Let's Go Rallycrossing

This year Southern Car Club competitor Roger Binyon has wheeled out his 10 year old Montego rally car, looking around for something cheap and competitive to enjoy taking part in. He found rallycrossing, and this article tries to explain this fascinating sport.

Background

10 years ago rallycrossing was a very popular form of motorsport with regular TV slots on Saturday afternoon Grandstand showing the banned Group B rally cars still being used in anger by the likes of Will Gollop in a twin turbo Metro 6R4, John Welch in the only Astra 4S ever built, Mark Rennison in Ford's EVO RS200 and Dimi Mavropoulos in his black Audi Quattro.

Since then rule changes and weight penalties have made most competitors lose interest, and small grids for poor spectator turnouts have been the norm.

This year though the organising committee, the BRDA, which is run by ex-competitors and enthusiasts, has put together a cracking new-style championship sponsored by Compomotive Wheels with "anything can run" rules making it fast and spectacular. Of course along with that comes Tiff Needell's coverage on "Top Gear Motorsport" on a Monday night covering the top 8 finalists who have spent all day battling through the time heats for a place in the "Super Final". So now we have over 100 cars spread evenly over 8 different classes, all desperately trying to show off in front of the cameras and get through to the front. With such big fields, only the fastest times will get you a chance to run in the final, so the action is hot all day long.

Class structures

Division 1 4 wheel drive supercars, with 3.5 litre n/a engines, or 2 litre turbos putting out 500+bhp. Escort Cossies, Metros and home made specials like Will Gollop's Peugeot costing over £100k are the norm here. Very exciting, but very expensive to play at this level.

Division 2 2 wheel drive over 2 litre class, usually taken up by older cars like TR8s and Rover SD1, Capri etc. Not very exciting races from this group, but at least the organisers are letting everyone who has a car have a go. Car values around £2-5k.

Division 3 2 wheel drive up to 2 litres, n/a. Very competitive field with 14 or more cars usually entered, Astra 16v, Peugeot 16v, Fiesta BDA and even MG Montego 16v cars to be found here, most with lightweight bodies and close ratio gear boxes (some not!) very similar spec to Formula 2 Kit Cars from the rallying world with over 220bhp.

Division 4 2 wheel drive up to 1600cc. Again very close racing with the likes of Barry McGuigan and Tiff Needell taking part in the action, over 20 cars fighting for a place in the final, with Metros, Corsas and Novas being the most popular car. Plenty of excitement is guaranteed by the short wheel base which makes these cars very twitchy over the bumps, so lots of spins and leader changes every race.

Division 5 1300cc class. Normally over 20 cars turn up for these races, for Minis, Metros and more Minis. Very light, fast, especially in the wet, and always exciting (3 abreast round the first bend!) in cost-effective cheap-to-run cars but still modified to 150bhp.

Division 6 Euro 2000 class. Much the same as our Formula 2 rally car rules, but allowed to compete abroad. Have to use a current homologated body shell, but unfortunately heavier and slower than the similar Division 3 cars because they use control tyres, rev limiters and catalytic converters. A class for the future, but expensive at the moment.

Division 6a Group N cars with back seats and carpets still fitted on a race circuit - very odd! Class split at 1400cc so Metro GTis, Peugeot 106s and Citroen AXs rule the roost here - but Subaru Imprezas, Escort Cossies and Nissan GTR can also be found in the same heats. Again this suits the European rules and competitors, but fields aren't that well supported, due to the high cost of replacing standard car parts.

Division 7 & 8 are for MiniCross and road rally cars on Colway tyres, but most spectators never get to see these races because they use this time to go and queue for a burger or use the toilets (or both at the same time if you're in Ireland). This is a shame because a lot of the top drivers started out in MiniCross, and a lot of talent is needed to make all of 63bhp go faster than someone else's identical car.

On The Event

Most rallycross competitors drive their own van and trailer to the circuit on the evening before the event and sleep overnight in the van. Next morning cars are pushed off the trailer and into the scrutineering bay at around 7-8am. Drivers can walk around the track, which is normally less than a mile long. Free practice in the cars starts at 9 till 10am, where you can normally get in two 5-minute runs. This is the only time you get to take the proper racing line round the bends, before being bombarded with other competitors getting in the way.

Drivers' briefing is then held in front of the Paddock Office. This is usually a ridiculous affair that all 100 competitors are asked to attend, but with no amplification and the inevitable generator running or someone warming up a 6R4 engine nearby, no-one can hear anything. Then no-one knows what the rules are for that meeting - jump start penalties, number of laps per heat, cars per grid, or how many will go through to the final at the end of the day. So everyone just muddles through as per normal.

Most heats last 3 laps of a mile in distance, 60% Tarmac™, 40% gravel or loose surface.

Cars are called up for their heat via the paddock PA system (often drowned out by the spectator PA system) and queue up on a dummy grid. If you miss the announcement - tough! At the end of the previous heat you line up on the racing grid in a 3,2,3,2 formation behind the jump start beams and wait for the red light to go green.

Then the most amazing aural sensation happens. 10 cars, all with over 200bhp let out their clutches and go wheelspinning off. It's impossible to listen to the revs of your own car, so you just have to look at the rev gauge and check on your traction by the performance of the cars around you - and guess when to change to second gear. The first bend is where most rally-cross races are won or lost (and most damage is done). Trying to be nice and cautious gets you promoted to the back of the field, but being too aggressive and punting others off gets you black-flagged by an over-zealous marshal using the "no contact" rule (that you didn't hear at the drivers' briefing, remember!) Going round the outside of tangled cars stuck on the inside is a good way of making up a few places, unless you get on the edge of the track where there is no grip and you lose time to the car on the inside that has a better line. Luck and quick thinking is very much the order of the day here.

Some of the gravel bends are often made up from chalk, and get very dusty on a sunny day. Three or four times during a meeting these will get watered making the corner hellishly slippery, especially on slicks, so a great deal of time is lost looking for traction and the mud is then spread out onto the Tarmac™ straight - making that tricky as well. This can be quite advantageous if you have been seeded at the back of a heat, when the track has just been watered and no-one will set a quick time anyway.

You just have to hope that your next two heats, where you could be seeded nearer the front, are run in dry conditions. This though causes huge dust clouds, where if someone stalls or spins in the middle of the track, you can easily hit him at a speed of over 100mph.

In the heats your best time from 2 of 3 heats qualifies you for your position in the final grid. This race is for the top 8 from a usual class of 16-20 competitors and is run at 3-4pm. A lot of hanging around talking to your fellow competitors is the norm. Superstars such as Will Gollop, Martin Schanche or John Cross are always happy to chat to lesser competitors, or sell you spares from their huge workshop coaches - and as you only have 12 miles of competition to cover in a day, a dodgy old competition car can become quite reliable with plenty of time in between each heat (not at all like the Winter Rally). Our old Montego always needs a lot of attention between heats so this works out fine.

The final is run over 4 laps. Points for our Compomotive Wheels Rallycross Championship are based on this race only, so getting into the final is all-important. We are currently lying 5th in class in the championship, but could move up higher later on in the season when dropped points make up for DNFs.

In Conclusion

All in all this is a very friendly, exciting, competitive form of motorsport, reasonably cheap with entries costing £60-£75. These come with six £7 entry tickets for wives/friends so all can enjoy watching from the paddock or grand-stands even though after all the travelling, scrutineering and mechanical preparation you only get to drive for about 15 minutes per event.