PERFECT PLATFORM FOR WRX SERIES
Johan Kristoffersson won the opening round of the World Rallycross Championship. There is nothing new about that sentence: indeed, he has done that three times previously. But there was something very new about his victory in Hell in Norway last weekend. The VW Polo driver wrote his name into the record books with the first victory in the all-electric WRX Championship. Rallycross is a short, sharp blast of a sport that is virtually tailor-made for electrification, and the only negative is that it has taken the series so long to achieve its dream. This has been nearly five years in the making.
While Formula E has rewritten the script for electrically powered racing on the tracks, it went through its teething troubles. Remember the Benny Hill-style car swaps that used to have to take place halfway through a race? It was something that served to just underline people’s fears about the lack of battery life in an electric car.
Formula E has now found its feet, but there is a reason it doesn’t race on what might be termed traditional circuits, and one of those is that it does not want a direct comparison with an internal combustionengined racing car. The difference in speeds would be laid bare. To last for the 45 minutes it does during its races, the power output has to be carefully managed.
There is none of that in WRX. The hell-for-leather nature of the action means that the voltage can be turned up to the maximum and, with more development on the motors, this could end up being the fastest electric category of all. The final at Hell last weekend took under three and a half minutes to complete.
While manufacturers and governments prevaricate about the future of personal transport and how it should be powered, the World RX series has committed itself and it will do nothing but improve the show in this particular branch of motorsport.
In the readers’ Q&A hot seat this week is a rallycross legend too. John Welch pulls up a chair to tackle all that you wanted to know, and the topics range from Princess Diana, through Martin Schanche, to title-winning boxer Barry McGuigan. It is one not to be missed.
Elsewhere, we have reports from the latest British Touring Car Championship and British Rally Championship events, and there is all the action from the National Hot Rod National Championships from Hednesford too. Plus, on page 28, deputy editor Graham Keilloh lifts the lid on one of the real success stories of national racing, the CityCar Cup.
Don’t forget to check out our favourite Ford poll, in association with our friends at Motul UK. See page 30 to find out how to make your voice heard. We really do appreciate your input.