World Rallycross a must-see

TO SA: AWESOME SPECTACLE, WITH ALL-WHEEL DRIVE, 450 KW MONSTER CARS AT FULL BLAST

Only FIA World Championship to stage round in sub-Saharan Africa.

After last year’s hugely successful Gumtree World Rallycross of South Africa round, which brought some 30 000 spectators to the Killarney circuit, the event will return to the Western Cape at the end of November.

The announcement was made by Paul Bellamy, World RX managing director, in London late last week. “It is very important for us to visit South Africa,” he said. “This is the only FIA World Championship to stage a round in sub-Saharan Africa. We felt the country was right for a World Championship, and now I cannot think of any better place in the world to visit in November than Cape Town,” he added.

As followers will know, World Rallycross produces awesome spectacles, with all-wheel drive, 450 kW monster cars blasting around the tight confines of combined tar and dirt circuit, six at a time. Races are short – between four and six laps around a one-kilometre long track – producing something akin to the first lap action of a long circuit race, all the time.

World Rallycross is currently the fastest growing form of motorsport in the world, with yearon-year increases in everything from social media following to TV audiences, media attendance and merchant sales. More importantly, live attendance has shot up by

225% in five years.

Driver entries are also on the up, and the big names will be out to play in Cape Town. Current World Champion Johan Kristoffersson will be joined by Sebastien Loeb, Peter Solberg and Mattias Ekström, with 25 drivers in the premier category. – Dirt Track Racing Correspondent

FLYING. Huge crowds attend World Rallycross events, and this is why. The show will visit the Western Cape again on November 24 and 25.

SHORT AND TIGHT. The Killarney Rallycross circuit is 1.1 km long and the races are just four laps, resulting in this kind of spectacle throughout.