Leading-Edge

The Motorsport
leading motorsport Technology
technology Since 1990
publication since 1990

Electric
The RX rallycross
factor
Is this the future
for racing’s fast
growing sport?
 CONTENTS

5 First contact
What did a former F1 engineer make of
her first visit to a World RX event?
6 Electric rallycross
The STARD-built electric Peugeot 207 that has
sparked the debate on battery-powered cars
12 The business model
While many motorsport series are struggling
World RX is thriving. So what’s its secret?
18 Joker Laps
To outsiders it might seem a gimmick, but the
Joker Lap also introduces an element of strategy
24 Tough tyres
We talk to tyre supplier Cooper about the
challenges of producing World RX rubber

Produced by ANDREW COTTON, GEMMA HATTON,

MIKE BRESLIN and DAVE OSWALD

Two refugees from the WRC – the VW Polo and

Petter Solberg –get stuck in at Lydden Hill’s round
of the World RX Championship. The discipline has
attracted many star drivers and top manufacturers

2 www.racecar-engineering.com WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017

WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017 www.racecar-engineering.com 3
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 TREAD PATTERN – GEMMA HATTON

Crossing the tracks

If you’re more used to F1 then rallycross might come as a pleasant surprise

H
aving spent last year working in the F1
pitlane, a five lap World Rallycross race
didn’t sound that exciting. Where’s the
strategy? Where’s the endurance? Where’s the
engineering? My mood continued to deteriorate
as the lack of tiered grandstands meant I had to
battle my way through herds of rather intimidating
fans to try and find a high point so I could actually
see. I folded my arms when only five cars arrived
at the start line. I sighed when I couldn’t hear the
commentary because of the loud music. You may
have guessed already, but I was not enjoying
myself. Then the race started.
Non-stop action
It was like an explosion. The noise, from the crowd
as well as the engines, erupted as the cars roared
into action, accelerating from 0-60mph in 1.9s –
faster than an F1 car. The drivers had no mercy as
they slung their machines into the corners, drifting
the rear into the dust and dirt which sprayed the
crowd. Braking points were a test of bravery and
the philosophy of ‘non-contact’ was clearly loosely
applied. It felt like I was watching touring cars on
steroids. Cars would then spontaneously dive into
their Joker Laps and watching them re-join with
the rest of the pack, knowing that they would have
to drift side by side round the next corner, was
thrilling. In between cheers, the fans around me
discussed who still had to take their Joker, building
tension for the final lap. The place erupted once
again as the cars roared past the finish line. The
loud music began to fill my ears again, but before
I could refocus on reality there were another five
cars waiting at the start line – time to race again.
to drive onto the track at a blow of the whistle.
This presents an excellent opportunity for fans to
not only get closer to the cars and explore them
in greater detail but also chat to the drivers. As
a fan, you feel completely involved in the day’s
events, rather than a nuisance to the teams and
I can’t think of many other world championship
paddocks that achieve that. In F1, for example, you
have electronic turnstiles at the entrance to the
paddock which only grant you entry if your pass
has the right metallic chip. Now this is essential for
the teams as F1 weekends are chaotic and weaving
your way through a cluster of fans every time you
leave the garage is far from ideal. However, there
are windows of time where the paddock resembles
a ghost town, which just seems a shame because it
could be another opportunity to engage with fans.
Serious business
Also, despite appearing like a spontaneous
decision, taking the Joker Lap actually requires
analytical strategic thinking and changes with
every lap. Spotters are located at a vantage point
where they assess the gaps between the cars,
overall lap time and traffic, to determine how to
use the Joker Lap to their advantage, which they
then communicate to their driver. The loose track
surface continuously evolves with every corner
so there is never an obvious ‘optimum’ strategy
which can lead to situations where all five cars
dash into the Joker on Lap 1 – a great spectacle.
And that’s exactly what World RX is, rain or
shine. The format has been designed to guarantee
thrilling racing to its fans and this is why it has
become so popular, so quickly. Yet somehow,
despite the mud and the dust, World RX has
maintained the aura of professionalism, too.
In my view, World RX has achieved the perfect
balance. The balance between engaging with your
fans, but not creating a scrum; providing a racing
spectacle that is also technically interesting; and
injecting enough variability whilst maintaining
consistency to keep the fans interested.
But as World RX continues to grow
exponentially it now needs to retain this
balance; and that will be its next challenge.

Fan friendly
If you manage to detach yourself from the track
action for more than five minutes, you will
find that the paddock is a fan-friendly, relaxed
environment. The ‘garages’ are open marquees,
where fans can watch the mechanics beavering
away with their racecars and catch the drivers for
a quick autograph and selfie. With up to 15 heats
and races during a race weekend for the World
RX class alone, the marshals have the unenviable
mission of co-ordinating the drivers, teams and
cars to continuously fill the next starting grid
within minutes of the previous race finishing.
They achieve this through a ‘pre grid’, where the
teams for the next races line up in formation, ready The grids are small and the races short, but for many motorsport fans rallycross ticks all the right boxes

Before I could refocus on reality there were another five rallycross cars
ready and waiting at the start line – it was time to race again
WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017 www.racecar-engineering.com 7
RALLYCROSS 2017 - ELECTRIC PEUGEOT 207

‘Rallycross is without
doubt the best-suited
category in modern
motorsport for electric
powertrains’

Electric rallycross racers can create the same spectacle as petrol

cars, as was demonstrated by STARD’s electric Peugeot 207
S2000 in testing last year. The only thing missing was the noise

E
fficient (Adjective): ‘Achieving
maximum productivity with
minimum wasted effort’. It’s the
one goal of every automotive
manufacturer, which has led us down the
route of electrification. To conclude how much
more efficient an electric vehicle is compared
to an internal combustion vehicle, you need
to determine the well-to-wheel efficiency
of each, which is essentially the energy
conversion efficiency. Using this method, one
study suggested that the electric Nissan LEAF
is approximately 37 per cent more efficient at
converting energy into power than a VW Golf
1.6 Diesel. The exact value of efficiency varies
for each particular vehicle and energy source,
but the underlying conclusion remains that
electric vehicles are more efficient. This is why
manufacturers are pursuing the development
of electric powertrains, and what better
platform to test them on than a racetrack?
Electric switch
Arguably the first major turning point in this
shift towards electric was the introduction
of KERS in Formula 1 in 2009. This has now
advanced into two Energy Recovery Systems
(ERS) which can generate 160bhp, reducing
fuel consumption by 35 per cent. Then, 2012
saw the first petrol hybrid car compete in the
LMP1 class, the Toyota TS030; with today’s
version generating an additional 500bhp from
the hybrid system. History was then once
again made in 2014 with Formula E becoming
the first all-electric racing series, which has
since gone on to attract nine manufacturers
for its fifth season. Electrification appears
to be the next logical step in the evolution of
a motorsport category – so is this the future
for rallycross, too? Yes, it would appear so.
‘Rallycross is without doubt the best suited
category of modern motorsport for electric
powertrains,’ says Michael Sakowicz, CEO of
Stohl Advanced Research and Development
(STARD), the company behind the world’s

6 www.racecar-engineering.com WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017


first electric rallycross car, which completed
testing in October of last year. ‘Around seven
years ago, we first decided to build an electric
rally car. However, with rallycross once again
becoming very popular, and due to its perfect
format, we switched the focus to rallycross
rather than rally. The race profile of rallycross
demands high power, the distances are
shorter and the format of having several heats
throughout a day allows time to charge or
change the batteries in between races.
‘Therefore, we moved from the original
pure rally concept to rallycross, which has
resulted in a car that is a ‘hybrid’ between the
two categories and is therefore compliant with
Sparking
interest
With short, sharp races rallycross seems the
ideal environment for electrification – but just
how do you develop a battery-powered car
for the rough stuff? STARD talks us though
its electric Peugeot 207 rallycross project
By GEMMA HATTON
both the FIA rally and rallycross regulations.’
The chassis of a Peugeot 207 Super 2000
has been converted to an electric drivetrain,
with one motor per axle, each coupled with
a limited slip differential (LSD). By having
separate motors front and rear with no
mechanical link between them, sequential
torque control can be achieved through the
use of a MoTec M150 vehicle control unit with
STARD in-house developed software.
Batteries included
The batteries are centre-mounted between
and behind the driver and co-driver (for the
rally version) in the form of a ‘T’ shape, with
the intention of making the battery easy to
change during a rally stage. They are air-cooled
and make use of the available thermal capacity
whilst remaining lightweight for an EV battery
of this power and energy content. However, in
absolute numbers the battery is still a relatively
large mass with the total package weighing in
at just below 200kg. To minimise weight, once
the battery is discharged it is replaced with a
new one as opposed to on-board charging
and this swap can be done in under 15
minutes. The car can also be charged with
an off-board charger within one hour.
The power output from the drivetrain is
around 400kW, but in terms of peak power,
WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017 www.racecar-engineering.com 7
RALLYCROSS 2017 - ELECTRIC PEUGEOT 207
For easy access the batteries are located at the side of and behind the driver and can be changed in under 15 minutes. They can also be fully recharged at the racetrack in less than an hour
the battery can run up to 700kW, but is
restricted by the capabilities of the inverters
and motors chosen for this development car.
STARD has also developed its own
firmware, which is specific to electric racing
and is integrated into the MoTec control
units. ‘Complying with the FIA electric rules
was a challenge,’ Sakowicz says. ‘We have to
have specific control and monitoring of the
installation; a way of shutting down the high
voltage circuit mechanically and electronically
and to monitor each cell with an RBMS
[Remote Battery Monitoring System] which is
integrated within the battery layout. However,
by being fully compliant it means that the
moment an FIA championship is created we
can immediately start racing.’
Of course, the biggest challenge for electric
rallycross is to design a powertrain that can
The biggest challenge
for electric rallycross
is to design an electric
powertrain that can endure
off-road conditions
8 www.racecar-engineering.com WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017
endure off-road conditions. Not only are there
jumps, but the track surface can range from
slippery tarmac to loose gravel, which creates
further difficulties when trying to allocate
the right amount of torque to the wheels for
optimum dynamic behaviour. This variability
in track surface makes it difficult to design any
Energy Recovery System (ERS) during braking
that also provides the driver with a constant
feeling on the brake pedal. Currently there is
an ‘on demand’ energy recovery function that
is controlled by the driver via a third pedal.
This essentially switches the energy recovery
mode on or off with the specific brake maps
adjusted by a potentiometer switch.
Recovery position
‘An effective energy recovery system is not so
easy to design for rallycross when compared
to other racing applications,’ Sakowicz says.
‘Usually, there are clearly defined braking
zones, but rallycross is so dynamic and the
braking behaviour often depends on the
fight with other drivers. However, we are
currently working on an integrated solution
which will automatically link to the braking
system for our new concept, which we’ve been
designing for the last two years. It’s essentially
a complete new system and has nothing to
do with the current 207, which was a research
development and test vehicle without focus
on ultimate performance. It will have four
individual motors achieving full sequential
torque control. We’ll be able to recuperate
a sensible amount of energy per lap with a
slightly heavier car than we have now.’
The individual motors of an electric
drivetrain allow more flexibility in terms of
power delivery to the wheels. Therefore,
depending on how the car is set up, the
dynamic behaviour can be programmed to
either be similar to a conventional petrol
car, or entirely different. This creates a major
challenge for the drivers, as they have to
adapt their instinctive driving style to extract
maximum performance from the car.
‘With 4wd cars you can accelerate and
brake each wheel at any time, in any situation,
so the driving behaviour is hugely different,’
explains Sakowicz. ‘With our current concept
using two motors, we can fine-tune the
understeer and oversteer balance of the car,
which you could never achieve to such an
extent with petrol cars. However, the biggest
difference for the drivers is missing the shift
points of the gears. There are various concepts,
you can have a higher RPM with smaller torque
and a several staged gearbox, or there is our
concept which has a relatively large motor
with low RPM, high torque and therefore one

Under the bonnet of STARD’s Peugeot 207, showing the set-up of the front motor; the handling of the car can be
optimised by balancing it between the front and rear motors. Power output from the drivetrain is around 400kW
The amount of cabling snaking through the cabin makes it clear this is not your average rallycross machine. The 207
is fully-compliant to FIA regulations concerning electric vehicles and is ready to race should the chance present itself
staged gearbox. Only having one gear to
accelerate from nought to 200km/h makes a
huge difference to the driving style.’
Despite this, the drivers who have tested
the electric Peugeot 207 since October last
year have been very impressed, even those
who were initially sceptical of electric racing.
Clearly, the thrill from the increased power
and acceleration outweigh the potential
drawbacks, as last year’s World RX Champion
with EKS, Mattias Ekstrom, highlights. ‘You
have to be aware that these cars have even
more power and acceleration, but I like that
challenge because the driver skills become
more important. Electric rallycross will be the
next level. If you ask me, in 2020 we should
drive one race per month in the championship,
half with electric, and half with combustion
engines. To become world champion, you
should be able to drive both fast.’
Current thinking
The car has been built and tested, a new
concept is on the way, the drivers want to
race electric rallycross cars, so surely the only
thing left to do is to decide on a championship
format? This is the next challenge – how to
design a championship that embraces electric
technology without losing the heritage of
the petrol cars and therefore the current fans.
STARD developed its own software specifically for the running of the
electric rallycross car and has integrated it into the MoTec control units.
For safety reasons there is also a remote battery monitoring system
‘What could be very interesting to see is a
challenge between conventionally powered
rallycross cars and electric cars,’ Sakowicz
says. ‘I think this would be something that
people would love to see and it would also
demonstrate the capabilities of an electric
car and might also encourage the fans to
accept electric cars more.’
Over-charging
However, this competition between the
two would be impossible to normalise fairly
through the regulations. We’ve seen electric
and combustion Formula Student cars
competing within the same class, which can
lead to arguably ‘unfair’ results and grey areas.
We’ve also seen the complex consequences of
applying a Balance of Performance (BoP) to the
World Endurance Championship, which again
has resulted in uncertainties and questions.
Add an electric powertrain into the mix and
the governing bodies are presented with the
nightmare of trying to equate combustion
performance with electric performance to
create a fair and competitive championship.
The only solution is that electric rallycross
will have to become a separate class or a
championship in its own right.
The next question is how to win over
the fans. Rallycross is a very raw form of
motorsport that thrills fans with roaring
engines and the smell of petrol fumes. So how
can you make this type of audience accept and
enjoy the quiet whirr of an electric racecar?
‘You have to be really careful not to alienate
existing fans, but we have to embrace the
potential for new fans and new technologies,’
says Paul Bellamy, managing director of World
RX for IMG, the championship promoter.
‘Our first loyalty has to be to our existing
fans who enjoy everything that comes with
petrol engines, but we need to find a way of
WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017 www.racecar-engineering.com 9
RALLYCROSS 2017 - ELECTRIC PEUGEOT 207
The only solution is that electric rallycross will have to become
a separate class or even a championship in its own right
including both the old and the new and there
is no obvious answer yet. However, we have
two consumers: the fans that come to the live
events and those who watch the coverage and
digital content at home. The sound and smell
is less of an issue for those at home, it’s the live
audience that you have to consider. You have
to find other ways to generate that buzz and
adrenaline that adds to the atmosphere of a
live event. This can be achieved through loud
music, or many other forms, so we have to
think wider about what’s going to give the fans
a good live experience when the engines are
quieter and there is no smell of the fumes.’
Of course, systems such as sound
generators and other engineering tricks can be
integrated to solve these issues, but as seen in
F1, this is a much more complex topic. Either
STARD’s Peugeot 207 is basically a research and development project.
The company is now working on a more advanced electric rallycross car
The STARD 207 in the raw. Weight low down in the chassis is just one of
the benefits of an electric approach. The CAD rendition shows two seats
within the spaceframe as the project was originally going to be a rally car
10 www.racecar-engineering.com WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017
way, these talking points are all good publicity
for the future of electric rallycross. ‘I think it’s a
good thing that electric rallycross is prompting
so many positive and negative discussions
because it shows how interesting a topic it is,’
Sakowicz says. ‘People start to think, argue and
discuss, and this is how we can generate new
ideas. At the end of the day, motorsport fans
will still enjoy it as a sport, as a competition
and as the technology-driven activity it is,
even without the loud and noisy engines. It
would be a great achievement if we could
create a championship which could be seen
as environmentally friendly. We are discussing
with many manufacturers who are interested
in competing in electric rallycross, so it will
have to happen somehow within the next few
years. The question is, how? Not when.’
Plugging-in
Four out of the six permanent World RX
Supercar teams are manufacturer-backed and
the continued growth of rallycross as a sport
is set to increase this manufacturer interest. As
automotive manufacturers continue to invest
and develop electric vehicles to suit modern
demands, they not only use motorsport to
test their technology but also showcase the
potential of electric vehicles to persuade the
audience. ‘Electrification is a focus topic for us,’
says Dieter Gass, head of Audi Motorsport. ‘I
don’t think it will become reality before 2019
or 2020, but if it happens in a format that’s
attractive for Audi, we’re going to look into it.
Audi has always consistently used motorsport
to test and further develop new technologies
for subsequent use in production vehicles,
this may be the case when electrification is
introduced into rallycross.’
So, with manufacturers now a major
customer of World RX, the organisers will
surely have to account for their enthusiasm
towards electrification to secure the continued
growth of the championship.
It is clear that electric rallycross is the
future and not the distant future, then. Red
Bull, which is behind the Global Rallycross
Championship, founded a company called
Speedleague that has announced that it
will be introducing an electric rallycross
championship called E/Racing. The cars
will be provided by STARD, which is the
engineering partner, and will be based on a
variety of production models, that are already
incorporating most of the technical details
of the new performance optimised STARD
concept discussed earlier. The championship
will consist of five rounds in North American
cities running from late October 2017 to
Spring 2018. The success of this strategy will
no doubt be watched closely by the World
RX organisers, but the burning question
still remains: how can they incorporate
electric rallycross in to World RX?
 RALLYCROSS 2017 – BUSINESS OVERVIEW
Close racing and thrilling on-track action leads to packed
grandstands. It’s a simple formula and it certainly seems
to work; event attendance grew by 130 per cent in 2015
Hot ticket
Rallycross is that rare thing in modern motorsport, a
growth sector. But why has this unique form of motor
racing succeeded where others continue to fail?
By GEMMA HATTON
12 www.racecar-engineering.com WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017
T
he decline in the number of people
watching motorsport has been
a topic of discussion for many
years. Between 2008 and 2016
Formula 1 lost over one third of its global
audience. Circuits are struggling to make
revenue from ticket sales, and if you’ve
ever been to a race that doesn’t belong to
an FIA championship you will know how
eerie empty racetracks can feel.
Rallycross, on the other hand, has
experienced a 555 per cent increase in
television audiences since 2014 when it
became an FIA World Championship. Track
attendance grew by over 130 per cent in 2015,

while the digital coverage of the 2016 World
RX season reached over 30.6 million.
‘The biggest task we want to achieve is
build a loyal audience both live at the track
and through TV,’ says Paul Bellamy, managing
director of World RX for its promotor, IMG.
‘We had 80,000 fans over a weekend last
year at the French round in Loheac, and we
want to see more events attract these kind
of numbers, particularly in our key markets,
but outside these as well.’
IMG is responsible for all the TV,
commercial and promotional rights of World
RX and its strategy since 2014 has been to
transform this conventionally raw form of
motorsport into a professional championship
worthy of FIA world status. This has involved
not only improving the TV product, but the
social media product as well, as Bellamy says:
‘The short format of RX racing lends itself
perfectly to new forms of media such as digital,
which are currently exploding. This together
with our efforts to standardise the events
treats live fans to a higher quality of trackside
experience. This then encourages big event
drivers to compete, such as Sebastien Loeb,
Ken Block, Mattias Ekstrom and Petter Solberg,
who attract sponsors, along with the interest
of car manufacturers. It is having a snowball
effect. The core of rallycross has always been
Peugeot is just one of four major manufacturers involved in the World
Rally X Championship – with digital coverage that’s said to reach
30.6 million people the appeal of this series to car makers is obvious
‘The core of rallycross has
always been its exciting
racing, it perhaps just
wasn’t quite packaged
in the right way’
exciting racing, it perhaps just wasn’t quite
packaged in the right way.’
While maintaining this core aspect of
rallycross, the exciting racing that is key to
its future success, the accessibility for the
fans to the teams, cars and drivers is also
important: ‘If you compare World RX with
other FIA World Championships, the set-up is
still relatively basic,’ explains Kenneth Hansen,
previous winner of 14 FIA European Rallycross
Championships and the current team
manager of the Peugeot-Hansen operation.
‘The paddock is made up of tents, fans can
come close to the drivers and see the cars,
and I really hope that we maintain this close
relationship with our fans throughout the
future of the World RX Championship.’
Non-stop action
The fans are fully engaged with the drivers
and teams because the paddock has been
designed to be unintimidating, open and
friendly. Meanwhile, the format of four
qualifying heats, semi-finals and finals mean
there is continuous action, but with different
cars and characters to keep your attention.
Then you have the spectacle of the
rallycross racing itself, where fantastic looking
WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017 www.racecar-engineering.com 13
RALLYCROSS 2017 – BUSINESS OVERVIEW
Non-stop entertainment: while one heat is run the next is readied on the dummy grid. There is very little waiting around between the races for the fans in the grandstands at Word Rally X events
Four of the six permanent
World RX teams are
manufacturer backed
cars drift round corners while battling for
position. The racing is undeniably phenomenal
and diverse, making it great viewing.
IMG’s improvements in the TV coverage
are also important. Not only is the programme
shown by over 40 broadcasters, but replays of
every round are easily accessed through the
official World RX Youtube channel. Rather than
showing every heat, the content provides a
concise summary of all the qualifying action,
but then detailed coverage of the finals.
Clever infographics are continuously
utilised to set the scene and explain how the
championship works, focussing on the rivalry
between the teams, while offering insights
into the more technical aspects, such as tyre
strategy. The show has been designed to
cater for the entire spectrum of rallycross
fans, and you can watch it at any time.
‘We put a lot of time, energy and effort
into the TV product,’ Bellamy says. ‘We have
a team of about 30 people trackside and we
even bring focus groups who aren’t necessarily
rallycross fans to analyse the coverage. One
crucial aspect is how long it takes to get to the
14 www.racecar-engineering.com WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017
racing from the start of the programme. When
TV shows finish on the hour, consumers spend
two or three minutes changing channels. If
they change channels to find five Supercars
going into Turn 1 quicker than a Formula 1
car then they’re more likely to stay with it,
rather than watching two people analysing
the technical aspects of the sport. The new
consumer wants almost instant gratification
now, so we have to get to the action quicker.’
This demand for immediate information
is particularly important for the younger
generation, and with 73 per cent of World RX
fans under 34 years old, this young audience
is certainly a focus for IMG. In addition to the
digital media, IMG is bringing an entirely new
concept to motor racing next year – Speed
Machine, which will be launched at Silverstone
as the World RX of Great Britain.
Speed Machine
The primary aim of this venture between IMG
and Silverstone is to attract a new and younger
audience through putting on a festival, whilst
having a World RX Championship running in
the background. ‘It will be a festival of headline
music acts, proper food areas showcasing
food from all over the world, and e-gaming
facilities in the Silverstone wing, where fans
can come and compete against each other,’
explains Bellamy. ‘There will also be the ability
for car manufacturers to build temporary
showrooms for their latest models, which can
then be driven by the public on the F1 track,
surrounding the Rallycross action.’
The move to Silverstone, and the
consequent birth of the Speed Machine
concept, was initiated by World RX outgrowing
it traditional UK venue at Lydden Hill. This
year’s round was ‘bursting at the seams’
according to Bellamy, inflicting a little too
much strain on the track’s facilities and
infrastructure. With limitations on investment
and the potential to grow, IMG had no choice
but to relocate the UK round. ‘Everyone is very
sad to be leaving Lydden Hill because it has
such charm and legacy,’ says Lukas Stelmaszyk,
press officer at rallycross team EKS. ‘I think
the big challenge for IMG will be to keep the
rallycross charm and style, whilst making
money and growing the sport.’
From a fan standpoint, the best aspect of
rallycross at Lydden was being able to see the
entire track and therefore have full visibility
of the races as they unfolded. This was due
to the natural topography of the circuit, but
this will hopefully be a consideration for the
new track layout at Silverstone.
Inter-continental
World RX will be visiting South Africa for the
first time this year, which is important as to get
accredited FIA world status you need to have
rounds in three continents. Yet 10 out of the
 It only takes six cars to make a race. Small grids and short
races make rallycross the antithesis of F1 and most other
FIA championships, but it’s a format that suits digital media

12 races this year are still within Europe and

expanding these horizons is another key focus
for IMG, though within limits. ‘We won’t grow
to Formula 1 level with 20 events. Less is
more for us, because we not only want to
keep the fans attention but we also need
to take into account the cost for the teams,’
Bellamy says. ‘However, our focus is to reach
new audiences outside of Europe and these
may replace current venues, but I don’t see us
growing to any more than 15 races.’

Regulation issue
Another area where World RX has developed in
recent years is with its regulations. ‘For our first
year as an FIA championship in 2014, we had
nine A4 pages of regulations, now we have a
book of 35 pages,’ explains Jann Ljungberg,
technical director at EKS. The regulations did
Volkswagen’s Polo has begun to win very regularly in World Rally X this season, as it did in the WRC until VW pulled have a lot of grey areas and as the teams grew,
out late last year. One team dominating is a worry for promotor IMG, which is working hard to level the playing field along with their engineering capabilities,
these grey areas could be fully exploited,
leading inexorably to larger investments by
The fans are fully engaged with the teams. This issue has had to be addressed
by a Technical Working Group composed of
the drivers and teams because the the teams, the FIA and IMG, to prevent team’s
budgets escalating out of control.
paddock has been designed to be ‘Of course, every team and engineer want
to push the boundaries to gain performance,’
unintimidating, open and friendly Hansen says. ‘But we are very aware that the

WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017 www.racecar-engineering.com 15

RALLYCROSS 2017 – BUSINESS OVERVIEW
Since Audi ditched its LMP1 WEC programme at the end of last year its focussed on Formula E and its rallycross effort with the EKS team. It now has its engineers working with EKS at World RX events
costs can’t be crazy because we need to try
and close the gaps between the teams so as
to have good competition without spending a
huge amount of budget.’
This effort to try to cost cap the regulations
is just one area where the organiser is
trying to avoid the situation of alienating
the privateer teams, which is becoming a
growing issue. For 2017, four out of the six
permanent World RX teams are manufacturer
backed. This is excellent for the championship
as manufacturers bring more money,
professionalism and interest to the sport.
However, if privateer teams can no longer
compete with the budgets of manufacturer-
backed teams then they will be forced out of
the sport and this leads to a whole array of
issues – as we’ve recently seen in LMP1.
The works
The primary benefit for teams who are backed
by manufacturers is their access to engineering
talent and facilities. Take the reigning driver
and team champion, Mattias Ekstrom and
his own EKS team, which he founded in 2014
‘If they change channels to
find five Supercars going
into Turn 1 quicker than an
F1 car then they’re more
likely to stay with it’
16 www.racecar-engineering.com WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017
fielding two Audi S1s, as an example of how
a manufacturer will get involved. ‘We have
observed World RX very precisely because of
Mattias’ engagement for the last few years,
which has been very successful,’ says Dieter
Gass, head of Audi Motorsport. ‘We realised it
was becoming increasingly difficult for EKS to
stand its ground against the factory teams, so
we decided to intensify our commitment.’
Audi’s backing proved critical for the
survival of EKS because at the end of 2016
Ekstrom decided it was impossible to compete
successfully on purely private money. ‘We had
all three cars at the Audi Sport headquarters
in Neuburg-Heirichsheim for the first time,
where they conducted a lot of performance
development over the winter. We now have
Audi engineers working here at the track, but
also in Neuburg, who are dedicated specifically
to rallycross,’ explains Stelmaszyk. ‘Currently
we’re focusing on improving the overall
performance of the car rather than refining the
detail to gain tenths of seconds, but this will
happen at some stage in the future.’
Mind the gap
The 2017 season is, arguably, the first time
where privateer teams are seriously struggling.
Only once has a driver from a private team
been on the podium this year. That was Timo
Scheider for MJP Racing Team Austria in
Barcelona, where his past track experience and
an element of good fortune helped.
Furthermore, this year we are seeing the
PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team dominate
the championship. So, the challenge remains
to attract enough manufacturers to continue
progressing the professionalism of the
championship while monitoring the budgets
to give the smaller teams a chance. ‘I think
more manufacturers will be coming in, but
we need to stop the budgets from escalating
otherwise we could lose both private teams
and manufacturers,’ Hansen says. ‘The goal
should be to reach 24 to 26 cars on the grid
with a mixture of teams where at least half of
them have the potential to win races.’
Level headed
This is the focus for World RX organiser IMG,
too. ‘Whenever anyone is incurring extra costs
it is a major concern for us because one of
the advantages of World RX is it’s a relatively
level playing field,’ Bellamy says. ‘In any sport
you don’t want one or two teams dominating,
which is what we are starting to see already
when we’re only halfway through the season.
It’s very difficult to restrict budgets as you
don’t often get full transparency on what
teams are actually spending. However, there
are a number of tools that have been used in
the past to try and keep a lid on costs, so we’ll
be investigating those to ensure it remains as
much of a level playing field as possible.’
World RX is an exciting and encouraging
example of how motorsport can go about
attracting new and younger audiences whilst
holding on to its heritage and loyal fans.
However, there are some major changes on
the way for the championship: new tracks,
new concepts and even the potential
introduction of electric cars (see page 4).
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RALLYCROSS 2017 – JOKER LAPS

Playing the Joker

It’s not all flat-out, no-holds-barred racing in rallycross – there’s also the need for
cool, strategic thinking to make the most of the Joker Lap. Racecar investigates

The Joker Lap essentially

injects a short sprint
race with all the drama
and strategy of a pit
stop, just in a much
narrower time-frame

T
here are many rallycross
championships worldwide and
although they differ slightly, the
basic format remains the same: a
demanding schedule of short, intense racing
to thrill the fans throughout the weekend.
This is achieved by having several
qualifying heats (usually four), where up to
five cars race for four or five laps. The points
accumulated throughout these heats are then
used to classify the drivers, with the top 12
making it through to the semi-finals. These
are six lap races where the top three or four
from each semi-final qualify for the final. In the
Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship the
bottom three in the semi-finals then compete
in a four lap Last Chance Qualifier to fill the
remaining spots in the final, which consists of
10 laps and 10 competitors.
World Rallycross, on the other hand, race
a six lap final comprising the top three cars
from the two semi-final races.
Joker in the pack
With such compressed races, there is no need
for pit stops, of course, and safety cars are
unheard of – so surely the strategy is simply
to sprint to the finish? The organisers had a
different idea, and introduced the Joker Lap.
This is essentially an alternative section of track
which every driver must use once in each heat,
semi-final and the final. Depending on the
championship and circuit, the Joker Lap can
either help you gain or lose lap time.
In World RX, for example, the route of the
Joker Lap is aimed to add at least two seconds
to the overall lap time, whereas in Global
Rallycross, the Joker acts as a short cut which
can help you gain up to seven seconds in some
cases. This is a clever way of adding an element
of strategy to the race, because there is no
clear solution. The team has to first determine
how the tyres degrade throughout the laps,
although this is usually minimal. However, if
the track layout wears the tyres significantly,

18 www.racecar-engineering.com WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017


then the last lap should be the shortest
possible to minimise time loss: if the Joker Lap
is longer, complete that first then, and if it is a
shortcut, save it to the last lap.
Spot the call
If tyre degradation is minimal, the next
consideration is traffic, and this is where the
spotters come in. Regardless of whether
the Joker Lap gains or loses time, you want
to complete it as efficiently as possible and
therefore in free air. Each driver will have a
spotter, who is a member of the team who
stands in a viewing area where they can see
the entire track. They will monitor the sector
times, average Joker Lap times and the traffic
to determine the best lap to take the option,
and to communicate this to the car’s driver
over the radio during the race.
‘The problem is, that the time to complete
the Joker Lap can change during the event, so
you have to be aware of that too,’ says Kenneth
Hansen, 14-time FIA European Rallycross
Champion and current team manager of
Peugeot-Hansen. ‘This happened at Lydden
Hill, for example, where the tyre stacks moved
during the event which changed the average
Joker Lap time. This is a particular problem
when we don’t race on permanent circuits,
because two or three tenths can make a huge
A car peels off to take its Joker Lap, something each racecar must
do once in every race, whether it’s a heat, semi final or the final. It’s
proved so successful that the WTCC’s now going to adopt the concept
difference and if you don’t spot it or are not
prepared, you can lose the race because of it.’
This is not the only thing that changes.
The tracks are a mixture of dirt and asphalt
which are subjected to continuous running.
Consequently, the dirt surface is moved
about and constantly changes while the
grip on the asphalt improves with track
evolution. Therefore, the average sector and
lap times change with every lap, adding
another element of complexity that has to
be considered. ‘You have to try and compare
the lap times of other groups and categories
to see how the track changes. Of course, past
experience really benefits you here because
WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017 www.racecar-engineering.com 15
RALLYCROSS 2017 – JOKER LAPS

you already know how the track changes with

weather and temperature,’ explains Hansen.
‘You also need to consider the position of the
entrance to the Joker Lap. At Lydden Hill, for
example, the Joker Lap was before the first
corner, so if you were on the outside of the
grid and believed that nothing unexpected
would happen, then it made sense to take the
Joker on the first lap. Of course, things change
and you can’t expect anything so you need to
have a second strategy and quickly come up
with new ideas. Who are you competing with?
Who has been on the Joker? What is the gap to
the driver who has already been on the Joker?
As a spotter, you try and inform your drivers to
keep them up to speed on whether they need
to push more. The problem is, it’s never clear
and you only have a few seconds to have a
quick discussion with your other team spotter
before you have to make a decision. It’s very
stressful, but it’s a positive stress.’

Old jokes
Hansen’s past experience as a driver offers
a great advantage during these stressful
situations, however, as he understands the
feelings and emotions of the driver in the
car. This means he can think in a way that
is perhaps more relevant to the driver. This
has clearly proved advantageous. The other
spotter is also a previous driver and both
have contributed to the successful Joker Lap
strategy for Team Peugeot-Hansen.
Making decisions in this high-pressured
environment can lead to mistakes, where
sometimes the drivers miss the Joker Lap
entirely, as Reinis Nitiss, a driver for EKS, did
in round five at Lydden Hill. This destroys the
team’s weekend as the penalties are harsh: a
30-second time penalty if the Joker is missed
during the qualifying heats, or a drop down
the order to last place and consequent loss of
points for missing the Joker during a semi-final
or final. ‘It looks quite stupid when someone
misses a Joker Lap or everyone goes into
the Joker Lap at the same time,’ Hansen says.
‘The driver completely trusts the spotter,
but the spotter doesn’t have an easy job.
Also, sometimes the radio communication
can break down at a crucial point, so the
driver never receives the radio message and
therefore misses the Joker.’

Punch line
One of the few ways to try and add some
certainty into the strategy is to analyse any
trends as to when other teams usually take
their Joker Lap. In this way you can then try
and predict how the race will unfold and
therefore when you should take the Joker.
Typically, the privateer teams always complete
the Joker on the first lap. However, it is difficult
For the World Rallycross Championship the Joker Lap needs to add a minimum to spot trends in the more experienced and
of two seconds to the average lap time. The Joker section is highlighted in red on bigger teams as they are able to react quicker
the diagrams above. The brown sections are dirt while the black shows the tarmac and often do the unexpected. ‘You can have

20 www.racecar-engineering.com WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017

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 RALLYCROSS 2017 – JOKER LAPS

Making decisions in this high-pressured environment can lead to mistakes

some teams that normally have a particular
strategy. Other team’s strategy used to be
relatively obvious a few years ago, but now
it’s very difficult to calculate,’ Hansen says.
‘For example, in Lydden Hill when PSRX VW
Sweden were dominating, they decided to
Joker earlier when they were leading, which
is not so normal, but they changed their
strategy for security. The most important
thing for the Joker Lap is to give our drivers
a free run. If they don’t have a car in front of
them they can go as fast as possible, so that is
usually our number one goal.’

Constant change
The close racing in rallycross means that the
driver order, the track surface and the Joker
Lap strategy changes with every corner.
Therefore, it is almost impossible to go into
each race with a clear picture of what is going
to happen due to the uncertainty. Teams
and drivers have to react quickly to their
opponents and the timing screens, because
if they make the wrong strategic decision,
they only have a few laps to catch up or hope
for an opponent’s mistake. The Joker Lap
essentially injects a short sprint race with all
Conditions are always changing on the loose surface sections; just one factor that needs to be weighed up before taking the Joker Lap the drama and strategy of a pit stop, just in a
much narrower timeframe.
The success rallycross championships
have had integrating the Joker Lap concept
is now starting to catch the attention of other
motorsport categories, too. This year the
WTCC was set to introduce a Joker Lap into its
street circuit events in Morocco and Portugal.
However, the idea was abandoned for the
Morocco race as it required around 500sq/m of
track resurfacing and the risks associated with
the narrow Marrakech track were deemed
too high. The race in Portugal, at the Vila Real
circuit, however, went ahead with introducing
the Joker Lap and had full approval from the
FIA Safety Department and local authorities.

Spreading the joke

‘The Joker Lap concept works very well in
rallycross and I’m certain it will bring an extra
dimension to the WTCC street race in Vila
Real,’ says Francois Ribeiro, head of Eurosport
Events, the WTCC promoter ahead of the
event. ‘It will open up strategies for each WTCC
driver, and might even change the course of
the race. Of course, we never compromise on
safety so we have worked very closely with our
colleagues at the FIA and with the authorities
in Vila Real to put in place a route that matches
our requirements but also conforms to all the
rigorous safety standards.’
This was the first time a series outside
rallycross raced with a Joker Lap. It might
An indecisive driver bails out of his Joker Lap at the last minute. Timing is everything and spotters are on hand to help with the strategy also be the beginning of a new trend.

22 www.racecar-engineering.com WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017

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RALLYCROSS 2017 – TYRES

Slide rules
Perhaps no other motorsport discipline subjects tyres to quite
as much abuse as rallycross – we talked to World RX supplier
Cooper Motorsport for the inside line on rallycross rubber
By GEMMA HATTON

Starts are vital in short rallycross races, so the tyre has

to work right from the off. The rubber also has to help
propel Supercars from 0 to 60mph in under two seconds

‘The cross-ply works well

M
otorsport tyre design is a regions to the heat of South Africa; demanding
constant balance between the compounds to deliver throughout all

at large slip angles, which developing a construction

that can withstand the high
temperatures and all conditions.
‘In terms of tyres, rallycross is a

means that the driver can longitudinal and lateral loads seen, whilst
structuring a compound that is soft enough
combination of drag racing, dirt racing and
circuit racing all rolled into one,’ explains Matt

control the car better’ to ‘switch on’, but not degrade.

With the above in mind, rallycross is
arguably the most brutal form of motorsport
for tyres. With the Supercars accelerating off
the line from 0-60mph in under two seconds,
the compound has to perform immediately
to provide grip. The construction has to
withstand the impacts of jumps and sharp
kerbs. The track surface varies from 59 per cent
to 33 per cent asphalt, with the rest gravel or
dirt, which changes the effectiveness of the
contact patch and the resulting grip; another
factor the tyres have to overcome.
Then there’s local conditions. This year’s
calendar varies between the cold Nordic
Vincent, materials development manager at
Cooper Motorsport. ‘The tyres really do have
to go through a lot, even though the races are
only four or five laps. [But] I’ve only ever seen
our rallycross tyre blister once – and that was
because the driver was doing doughnuts.’
Rallycross-ply
Cooper Tyres supplies the World RX
Championship with the ACB11 Rallycross
tyre, which was developed from a range of
rallycross slick tyres. It has also developed a
17in full race wet, especially for World RX. The
most interesting feature of these tyres is the
cross-ply construction as opposed to the more

24 www.racecar-engineering.com WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017

 A rallycross tyre is built to survive the heavy impacts sustained on landing from the jumps, which are a popular part of the show

Each driver has eight dry tyres and eight wet tyres per event. This brings an element of strategy into the rallycross weekend

common radial tyres that we often see in most
other forms of motorsport.
‘It amazes people that we are still doing
cross-ply tyres, which is not something other
manufacturers usually do or have the facilities
to do anymore. However, there are several
advantages that the cross-ply has and the
radial doesn’t, particularly in this type of
motorsport,’ Vincent says. ‘It’s mostly to do
with the handling characteristics of the
cross-ply. It works well at large slip angles
and with these cars sliding a lot of the time,
it means that the driver can control the car
better. The radial offers more peak grip, so if
you were to put a Supercar on radial tyres on
an empty track, then yes it would probably
be faster. However, although a cross-ply gives
less peak grip, it exhibits this grip over a longer
period of time which means when you are
battling four cars around a corner, it is more
controllable under those extreme situations.’
The carcass of these cross-ply tyres are
made from Kevlar and nylon cord, where
multiple plies are placed diagonally by hand,
usually at 55 degrees, overlapping each other.
This construction also creates rigid sidewalls
which are more resilient to damage – essential
for surviving a hectic rallycross race.
Tread softly
Radial tyres, on the other hand, usually have
steel cord plies that are placed 90 degrees to
the direction of travel, and so the sidewall and
tread essentially work independently of each
other. This leads to the sidewalls having some
degree of flexibility, which helps to maximise
the contact patch and absorb shocks, which is
why this type of tyre is used so heavily in both
circuit racing and road car applications.
From a compound perspective, the range
of track temperatures, in addition to the
mixed surfaces and lack of tyre blankets and
ovens, demands a relatively soft compound.
This means that the working range is
relatively low and wide; so the compound can
generate temperature and grip quickly, whilst
accounting for the varied conditions. ‘Typically,
the working range of these tyres is anything
from 90degC to 120degC, but they will still
perform at carcass temperatures as low as
70degC and as high as 130degC,’ Vincent says.
Compare this to the working range of
F1 tyres, where the increased number of
compounds means that the ranges are much
narrower; and a variation in over 20degC could
drop you out of the working window in some
cases. For Cooper to achieve one compound
that can deliver grip throughout a range of up
to 60degC is quite impressive.
‘You have to remember that in a five or six
lap race, whoever pulls away first has a good
chance of winning, so the tyre has to work
straight off the line,’ Vincent says. ‘To deal with

WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017 www.racecar-engineering.com 25

RALLYCROSS 2017 – TYRES
Cooper’s World RX Championship rubber is cross-ply and treads are mandatory. To make sure drivers don’t wear their rubber down to slicks the FIA has ruled that each tyre is fitted with a wear bar
this level of acceleration, you have to consider
the modulus and the construction of the tyre.
We’ve also used our experience from the US
drag racing tyres that we supply, and although
it’s an entirely different compound, that
knowledge has helped us to target a specific
glass transition temperature.’
This glass transition temperature (GTT) is
the temperature at which the rubber becomes
most viscous. At low temperatures, the
modulus of the rubber is high, and therefore
the tyre is rigid and cannot generate its
own heat effectively enough to reach the
working range. As temperature increases, the
molecules within the rubber are more mobile
and can therefore generate heat. However,
at too high temperatures then the compound
will be susceptible to overheating and will
lose grip. Therefore, the position of the GTT
has to be balanced between these two
extremes to suit the required conditions.
For Cooper to achieve
one compound that can
deliver grip throughout a
range of up to 60degC
is quite impressive
26 www.racecar-engineering.com WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017
Another area of the tyre that can be
modified to achieve optimum grip is the
tread. However, in World RX, the FIA have
specified regulations that restrict the tread
pattern to two circumferential grooves, which
have to cover between 17 per cent to 25 per
cent of the tyre. ‘In the national rallycross
championships where there are no constraints
on the tread, the teams run slicks with the
general consensus that you do gain a slight
performance advantage with these. However,
in World RX we have to conform to the FIA
regulations,’ Vincent says.
Judge tread
This regulation may seem extremely specific,
however, it was bought in by the FIA for a
good reason as Paul Coates, general manager
at Cooper explains: ‘In the past, when we
used to run slick rallycross tyres in open areas,
people would only cut a pattern into the tyre if
the conditions demanded it. This is extremely
difficult for the FIA to monitor, so at least
with the current regulations, the teams have
a moulded dry and a moulded wet tyre and
they’re not allowed to modify either of them.’
The FIA has also regulated how much the
teams can wear the tyres. Wear bars have been
incorporated into the tyre design so that the
FIA can visually determine whether a team
still has the required 2mm of tread left. ‘The
FIA are trying to stop teams gaining an unfair
advantage by running through all of the tread
pattern and are therefore effectively racing
on a slick,’ Coates says. ‘They are also mindful
that some teams set up their cars very
aggressively, so as ever, they are trying to
create a level playing field.’
Naturally, the different track layouts result
in varying loads going through each of the
four tyres and therefore differing wear rates.
The Lydden Hill circuit in the UK is particularly
high on tyre wear, for example, as are some of
the French rallycross circuits.
‘The only issues we see in terms of wear are
down to car set-up, rather than a product issue,’
Vincent says. ‘There are some drivers who like a
particular set-up which means they barely get
through the weekend on their allocated tyres
in terms of wear. Then there are some events
and drivers where the tyres are hardly used. In
general, we are seeing higher wear every year
because as more manufacturers come in, they
are putting a lot more load through the tyres
because the cars are becoming quicker.’
True grip
Similar to other forms of motorsport, the FIA
has also restricted the amount of tyres for each
event, where each driver only has eight dry
and eight wet tyres at his disposal. This injects
an element of tyre strategy into the weekend,
despite the short races. Drivers can switch
tyres between the sets, which allows them to
 Conditions on rallycross tracks are often
varied, while new venues around the world are
likely to bring more challenges for the tyres

save fresh rubber on a particular corner for

the finals, for example. This also adds further
challenges to the set-up because at high
wearing circuits an aggressive set-up may cost
you overall grip in the latter, and therefore
most important, stages of the weekend.

Future tech
With the introduction of electric rallycross
looking increasingly likely (see page 6), the
tyres will be subjected to even more trauma.
‘As with most electric vehicle categories we
have dealt with, the cars are a lot heavier
and have a lot more torque, so you have to
react accordingly,’ Coates says. ‘In terms of the
construction, that will probably have to be
upgraded significantly and we may push for a
wider tyre section width. However, we’ve
been involved in the evaluation of other
electric powered motorsports such as GT
racing and off-road, so the shelf technology
already exists. It will just be a case of designing
a tyre with slightly higher abrasion resistance,
that generates less heat to cope with the Rallycross drivers will often try to save fresher tyres for the corner of the car that does the most work for the later stages of the event
additional weight and torque.’
The ACB11 tyres from Cooper have now
been used to win every European and World
‘I’ve only ever seen our tyres blister
Rallycross event for the last 20 years. However,
the future of World RX, with the faster, electric
once – and that was because the
cars competing in a wider variety of continents
and conditions, will continue to demand
driver was doing doughnuts’
the near-impossible from the tyres.

WORLD RALLYCROSS 2017 www.racecar-engineering.com 27

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industry engineers print or
January 2017

and the latest Dimple aero study

Bonneville Mini at F1 overtaking
digital
athcasscstu
Wing trick that could reduce dy
product development drag and increase downforce Ho w a tiny team hit 166mph
with a 970cc original Cooper Simon McBea e
essesss
2017 aero rules with CFD
New_06-acac.mbAC.indd
3

22/11/2016 14:34

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