Clean break with tradition

Will Gollop, the last British driver to win the European rallycross title, believes electric cars are the future of the sport. Dan Wright spoke to the former racer to find out why he’s behind the idea

Will Gollop believes electric rallycross cars are the future and is keen to be involved with their development. The former European champion, 66, thinks the discipline suits electrification and would like to help introduce battery power. The green technology has been widely discussed recently after the first electric rallycross machine was unveiled late last year. “I see electric as the way forward and the sport is well suited to it,” Gollop (pictured) said. “I would not mind getting involved with it on a consultancy basis to help someone do it. “I have built a few half-decent rallycross cars myself and it would be an interesting thing to do.” In October, Austrian company STARD revealed what was believed to be the first-ever fully-electric rallycross car, producing almost 550 horsepower. The Peugeot 207 runs at maximum power for 15 minutes and can reach a top speed of 120mph using a singlespeed transmission. Blean-based Gollop – who owns a road-going electric car – thinks the sport’s short, sharp races suit battery power. He added: “I have been thinking about oil and carbon fumes and what they do to the world for some time now and I have not been pleased with what I have read. “We were never taught anything about the environment at school but once you get grandchildren, you start thinking about it and what it is going to be like for them if we don’t do something. “People will say I am a bit of a hypocrite because of all the fossil fuels I burned when I was racing but that was what we did then – we have now got to do something about it. “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” Gollop, who is still the last British competitor to win the European title, in 1992, says introducing electric cars as a support category would be a sensible step. Bosses at Volkswagen and Peugeot have already thrown their support behind electrified rallycross, backing initiatives to create an allelectric supercar category in the World Rallycross Championship. Gollop said: “Having a support class to start with would make sense and it may start with a two-wheel-drive category in the British championship. “Electric cars would be fairly simple to build – people are building these cars at the moment – and it could be cheaper than what people are spending in rallycross now. “It certainly sounds possible that they could be even quicker than the current supercars in the world championship. “The instant torque would be one thing and the fact that drivers would not have to change gear would be another. “Like with any car, you could also tune the suspension to get the right set-up and it would be an interesting project.” Gollop admits, however, that removing the noise produced by petrol-powered rallycross cars could be a “stumbling block.” “It would take the excitement out of it a bit but if you could have a device on the throttle, that would be the answer,” he added. “You could have a noise magnifier on the cars and organisers could set it to an acceptable level for the spectators and local residents living close to the circuits – it would be a win-win. “I am not sure what sort of loud speaker you would have to have on the car but you could have something that would be throttle-controlled and spectators could hear when the driver was on or off the throttle. I think electric cars are the future for rallycross and personal transportation full-stop.”