The Rise of World Rallycross: F1 bosses take note!
The rise of World Rallycross as a major international motorsport phenomenon gained further momentum when this colourful sport visited South Africa for the first time last week. It not only lived up to expectations but probably shattered most modern motorsport enthusiasts' perceptions of what motorsport could be… and should be.
As a type of motorsport, World Rallycross is not a new thing. It is generally accepted that the first official rallycross event took place in the late '60s in the UK, with the first race being won by none other than Vic Elford (successful sportscar, rally and F1 racer) in a Porsche 911. The fans immediately fell in love with this more action-packed type of racing where drivers didn't seem to mind rubbing door mirrors at every corner. It was dirty, fast… and just a little bit more dangerous than "normal" racing.
It was massively popular in Europe during the 80s, when the monstrous Group B rally cars that could no longer compete in the World Rally Championship found a new home on rallycross circuits. I vividly remember lapping up those old Havoc car crash videos that featured so much rallycross action at the time – my brother and I particularly appreciated the antics of Martin Scanche and Matti Alamäki, who always appeared to be on a collision course with each other. But subsequent decades saw rallycross fade somewhat, largely due to poor management and promotion.
Straight off the bat, WRX pulled the crowds at Killarney and thrilled the audience.
That all started changing in 2014, the first year that the FIA and promoter IMG Motorsport teamed up to create a World Championship. Since then, and with proper marketing and promotion behind it, the World Rallycross Championship has rocketed in popularity as measured by all metrics – TV audience, social media exposure, and event attendance. It has started luring big names and official OEM participation, is heading for new territories (SA this year, USA next year), and is signing up partners and sponsors along the way.
For South Africans, and myself, this past weekend was the first time to get up close with World Rallycross. In short, it may just be the ultimate type of motorsport and it highlights so many things that are wrong with other formulae.
You can interact and identify with the personalities/cars
There were numerous opportunities for fans to interact with the drivers and get close to the cars.
Key to WRX's appeal to me is that the viewer can identify the cars. They look like the cars us regular folk drive (VW Polos, Audi A1s, Peugeot 208s, Ford Fiestas etc.) even though they are actually rocketships that accelerate to 100kph faster than a F1 car. Next year, Renault will also be in the mix with a brand-new Megane RS RX purpose-built by Prodrive for the sport. There also seems to be far easier public access to the cars and drivers, through pre-event meet-'n-greets or pit walks during the event weekend. Nothing beats being able to meet your heroes.
While we were standing on the grassbank, my son (a dedicated Sébastien Loeb fan) ended up next to a couple of similarly aged boys, and each of them already knew who they supported and what cars they drove. Throughout the weekend it became clear that the WRX drivers' names are aleady becoming very familiar to the attendees and that passionate fans were being made. I don't really see that with modern-day F1.
WRX is designed to entertain
The mix of dirt and tarmac, along with tight corners, jumps and a joker lap contribute to the fast-paced action.
A WRX event takes place over the course of 2 days, with various qualifying heats and semi-finals in addition to the all-important Supercar finals. Also, the supporting RX2 category qualifiers and races are not there as place-keepers. They're action-packed, too, and certainly not the ideal time to pop to the loo or refreshments stands. The races are all short, however, and very fast-paced. This means the cars are generally close together on the track, resulting in lots of action. A joker lap (a slightly longer lap that each driver has to take once per race) adds a welcome element of strategy and surprise.
Each WRX track must have a jump (because watching cars jump are fun), and you can view most of the track from almost any viewpoint. I took my son to view from the "cheap seats" (grass bank), and we had no problem viewing most of the action (except for turn 1 which was out of sight).
The VW Polo is the "winningest" WRX contender thus far.
Packed between the racing events are a variety of other motorsport-related activities, including stunt shows and drift displays. You get the distinct impression that WRX doesn't take itself too seriously, and as a result the crowd feel more at home. It is very different to the experience at a modern F1 race…
Ultimately, however, the combination of fearsomely fast cars, utterly committed drivers that don't care how much of their car makes it to the end, and a track purposely designed to encourage paint-swapping action is what delivers the thrills, every time. It certainly did so at Killarney. I initially wondered whether those paying R700 for grandstand seating would be getting value for their money. Considering that the action goes on all weekend and is pretty relentless… I wonder no more.
Interesting factoids
Even the "support acts" delivered plenty of thrills throughout the weekend.
If you're new to following the FIA World Rallycross series, you may be interested in learning some its recent history. Including the newly crowned 2017 champion (VW's Johan Kristoffersson) there have been only 3 champions since 2014, with Petter Solberg winning in the first 2 years of the series, and Mattias Ekström claiming the title in 2016.
The VW Polo has claimed the most all-time wins in the Championship with 11 victories, followed by the Citroën DS3 (9) and Peugeot 208 (8).
What happened at Killarney?
If you couldn't make the race, then sit back and lap up the action in this 2-hour plus recording of the main races this past weekend. At times the racing is so combative and thrilling it may leave you breathless. Enjoy! By the way, with an audience of over 27 000, the event nearly hit maximum capacity (30 000), boding well for the future. Cape Town has a contract to stage the season finale for the 4 next seasons of FIA World Rallycross.
