European Rallycross Working to Introduce Electric Series in 2018

With all the fuss that’s going on over at Formula E lately, it’s only natural that other racing series want to introduce an electric series of their own.

Rallycross is next, with the FIA World Rallycross Championship announcing that it will add an electric sub-series as early as 2020.

“We’re talking to a number of manufacturers and working with the FIA about what it [electric rallycross] might look like,” Paul Bellamy, World Rallycross Managing Director, told Motorsport.com. “It will be 2020 at the earliest but we’re in discussions about what format the concept might take, what the cars will be like and where it will sit in the World RX weekend.”

Several manufacturers have, in the past expressed their support for such a series, including VW, which currently leads both the World Rallycross Championship and its American counterpart, Red Bull Global Rallycross.

Petter Solberg (N) Volkswagen Polo GTI Supercar WRX Mettet 2017

Speaking of the American series, GRC has also announced that it intends to run an electric series, that it said could start as early as 2018, though, little more has been said on that subject, so the chances of it arriving next year seem slim.

Back in World Rallycross, the electric series will be run alongside the regular series, though electric and internal combustion cars will not run in the same series, said Bellamy.

Moreover, he insisted that the electric series poses no risk to the traditional series VW currently competes in with the Polo RX.

“It’s very important for us that the internal combustion engine is here to stay in World RX. We’ve invested heavily in rallycross as it currently is, and we’re not going to walk away from that,” said Bellamy. “The current formula is a fantastic spectacle and that won’t change, in the same way that Formula E coming in hasn’t changed Formula 1. Electric Rallycross will not change what we currently have at the top of World RX.”

[source: motorsport.com]

The post European Rallycross Working to Introduce Electric Series in 2018 appeared first on VWVortex.

from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2uWoRvs
via IFTTT

Comments

2018 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Review

“Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words, spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (so-called) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out. Drowned out by the wail of a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine mounted in the middle of the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster. My friend’s point is that back in the good old days, there was a crop of supercars that captured the imagination with amazing style, sounds, performance, and more. Today, it seems like everything is capable of supercar performance, with large luxury sedans outdoing some of the best and most dedicated teams of car nuts, while former pillars of automotive excellence are suddenly pumping out family-friendly SUVs. Beyond that, another league of supercars, dubbed hypercars have cropped up with hybrid gas-electric powertrains that make magical things happen quickly, but at the cost of the acoustic drama, visual flair, and engag...

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier. The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow. While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something . To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it. Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait. So with this in mind, we lined our G...

Project Golf SportWagen- Intro

I’ve never really been one for SUVs and crossovers. The current offerings aren’t the body-on-frame, go-anywhere specialty tools I remember from my youth, and what they lack in capability, they also lack in on-road performance. The current crop isn’t terribly good at handling or being efficient, which in my opinion are major components of our ideal driving experience. So when it comes to space or utility, I usually look for something of the wagon variety- and it seems that I’m not alone. We hit quite a few shows around the east coast each summer, and we see modified Jetta SportWagens at nearly every event. Even amongst common consumers, these cars are highly sought-after. They don’t depreciate much, making even early Mk 5 2.5 versions expensive in comparison to other Jettas or Golfs of the same vintage. This year, Volkswagen launched their latest SportWagen, which is now billed as a Golf. In many ways, this latest SportWagen is the best yet and it has certai...

Vorderman Volkswagen

Search This Blog