Leading-Edge Motorsport Technology Since 1990

The RX factor

MaKTraK is a Motorsport Transmission Design and Manufacturer, producing

state-of-the-art Sequential Racing Gearboxes and Limited-Slip Differentials for
Motorsport applications that include Rallying, Rallycross, GT, Hill Climb, Time
Attack, Gymkhana and Drifting.
The MaKTraK product range is comprehensive and offers a turnkey solution for
most installations at affordable prices. Many MaKTraK customers are running
with extreme engine performance; 700hp or 800nm engine torque is not
uncommon. Please see Gearbox Spec Sheets in Products for details and prices.
All CAD designed assemblies are produced from the best
available materials. Units can be are supplied with either
LM25 or L169 Aluminium and RZ5 magnesium casings.
Gears, Dog Rings and all stressed internal components are
manufactured from high tensile double vacuum
re-melted steels.
Assemblies are built to the highest standards, with all new
builds and serviced gearboxes exhaustively rig tested
to ensure build quality is maintained, to check gear-shift
performance, and oil pump pressure and
oil circulation.
The Gear shift quality of MaKTraK gearboxes is purported to be the
market leader. This performance is achieved by their unique sequential
indexing mechanism that prohibits the possibility of false neutrals
or miss-shift. The advantage of this gear-shift performance is that it allows
the driver to concentrate on driving the car quickly
rather than driving around Gearchange selection
problems.
In addition to supplying a Sequential
Gearbox and Differential range, MaKTraK
also manufactures special assemblies and
components for special application including
WRC, Historics and Cross Country Rallying.
MaKTraK also produces high performance road
car Synchromesh and H-Gate gearboxes.
MaKTraK always holds a near complete stock of
castings and internal components across its entire
product range especially for the Mitsubishi Lancer 6sp
Sequential Gearbox. Generally, these can be built from
existing stock.

maktrak.com

General Enquiries: enquiries@maktrak.com Technical Enquires: john@maktrak.com

Sales & Product Enquiries: Steve@maktrak.com
Tel: +44 (0) 1327-263828 Mob: +44 (0) 777-1968454
47 Lime Avenue, Eydon, Northamptonshire NN113PG

CONTENTS/COMMENT

CONTENTS
4

TECH REGS
We look at some of the most open technical regulations ever conceived

PEUGEOT 205
The French manufacturers works team vs Albatecs high-profile driver recruit

12

FORD ST MK7
This Fiesta-based car is very well-represented in the new championship

16

CITROEN DS3
A look at two fascinating, and very different, approaches to the same base car

23

VW POLO
Swedens Marklund Motorsport have been locally sourcing core parts

26

SUPPORT CLASSES
Away from Supercars, theres plenty of interest in Super 1600 and Touring Cars

28

SUPERCAR LITES
The rallycross boom is being built on with a new junior formula

32

SAAB 9-3
From the Racecar archives Per Eklunds heavyweight car from 2005

38

INTERVIEW
We talk to Martin Anayi about his hopes for the new championship

have many enduring childhood memories. One is

crashing my tricycle into our house to see what would
happen. It was my sisters trike, and it broke in two.
Another, just as random, is watching rallycross at Brands
Hatch, and loving every minute of it. It was epic, with the likes of
Martin Schanche and Will Gollop having at it on Tumbledown
Hill. Why I was there I have no idea. Still, I do remember when
a grassy carpark was introduced I realised that the Knife Edge
was gone, and the track would never again host such an event.
While Rallycross can trace its roots back to the 1960s in the
UK, and with a strong series currently under way, the format has
taken off around the world. In America, the Global Rallycross
series is under way and gaining traction. In Europe, the format
is strong. The more recent rise of rallycross has been nothing
short of meteoric, and it is not hard to see why. The average
mileage of cars worldwide has been decreasing, but 70 per cent
of trips are made in cars. More people live in towns than in the
countryside, urban planning is geared more towards public
transport than the car, and the population is increasing. All of
this leads to a completely different view of the motoring world.
No longer is a long, leisurely drive through the countryside
considered the done thing on a Sunday afternoon. The world is
looking for the short and snappy, showbusiness, drama, and the
FIA World Rallycross Championship delivers that.
Here, we take a technical look at the key entries into the
2014 series, and we expect many more in years to come.
Hopefully, the small children who attend rounds this year also
remember that they went, and maybe remember why, too.

EDITED BY: Andrew Cotton, Sam Collins and Stuart Goodwin

DESIGN: Dave Oswald

ANDREW COTTON Editor

WORLD RALLYCROSS 3

RALLYCROSS SUPERCAR RULES

The RX regs
conundrum
Cobbled together from various FIA appendices,
teams are finding plenty of room for manoeuvre
By SAM COLLINS

he top class of RX is Supercars

high-powered WRC-style machines
mostly purpose-built for the sport.
The technical regulations are very
open indeed, and have huge scope for car
modification and development. We have no
restrictions on homologating parts or the cars,
says Simon Levett of Albatec. We can update
the cars as the season goes on and there are
not many classes of racing where you can do
that, there is no restriction. Its an engineers
dream there are no boundaries really beyond
the regulations.
Up until the start of the 2014 season, all cars
built as RX Supercars had to start off by being
homologated in Group A, but this excluded
cars such as the Renault Mgane RS, the
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 or 10 and the Subaru
WRX STi. The GRC series largely ignored this
and allowed cars like the Mitsubishi and Subaru
to compete (indeed the latter has worksbacked entries). The FIA has now followed suit
and will allow all cars homologated to Group N
to compete in the Supercar class.
However, mid-engined cars are outlawed
in the Supercar class, with the rules stating
that at least 50 per cent of the engine
block must be ahead of the centreline of
the front wheels. But it does not specify
whether the engine is mounted longitudinally
or in a transverse position.
Under the regulations, cars can be
converted from two-wheel drive to fourwheel drive. The standard bodywork must be
retained, but some modification to the wings
is permitted as well as the addition of front
and rear aerodynamic devices such as a
splitter and rear wing. Overall, the standard
body shell must also be retained, but can be
strengthened and modified to allow the cars
to be converted to four-wheel drive.

One of the most spectacular things the

online viewers are attracted to in RX is the
huge acceleration of the cars, most of them
capable of 0-100kph in around 1.9 seconds
much faster than the similar looking cars of
the World Rally Championship. This is even
more impressive when you consider that
traction control is banned.
The reason for this high rate of acceleration
is the relatively open technical regulations
relating to engine design. Cars in the Supercar
class have a maximum capacity of 2058cc for
petrol-fuelled engines. Diesel capacity is up to
2333cc, and normally aspirated engines can be
larger, but no team has taken either of these
options so far. For both fuel types, the engines
must breathe through a single 45mm restrictor
mounted on the turbocharger. If an engine is
fitted with two parallel compressors each must
be restricted to 32mm. Boost pressure cannot
be driver adjustable.

Engines and bodies

The engines themselves must be based on
a block produced by the manufacturer of
the base model, so a Peugeot-bodied car
must use a Peugeot-badged engine. But
this does not it seems restrict the use of
bespoke motorsport blocks, as long as they
were originally produced by the correct
manufacturer. So, the WRC specification
1.6-litre engines could be used in unrestricted
form, and indeed within the rules smaller
engines get a 90kg weight break.
The transmissions tend to be six-speed
sequential units, with the Sadev gearbox the
most popular choice for the transverse engine
layout cars. The gearshift is a very grey area of
the regulations you can have assisted shift as
the rules are written so you are still manually
shifting gear, but you cannot have full semi-

Its an engineers dream we can even

update the cars as the season goes on
4 WORLD RALLYCROSS

Round 1 of the FIA World Rallycross Championship

in Montalgre, Portugal, which took place in May
IMAGES: IMG

WORLD RALLYCROSS 5

RALLYCROSS SUPERCAR RULES

Although every team is still operating outside the regulations in some areas, no one team has yet appeared to obtain an unfair advantage

auto or paddle shift, says Levett. How far

can you push it is the question. Its open
to interpretation.

Compliance issues
Grey areas and interpretation are something
of an issue in RX currently, as although the
technical regulations as they stand are found
in various FIA appendices, there has been
something of an issue implementing them.
Over the years, many cars in the European
Championship have run in configurations
which are not fully compliant. For example,
the rules state that every car must utilise a
standard production dashboard, yet not a
single full season RX Supercar entry does.

The FIA scrutineers have not been firm enough

and its gone on and on. But they have finally
decided to look over the regulations and make
it work. So we can build the sport, we as teams
too have to do things.
Part of the problem is that the rules cannot
all be found in one single document, with
six separate other rulebooks having to be
referenced. It would help if we had just one
rulebook, and it needs to be worded more
clearly, adds Solberg. But Im so happy that the
FIA is looking forward and most of the teams
are too we are not protesting each other as
we all know the issues.
Even Peugeot Sports brand new 208
RX Supercar is not fully compliant, and

The FIA needs to keep the category open and

not kill it in the first year by tightening things up
It is the same story in outer areas of the car
too, and it has meant that not a single car
contesting the World Rallycross Championship
or the Global Rallycross Championship meets
the technical regulations fully.
The regulations have been a nightmare,
Pernilla Solberg, CEO of Petter Solberg World
RX Team, complains. I think there are many
reasons for it as the rules have been there for
a long time, but they have not been enforced.
6 WORLD RALLYCROSS

the French firms technical director Bruno

Famin is keen to ensure that no team gets
an unfair advantage. We know that some
of the cars in WRX this year are not legal
at all, he says. Its not a problem of whether
something is legal or not for the sake of
it, but its whether it gives a significant
advantage in terms of weight distribution.
The FIA needs to be careful with this but
we are clean on that front.

The fact that there is not one single

rulebook means that its very difficult to
understand everything its so segmented,
says Levett. The FIA has a duty of care, and
the cars have been given all sorts of waivers,
and we have had cars approved before by
them, which they are now tightening up. They
have to keep it open and not kill it in the
first year. We are ready to build for the future
but we need clear regulations and right
now we do not have that.
The FIA, however, is fully aware of the
issues surrounding rules compliance and
is set to introduce a new single rulebook
in 2015 allowing everyone to know where
they stand, and avoiding regulating out
existing cars. But some of the smaller teams
are aware of the potential for spiralling costs
with now fewer than four manufacturers
seriously considering works entries. The
manufacturers have big budgets and the
series needs to be careful, warns Levett.
Look what has happened in the WTCC
Citron have turned up and killed it. Im
not sure that there should be a testing ban,
but maybe restrictions on materials to ensure
that things dont get out of control.
Whatever happens, it seems that the
World Rallycross Championship has a
great future and there will be many more
wild Supercars to come.

Turbo for champions

The choice of 16 European champions in rallycross over the years. Custom-built to the highest standards,
by our skilled professional staff, to suit your specific engine set-up. Restrictors available to suit.

www.gikturbo.com info@gikturbo.se
tel +46 31 571220

fax +46 31 572027

Racing without compromise

OUR PERFORMANCE
WRX championship leading fuel tanks supplier
Cost effective solutions
Shape and size tailored according to customer needs

Lightest material on the market at this moment in time

High quality products
Standard fuel cells

Complying with all FIA Standards

www.merin.it info@merin.it
Tel: 0039 - 06 - 9074553

PEUGEOT 208 SUPERCAR

The lion tamers

Development of the Peugeot 208 Supercar is hotting up,

with works and independent teams in fierce competition
By SAM COLLINS

rench brands will dominate

the inaugural World Rallycross
Championship season, if not in
performance then certainly in
numerical terms. Leading the Gallic legion is
the lion of Peugeot the Parisian firm being
the only nameplate with an official works team
but much of the media focus will be on a
privateer outfit using its products. The reason
for this is one man, former Indy 500 winner
and F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve.
The French-Canadian will be driving a
Peugeot 208 Supercar, but while many would
expect it to be the new works car from his
former team Peugeot Sport (running as Team

The turbocharged engine in the Albatec Peugeot 208

produces 600bhp and 860Nm of torque

8 WORLD RALLYCROSS

Peugeot-Hansen), he is instead driving a

different version of the 208 developed by the
very much Scottish Albatec team.
I spoke to Jacques and he told me that
its strange to be driving a Peugeot after
he got fired last time after a Le Mans
Prototype campaign! Peugeot Sport boss
Bruno Famin joked at the start of the season.
We are happy about Albatec being on the
grid, and its great that they have Jacques
as he is a big star and that will bring something
to the championship its good for everyone.
Albatec did not ask us before signing
Jacques they are an independent business
but from time to time we do talk.

Andy Scott, the other driver and owner of

the Albatec team, is keen to stress just how
independent his team is. The Scot has built
up the team from scratch, including the
car. But while both the works team and the
privateer outfit use the Peugeot 208 as a base
model, there is little similarity between the
two designs. Albatec introduced its Supercar at
the start of the 2013 European RX season, long
before Famins engineers had even considered
the rapidly growing sport.
We started with a road car, because
the R5 was not available, Scott explains.
Bruno was still dreaming about it then. I
think its fair to say that apart from the R2

there was no option for a ready-made shell,

so we had to do it ourselves.
The development of the car was conducted
jointly by the Dumfries-based organisation
and its French partners MTechnologies
which developed winning cars for the GRX
series. The experienced pairing of Stphane
Orr and Marc Laboulle which claimed the
manufacturers title in the 2012 FIA European
Rallycross Championship form the technical
infrastructure of the Albatec team.

Transverse layout
The programme actually started in
December 2012, Albatec boss Andy Scott
explains. At that time I was looking to build
new cars and believed in the transverse
engine rather than the longitudinal, and
the people with the most experience of
building those cars was MTechnologies in
France. So after great debate of where to
build them, I chose there. It was always my
intention to relocate to Dumfries, and that
is where Albatec Racing and the Albatec
208s are now based. The car is basically a
Peugeot 208 body shell which the team
makes various modifications to, including
subframes, roll cage and chassis to make
it suitable for rallycross.

Under the regulations, cars can be

converted from two-wheel drive to four-wheel
drive which Albatec has done via a Sadev
transmission. I believe Sadev make the best
transverse gearbox suitable for rallycross,
capable of handling the torque that we put
through them, Scott enthuses. Creating that
torque is a turbocharged 2.0-litre Peugeot
four cylinder engine tuned by ORECA,
which produces around 600bhp and, more
importantly, 860Nm torque.
Its transverse position in the front of the
208 created some compromises in terms of the
front suspension of the car, which the team is
trying to circumvent in 2014. The regulations
relating to the engine position can impact on
what you can do with the suspension if you
opt for a transverse layout like we have done.
Going longitudinal allows more freedom but
creates other issues. Potentially we could
move the engine lower in the chassis while
staying transverse, says chief engineer Simon
Levett, but the knock-on effect is substantial
on the suspension. We are looking at it all at
the moment, making new uprights to give
the driveshafts more clearance and in turn
allowing longer suspension travel.
With Scott having personally funded the
teams establishment, it has no real ties to

Sadevs transverse
gearbox is capable of
handling the torque that
we put through them
any brand or supplier so in some areas of
the car there is some surprising matching
of components, with the braking system for
example. We have not built our own pedal box,
but we have reworked an AP box with some
ideas not currently in Rallycross, Levett reveals.
Rather than having a balance bar and two
cylinders, we have put in one tandem cylinder
we worked with Alcon to get the construction
right. So its effectively one cylinder, and a
bit of weight saving. We have also increased
on brake size with the optimal solution from
Alcon and have finally changed the handbrake
system to reduce weight too. There are more
changes to come too.

Resources vs freedom
The Albatec Peugeot 208 also uses bespoke
dampers developed by French firm Evo,
who are on hand at every World Rallycross

For the works entry, Peugeot Sport has linked up with

the highly successful Hansen rallycross team

WORLD RALLYCROSS 9

PEUGEOT 208 SUPERCAR

The Peugeot-Hansen 208 WRX during intensive testing at Le Circuit de Dreux in Paris

Championship event. Even at the media

day, meetings were taking place to see
how the car could be further developed,
with Solidworks open in the teams modest
motorhome and design changes actively and
rapidly being made, something rarely seen
outside of Formula 1. This in-house design
and development is part of Scotts ethos of
being able to do the whole car, something that
he hopes in future will help the team attract
a major partner, but perhaps not the most
obvious ones. I think where we are today,
were good, but we need to get the results this
season, he says. Then we can have that ideal
world of getting some funding but perhaps
not from a manufacturer. Our objective is to
produce a professional team, car and with
Jacques a professional driver. Then we can
get the funding from a partner that is not a
manufacturer, as they can bring constraints.
They tell you what to do and how to work.
That said, we are not tied to Peugeot and
with four new manufacturers waiting in the
wings you never know. Right now we are
not frightened of anyone in the paddock, but
with the rising budgets that gap will come. We
are an integrated team with our own design
capabilities and that is a notable advantage.
A pair of Albatec 208s will contest the
whole World RallyX championship this season,
and later in the year a third car will join the
team. Scott is hoping Albatec will take a major
step when it introduces some heavily revised
208s. The regulations are there to be used to
the maximum. There are certain areas where
our interpretation of whats written differs
from the FIAs thats common for all teams.
We are going though that process of getting
the clarity that the world championship will
bring. So we are holding off on building up
the new shells until we have that clarity.
Our next evolution of shell will be 100 per

The RX suspension setup follows the basic geometry developed for the R5 programme

cent compliant with the rules. We have three

shells one has started its build and the
others are waiting for that clarity to appear.
But before the end of the season there will
be a third car in the team.
But the Albatec car, while grabbing most
of the headlines due to its superstar driver,
will not grab all of them, thanks to the
arrival of the highly competitive works team.
Peugeot Sport has teamed up with the famous
Hansen rallycross team, for years the works
outfit of PSA sister company Citron. Team
Peugeot-Hansen combines the resources of
the Parisian firm and its motorsport engineers
at Velizy in the Ile-de-France.
Peugeot Sport is fully supporting Hansen,
says Famin. That team has all of the experience
with the titles it has won and the drivers it has
had. It was an obvious choice for us, but we

There are certain areas where our interpretation

of whats in the regulations differs from the FIAs
10 WORLD RALLYCROSS

are looking very closely at what Andy Scott is

doing with Albatec because he was the first to
use the 208. But we do not help him.
Hansen is building the car and we are
giving technical support. For example we
designed the body shell using the 208 T16 R5
rally car as a basis. But it has been adapted to
the RX specification. Our idea is to increase
the level of technical support until in the
medium term well be able to completely
design and build the RX Supercar and for the
Hansen team just to run the racing side.
The only similarity between the works 208
and the Albatec design beyond the base model
is the drivetrain. Both cars use the same ORECA
developed engine and Sadev transmission.
By using its pre-existing body shell, much
of the works Peugeots design was defined
by the Group-R car. Because of that we have
a transverse engine rather than longitudinal,
but even with the R5 as a basis its a little
complicated with the rules. There are the
rules that are written and then there is what is

Trackside development and fine tuning is at an intensity rarely seen outside F1

Albatecs car features a turbocharged 2.0-litre Peugeot four cylinder

engine tuned by ORECA, and boasts a star driver in Jacques Villeneuve
Hansen-Peugeot employs an adapted R5 shell, while Albatec is building from scratch on road car underpinnings

actually applied this is not the same thing.

However, I think we may be the only cars out
there that have a body shell that fully complies
with the FIA technical regulations, but the
dashboard is another story. RX has fewer
freedoms in some areas than R5 which is
strange, Famin continues. Fundamentally, the
car is not that different to the R5. Our future
developments are to push the RX rules to the
limit, which we have not yet done.
One area that has carried over from the
Rally car to the new RX car is the suspension.
While the two forms of motorsport place
different demands on a chassis, Famins
engineers found that the R5 car was well
suited in this area. Already the Group-R5
car was a big step for us compared to Super
2000, because we increased the travel a lot a
good basis for RX, Famin explains. We have to
change the setup of course, though geometry
is the same on both. At the start of the season
we are spending time working on getting
the right bars and dampers. We use an Ohlins

damper, but I will not tell you how it differs

from the R5 damper, other than telling you
that it does indeed differ!
The Peugeot project is clearly a long-term
commitment, and Famin is clear to emphasise
that his company is in Rallycross for the long
run. Its early in the project and for the time
being we have not really done much work
on the aero side of the car, he says. That is
yet to be done, but is certainly something we
will do there is much more to do there. We
have not planned to sell customer cars yet,
but that is not to say that we would not do it.
We are considering everything. I truly believe
that RX has a great future and we are building
something. Perhaps in future we could have a
series for the smaller specification 208s.
At the first round of the World
Championship, the works cars had the
edge on the Albatec versions, but the
Scottish team is hoping to get its own
back as the championship moves to more
familiar ground.

The Albatec entry features modifications from the 208 body shell
to elements such as the roll cage, subframes and chassis

WORLD RALLYCROSS 11

FORD ST MK 7 WRX

The rallycross stalwarts are well-represented

on the WRX grid, including a string of
entries based around the durable Fiesta ST
By SAM COLLINS

MAIN IMAGE: IMG

Ford vs
the world

Above: the Olsbergs MD entry features a four-cylinder, 16-valve engine, delivering 550bhp at 6400rpm
Right: in action at round 1 of the World Rallycross Championship in Montalegre, Portugal

ord arguably has the greatest history

of any brand in rallycross, so it is no
surprise to see a large number of its
products represented in the World
Rallycross Championship.
The most common designs wearing the
blue oval are the Fiesta ST Mk7s prepared by
Olsbergs MSE (OMSE) cars which compete in
both the World Championship and the North
American Global Championship. We believe
in the constant evolution of our vehicles to
make them faster every season, says OMSE

12 WORLD RALLYCROSS

team owner Andreas Eriksson. Were confident

in the Ford Fiesta ST platform and we expect to
extend our winning streak with Ford in 2014.
Starting life as standard production cars
straight out of the showroom, a huge amount
of work is put into turning what is a fairly
mundane hatchback into a 600bhp fourwheel drive competition car. It takes about
500 hours before painting to do the wheel
arches and convert them to four-wheel
drive, says OMSE technical director Stefan
Johansson. We use a longitudinal engine,

which is a little bit stronger in chassis terms,

and the gearbox options are better. We use a
Sadev, because they are good in rallycross
they make good stuff that works.
The 2-litre engine has been designed by
well-known Ford tuning specialists Mountune,
based in Essex, England. Developed from the
Ford Duratec production engine, the 2-litre
unit bears little resemblance to its production
car counterpart. The most obvious difference
is that it is turbocharged, a Mountune engineer
explained. It uses a Garrett turbo with external

We believe in the constant evolution of our

vehicles to make them faster for every season

wastegate, and a bespoke inlet manifold to

deal with the boost pressures that the engine
runs at. It has a 45mm restrictor which holds it
back a bit without it you would see 800bhp.
The internals are all new rods, cams, pistons
as you would expect. We do a lot of work on
the block and fit steel liners, so its a big task.
With the Mountune Duratec able to
accelerate the Fiestas very rapidly, something
needs to stop then equally quickly. The
challenge with brakes is interesting because
they dont have to work for a long time, but

they have to work very hard for a short time,

says Johansson. That said, the Alcon brakes
we have on this are not that different to WRC
specification. The discs and pads are different,
because we need to heat fast and grip directly.
Alcon make a good product.

Suspension development
The suspension was an area of significant
development for 2014, with OMSE Ford
running in both the World Championship
and the North American Global series. This

means using not only the spec Cooper Tires

product in the World Championship, but
also a radial Yokohama tyre in the other series.
Thats a big change for all the teams and
drivers, and OMSE dedicated a significant
amount of off-season testing to maximising
grip on both tarmac and gravel a challenge
unique to rallycross.
The team worked with partner Motegi
Racing to develop a lightweight, rallycrossspecific wheel designed to sit flush with the
car, decreasing the risk of broken wheels from
WORLD RALLYCROSS 13

FORD ST MK 7 WRX

Main picture: Ken Blocks Fiesta,

competing for Hoonigan Racing in three
rounds of the World Championship
Right: Blocks car features a transverse
engine tuned by French firm Pipo

TECH SPEC
OMSE Fiesta ST Mk7
Engine: Ford Duratec HE 2030cc Olsbergs MD Design. Four cylinders,
16 valves. Carillo conrods, JE-pistons, ARP-bolts. Camshaft Ultra
Motors. Olsbergs MD head. PWR intercooler. KN Air filter. Stainless
steel pipe with HJS-catalysator
Motor:
Power: 550bhp at 6400rpm
Torque: 820Nm at 4000rpm
Transmission: permanent four-wheel drive. Five-speed sequential
OMSE/MaKTraK gearbox with Alcon clutch
Suspension front: MacPherson struts with Ohlins dampers,
five-way adjustable. Adjustable OMSE top mounts. Adjustable
OMSE anti-roll bar in chrome-moly
Suspension rear: OMSE construction with double A-arms.
Ohlins dampers, five way adjustable. Adjustable OMSE anti-roll bar
in chrome-moly
Brakes Front: Alcon, 355mm ventilated discs with six piston
brake calipers
Brakes Rear: Alcon, 315mm ventilated discs with four piston calipers.
Balance beam brake. Hydraulic handbrake
Wheels: Motegi Racing rims (8in x 17in), BF Goodrich tires (8in x 17in)
Interior: steering wheel, six-point harness, bucket seat and
extinguisher from Sparco. Tachometer from Aim. Radio from Peltor
Dimensions
Length: 3959mm
Width: 1836mm
Wheelbase: 2489mm
Weight: 1300kg minimum, driver included
14 WORLD RALLYCROSS

contact. This years version reduces rotational

mass and is strengthened to handle the
unique demands of rallycross.
OMSE is one of only a few teams in RX
to have spent much time looking at the
aerodynamic package of the cars and has
partnered with Turkish firm AVITAS to develop
a number of plastic components for the
Fiestas. There has been some help from Ford
on the aero, says Johansson. The wing you
see now is really just like the M-Sport wing
from WRC, but we are working on a new
design. We will introduce it soon.

The cooling layout of the Fiesta sees the

radiator mounted at the rear of the car
standard practice in rallycross. The intercooler,
however, remains front mounted due to its
airflow requirements.
Meanwhile, OMSE is not the only company
preparing Fords for RX. The most famous
car of all in rallycross and perhaps one
of the most famous of the 21st century is the
Hoonigan Racing Division Ford Fiesta ST
RX43, otherwise known as Ken Blocks latest
whip. This unique car differs substantially
from the OMSE car, most obviously in that

CHAMPIONSHIP FOCUS

number of older Ford Focus models will also appear during the World Championship, though the
only full season entry with one is that of privateer Jos Jansen who has switched codes from the
European Late Model Championship stockcar series. The cars all feature Julian Godfrey-tuned engines.

it features a transverse engine, tuned by

French firm Pipo. Ford WRC specialists M-Sport
is responsible for the shell preparation. We
turned to M-Sport on this build for a multitude
of reasons, said team manager Derek Dauncey.
We learned a lot last year in Kens debut
GRC season, and we were able to take that
information, pass it along to the engineering
team at M-Sport and have them create an
absolute beast of a racecar.
That car is perhaps the most famous
currently competing in rallycross. It will appear
in three World Championship rounds.

Ken Block flips his car during the final heat at the first stop of the Red Bull Global Rallycross at Bushy Park Circuit, Barbados
WORLD RALLYCROSS 15

CITROEN DS3

Vive la

difference
Innovation is key in rallycross
and two teams have taken very
individual approaches to going
racing with the Citron DS3
By SAM COLLINS

Petter Solberg celebrates after the first round of the

2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship
at Montalegre, Portugal

16 WORLD RALLYCROSS

itron has been a mainstay of

rallycross for many years. The
AX, BX, Xsara and C4 models
were all regular sights in the top
category of the sport for many years, and
often campaigned by the pseudo works team
of Swede Kenneth Hansen. But with Hansen
joining Peugeot in 2014 and Citron turning
its attention to WTCC, its customer teams have
been left to go it alone.
Two outfits are campaigning Citron DS3s
in the full World Championship, neither of
which are based on the last Hansen Citron
Sbastien Loebs DS3 XS which contested (and
dominated) a single event in 2013. One team
is run by one of Loebs old rivals, Petter
Solberg, the 2003 World Rally Champion, and
the other is run by the leading family of British
Rallycross, the Dorans.
The two organisations have very different
approaches to car design and it provides

one of the most fascinating rivalries in the

World Championship. While the LD Citrons
are visually similar to those run by the works
team in the World Rally Championship, they
are anything but according to the teams lead
engineer, Toni Reunanen.
When we started this programme we
started started with an MTechnologies-built
DS3, but we modified that a lot, he says. There
is so much that has changed that there is
nothing left of the original car. We changed
the roll cage, subframes, arms, uprights,
engines and transmission. Using production
shells to build rallycross supercars is becoming
standard practice, initially as the small mostly
amateur teams did not have access to the
works designs, but today they have found
ways to exploit the open rulebook beyond the
scope of WRC chassis.

The shells on this years cars started life

as production cars that we strip and dip and
start again, but the next shells we will use
will be bought from Citron, adds Reunanen.
We get the standard body, put it in a jig
and change many things. There are now no
standard mounts between the suspension
and the original body its all new. By regulation
we have to use the same point, and our new
mounts are in those areas.
The dampers on the car are supplied by
Reiger, and while the LD engineers are cagey
about the exact specification, they concede
that they are not simple off-the-shelf units.
It is something slightly different to the
Reigers used by the Marklund VWs, Reunanen
says. We probably have special dampers,
but Im not admitting it!

WORLD RALLYCROSS 17

CITROEN DS3

Alcon brakes are common to both teams. This is a Solberg car. LD, meanwhile, claims that its discs have something special

We had planned to move to different brakes

but the lead times were too long, so the Alcon
caliper we are using is OK, its cost effective,
and it works. We have something special in the
discs that nobody else has, so while it looks
like everyone is using the same Alcon there is
actually a lot more going on.
One of the reasons that the LD DS3s look
rather like the works WRC versions is the fact
that some of the body components have been
carried over. The wings we run come from
the Citron WRC basically aerodynamics is
the big area in rallycross which is quite open
and underdeveloped, says Reunanen. As the
cars spend a lot of time sideways at relatively
low speeds, there is not much research
done. Theres a lot to gain there, but its really
expensive to do. Our wing is more or less just
a wing. The dimensions are limited, and we
cannot mount it like the WRC cars do either.
The DS3s must use the regulation PSA
group engine block, though LD has them
prepared by English tuner Julian Godfrey.
We are always finding new things to do
with him, like different turbos, says Reunanen.
It depends on the tracks on some of them
we just need pure power, and on others
driveability, so you need different turbo
chargers. You can use two turbos per event, so
it becomes like a setup tool.

Driveline choices

Polish driver Krzysztof Skorupski in one of the LD Motorsport Citron DS3s

Positioning the engines

longitudinally is old
technology. Perhaps
there is an advantage
it depends on the track

18 WORLD RALLYCROSS

The Finn has done a lot of work on

calculating the correct suspension geometry,
but it is not yet fully optimised. First we
calculated all of the roll centres, then we work
out what we have to do, says Reunanen. This
year we have new uprights and suspension
arms we had to improve the handling.
The size of the LD drivers is another variable.
Liam Doran is a tall solidly-built Englishman
while Derek Tohill is a slight Irishman. But
due to the DS3s compact design, Reunanen
doesnt see this as a problem. Driver size and
weight does not change the car that much,
because we are so far under the weight limit.
We still have to use the ballast.
The brakes, too, were also meant to be
something a little special, according to the
team but the season was upon them too fast.

The engine is mounted in a transverse position

and the near-universal Sadev transmission is
also employed. But the differences are in the
details, according to Reunanen. We use the
same Sadev housing as most other people,
but while it looks the same, its not the same.
The ratios, diffs, ramps and final drive are all
different. You do see some driver preferences
in how you set the diffs as well.
The installation of the transmission has
meant that in 2014 the LD Citrons do not
fully comply with the technical regulations.
Our cars are slightly outside the rules due to
a small cut in the chassis rail which we use to
accommodate the gearbox, says Reunanen.
But in 2013 it was allowed, and in 2015 it will
be allowed, but in 2014 the rules say that it is
not. It is not a problem.
The biggest obvious difference between
the LD Motorsport Citron and the Solberg
DS3s comes with the engine position. While
the English team has opted for the traditional
transverse position, Solbergs engineers have
gone for a longitudinal layout, something that
does not impress Reunanen.
Doing it longitudinally is old technology.
Perhaps there is an advantage it depends
on the track. We believe transverse is better,
others do not, there are big differences in what
you can achieve, but right now in terms of lap
time there is nothing in it. There is nothing the
same between our cars and the Solberg cars,
you dont want to know what I really think

CM

MY

CY

CMY

www.zomermotorsport.com
info@zomermotorsport.com
tel. 0031 (0)548 - 361385

a potential winner, from start to podium

ZomerMS_Adv_92,5x136_2014.indd 1

20-05-14 15:15

CITROEN DS3

Unlike the LD team cars, Solbergs Citron DS3s have their engines mounted longitudinally, requiring major surgery to the bulkhead area

about their design, but I think they are using

old technology. Perhaps there are those in this
paddock who know how far some other cars
are from the regulations.
Pernilla Solberg, Solberg team CEO and
wife of Petter, strongly disagrees that the
longitudinal layout is old tech, and argues that
it actually gives them a number of freedoms
in terms of car design. One of the biggest
advantages of the longitudinal layout is that

and he starts to reinforce the areas we are

allowed to change things, especially in order
to accommodate the engine, says Pernilla.
The Citron DS3s from the factory come
with a transverse engine, but we modify the
chassis to accept a longitudinal engine. We
open up the bulkhead, and put in a tunnel to
accommodate the gearbox and exhaust. The
roll cage is done by Ingvar. So when it gets to
us, its almost a rolling chassis.

In the WRC you could only use homologated parts

off the shelf. Here you can be more inventive
you can find more suppliers to do gearboxes.
You also have engine builders that prefer it. We
have a Swedish gearbox from a company called
Unic its a very good system from a good guy
who has been a friend of ours for a long time.
We like to have local suppliers, and many things
on our cars are made around where we live.
As is the case with the LD cars, the Solberg
Citrons are built up from production cars
rather than WRC shells, despite the team
having access to the works version from its
now defunct rallying programme. We start
from a totally bare shell, bare metal and we
take that to Ingvar Gunnarsson in Sweden
20 WORLD RALLYCROSS

The Solberg team is one of those that sits

between professional and amateur. Running
out of small premises at the family home, the
team is capable of running with the best in
the world and is revelling in the freedom of
the RX Supercar class. The thrill about this
sport is that you can build and design all of the
uprights and things yourself, adds Pernilla. In
the WRC where we were before, you could only
use homologated parts off the shelf. Here you
can be more inventive and do your own things.
Im really proud of our uprights. They are
really beautiful, with lots of small details that
are made locally. The dampers are from Holland

though, from Reiger, we also use Ohlins on one

car. We like to try different things but they are
both good. The most important thing is to have
suppliers willing to help.
The two Solberg DS3s do not only differ
in terms of the damper suppliers there are
a number of other subtle variations. The two
cars are not the same overall, says Solberg.
In terms of suspension, they have wishbones
that are slightly different lengths and positions.
Its the same concept but slightly different
detail. The engines in the cars are different
too one is done by Julian Godfrey, and then
we have Pipo in Petters car. Pipo now look
after both as it was silly to have two suppliers
in the awning, but Julian still provides parts.
We dont know if there is much performance
difference. We have steel blocks rather than
the aluminium blocks used by Loeb.
As is common throughout the RX field,
aerodynamic development in the Solberg cars
owes much to cars Petter Solberg has driven in
the past. The rear wing on the car is our own,
says Pernilla. Its Petters idea from rallying and
is inspired by the Subaru WRC. We have not
done CFD and wind tunnel work on it.
With more Citrons in the World Rallycross
field than any other brand, it seems certain
that they will continue to play a major role
in the 2014 season.

...FINE TUNED TO
MEET YOUR NEEDS!

Over 75 models of sports seats in our dedicated show room

Europes largest range of Harnesses, roll cages and safety equipment
Bespoke seats, trims and re-trimming services available
Specialist in-store service to ensure you pick the best seat to meet your needs.

Or visit: www.gsmotorsport.co.uk to learn

about all our products and services
GSM Performance Ltd
Unit 5, High Hazles Road, Cotgrave, Nottinghamshire, NG12 3GZ
T +44 (0)115 9893488 E sales@GSMPerformance.co.uk

www.gsmotorsport.co.uK

Championship Winning

able
Now avail
ticated
hly sophis
ig
h
d
n
a
t
suitable
s
a
rf
t System
if
h
This supe
s
le
d
d
a
er 170
ng PS3 P
es with ov
ik
rb
e
p
Gearshifti
u
ars and S
rs
for Racec
paramete
adjustable
PS3 System
Offering Fully Closed Loop Gearshifting for
both Racecars and Superbikes

VW POLO RX

Swedish entry
takes flight

Its a strong entry from Swedens Marklund Motorsport but

could its future already be threatened by a VW works team?
By SAM COLLINS

hen Volkswagen revealed its

World Rally Championship Polo
R model in 2011, it made no
mention of a rallycross project
but less than year later one surfaced.
Put together by the Swedish Marklund
Motorsport team, the Polo RX is quite different
to the car used in the WRC, and officially
the two have no relationship at all. We start
with a standard Polo shell, but it is supplied
directly from the VW factory and has never
been a road car, says Magnus Johnsson, one
of the key technical figures in the team. Ingvar
Gunnarsson Motorsport in Sweden does the

roll cage and mounting points. We then

built the rest ourselves. We are working
with VW Motorsport, but for the time being
we are doing all of the development ourselves
we will see what happens. If they wanted
to do more with us we would have to test to
see what is best. Maybe they would not be
better than Swedish!
One of the key differences between
the WRC Polo and the RX car is the engine
the works car features a transverse mounted
1.6-litre GRE engine, while the RX version
has a 2.0-litre longitudinal mounted unit.
We have a Volkswagen engine. Its actually

a 1.9-litre diesel block and then we have a

2.0-litre cylinder head from Volkswagen
too, says team boss Anton Marklund. My
engine man put that together and made
a fantastic machine. We run a turbo with a
restrictor, but the car still puts out 550bhp
and about 850Nm of torque. Its very strong
in the bottom of the rpm range, and then at
the top its very explosive. 0-60mph time is
pretty much two seconds, but its not geared
for a high top speed I think its only 180km/h.
With Volkswagen known to be waiting
in the wings (and actively supporting a
North American RX team) there are options
WORLD RALLYCROSS 23

VW POLO RX

The bodywork was produced in Ireland, while the composite elements, the roof,
and the floor all remaining from the base Volkswagen production car

As with many World Rallycross Supercar entries, the Marklund teams Polo is fitted with
Alcon brakes, with 355mm discs up front working with 17in wheels

The car features a longitudinally-positioned engine, in no small part down to the teams choice
of gearbox a Unic, made in Sweden. This is the same unit as seen in the Solberg entries

for the Marklund team to face in future,

especially with the engine. VW has the WRC
1.6 engine, and if we used that we could run
90kg lighter. We have not looked at that too
much yet, but its possible, adds Johnsson.
For now we prefer the 2.0-litre engine
as it gives better torque. But we may test the
1.6 in the future.
The main reason Johnsson claims that the
car has a longitudinal engine position is the
choice of gearbox and the teams desire to
remain largely Swedish. The transmission
really defines the engine position, and by
going longitudinal we had much more
choice with the gearbox. We use a five-speed
sequential from Unic, the same as the
Solberg car, he explains. The engines are
done in Sweden, and we try to make it all
Swedish, including the uprights!

Of course it was not possible to make

the whole car Scandinavian it is after all a
Volkswagen. So there are some familiar names
to be found on the car. The bodywork comes
from Ireland. The composite parts, the roof and
the floor remain from the original car, plus a
few other bits, but pretty much everything else
is changed somehow. The electronic system is
from Cosworth, we have a Pectel ECU, and the
dash is a Cosworth electronic dashboard with
a Volkswagen logo in the middle, which
is pretty sick looking. Next to it there are
knobs on the top right to turn depending on
the weather conditions: dry, damp, wet or
super-wet. The bottom knob makes a small
difference for the start with the rpm.
As with seemingly all RX Supercars, the
Polo features brakes from English firm Alcon.
We use the Alcon brakes as that is what we

We use a five-speed sequential gearbox

from Unic, the same as the Solberg car
24 WORLD RALLYCROSS

The team are particularly pleased with the Cosworth electronic dashboard, which boasts
the Volkswagen logo in the middle. The car also features a Pectel ECU

had in the old cars and they seem to work well.

We have a good relationship with them. In
the front weve got big 355mm diameter disc
brakes, and we need 17in wheels to fit them in.
One of the key challenges of producing the
2014 specification Polo is working within the
rules, which Johnsson does not think are really
fit for purpose. The regulations were written
for 20 years ago and they have put in many
small changes, and the way they are written
is hard to understand. But one challenge is
weight the minimum is 1300kg with the
driver, so you want to stay close to that. You
need to calculate stuff like having the washer
fluid in, which is about 10 kilos. So I think with
this car we run at about 1335kg.
With Volkswagen known to be keen on
running its own World Rallycross programme,
the future of Marklunds project is unclear. It
seems highly likely that VW will to a greater or
lesser degree become involved, but will the
Germans accept doing things the Swedish
way? Only time will tell.

Steel stockholder supporting key areas of

the Aerospace & Motorsport industries

Over 350,000ft of tube held in stock. Full

range of 4130 & Aerocom 33 available

NOW
STOCKING
>> BS S515
>> EN14
>> Aluminium
>> Stainless steel
GENERAL & SALES ENQUIRIES

02476 645 551

sales@aerocommetals.co.uk

www.aerocommetals.co.uk
Unit B Grovelands Industrial Estate Longford Rd Coventry CV7 9ND

SUPER 1600 AND TOURING CARS

Your RX support acts

Throughout the World Rallycross calendar, the main
event will be surrounded by even more exciting racing
By SAM COLLINS

he World Rallycross Championship is

dominated by the open engineering
of the Supercar class, but at most of
the events on the calendar there will
also be some supporting classes on the bill.
Two of these Super 1600 and Touring Cars
are not that different from those running in
the top category, at least visually. Both classes
have almost identical technical regulations
relating the chassis to the Supercars, although
conversion to four-wheel drive is not on the
cards as both the Super 1600s and the Touring
Cars are for two-wheel drive models only. As
the name suggests, the Super 1600 category
is for cars with normally aspirated engines up
to 1600cc. The cars must also be front-wheel
drive, while the Touring Car division is for
rear-wheel drive cars with normally aspirated
engines up to 2000cc.

26 WORLD RALLYCROSS

The Super 1600 class is dominated by

smaller European hatchbacks such as the
Peugeot 208 and Skoda Fabia, while the Touring
Car class may look more like supercars they
are still only rear-wheel drive, with Ford and
Peugeot mixing it with the Skodas.
In both classes the cars must be mass
produced and homologated in Group A or
Group N, though there is a allowance for mass
market but non-homologated models to take
part. All of the cars must be Type-approved and
be four seaters (or more), with a body shell made
of any material produced in high quantities.
For Touring Cars that have a longitudinal
engine as standard, this can be retained
and positioned as standard or relocated as
long as 38 per cent of the block is located
ahead of the centreline of the front wheels.
Transverse engines, on the other hand, can be

fitted anywhere in the engine bay. The water

radiator can also be moved to the rear of the
car standard practice in the Supercar class but
banned in the Super 1600s.
In both Super 1600 and Touring Cars variable
valve timing systems are outlawed as well as
variable trumpets, even if they feature on the
original engine. In order to control costs, there
are some tough material restrictions as well.
Titanium alloys are not permitted, except in
connecting rods, valves, valve retainers and heat
shields, while the use of magnesium alloy is not
permitted in moving parts at all.
The use of any ceramic component is
forbidden though possibly not coatings
while carbon composites are restricted to
clutches and non-structural parts such as covers
and ducts. Electronics are restricted too, driveby-wire throttles are outlawed even if fitted to

Both Super 1600 and

Touring Cars have
almost identical
chassis regulations,
but crucially they
are for two-wheel
drive models only

IMG

the base model, and only a direct mechanical

linkage between throttle pedal and engine
load control device is allowed.
In the Touring Car class, most of the
suspension rules are shared with Supercars,
but in Super 1600, cars can be modified to
use MacPherson strut, and some of the
restrictions applied to Supercars and Touring
Cars do not apply in this area.
In terms of transmission, there is much
similarity in the written rules, but in physical
terms things are very different as the touring
cars have to be converted to rear-wheel drive,
while the S1600s must all be front-driven.
In both classes, the gearbox is free,
but traction control is banned, and limited
slip differentials must be purely mechanical
though if homologated viscous clutches
can be used.
WORLD RALLYCROSS 27

SUPERCAR LITES

A bright lite future

As rallycross racings appeal grows in Europe and the US, a new

vehicle and series have been created to develop young drivers
By DON TAYLOR

allycross is positioning itself as

the motorsport of the future, and
the Supercar Lites cars are set to
become the series standard training
equipment for aspiring drivers.
At least, thats the way it sounds when
you listen to the highly energetic Andreas
Eriksson, the founder of the Supercar Lites
series, CEO of OlsbergsMSE, and a team
owner with Supercars in both the Global
Rallycross (GRC) and the European Rallycross
Championship (ERC) series.
With the growing interest of auto
manufacturers in rallycross, and their support of
major programmes in the series, Eriksson saw
the need to develop the future driving stars to
fill those seats. And he saw a way to help those
future stars to develop their skills by providing a
cheaper to run, but still fast and extreme car, in
which to learn the right way to drive 4WD.
The OMSE Supercar Lite is specially
designed for that, and now my vision is
working in real life, he adds.

For any aspiring racers,

learning in a Supercar is
prohibitively expensive
28 WORLD RALLYCROSS

For those readers not familiar with Eriksson,

he is a former Swedish rally champion and
WRC driver who has operated his rally car
business in Sweden for many years, first
as MSE (Motor Sport Evolution), and since
2009 as OlsbergsMSE, or OMSE, reflecting
his partnership with the Swedish industrial
company Olsbergs Group, in Nynashamn,
south of Stockholm. Eriksson knows all about
the building, developing and driving of rally
cars, and now has additional resources.
Since July of this year, a series for his
cars has been up-and-running as a support
event for the Supercars in the US-based
GRC series. That venture has already produced
some exciting racing, with invaluable exposure
in the internationally broadcast ESPN X Games
in Los Angeles in August.
Eriksson has signed up young, aspiring
drivers for his first run of 10 spec racers,
including a 15-year-old veteran of American
off-road racing. These are drivers who may
have had visions of climbing the ladder in
road racing, or in the oval track world, but who
now see the popularity of rallycross racing
increasing on both sides of the Atlantic.
Participating in such a format makes
perfect sense to them, as it does to the next
generation of fans. In traditional racing

formats, one must wait hours days, even

to see who wins. Yet rallycross heat winners
are determined in minutes. Thats critical
for holding the attention of the digital
generation, as is providing intense side-by-side
action of the sort commonly seen in rallycross,
a sport many of its fans compare to a video
game brought to life. Its small wonder that
the sport has attracted interest from drinks
companies as major sponsors.
For those wanting to learn how to compete
in the top level of rallycross, Eriksson felt
that there were no suitable options in the
US. Learning in a Supercar is prohibitively
expensive and he sought change.
Erikssons objectives for the clean-sheet-ofpaper car design were clear: to closely match
the handing properties of the Supercars while
lowering the power and cost. Making them
spec cars would prevent deeper pockets from
buying more speed. The focus was to be firmly
on the driver learning experience.
From the beginning, Eriksson understood
fundamentally that the cars had to be allwheel drive, and have braking and suspension
systems with the Supercars feeling and
response. To help design and tool up the cars
for production, he enlisted another partner
Avitas. The Turkish company perhaps best

known as an automotive parts supplier

had produced the composite body panels
for Erikssons Supercars.
I worked with Avitas on other projects
earlier they are great and fun to work with,
he explains. They were building a low level,
2WD car, Control 2 for Turkey, and asked
me for advice and assistance to develop that
car. I looked at it and helped them to finish
it, but decided to do a completely new
design incorporating 4WD with them, to get
to where we are today.
The result, the Supercar Lite, referred
to as the Control 4, is a collaboration by
Avitas and OMSE. Avitas builds the chassis
and OMSE does the rest, installing brakes,
engine, transmission, etc, says Eriksson. Both
Avitas and OMSE are extremely dedicated
to make this a huge success globally. The
investment we made is high. He is extremely
confident that it will pay off.
With the first dozen cars built, and since
the GRC series races are primarily in the
US, OMSE uses its GRC Supercar shop in
southern California as the base for Lites
racing operations. Its located near Los
Angeles, in Huntington Beach, home to many
neighbouring performance companies.
Responsibility for running the GRC Lites
program day-to-day falls to Brad Manka,
the lone American on this end of the
international venture. But Mankas background
in a diverse number of US racing series
gives him great familiarity with the tracks,
suppliers, travel, and other common issues
that the team will encounter Stateside. He
oversees the crew for maintenance, setup,
transport, and the repair of the vehicles.
The idea was to build something that we
could run for a full season and not have to
worry about rebuilding engines and gearboxes
after every round, Manka explains.
One objective was to keep the major
components of the same quality and
robustness as those found in the OMSE
Supercars. According to Manka: Everything is
overbuilt, down to the brakes, which are the
same as we have on the Supercar. The Sadev
gearbox is the same too.

From a driver safety

point of view, the
cars are extremely
well-equipped
four bolts per side. At the bottom, they are
attached with welded-in square tubing, which
is cut when replacing the clip, preserving the
roll cage/centre section of the car. Separately,
a cage above the engine bolts off to remove
the engine, and another bolted-on structure
protects the transmission.

The 310bhp OMSE/Mountune Ford Duratec-based engine has an 8200rpm

red line and is mid-mounted in the welded tube 4WD chassis

From a driver safety point of view, the cars are

extremely well-equipped. They come with
an FIA-approved Sparco seat, six-point belts,
and driver-side window nets. At least one
driver has been allowed to change his seat to
one as good as, or better than, the original.
Driver Austin Dyne prefers to use the Randy
LaJoie, NASCAR-style seat, SFI 39.1 approved,
with elaborate shoulder support and head
surrounds. As in all major racing series today,
drivers are required to wear a HANS device.

a Ford programme they are open to other

brands bodies being used, for example in
the case where another auto manufacturer
has a driver development programme.
They could then maintain alignment of the
driver with his or her supporting brand.
Eriksson promises there will be more body
models coming in 2014.
Dimensionally the cars are similar to
GRC Supercars, although slightly narrower.
The wheelbase is the same as the Fiesta, at
2489mm. The competition weight minimum
for GRC events is 2625lb (1190kg) with driver.
Assuming a driver weight of 170lb (77kg),
ballast of about 25lb (11kg) is required.

Chassis

Body

Suspension

The vehicle was 100 per cent CAD-designed,

and included full FEA stress analysis of the roll
cage. Making the chassis all tubular steel, and
not based on a production unibody, saved
production time and cost, as well as making
component accessibility and repair that much
simpler. The CDS roll cage was submitted for
FIA approval the GRC is sanctioned by the
SCCA, who generally follow FIA regulations.
Chassis clips are designed for easy
replacement of the front and rear structures.
The welded tube structures are bolted with
plates on to the upper area of the cowl
structure in front, and to the firewall in the rear

Cladding the tube chassis is carbon/Kevlar

composite bodywork, capturing the basic
shape of the Ford Fiesta. Steel Fiesta doors are
used on the drivers side, but the rest of the shell
is all-new composite. The production Fiesta
windshield and cowl area helps define the body,
and keeps it production in appearance.
With top speeds generally less than
75mph, aero development was not given
high priority. The wing design is roughly the
same as that used on the Fiesta Supercar, but
it has been slightly narrowed.
Although the cars are currently styled
like Ford Fiestas, OMSE insists that it is not

The Supercar Lites suspension consists of

double A arms front and rear, with rocker
operated, coil over shock units, Eibach springs
and Ohlins dampers. The steering rack is
assisted by DC Electronics power system,
while sway bars with plenty of adjustment
complete the arrangement.
In the spirited competition of rallycross
events, front suspension is vulnerable to
damage, and replacement of bent arms is
common. Early on, when OMSE saw that the
lower arm attachment tabs were pulling out,
pick-up point reinforcements were welded
into all cars to limit damage to only the arms.

Driver safety

WORLD RALLYCROSS 29

SUPERCAR LITES

Rallycross is the future, and more young people will be doing this
Suspension travel of 270mm is sufficient
for jumping as long as drivers are not landing
on the nose or tail of the car, notes Manka.
GRC courses tend to typically have taller jumps
than those in the ERC.
Thanks to nose landings, another running
design change was made. Initially the front
body hood, fenders, facia, and valance
was one piece. OMSE found they needed to
separately mould the lower front, to prevent
the need to replace the whole front body
piece when only the vulnerable front valance
was damaged. A 1in square steel tube was
added behind the composite section, with
sacrificial attachments and 8mm bolts, so
that when cars do land heavily on the nose,
impact energy is absorbed and damage is not
telegraphed to the chassis.

Powertrain
Putting out around half of the power of
the 600hp GRC Supercars, the engines are
a joint development between OMSE and
David Mountains Mountune Racing, located
in Essex, England. The block of the 2.5-litre,
four-cylinder Ford Duratec is the starting point,

TECH SPEC
OMSE Supercar Lite
Engine
Type: Ford Duratec block, with Mountune/OMSE head,
intake manifold, pan, valvetrain
Cubic capacity: 2400cc
Number of valves: 16
Position: longitudinal, mid-mounted
Number of cylinders: 4
Maximum power: 310bhp
Torque: 220 ft lbs
Maximum revs: 8200rpm
Top Speed: 75mph, as currently geared
Transmission
Type: transaxle, permanent 4WD
Gearbox: Sadev BV5 4x4 central transaxle, six-speed sequential
Clutch: Alcon, 2 plate

altered by an OMSE/Mountune-designed
cylinder head, intake manifold, oil pan, and
rotating assemblies, while the cam cover reads
Mountune, not Ford. AEM Electronics supplies
the Infinity Electronic Control Unit.
Reduced in displacement to 2.4-litres
and converted to dry sump, the units crank
out a consistent 310hp, and have their redline
set at 8200rpm. The engine is longitudinally
mounted ahead of the rear axle line. All
engines for the Lites like those for OMSEs
Supercars come from the UK. But Mountune
is also looking at opening a facility in
California, which might change that.
To transmit the power, a Sadev transaxle
uses the same robust gears and cogs as the
Supercars. The system provides permanent
four-wheel drive acting through front and
rear limited slip differentials. At the front,
the drive shafts run through the suspension
pushrod assembly. The six-speed sequential
shifting action is controlled by a centrally
mounted lever, not paddles.
Slowing the car is the job of the large,
four piston Alcon brake system. These feature
330mm diameter vented steel disks.

Chassis tuning
Although the cars are meant to be identical,
drivers do have some control over setup.They
have a say beforehand in shock and sway
bar settings, ride height, tyre pressure, and
alignment. They cannot change springs, but
can adjust the rocker bellcrank ratio to make
the spring rate more linear or progressive.
Once inside the car, brake bias is all the drivers
can adjust. That keeps it as much about the
driver as we can, and not somebody with a
bigger chequebook trying to buy the parts to
go faster, Manka says.
Electronic data acquisition is accomplished
via the AIM Dash. Connected to the ECU, it

monitors the lambdas, temps and pressures.

AEM has built a software log book to provide
OMSE with a history of data for all engines, in
case questions come up regarding equality of
engine performance between cars.

Ownership
Drivers can lease or buy the cars, all of which
are maintained, repaired and transported by
OMSE, providing arrive and drive convenience.
Another option, coming into play next year, is
for a driver/team to purchase the car and do
the maintenance themselves.
You can buy your own car and take it
home tomorrow, says Manka. To run your own
team can cost just $185,000.
On the subject of teams tinkering with the
cars, Manka was confident that not much could
go undetected. Its the tech inspectors job to
determine that they havent been tampered
with. The engine and gearbox are sealed. The
teams cant get into the ECU. We have fixtures
to check suspension pick-up points.
In the end, with the Lites, it becomes the
drivers skills that are more important than the
final, fine tweaking of the car, emphasising the
series role as a driver development school.

The future
With the 2013 GRC Lite season complete and
with more customers in line, Eriksson sees a
bright, global future.
The car works great it is homologated
and prepared for FIA rules, he says. In 2014,
we are starting a new series in Scandinavia
with STCC that looks to be good. This is the
second series, with more to come. I have
several countries interested, plus schools, and
other interesting programmes. Rallycross is the
future, and more young people will be doing
this professionally in the future. We will have
the future driver stars coming from Lites.

Chassis
Frame: welded steel tube frame
Bodywork: carbon/Kevlar composite
Suspension/brakes/steering
Suspension: double wishbones and pushrod-rocker arm spring/
damper actuation at all corners
Springs: Eibach coil
Dampers: Ohlins TTX44 twin tube progressive
Wheel travel: 270mm
Anti-roll bars: front and rear
Steering: rack and pinion, with DC Electronics power steering assist
Brakes: hydraulic double circuit brake system with Alcon one piece,
four piston, light alloy calipers
Brake discs: ventilated steel
Diameter (front): 330mm
Diameter (rear): 330mm
Wheels: Motegi forged aluminum, 8in x 17in
Tyres: Cooper molded rallycross
Dimensions
Length: 3800mm
Width: 1800mm
Wheelbase: 2489mm
Weight: 2625lb. including driver
Fuel tank: 20 litres
30 WORLD RALLYCROSS

Steel doors for the Fiesta-based Supercar Lite are taken from the road car

We Never Lose a Race.

As the spec ECU supplier for the Global Rallycross SuperCar Lites (GRC Lites), World Rallycross
SuperCar Lites (RX Lites) and Rallycross SuperCar Lites Scandinavia Series, the opportunity for
controlling the engines and sub systems of these potent vehicles helps us do our part in advancing
the exciting Motorsport of Rallycross. And while the real winners stand on the podium after each
event, it is why we feel like we never lose a race.

The Infinity ECU is built around a latest-generation 200MHz

automotive processor, and is capable of processing 400 MIPS.
VE-based tuning model
Multi and flex fuel capable
Programmable DBW
Programmable VVC

Data logging up to 64GB

Programmable Boost Control
Programmable Traction Control
Sealed enclosure

Wideband UEGO Controllers

Water/Methanol Injection
Performance Gauges
Data Loggers
Fuel Delivery
Ignition
Sensors

AEM Performance Electronics

2205 W 126th Street, Unit A, Hawthorne, CA 90250
Phone: 310-484-2322 | Fax: 310-484-0152
email: sales@aemelectronics.com
www.aemelectronics.com

PERFORMANCE ELECTRONICS

Some AEM Performance Electronics products may be used solely on vehicles used in sanctioned competition which
may never be used upon a public road or highway, unless permitted by specific regulatory exemption. Visit
aemelectronics.com for more information.

SAAB 9-3 RALLYCROSS

Heavyweight
contender
From the Racecar archives
Per Eklunds rallycross car was
a full-size Saab 9-3 saloon.
Here, we shed
some weight on
the matter
By TIM WHITTINGTON

t a time when mid-range base

cars such as the ubiquitous Ford
Focus are coming under pressure
from a new breed of Supercars
built on supermini platforms Skoda Fabia
and Ford Fiesta, to name but two Per Eklund
has eschewed the less is more trend and
based his new rallycross challenger on Saabs
four-seater 9-3 Aero saloon.
Eklund has strong links to Saab 40 years
ago he began his career driving a two-stroke
Saab 9-3. Together with compatriot Stig
32 WORLD RALLYCROSS

Blomqvist he formed half of Saabs legendary

1970s works team, and now hes back with the
manufacturer as sporting ambassador and
running a factory-blessed rallycross outfit.
Eklund returned to rallycross full-time
in 1993 and ran Subarus until 1997 before
returning to the Saab fold, first with a 900, and
then with the 9-3 coup which superseded it
and which he used in ever more developed
form until the end of 2004.
While Saab has recognised Eklunds private
team and supplied help where it could, the

new 9-3 Aero is the first time that the Swedish

manufacturer has contributed significantly
to the development of the car. In fact it only
homologated the car in order to facilitate
Eklunds use of it.
The FIAs technical regulations for a Division
One Rallycross car impose many restrictions
on the amount of modification that can be
done to the production bodyshell in order to
accommodate suspension, transmission and
engine. In creating the new car, Eklunds team
was able to work with design and development

Saab did all the computer

simulations and gave us the
design we just had to make it

engineers at Saab in Trollhattan, Sweden to

package these major items to maximum effect.

Packing it in
We had a bodyshell here and fixed everything
to it so that it was about right, says Eklund.
The engine, so the transmission would fit
and the bonnet would close, the suspension
roughly where we needed it that kind
of thing. We did the same with the body,
stretched it out very slightly to cover the
wheels and then took this car to Trollhattan.

Saab designed the suspension

geometry, with the benefit of its specialist
computer design and simulation software,
and Eklunds squad then built the car
around that specification. In charge of
building the car was Eklunds son, Per-Anders:
It was a very good experience to work with
Saab on this car, he says. With the old car
we worked out the suspension the best we
could, but with this one Saab did computer
simulations and gave us the design we
just had to make it. But the assertion that they

merely had to make the suspension according

to the design seriously belittles Eklund Jrs
role in this department, however for the
2004 season he converted the old 9-3 from
MacPherson struts to a double wishbone setup
of his own design.
Having proven the worth of the
arrangement on the old car, many
components have been carried over to the
new 9-3 Aero. The fabricated uprights are of
Prodrive SWRT origin, but modified by Eklund
to work with its wishbones.
WORLD RALLYCROSS 33

SAAB 9-3 RALLYCROSS

A comprehensive rollcage was built by Swedish company Rally Produkter

Garrett T03 turbocharger breathes through a regulation 45mm restrictor

Anti-roll bars are used front and rear, the

front running beneath the engine and picking
up from a drop link off the top wishbone, while
the rear connects to the bottom of the hub.
Ohlins coilover spring/damper units are
used all round, the remote reservoir, three-way
adjustable items picking up the top wishbone
of the front suspension where a fabricated
turret moves the top pick-up point in towards
the centre of the car and slightly rearward of
the original production top mount.
The rear suspension features an upper
wishbone mounted to the rear chassis
rail, with parallel bottom links that mount
from the tubular subframe that carries
the rear differential, and a radius arm link
forward to the chassis.

The ceiling on power

appears to have settled
at around 550bhp
Here the dampers run at less of an angle,
the lower end mounted on the hub, the upper
pick-up connecting with the huge rollcage
structure within the car.
At the front there are 315mm Alcon vented
and grooved brake discs, the rear carrying
similar 300mm versions with four-pot AP
calipers all round. Eklund also has the option to
increase brake size to a maximum of 350mm,
and it tipped the scales at a portly 1273kg.
Wheels are 17in x 9in Speedline with
Kumho Ecsta S700 220/650 R17 radials or
Avon 9.0/25.0-17 crossply rallycross tyres.
34 WORLD RALLYCROSS

Carbon fibre transmission tunnel houses hydraulic handbrake, cut-off switches and gearshift for the Prodrive box

Eklund is one of Kumhos contracted drivers,

but has the freedom to run other makes of
tyres where necessary. While most in the
sport accept that radial tyres will eventually
prove to be better, the general consensus
is also that they are not yet as consistently
reliable as the proven crossply.
The positioning of the engine and
gearbox was also decided by Saab design,
although the use of a Prodrive-produced
gearbox with integral front differential was
a limiting factor. Getting this into the car
and allowing the driveshafts to work at a
reasonable angle means the engine is a
long way forward, almost entirely ahead
of the front axle line.
The engine itself is carried over from
the old car, but Eklund Jr is keen that the
team should switch to a newer unit in the
future: This old engine is OK its strong and
we know it, but it has an iron block. We can
use the [GM Ecotec] engine that this car is
produced with and it has an alloy block which
is much better for weight, especially as the
engine is so far forward in this car.
Helping to fuel Eklund Jrs enthusiasm for

the Ecotec is the knowledge that Saab brand

owner, General Motors, is achieving great things
with the Ecotec in production-based drag
racing classes. The production Ecotec 2.2-litre
block and head castings, when fitted with steel
cylinder liners and reduced to 2.0-litre capacity
is, with the aid of a turbocharger and methanol
fuel, capable of delivering a reliable 900+bhp.
General Motors has done the development
work. The engine is strong enough for what we
need and lots of the parts are available to buy,
Id like to have the Ecotec in the car for next year,
says Per-Anders. For now, however, the team
is pressing on with the old iron-block motor,
prepared by independent tuner Trollspeed.
The 2047cc, four-cylinder motor uses
bespoke 92mm pistons, connecting rods
and 77mm stroke crankshaft. It is force-fed
by a Garrett T04 turbocharger fitted with the
regulation 45mm inlet restrictor.
A Gems system is used to provide
electronic control and data logging functions,
Trollspeeds Tommy Karlsson paying particular
attention to the temperature of each cylinder
but allowing that the engine is fully measured.
There is an anti-lag system to improve

Electronic control units unusually mounted in the passenger footwell area

Rear suspension has a radius arm linking it forward to the chassis

and dampers mounted direct to the cage. Brakes are by Alcon

The boot houses fan-cooled water radiator and multiple catch tanks and reservoirs

throttle response, but artificially maintaining

inlet pressure brings its own concerns and
the magnesium polonium is fitted with two
security valves that dump excessive pressure.
With the water radiator despatched to the
boot, a very large intercooler, with two electric
fans, is mounted in front of the engine.
These days there is little to choose between
frontline rallycross engines. Four cylinders and
a shade over 2.0-litres is the accepted way
to go, and with that 45mm restriction on the
volume of air going into the motor, the ceiling
on power appears to have settled at around
550bhp. The Trollspeed Saab is certainly
competitive, its 540bhp matched with 570lb ft
of torque. The upside of the restrictor, besides
that mountain of torque, is that power is now
delivered across a wider rev range the Saab
has a power band from 4200rpm to 8000rpm,
with a maximum of 9000rpm. The greatest
difference in engine specs is that the Saab, in
common with the front-running Ford engines,
has a shorter stroke than the Citron, Peugeot,
Skoda and Hyundai engines which are
generally based on more modern blocks.
The Prodrive gearbox is currently used in

four-speed configuration, although it can be

used in six-speed form if necessary. Active
transmissions are not allowed and the box
Eklund uses is based on the last of the passive
WRC-type transmissions. This also has the
advantage that it is fairly robust: WRC gearboxes
are getting smaller and I dont think the gears
are strong enough for rallycross. The older ones
were bigger, but still I have bigger drop gears
made to use in this gearbox, says Eklund. While
the car uses a hydraulic centre diff, the front
and rear differentials are of mechanical platetype operation, as demanded by the technical
regulations. Eklund is also experimenting with
a locked rear diff, which he feels works with the
long wheelbase 9-3, and which is almost 10kg
lighter than the plate differential.

Body beautiful
The four-door shell is clothed in a mix of OE
and carbon fibre panels produced by Saabs
prototype engineers. The regulations call
for the original drivers door to be retained
here trimmed with a carbon fibre door
card and the Saab currently also has its
production aluminium bonnet. The rear doors

are moulded into the rear quarter panels in

a large single piece panel and the passenger
door is nicely executed with inner and outer
mouldings. The overall size of the new 9-3
means that the front and rear wings are
stretched only a barely discernible amount to
cover the wheels. OE bumpers are used front
and rear. There are Kevlar liners inside the front
wheel arches and a composite bootlid that
carries an understated spoiler, trimmed with
a wooden Gurney flap. It doesnt look much
against the wings on the WRC cars, says Eklund
Jr, but Saab made it in the wind tunnel and it
works. It is also important for us that the car

It is very important for

us that the car looks
like an ordinary Saab
looks like an ordinary Saab.
The rollcage, which seems to reach into
every corner of the car, is by Swedish company
Rally Produkter and, thanks to the available
space in the bigger saloon, the inside is slightly
less cramped than usual for this sort of car.
The transmission tunnel is clad in carbon
fibre and carries the handbrake as well as
the conventional H-pattern gearshift for the
Prodrive box. Regulations require production
dash trim to be retained, and attached to this
is the Gems digital dash as well as a raft of
control switches. The engine management
and data logging hardware is mounted in
the passengers footwell.
The latest AP Racing pedal box is
WORLD RALLYCROSS 35

SAAB 9-3 RALLYCROSS

The anti-lag system has two plenum-mounted valves to release excess pressure from the car

Composite bootlid mounts widened rear wing with wooden Gurney flap, developed in the Saab wind tunnel

installed in the drivers side: I think that AP

had only made about eight of them when
we got ours. Per just kept asking AP if he
could have one, and eventually they gave in!

TECH SPEC
Saab 9-3
Chassis: Saab 9-3 Aero saloon
Bodywork: Saab
Engine: Saab, tuned by Trollspeed
Number of cylinders: four
Displacement: 2047cc
Valve operation: double overhead camshafts
Sparkplugs per cylinder: one
Power: 540bhp/780Nm torque
Transmission: four or six-speed Prodrive H-pattern, mechanical
front and rear differentials, hydraulic centre diff
Suspension: wishbone arrangement designed by Saab Steering
with Prodrive PAS
Data acquisition: Gems
Brakes: Alcon 315mm (F) and 300mm (R) vented and grooved
discs. AP four-pot calipers
Wheels: 17in Speedline
Tyres: 17in x 8in, Kumho radial or Avon crossply, hand grooved
Dimensions:
Wheelbase: 2675mm
Front track: 1790mm
Rear track: 1790mm
Weight: 1273kg
36 WORLD RALLYCROSS

Per-Anders recalls.
To the rear, the bulkhead/firewall between
the cockpit and boot is carbon fibre-coated
aluminium honeycomb, while the majority
of space within the boot is given over to a
large radiator and twin electric fans. Fresh
air is drawn from NACA ducts in the rear
doors and hot air is vented through a large,
mesh-covered hole cut into the vertical part
of the bootlid. The boot also houses the drysump oil tank and an oil cooler with electric
fan, as well as the filler for the fuel tank, brake
and clutch fluid reservoirs and a header tank
for the cooling system.
Thanks in part to a campaign led by Eklund
during 2004, the minimum weight for a
Division One Rallycross car has increased from
1120 to 1200kg for the 2005 season. Eklunds
reasoning in proposing the increase was that
cutting weight from modern series production
bodyshells is time-consuming and therefore
costly. At a time when the cars already
consume up to 3000 hours to build, he argued
that the increase would help other drivers get
into the class. It did not escape the attention
of his rivals that he would be building a new
Saab, or that Saab with a reputation for

The Saab features a state-of-the-art

(for the time) AP Racing pedal box

building cars laden with safety features also

build relatively heavy cars.
Per-Anders Eklund believes there is
weight to come out of the car the radiator
and intercooler are bigger than absolutely
necessary and so far it has been unnecessary
to use the fans on the radiator. When most
other front-running cars are ballasted to meet
the 1200kg minimum, Eklunds squad really
need to shave that extra 73kg more than five
per cent of the total weight of the new car.
But the new car is already proving
competitive. The team managed a fleeting
appearance at a press function to launch
the 2005 Swedish Rallycross Championship,
in which Eklund is defending champion,
and a couple of hours in a private test session
before leaving its Arvika base for the
2000km journey to France for the opening
round of the European championship. From
there it was further west to Portugal for
round two the following weekend. Despite
being forced to use the events as extended
test sessions, Eklund scored valuable
championship points in both outings.
The car is too heavy, but we built it strong
and safe, says Eklund. The car needs to be
good enough to last through all these events,
only the hard guys live to the end!
Eklund Motorsport has a second 9-3 shell
almost fully prepared and is looking at ways to
trim some weight from it before completing
the build of this second full car.
Barring accidents, a front-line rallycross
car typically has an active life of two to three
seasons and, realistically, Eklund is not going
to be in any position to challenge for the
European title this year. Although having said
that, it would be a poor year for him if he didnt
get an event win along the way.
This feature originally ran in the September
2005 issue of Racecar Engineering, V15 N9

INTERVIEW - MARTIN AYANI

Show
business

The man behind the new FIA World Rallycross

Championship tells us why he believes the sport
is set for a bright and competitive future
By MIKE BRESLIN

f there was ever a motorsport that

was right for the instant-fix age in
which we live, it has to be rallycross.
Short and sharp races, spectacular
action, powerful yet identifiable cars, and
now even big name drivers rallycross ticks
all the boxes. On top of that its a sport that
was made for TV literally, in fact. When you
add one of the worlds best events promoters
into the mix, and FIA world championship
status, then its easy to see why rallycross is
very much on the up.
Rallycross was conceived in the UK
in 1967 as a way to fill short TV slots on
Saturday afternoons, but it never really

FIA World Rallycross Championship boss Martin Anayi

38 WORLD RALLYCROSS

grew too far beyond those original modest

ambitions. Then two things happened:
Global Rallycross in the US grew out of
the action-sports X Games phenomenon,
while at around the same time International
Management Group (IMG) started to look
for a way it could repeat the success it
had had with motorcycles with the FIM
Speedway World Championships in the
four-wheeled arena.

Covering the bases

IMG is largely known in motorsport circles for
its driver management deals Jackie Stewart
was one of its clients for years but these
days it is actually far more focused on events.
Martin Anayi, a former professional rugby
player and a lawyer by trade, joined the
organisation eight years ago. Now he heads
up IMGs FIA World Rallycross Championship.
There were enough influential people
within the sport who wanted us to come in,
explained Anayi. That meant it was worth
our time to invest in it, and thankfully we did,
because I think that in a short period of time
it has not just shown great potential, but it is
also already showing a great output.
But just what does IMG bring to the World
RX party? We have a massive breadth of
experience across different sports, but largely
were an events business, whether thats
motorsport, mass participation sports, golf,
tennis, or fashion events. So we understand
how to run an event, and thats important.
But another key asset is that we produce the
pictures, the live TV, and we distribute them.
So we have a full house of areas of expertise.
Its expertise certainly seems to be
effective, and such has been the success of

IMGs push to sell the sport that its become

a world championship a year earlier than
originally planned last year it ran as the
European Championship. Its calendar now
includes nine rounds in Europe, then events
in Argentina, Turkey and Canada. The latter
is at Trois-Rivires, with Jacques Villeneuve in
the field, at the very place where his father
Gilles made his name in 1976 when it was a
Formula Atlantic race, just one of a number of
PR coups the IMG team has pulled off.
But with so much of the calendar in the
sports European heartland, is this truly
a world championship? For an FIA world
championship you have to be on three
continents. Originally when I was looking at
it and being a lawyer I was thinking North
Africa, which is what World Touring Car does
with Morocco, and then the other side of the
Bosporus is Asia, in Turkey. But, in reality
and I think Jean Todt shares this view to be
a world championship you really need to be
in North America and South America. For us
just ticking an Asian box in Turkey is OK, but
to go to Argentina and Canada really makes it
a bona fide world championship.
One place World RX doesnt go right
now is the USA, which is of course the
home of the Global Rallycross Championship
(GRC), itself doing rather well. Which begs
the question isnt global in direct
competition withworld?

New manufacturers are on the way to World Rallycross

and Anayi claims more are waiting in the wings

I think theyre doing a great job, actually,

Anayi says. But I think theyve had to react to
the X Games retracting back into the US. Part
of their expansion plan as Global Rallycross
was to move with the X Games. They were
in Barcelona and Munich, they were in Brazil
last year, but because the X Games went
back into just doing two events in the US,
that plan has had to be rethought. So I think
theyre a very strong national championship,
whether they should be called Global, or not,
is not for me to decide.
The calendar for GRC bears up Anayis
views (it has just one event outside the
US), but World RX being the only truly
global rallycross series comes with its own
headaches, such as transporting cars across
the world. This year IMG is able to keep the
expenditure down by sending the cars by
sea, but for next year Anayi says it will need
to fly the cars and kit to some events, if its
plans to expand come to fruition theres talk
of new rounds in Russia, south-east Asia and
in the Middle East.

Cost control
IMG actually pays these travel costs, which
helps to keep budgets relatively low for
the teams. Anayi says that teams spend
anywhere between 300,000 and 700,000
including an entry fee of 50,000 and
this is something he is keen to keep in

check, chiefly through a tight policing of the

technical regulations. Thats how you can
keep control of costs, he says. Are we going
to be a production-based race series? Yes.
But were not going to become some weird
silhouette series that will have no relevance
at all to a manufacturer.
Of course, the question is: can the costs
be controlled with the arrival of those
manufacturers such as Peugeot (which has
teamed up with Hansen Motorsport) Ford

devised a new spec formula RX Lites.

Were not taking a short-term view on this.
What the television broadcasters want is
the Supercar, no doubt about that, because
its one of the most spectacular things on
four wheels. But what you need to do is
generate a whole host of people coming
through, and thats what we do through
Super 1600 and now RX Lites.
The fact that IMG is looking after and
bringing on new feeder categories suggests

To go to Argentina and Canada really makes

World Rallycross a bona fide world championship
(tied to OlsbergsMSE) and VW (Marklund)?
I guess thats always a worry, but the nice
thing is that theyre supporting a team,
and theyre not coming in as a works entry.
So they are not going to be chucking WRCtype money at this.
Anayi also claims that other
manufacturers are waiting in the wings,
although he would not be drawn on who
they are, to take on VW, Peugeot and Ford in
the top 600bhp 4WD Supercar class. Yet
this is not just about the fire-breathing
Supercars and IMG has also taken the
World RX supporting classes such as Super
1600 under its wing, while it has also

it really is in this for the long term but

can it really transform rallycross into a
bigger, better sport? I think this year will be
transformative in terms of the TV, and there
are lots of things to add over the coming
years. I think the futures really great for us
because we are not limited by the past. Were
looking at it with fresh eyes, and were asking
people what motorsports they want to see.
Hopefully we can deliver it.
One thing is for certain throughout
its 47-year history, the often muddy world
of rallycross has never looked quite
so polished, while its future has never
seemed quite so bright.
WORLD RALLYCROSS 39

G
N
I
R
E
E
N
I
G
N
E
R
A
C
E
C
A
R
h
t
i
w
L
A
GO DIGIT
ON YOUR TABLET
Subscribe to the digital edition
for fast and easy access to Racecar
Engineering anytime, anywhere.

Available on:

VISIT OUR WEBSITE

www.racecar-engineering.com
All the breaking news, technical
developments, race results and
rule changes as they happen.

Have the latest developments delivered direct to your inbox by signing up to our email newsletter,
and keep up to date with breaking news and commentary as it happens by following us
on social media.

Subscribe to our newsletter

www.racecar-engineering.com/sign-up-to-our-email-newsletter/
/RacecarEngineering

@RacecarEngineer

+Racecar Engineering