Red Bull Global Rallycross - Daytona

Nice pics, thanks for sharing.

Yeah, they couldn't have done it at a worse time of the year in Florida. Why not wait until
October or November?

Back in the early 90s, friends of mine were doing some SCCA racing and I was photographing
so they wanted me to come up to Daytona to shoot at the event for them. This event was
likewise in July or August and it was brutally hot with no air moving around inside the track.

Think I covered maybe two practice sessions and called it a day.

BHW

 

First reaction to radio advert: sweet, i was just watching that on tv.
Second reaction to radio advert: wait, when? Hell no!

 

Nice pics, too bad the heat kept the spectators away. I went a couple years ago in Vegas and it's a lot of fun to watch.

 

I never really saw the point of rallycross ...

 

I assume Rally Cross doesn't have the budget to hold an event in Daytona except when no one else wants to.

A lot of the drivers have backgrounds in other sports which I think makes it really pretty cool!

 

In America, spectators for one reason or another like to be catered to in stadium-type setting and will not trek out to forest stages. Hardly any stage rally coverage on TV and XGames and rallyX format allows for marketing not available rallying in the forest.

RallyX to me seemed like a lot of sitting around waiting, hole-shot winner to first corner wins and body damage banging most everything.

 

Rallycross was born in UK, when the British round of the World Rally Championship (the RAC) was cancelled because of the "foot-and-mouth disease outbreak that year, prohibiting the movement of cars across the country. Several competitors decided to race on a mixed tarmac/shale track instead.
So, I can understand why originally rallycross cars used to look like rally cars.

But why they have persevered with that definition, I cannot understand. There are plenty of buggies, rails, or off-road vehicles that could be suitable for this sport, without looking like a Ford, a Citroen or a Peugeot. I am sure they could be built at a fraction of the cost too.

I used to like watching rallying which as a race against the clock, but rallycross is a contact sport far remote to its origins now.

 

Because to go fast on mixed surface, you need AWD which rallycars have. Using production based cars, brings manufacturers onboard to field entries and be event sponsors. VW of America is title sponsor for Global RallyX.

In the US, there have been many different stadium off-road truck racing series and still are that get more publicity than rallyX. Bigger jumps, longer suspension travel, wider track so don't roll or flip when landing, cheap tear away panels and cheap V8 power.