An Electric Global Rallycross Series Is Coming In 2018
Electric race cars are heading for Red Bull Global Rallycross (GRC) in 2018, alongside the current Supercar and GRC Lites categories.
The rallycross championship has announced an all-electric class will join the GRC race weekend as a standalone series, giving us the chance to see electric cars jumping, drifting and crashing around the US-based courses.
It’s big news not only for the electric car market, but also the rallycross corner of motorsport as well – it’s not something we’ve seen in the racing category.
GRC just concluded its sixth season. The all-electric class will join the weekend schedule alongside the GRC Lites and Supercar series, which features manufacturer support from Honda, Subaru, Volkswagen and Ford.
Manufacturers like Volkswagen have been pushing for an electric series to mirror the development of battery-powered road cars, and their prayers have now been answered.
Nothing has been announced just yet about the cars, but the all-electric category will be governed by GRC and the United States Auto Club.
Here’s what GRC CEO Colin Dyne had to say on the news:
“Red Bull Global Rallycross is pleased to add to our rallycross platform an electric series. 2018 season will be a landmark year for us as we welcome electric vehicles to the grid for the first time. The electric car is one of the hottest topics in the automotive industry, and manufacturers across the globe have recognized its immense potential.
“We want to embrace this technology by welcoming it into our series as we continue to grow and expand. Our current platform is the most enticing in motorsports right now to a young, millennial audience.
“Our small displacement, high-horsepower, turbocharged engines allow our manufacturers to showcase the performance capabilities of their current millennial-focused offerings, and provide a glimpse into the exciting future of the automotive industry. This electric series will add a new dynamic that will never replace the current formula, but will be an important part of our expansion.”
What do you make of there being an all-electric category coming to GRC soon? Let us know in the comments!
Comments
I have found my new favorite automotive sport
For offf-road rallying, that where we can see the benefits of true torque vectoring offered by electric motors, and not the brake actuated fake stuff we see in most gas cars.
Damn, you write about the torque vectoring in every god damn post.
Why tho? Anti lag and turbos are cool
First i thought it would be bad , but then i laughed so hard that i fall from my chair. I think i need Bleech for this one here
PLEASE NO
No
Oh well, I hope Rimac will join the feast with his tech.
A lot of people do no know that RIMAC is also behind the Porsche 918 hybrid with his tech and he actually has the fastest electric road legal car, nope, it’s not the Tesla anymore.
It’s the RIMAC Concept One!
I don’t understand the people that hate on electric cars. The concept is awesome but the battery technoligy isn’t there yet. And I’m not saying that all cars should be electric. It would be awesome to see fuel burning monsters battle the silent killers on the tracks. If I’d have the money I’d be driving and electric car 5 days a week and on the weekends I’d take a roaring, fire breathing beast to the track or the streets to scare the life out of the non-carpeople.
Thank you for your time.
There’s already a pretty comprehensively developed car doing the rounds in Europe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5844VCjRpv0
Pity they’ve announced this as a stand alone series; as long as EV’s are segregated from IC engined cars, then they’ll always be looked down at by some as inferior. It would be good to see them go against each other as, to me, they’d be fairly evenly matched.