2015 British Rallycross Championship

[ebby]

Would be good to see this again. Not sure why the Belgians haven't been invited to the first Lydden meeting? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDr3U5Ek1vQ

[chunder]

It seems to be a one year on, one year off kind of deal to be honest.

[tbtstt]

New toy for Ollie...





...I wonder if that means the ex-Procter Focus will be moving on, or will O'Donovan keep it? (I believe he bought it from Kevin and wasn't just renting it last year?)

[FIRE]

Is this a new car?

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Is this a new car?

There is a bit of blurb on the car on Facebook, but its a bit vague...



...however I just noticed that one of the comments for the picture on Facebook says:

Originally Posted by Mike Goodbun

Saw it at NEC today. Rollcage had Wales Rally GB scrutineering sticker on. So an ex-rally machine... But don't know who rallied it.

Unlikely I'll be going there myself, but perhaps a forum member going to Autosport can verify the above if they see the car.

[Hampton Caught]

Originally Posted by chunder

Fire you missed a word out.

Other "more reliable" options!

You pipped me to it. I was also going to add the word 'reliable' there.

I spoke with Mark at Lydden and he was not happy that the car wasn't ready for the free practice nor the first qualification runs. Always on your back foot when the first time you're out competing in a new car to you is when everyone else you're competing with has 'warmed up' already.

Then at Croft, Mark told me the car was down on power. Again, not what you want!

I have no idea how much Mark was paying LD Motorsport for use of their car, but in other circumstances, for service like that I'd be looking for a hefty discount!!

Ultimately, and most importantly, those experiences haven't hurt his enthusiasm for the sport. Good luck to him, I say, and I hope he's able to find a suitable vehicle for 2015. The ex-Proctor/ O'Donovon Focus would be a useful tool in Mark's hands.

Cheers, Steve

[tbtstt]

For those who haven't seen it, a post from the British Rallycross Championship Facebook page concerning this weekends Autosport show and the 2015 Championship:

Originally Posted by British Rallycross Championship Facebook Page

This years Autosport Show once again, had many visitors to the NEC to see the latest in what is new for 2015. Rallycross featured much more this year than in recent events, with news for this season from the likes of Ollie O’Donovan, Jake Taylor, Steve Hill and Craig Lomax to name but a few.

The attraction for most visitors was the presence of World RX Champion Petter Solberg, who attended the show for all four days, carried out numerous interviews on stage, and was on hand to provide action in the Live Arena to the thousands of Motorsport fans that tuned up.

This years MSA British Rallycross Championship is already shaping up to be one of the best for some time. Former British Champion Ollie O’Donovan will swap the ex-Kevin Procter Focus for a new R5 based Ford Fiesta, run by Tony Bardy Motorsport and will be seen at the opening round of this years series at Croft on March 15th.

The Irishman will team up with Yokohama for this year, and speaking at the show head of Motorsport at Yokohama HPT Ltd, Mark Evans, said; "I am delighted to be working with Ollie to support his entry into the Supercar category of the 2015 British Rallycross Championship. We have known him for some time and with his experience, this car and the Yokohama ADVAN A005 tyre, I am sure that we will enjoy a successful year. In addition to competing with Yokohama, Ollie will continue to provide Yokohama tyres to the Rallycross community through RX Racing, including the new tyre to competitors who wish to use it alongside him in the Supercar class."

For O’Donovan it is the kind of backing needed to sustain a challenge at this year’s title and he is looking forward to 2015 indeed and said “The partnership with Yokohama is very important to both myself and Team RX Racing in Rallycross. We have used the tyres on the RX150’s for many years, and have proved how good they are, so to have them on the car as well is superb.” He went on to add “Team RX Racing will contest all the rounds of the MSA British Championship this year, as well as up to six rounds of the World Rallycross Championship, so it is going to be a busy year, but one the team and I are looking forward to.”

Elsewhere Jake Taylor confirmed that he will make the move up to the Suzuki Swift Sport category in 2015. JT Motorsport announced “After a strong 2014 debut season, gaining valuable experience in the Swift Juniors, Jake will be making the leap up to the ultra competitive Suzuki Swift 1.6 Sport category.

Supported by Autopoint Specialist Engineering, Jake will compete in the 2015 British Rallycross Championship With over 20 years experience in World, European and British Rallycross , Jake will be in very capable hands with Graham and Kieran at Autopoint Specialist Engineering for his next stage of development, and it is a challenge that we are really looking forward to.”
Jake will be racing behind the wheel of the famous championship winning Suzuki Swift of Graham Rodemark and work has just started preparing the car for the 2015 season, featuring a new colour scheme and new artwork.
Speaking at the show Jake said "I know it’s a very tough category to be racing in with the adults but I'm committed to keep on developing and improving in 2015" he added "With the fantastic support of the team at Autopoint SE and the MSA Academy tutors I'm incredibly excited about the challenge ahead, I cannot wait to get behind the wheel again".

Other news from the show is that James Grint is working hard on a deal that should see him in the Championship once again, while Craig Lomax will be back in his new Citroën C2, the Xtreme Motorsport driver present in the Live Action Arena at the show.

Steve Hill confirmed that he will contest the full Championship in 2015 in the rapid Mitsubishi Evo, while Steve Harris confirmed that he too was working on a deal that would see him contest the series once again.

This years dates were released just before Christmas and are as follows

Croft – 15th March
Lydden - 6th April
Pembrey – 10th May
Mondello Park – 27/28 June
Pembrey – 19th July
Lydden – 31st August
Croft – 10/11 October

The Mondello Park round features a ferry deal for crews and teams, and more details will be announced this week.

I really like the latter generation Fiesta rallycross cars, so it will be great to see one in the UK this year. My only minor concern is that Ollie was sure to be competitive from the outset in the Focus, I hope the switch to a new car doesn't slow him down too much.

[BigNut]

Taken From The British RallyCross Facebook Page

MSA British Rallycross news update 2015
The British Rallycross Championship is pleased to announce a confirmed calendar of events for 2015 that consists of eight rounds with one dropped score. The championship is open to anyone who is a member of either LHMC or BARC
Round 1 Croft – 15th March
Round 2 Lydden - 6th April
Round 3 Pembrey – 10th May
Round 4 + 5 Mondello Park – 27/28 June ( See ferry deal)
Round 6 Pembrey – 19th July
Round 7 Lydden – 31st August
Round 8 Croft – 10th October
MSA Rallycross Grand Prix Croft Oct 11th
8 rounds one score dropped.
_________________________________________
Offer Details for Mondello Park
A fantastic ferry deal has been organised by Ian Watson of BARC and the Mondello team which will make the trip to Ireland very appealing.
Booking details and costs below
Offer Details:
British Rallycross Championship
*Car plus three adults plus Trailer up to 3.9 metres long
*Return Cruise Ferries only Irish sea Daylight Sailings
*Bookings made up to and including Tuesday 30th June 2015
*Travel from Tuesday 23rd June 2015 to Tuesday 30th June 2015
*Telesales bookings only – no telephone fee
*Bookings can be emailed to www.clubdeals.co.uk
*Total Cost £190 return – Inclusive of Car plus 3 Adults including trailer
(up to 3.9mtrs)
If you have any Artics, we also have a deal with Irish Ferries freight, but that has to be booked separately through the Dublin office but is very competitively priced at €200.00 each way plus Vat and a fuel surcharge of circa €30.00 each way.
On today’s exchange rate, that’s approx. £364.00 for an Artic return assuming they can claim the Vat which is mega competitive.
Further details and booking reference will follow
________________________________
Classes will be as follows for 2015
MSA Supercar
MSA SuperNational/ Super 1600. Will run together but separate heats and finals will be run if sufficient numbers of each class at the discretion of the COC
BMW Mini/ Hot Hatch Will run together but separate heats and finals will be run if sufficient numbers of each class at the discretion of the COC
Suzuki Swift Sport Championship
MSA Suzuki Juniors
Retro Rallycross
RX150
Various television deals are in discussion and further details will follow.
Despite substantial increased circuit costs entries have been kept down to £250.00, which is only £5.00 more than 2014. For the new double header at Mondello entry for both days will be £375.00, which represents excellent value
A spokesman for the joint organisers LHMC and BARC said “We are excited by the high levels of support promised for 2015. We are expecting increased numbers across all classes but especially in the Supercar class that looks like being the most competitive for many years. The recent rise of the popularity of Rallycross on a World stage has been plain to see, and we are now benefiting from that in our own British Rallycross.”
More news will be announced in due course.

[chunder]

About damn time the series went back to ireland, especially Mondello.

At one time they provided a lot of the drivers, so hopefully this is the start of some common sense, Ireland, one series, no more childish petulance, Oh hang on a minute...

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by chunder

About damn time the series went back to ireland, especially Mondello.

At one time they provided a lot of the drivers, so hopefully this is the start of some common sense, Ireland, one series, no more childish petulance, Oh hang on a minute...

Well done chunder - a post with something approaching a positive note in there somewhere (if you look carefully enough!). Something like "It's good to see the championship going back to Ireland" would be more obviously positive though

Agree that it's good to have the championship going back to Ireland and the double header makes sense - is Mondello the only active circuit that side of the water now?

[bigted]

Im sure our Irish friends will help out with this

www.pallaskarting.com/latest-news/pallas-karting-rallycross-2015-summer-championships

Pallas Karting Tynagh, Loughrea, Co. Galway is a new track this year.

[AndyS]

What happened to Nutts Corner? I liked that track but it seems to have dropped off the radar.

[BigNut]

Originally Posted by bigted

Im sure our Irish friends will help out with this

www.pallaskarting.com/latest-news/pallas-karting-rallycross-2015-summer-championships

Pallas Karting Tynagh, Loughrea, Co. Galway is a new track this year.

Tynagh looks like it wont be ready until the end of the year, also where it is based would be another 2 hours driving past mondello.
How would that work with ferry times and the like?

[chunder]

I dont glam things up, never have never will.

For some ungodly reason Ireland thought they could have theri pown series, just as the UK did.

Its OK for a clubbie type thing and for the drivers that want to race over there, but really you should be pulling for a proper UK series first, impress fans, drivers and then feed off it.

Not the other way round

[Graz]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Well done chunder - a post with something approaching a positive note in there somewhere (if you look carefully enough!). Something like "It's good to see the championship going back to Ireland" would be more obviously positive though

Agree that it's good to have the championship going back to Ireland and the double header makes sense - is Mondello the only active circuit that side of the water now?

There's Mondello, Kirkistown and in the last 2 or 3 years Bishopscourt hosting car and bike races.

Mondello would be regarded as Ireland's premier circuit (which doesn't say much!) so it makes sense any event such as this comes there. Back in the 90's, the British RX Irish double header used to be Nutts Corner on Saturday and Mondello on Sunday.

I'm delighted the RX is back, the Irish motorsport scene is pretty dead and at least this will be something good to go down to watch.

[p205]

There is new blood in the Irish rx committee this year resulting in the addition of a second track in Galway which will be used for rds 3 and 6 of this years championship, along with the support of Yokohama and Murray Motorsport supplying Ao48's for stockhatch class at a very reasonable price this season.

Everyone is delighted to have the British championship back, its been a tough few years for motorsport here and fingers crossed this event will help it along in the right direction.

Were out this Sunday for rd 1 in Mondello Park.

[M.Lowe]

Wonder if Ollie will swap motor and trans into the fiesta. the fiesta at Autosport was MSL car stickered up while Ollie's is in build i beleive

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by M.Lowe

Wonder if Ollie will swap motor and trans into the fiesta. the fiesta at Autosport was MSL car stickered up while Ollie's is in build i beleive

Yeah, J.U. posted an extract from the RallycrossRX site over in the RallycrossRX 2015 thread confirming that the car at Autosport wasn't the real deal.

Be a shame to see the Focus broken up as its a competitive car. I hope whatever way Ollie chooses to do it he ends with a reliable car, I really want to see him challenging Godfrey this year.

[M.Lowe]

Would be good to see one of these in Rallycross.
built by Dytko Sport in Poland they have evo x floor and workings in a marage / space star shell.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-c...-ts=1421914688

[Hampton Caught]

From what I saw at the meetings in which Ollie competed last year, he had the better of Julian Godfrey back then anyway. If the Fiesta is (even) quicker, is reliable and Ollie is able to make enough rounds from this year's schedule, Julian will have his hands well and truly full! And Ollie will have his hands full of a big, shiney trophey!

Realistically, I can't see Godfrey retaining his championship at the end of this season - not unless he's worked a minor miracle on the engine and chassis!

This season promises to be a good one - can't wait for it to start in March.

Cheers, Steve

[M.Lowe]

Cant wait till March for rallycross at croft again at the start of a championship

[FIRE]

Any chance to see Scott in his Peugeot 208? To be honest I rather see him doing full BRX and ERX instead of full WRX.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by M.Lowe

Would be good to see one of these in Rallycross.
built by Dytko Sport in Poland they have evo x floor and workings in a marage / space star shell.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-c...-ts=1421914688

New cars keep coming from Dytko.

There are also Peugeot 208, VW Polo and Hyundai i20 versions. All having Mitsubishi Evo power train and other parts.

Where do these cars race and cost?

edit: Only €40k?

[M.Lowe]

bare complete shells ready converted about 14,000 euro

One polo just gone to Bolivia
3 cars to Australia one to New Zealand. one to Russia and Spain

[bigdick1977]

I have heard from a very good source that Ollie's Fiesta won't mean breaking the Focus and that he may have both cars at some events.