system or how the dirt tracks are going to hold up.

Yeah. Not sure if that is a cool idea and a good way to mix things up, or just a way to stretch what should be a one day event over two days.

[MissClarrpz]

Sebastian Eriksson won't be racing the OMSE Honda now. 14 cars for Rd 1 (and I presume 2).

[USRallycross]

It isn't true rallycross for those of us who grew up on the real thing. However, as I have said before, knowing Travis he is committed to this and has been working at all the tracks. The man is all about the show which I know is so American but matters here. Remember no-one knows what rallycross is here nor do they know about rally. Off-road is the trucks you see Deegan in. So there is a massive cultural difference to Europe

Re X Games/GRC similarity - definitely. The early X Games and GRC (at least when I was involved) had a lot of potential. It went wrong for multiple reasons but there is a there in all of this. When I have spoken to Travis since GRC died he has always seen this.

The challenge is costs. I have the budget from one of the top teams and that is going to be hard to raise here - it wasn't easy back in 2012/3 - when it was cheaper.

Re long-term as I have posted before the series is looking to establish regional series for the lower classes to start building a sustainable future. This is an area it broke in before. GRC wanted nice modern cars costing $100k plus and that doesn't get spent here on cars you can use a few times a year especially when we are inundated with oval tracks where entry is free and there is prize money and you can race every week (depending on weather).

So to be a parrot, if anyone can make this work it is Travis. Subaru being in is huge here and then having really strong European machinery will make the show competitive. The gap jump was never a real problem with the drivers even though everyone made Morro or TP go over it first (the bikers just get it and can set the speed perfectly). These jumps are safer than what we used back then.

So I am wishing TP the best of luck on this adventure. While definitely not true rallycross - autocross? - it is the best chance we have of something working here so I will take it.

Mark

[NaBUru38]

Excellent grid!


They should add crosskarts quickly.

[FIRE]

Do they have plans for events in Europe?

[MissClarrpz]

Yes. They want a global series in 2022. Apparently some Nordic events. Given RX Nordic were helping promote them I'm guessing they might join up for an event or 2. I'm definitely hoping for Lydden though.

[hoffman66]

I seriously doubt Lydden, would not attract the interest. The drivers in the top class are all Scandy's so it will go there, probably Holjes, Hell and Kuovala or another Finnish track.

If it works, it will very quickly usurp WRX which is on its knees.

[tbtstt]

I struggled with the livestream Friday night as it was freezing and almost unwatchable at times. Waited until Saturday morning and watched the complete broadcast (with no adverts) and it was much better. Given that, I skipped the livestream last night and watched the shortened race program this morning. I saw some complaints about the amount of dead air during the live race show, but the two hour edit uploaded was pretty good.

So I had issue with the gap jump before the weekend (primarily because of the safety aspect and because I think it adds nothing to the racing) but, after watching the race day, I am even more sceptical about how sustainable this series is.

In my personal opinion a series where just driving round the track causes so much damage to the cars, there is surely going to be limited long term appeal, especially to smaller privateer teams (and this something that was a major issue for X-Games/GRC in my view)

Sure most of teams won't mind doing this to their cars for one weekend a year, but five events of this nature is going to absolutely hammer these cars (and the teams spare budget!). As a spectator I personally want to see cars racing for wins, not taking victory through attrition. I appreciate that the rest of the tracks might not have quite as many big jumps though.

Not going to make any sweeping statements at this point but, based on the first race weekend, I still favour WRX (even in its current state) over NRX... see if another race weekend or two changes my opinion!

[NaBUru38]

Some races were pretty fun, others were boring.

The track was too narrow at some sections.

The big gap was used too little except at the final, not sure why.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

I thought there was some really good racing, lots of exciting overtakes. The attrition rate is an issue which needs to be addressed, it's not even the odd de-beaded tyre either, it's heavy amounts of damage. Ironically I don't think it's the jumps though, it's the soft surface breaking up so much.

I quite liked the Saturday head to heads, certainly more than I expected. Coverage not great in places, but that's because I'm not an American audience, that style of TV seems to be the norm over there. So great to hear Coley on comms, kinda hammered home how much I'm not enjoying WRX without him.

On the positive side, when the cars were in one piece there was some really good racing and the track allowed drivers to try different lines rather than just following the leader and making a pass with the joker. Was insane seeing Larsson sending it on the gap jump and making places up.

Looks like the next round is giving us something different though, so going to be interesting. My main concern is dust and the resulting blue groove. It didn't happen in Utah but other tracks we've seen heavy use of Dustex ends up being really tedious because there's only one line

[NaBUru38]

Camera direction was pretty bad. Always showing the leader, ignoring drivers that took an early joker lap. Even the big jumps were rarely shown.

[FIRE]

I watched some coverage and the racing was pretty good.
Not of a fan of the head2head races.

The area looked a bit like a wasteland. All the dust and lack of spectators didn't help either.

[hoffman66]

If they can get serious backing, the series has some potential, the tracks must cost a fortune to put up. and unless you are going to make them permanent this is unlikely to be something that moves around. You would need 4 or 5 venues t make it a series with some semi permanency, and race tracks are not likely to pay for it as what else can it be used for? nothing, it will soon be a dead white elephant like Silverstone's track.

Travis probably has the ability to pull this together as with the people he knows from motocross, they do this routinely on a smaller scale with supercross, every weekend, so it is possible, but it needs spectators like you get at Supercross, ie 20-50 thousand to make it worth the investment, and it is a lot easier to make a track in a baseball stadium than it it as a racetrack.

The other thing is it's Travis, first its MX, then stunt riding, then NASCAR, then Nitro Circus, then rallying, now this, he flits back and forth and if it doesn't work he will drop it, take the Nitro bit away and it just becomes US rallycross again which was a dismal failure.

[NaBUru38]

Round 2 at Elk River was amazing!

[FIRE]

Nice track (looks like European Autocross Championship ) but hard for the cars.

Heavy crash for Cabot:
https://twitter.com/NitroRallycross/...90823372087296

[tbtstt]

Utah was still rallycross (with unnecessary jumping) in my personal opinion.

ERX last weekend was just short course off-road racing with cars; it was a short course circuit, with a bit blocked off as a joker.

The new electric cars that NRX is talking about running next year seem more like Extreme E trucks than rallycross cars, so NRX is shaping up to be the next iteration of LOORRS/COORS.

I have nothing against that (I actually really like short-course racing) but to me it isn't rallycross.

If the rest of the circuits this year are similar I wonder if some teams (specifically thinking JC Raceteknik) will last. The first two rounds must have already cost them a fortune in repairs.

[NaBUru38]

Short course off-road tracks usually have small, high bumps. ERX had long, low jumps. I certainly enjoyed it.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by tbtstt

Utah was still rallycross (with unnecessary jumping) in my personal opinion.

ERX last weekend was just short course off-road racing with cars; it was a short course circuit, with a bit blocked off as a joker.

The new electric cars that NRX is talking about running next year seem more like Extreme E trucks than rallycross cars, so NRX is shaping up to be the next iteration of LOORRS/COORS.

I have nothing against that (I actually really like short-course racing) but to me it isn't rallycross.

If the rest of the circuits this year are similar I wonder if some teams (specifically thinking JC Raceteknik) will last. The first two rounds must have already cost them a fortune in repairs.

With more ground clearance it looks like a Dakar car.

This weekend I was wondering if the Subaru's are specially built for these extreme tracks.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by FIRE

This weekend I was wondering if the Subaru's are specially built for these extreme tracks.

Hal (Ridge) posted some comparison pictures of the Subaru's earlier this year, where you could see visible changes at the rear end.

Given the course testing that has been carried out by Pastrana, I think that these changes have absolutely been carried out to adapt the cars for this type of circuit.

[kurski]

Finland is a theoretical alternative to one Nitro Rallycross race next year. At this point, the question is where to find an organizer who believes in such a slightly more show event. Niclas Grönholm may also compete in the Nitro series next year.