#rallycross

Global Rallycross (GRC) may be the perfect distillation of motorsport for those with a limited attention span. Unlike the World Rally Championship, Red Bull’s Rallycross takes place on tight circuits that allow spectators to see every second of the six-lap race. Meanwhile, a full grid ensures lots of contact between drivers while a dirt section ensures drifts and ramps guarantee plenty of airborne action. Excluding the qualifying laps, the entire event is a short burst of raw aggression as professional drivers power over-engineered and ludicrously fast economy cars around the track.

Unfortunately, a trail of unpaid bills has forced Global Rallycross to cease operations for the 2018 season. With its inaugural season having taken place in 2011, nobody expected GRC to fold this fast. But that appears to be what happened.

“You drive sports cars on track, yes?”

Igor Palagin, a giant bear of a man who looks more of a member of the Red October crew than a racing driver, looms over me as I strap myself into the driver’s seat of his Fast & Speed USA dirt buggy.

“Yes, I do,” I reply somewhat nervously.

Igor laughs a hearty, booming laugh. “Forget everything you know about driving. This is completely different.”

As I struggle to even see the nearly 100 feet of elevation of the dirt course at Thunderhill Raceway through the tiny, wire-cage lined windscreen in front of my face, I think silently to myself: No kidding, Igor.

This past weekend was one of the best in motorsport, with action from the Nurburgring, Monaco, Indy, and Charlotte.

Not to be left out, the entertaining FIA Rallycross paid a visit to Lydden Hill in the UK. Next, they’re off to the Hell Circuit (yessir, that’s its name) in Norway on June 10th.

The Russian car market is looking grimmer than the last days of the Romanov family, but that’s proving to be a big opportunity for Kia.

That, a delay for Volkswagen’s overseas diesel fix, Porsche employees are rolling in dough, electric rallycross could be on the way, and FCA soars in Europe … after the break!

Our recent post asking what possible relevance most automobile racing has to the consumer side of the auto industry has me thinking about a race series idea that’s been percolating in my head for a while. The goal of the concept is to come up with a racing series that will resonate both with consumers (read: auto manufacturers) and racing enthusiasts. So far, I have a pretty good idea of what kind of cars, rules, tracks and schedules would be involved, but as yet I haven’t come up with some kind of catchy acronymic name.

To begin with, it would be based on production cars in North America and the races would be run in all three countries that make up the continent — Canada, Mexico, and the United States. That should get some manufacturers involved, if not fielding works teams, at least in terms of funding, PR, and technical support.

I wasn’t five minutes before my friend and I had gone to inspect TTAC’s Project G-Body Grand National that we began discussing the next foray into fiduciary stupidity. My friend Joey, not content with his cream puff 1986 Grand National (with a verified 38,750 miles on the odometer) wanted to know how we could “get in to rallying”.