The Nitro Rallycross championship will begin an international expansion in 2021. The success of the discipline at the Nitro World Games in 2019 has led the organization to try to build an international rallycross competition with American essence, as it was the defunct Global Rallycross Championship.
The creation of the Americas Rallycross Championship in 2018 as a competition immediately inferior to the world championship and at the same level as the European Rallycross Championship was a success, but a short one. Only two seasons in which the contest languished in lands where the concept did not fully catch on with the public. Something went wrong and maybe the American fan expected other types of emotions as well as the teams and manufacturers involved.
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Nevertheless, the bet of Travis Pastrana and the team under the organization of the Nitro Rallycross Championship goes in other ways. The idea is to do some tests, including one in Utah Motorsport Campus (its base of operations) before facing an international format in the following season. The paths they will tread are still unknown, but it is known that they will be design to give the maximum show on asphalt and gravel.
Image: Youtube.com
Regarding the cars they will use, the Nitro Rallycross Championship expects to have “beasts” of the same specifications that participate in the World Rallycross Championship, cars with more than 600 HP and an acceleration that some single-seater competitions would like.
In addition, the organization led by Pastrana has already commissioned the Spanish company QEV Technologies, the same company that is preparing the new RX2e, to develop an SUV-type electric vehicle that it must build together with Olsbergs MSE.
The commitment to electrification goes hand in hand with the implementation of a car that aims to break all the molds, with greater instantaneous acceleration and performance.
The FC-1 X will have 1000 HP that will be apply to the track by means of four driving wheels. Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen admitted interest in this novel formula, although it is still too early to know their plans regarding the event, especially with the departure of the German brand from the world of motorsport.
Image: AUDI Mediacenter
In any case, the idea is that production costs, compared to performance and technical characteristics, are low, as well as maintenance. Manufacturers will be able to mold the vehicles as they wish, always respecting the regulations, but the base will be common to all. It is a slightly more advanced concept, but the same interpretation as the one that prevailed last year in the Titans RX, the spiritual heir to the Global Rallycross Championship.
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Thus, the event is expected to achieve large doses of popularity from the beginning, with the participation of some of the main protagonists of World RX, who already made an appearance in 2019 at the event under the Nitro World Games umbrella. On that occasion, Kevin Hansen managed to triumph over his brother Timmy and some of the great specialists of the discipline in the American continent.
There is also hope that Red Bull will join the project, as they did before with the Global Rallycross Championship. With the World Rallycross Championship looking for a new promoter and with the energy drink brand showing interest in taking over the rights, it could be that the plans for both tournaments are on the way.
