Rallycross
Rallycross (Engl.) (Dt. According to Google only rallycross or Rally Cross ) is a motor racing for private vehicles on a permanent race track with changing track surface, which almost always from asphalt and gravel there. The English RX (X = cross ) has established itself as an abbreviation , also to avoid confusion with Radio Control (abbreviation RC).
Regulations and general information
In contrast to the classic rally , in rallycross small groups of racing cars drive sprint races in direct comparison. The relatively short circuits (according to the regulations, they have to be between 950 and 1400 meters long and have an asphalt and / or concrete content of 35 to 60 percent), mostly with stadium character, are almost always manageable and therefore spectators - and TV-friendly. In Germany are contrary to the above-mentioned international FIA - Regulations Rallycross race with the approval of the German association DMSB also exceptionally on autocross tracks (loose road surface) possible if there at least (. English starting place grid respectively Starting grid ) paved (Example : "Matschenberg Offroad Arena" ). In addition, the DMSB also allows rallycross races on completely asphalted tracks (example: Gründautalring ). These exemptions were made because there is a lack of appropriate routes.
In contrast to wild autocross races and various stubble field , gravel pit and car crash competitions, whose organizers are happy to “adopt” the term rallycross, rallycross is recognized as an independent car sport by the FIA, which annually holds three different European championship titles for RX drivers writes out. The European Rallycross has almost no similarities with the US Rallycross and the various cross-country events Select as Rallye Raid , Dakar Rally or Baja 1000 and also has little in common with the sanctioned by the FIA and the DMSB autocross on ( there open and closed racing cars, temporary or permanent racing tracks with loose pavement).
After the FIA had transferred the EM marketing rights from 2013 to the US sports promoter International Management Group (IMG), the FIA World Rallycross Championship (abbreviation WorldRX or WRX ) was introduced for 2014 . In this world championship, drivers compete against each other in the four categories SuperCars, Super1600, TouringCars and RX2. After the Norwegian Petter Solberg won the world title in the first two years , he was followed in 2016 by the Swede Mattias Ekström and in 2017 by his compatriot Johan Kristoffersson as rallycross world champion.
Vehicle categories
World Rallycross Championship (according to FIA regulations)
- SuperCars (formerly Division 1): Touring cars that are homologated in groups A and ST (for super touring ) . The maximum displacement for gasoline engines with turbochargers is 2058 cm³.
- Super1600 (formerly Division 1A): touring cars with front-wheel drive that are homologated in Group A. Only naturally aspirated engines with a maximum displacement of 1600 cm³ are permitted.
- TouringCars (formerly Division 2): touring cars with rear-wheel drive that are homologated in Group A. The vehicles in question may only have naturally aspirated engines with a maximum capacity of 2000 cm³ and, if necessary, must be converted from front-wheel drive to rear-wheel drive. This applies to most makes and models (an exception are, for example, cars from BMW or the Mazda RX-8 ).
- RX2: touring car with all-wheel drive . The identical mid-engined vehicles have 310 hp.
Course of a rallycross competition
Rallycross races are relatively short with a total distance of between 3,000 and 8,000 meters. Since most of the routes are around 1000 m long, the sprints run over three to eight laps. For some time now, a so-called joker lap has been used on the rallycross tracks for internationally open competitions . Each driver has to follow an alternative route (the Joker Lap section ) that is at least 2 seconds slower once per race , but can decide for himself in which lap he does this. After the technical acceptance of the vehicles, their drivers can take part in free training , followed by compulsory training. Finally, there are three qualification runs on the program. In these heats, participants must finish at least twice and set two fast times in order to qualify for the final races. Only the 20 best drivers in each division (vehicle category) are allowed to compete again in the D, C, B or A finals . While three, four or five pilots start from a common line in the preliminary runs, the six participants in the final races start from three rows of starters that are offset one behind the other. The first two places in the D final are automatically admitted as the last starter for the C final, the winner of the C final moves up to the B final and the winner of the B final qualifies in the same way for the last starting place in the A -Final grids .
In the finals, the times driven are no longer decisive, only the placement, i.e. the final order of the 20 best in the competition. Since the overall winner of the division in question can only be determined in the last race of the day, the tension is continuously increased and there is a showdown at the end of the race weekend . The top cars of the FIA Rallycross World Championship, FIA Rallycross EM , the RX Specials are prototypes that are visually similar to the World Rally Cars , but with a good 550 hp and an engine output that is well above the WRC nominal value of 300 hp feature. As in many sprint competitions, a good start is eminently important, as the starter who reaches the first corner first secures the best possible starting position for the hoped-for overall victory. The all-wheel drive race cars reach thanks very short gear ratios and extremely soft tire compounds that have high traction values guarantee the 100 km / h mark in 2 to 2.5 seconds.
history
Invented in 1967 for the ITV in England
The roots of rallycross come from rallying . On February 4, 1967, on the specially prepared Lydden Circuit (between Dover and Canterbury in Kent , England ) all invited rally drivers were allowed to compete in groups of four for the first time in short sprint races for a television production in direct comparison. Overall winner was the future Formula 1 driver and rally Monte Carlo winner (1968) Vic Elford in a Porsche 911 . As a result, the organizers launched a completely new motorsport , in which, however, the rally factory drivers were replaced by real rallycross specialists who were now rapidly growing up. The real inventors of rallycross were the television producer Robert Reed , who works for the ITV (ABC - World of Sport) , and the active race organizer Bud Smith († 1994), while track operator Bill Chesson († 1999) expanded and made Lydden Circuit available for this purpose . But the name rallycross came up with the well-known journalist , rally driver and race commentator John Sprinzel, who, together with his press colleague Barrie Gill ( The Sun ), can be seen as the “midwife” of the new racing discipline.
After two further rallycross test races (on March 11th and July 29th) for ITV , the first national British rallycross championship was held on September 23rd in Lydden with the first of a total of six races (three in Lydden and three in Croft) called the World of Sport Rallycross Championship 1967/68 , which went to Tony Chappell from England in a Ford Escort TwinCam with a victory at the finals on April 6, 1968 in Lydden .
The first international rallycross race was held on November 25, 1967, also in Lydden. However, the foreign rally drivers registered for the start started their journey home early because the 1967 RAC rally , which had been scheduled a week earlier , had to be canceled at short notice due to the rampant foot-and-mouth disease in Great Britain . As the winner of this "national-international" competition, Rootes rally factory driver Andrew Cowan went down in rallycross history with his Sunbeam Imp . This race, declared as ABC Television Rallycross, and the accompanying circumstances mentioned above, are often but incorrectly linked to the birth of rallycross (see above), even though it took place almost ten months after the actual debut race. In addition, the BBC is mostly referred to as the rallycross “mother”, which is also incorrect. It was n't until many months later that the BBC jumped on the rallycross bandwagon with its Grandstand program.
Imported to the mainland in 1969 for AVRO
After the company Ford on 2 June 1969, at the Autodromo Vallelunga in Italy a Rallycross demonstration run under the name Trofeo Italiano di Rallycross had organized the first real Rallycross race of mainland Europe on 7 June 1969 a military area in which it was Heath close the Dutch city of Venlo and won by Hans Kok with his NSU 1200 TT . As a continental "discoverer" of the Rallycross sport, the Dutch allowed television director Rob Herzet ( AVRO ) are considered, approved in Germany in the late 1980s also known ZDF - TV shows such as The Wicherts next door , waiting room for a small fortune or good How that there is Maria! received a lot of recognition. With the Eurocircuit in Valkenswaard near Eindhoven , the Dutch also built the world's first race track specially designed for rallycross. Jan de Rooy won the inaugural race on April 17, 1971 in a DAF 555 Coupé 4WD.
Established in Australia in 1969
British-style rallycross was also driven in Australia for around twelve years from 1969 . After a test race had been organized in Leppington ( New South Wales ), the young motorsport found a much-visited venue until the mid-1970s with the Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne . From 1972 to the early 1980s, rallycross races were also organized in Catalina Park in Katoomba, New South Wales. Two other locations for rallycross races were Towac near Orange (New South Wales) and Tailem Bend ( South Australia ). The Australian car athlete, who is still associated with rallycross today, is all-round racing driver Peter Brock , who died in a rally in 2006 and was very successful in this discipline for several years with his Holden Torana GTR, known as "The Beast" .
First rallycross races in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
In the early 1970s Rallycross was by Bernd Ziskofen and his automobile club Niederelbe after Buxtehude imported and had its Germany - Premiere on 21 May 1972 the Estering with an overall victory of Jan de Rooy in DAF 555 Coupé 4WD. Up to autumn 2007, exactly 108 RX races had been held on the facility; due to disputes with local residents, five other planned events had to be canceled in 1982 and 1983. Also initiated by Ziskofen and the ACN , and launched in collaboration with the British Thames Estuary Automobile Club (TEAC) towards the end of 1972, there has also been a European Rallycross Championship since 1973, which was organized by the FIA for the first three years of its existence tolerated and then finally adopted.
The Austrian rallycross history began with the construction of the Leruring on the so-called “Stiftswiesn” near Pöverding above the town of Melk, the then Leruring . The first national rallycross took place on Easter Sunday , April 22nd 1973 (overall winner was the Austrian Harald Neger in a Renault Alpine A110 ). Shortly afterwards, on May Day , the first international rallycross was organized here (overall winner was Franz Wurz in a VW 1302S ) and on May 13, 1973, the Leruring experienced the premiere run of the then Embassy European Rallycross Championship under the leadership of the organizer RRC 13 Vienna (overall winner was the Briton John Taylor on a Ford Escort RS1600 ). Since the late 1990s, is the now completely remodeled racetrack Wachauring and is now part of the same ÖAMTC - Road Safety Center .
There have also been a few rallycross races in Switzerland . On September 23, 1984 , the 1st International Rallycross of Switzerland for the Marlboro Trophy 84 took place on the Lignières race track , above Lake Biel , in which Formula 1 driver Marc Surer also took part with a Renault 5 Turbo . The race was won by the Belgian Luc Noyen on a Talbot Matra Murena . The Circuit Lignières is no longer used as a race track, but exclusively as a test site, u. a. used for driver courses on snow and ice.
Also introduced in the United States in 2010
On August 28 and 29, 2010, the first of four races for the 2010 RallyCar US Rallycross Championship on the Lightning Raceway of the New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville , New Jersey , was held by the American Tanner Foust in a 560 hp Ford Fiesta Mk7 T16 4x4 won. Foust was also able to win the competition on October 2nd and 3rd at the same venue, while the season finale in Millville was held as a double date on November 6th (won by the Norwegian Sverre Isachsen) and November 7th (won by the Finn Toomas Heikkinen) has been.
For 2011 there were two US series that initially cooperated with each other. The Global RallyCross Championship (GRC) consisted of three races in the states of California (both races were won by Marcus Grönholm ), Washington (one race was won by Andréas Eriksson and one by Tanner Foust) and Colorado (one race was won by Tanner Foust and one won by Marcus Grönholm), in which one could also qualify for participation in the car racing competitions of the X-Games 17 (one race was won by Liam Doran and one by Brian Deegan ), which were also included in the Global Series. Shortly before the run in Colorado, the RallyCar / Rally America organization terminated its cooperation with GRC due to a conflict of interest and soon afterwards also canceled the remaining three races for their own RallyCar 2011 US Rallycross Championship . These should take place on racetracks in the states of Michigan , Wisconsin, and Illinois .
Rallycross - a racing sport characterized by all-wheel drive
The first generation of all-wheel drive cars
Ever since Franz Wurz won the first FIA title for Audi with an Audi quattro on October 3, 1982 , rallycross has been inextricably linked to all-wheel drive racing cars to this day. However - the new sport was familiar with its first and very successful generation of 4x4 vehicles long before Audi and their quattro , namely at the end of the 1960s. On February 8, 1969, Ford and BMC had each brought a 4WD rallycross vehicle to the start - on the same day, but on different racetracks. While the approximately 100 kW (130 PS) Triumph 1300 4WD under BMC works driver Brian Culcheth won its competition in Lydden, but was only reactivated very rarely by the manufacturer as a result, Ford works driver Roger Clark won the victory in Croft ( at Darlington ) on the same day because his Capri 3000GT 4WD "did not meet the valid regulations" at the time. This did not discourage Ford, however, and until the fall of 1971, the brothers Roger and Stan Clark used two of these 250 hp all-wheel drive Capris with a ZF gearbox and Ferguson drive unit , with steadily growing success. The technically largely identical semi-works Capri from Rod Chapman had to be beaten in the British winter rallycross series in 1971/72.
The media-effective triumphs of Ford and BMC also animated the Dutch company DAF , which built a total of three DAF 555 Coupé 4WDs for 1971 and 1972 (the third 5 stood for Group 5 according to FIA regulations), designed by the two brothers Jan de Rooy and Harry de Rooy were driven to a large number of overall rallycross victories, although they were often only allowed to start 5 or 10 seconds behind their competitors (the so-called 4WD penalty ). In the DAF 55 models, often smiled at as “pensioners and housewives' wagons”, all-wheel drive was implemented using a Sportvariomatic , which was originally developed for Formula 3 . A drive belt in each case supplied the cardan shafts for the front and rear axles, which ended there in the self-locking differentials from the BMW 2002 . Traction was permanently available, without having to shift a normal gearbox, the driver had eminent advantages, and the around 200 hp BDA engines from Ford also contributed to the fact that the light DAF vehicles drove on and away from the cars of the opponents. But because the initiators of the European Rallycross Championship hoped that their sport would soon be recognized by the FIA, the first generation of all-wheel rallycross was mothballed at the end of 1972.
The return of all-wheel drive cars
After new regulations legitimized all-wheel drive cars again from 1982 and Wurz was immediately successful with an Audi Quattro, all-wheel drive vehicles dominated rallycross from the mid-1980s. From the four-wheel VW Beetle with up to 500 hp, to the BMW M3 Turbo 4WD with a good 600 hp IMSA engine, to the more than 750 hp Porsche 911 BiTurbo 4x4, the range of prototypes, mostly realized by private individuals and without factory support, ranged . Particularly noteworthy is the most important technical innovation that brought about rallycross and that later influenced the World Rally Championship and Formula 1 . The Norwegian Martin Schanche initiated and financed the so-called Xtrac system in 1983 . The British Mike Endean and Chris Goddard realized his idea of a variable all-wheel drive for his Ford Escort XR3 T16 4x4 and together with him created the first Xtrac all-wheel drive , which, via hydraulics that can be manually influenced while driving , the power of the 560 hp Zakspeed -Motor forwarded continuously from 28:72 (VA: HA) to 50:50 percent to the front and rear axles. After Schanche became European rallycross champion straight away in 1984, the then Opel sports boss Karl Heinz Goldstein encouraged the former Hewland technician Endean to found his own company Xtrac and to cooperate with the sports department of the German automobile plant. Opel then built two Kadett prototypes (for Group S , which was soon rejected by the FIA ), which suffered a total fiasco at the 1986 Paris-Dakar Rally due to several shock absorber defects . Other rally factory teams later also used the further improved and now semi-automated Xtrac system, and even in Formula 1, various teams relied on various drive elements from Xtrac for many years .
After the FIA banned the cars of the extremely controversial Group B from the World Rally Championship after a few tragic accidents in the mid-1980s from the end of 1986, these "dinosaur" vehicles found their last international field of activity in rallycross. From the beginning of 1987 to the end of 1992, the cars, some of which were well over 600 hp, such as the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 , Ford RS200 E2 , Audi Sport quattro S1 , MG Metro 6R4 BiTurbo and Lancia Delta S4 , dominated the scene here, especially as they did at some European championships were at the start in very large numbers. In 1993 a completely new set of regulations came into force, which by and large has been in force to this day. It shapes the “premier class” of this discipline by allowing a variety of racing cars, from the optical copy of the World Rally Cars (WRC) ( Citroën C4 , Citroën Xsara , Ford Focus , Peugeot 206 , Škoda Fabia etc.) to the self developed prototype ( Saab 9-3 Aero SportSedan T16 4x4, VW Golf IV T20 4x4, Ford Fiesta ST T16 4x4, Opel Astra G T16 4x4 etc.).
Some important rallycross drivers
The first European rallycross champion (1973) was the Scot John Taylor ( Ford Escort RS 1600 BDA), the first European championship with the blessing of the FIA was won in 1976 by the Austrian Franz Wurz ( Lancia Stratos HF 2.4 24V). While the British , Austrians and Dutch dominated this sport in the early years of the racing series , many Scandinavians were very successful in rallycross from the late 1970s .
The most successful driver in the history of the European Rallycross Championship is (with 14 European Championship titles so far) Kenneth Hansen . Other drivers who were very successful at the European Championship are Matti Alamäki (five-time European champion), Olle Arnesson , Eivind Opland (four titles each) and Anders Norstedt (three titles). The most famous rallycross driver, however, is Martin Schanche , who has won six European championship titles in the 25 years of his EM career and achieved worldwide fame under the nickname "Mister Rallycross".
The only German who has so far been able to win a European Championship title is Sven Seeliger (1400 class in 2000 and 2001).
