The motorsport community in South Africa is buzzing like never before at the thought of short-geared rally cars tearing through the silence of Cape Town’s streets.
Des Easom from Killarney International Raceway announced that the Western Province Motors Club had finally clinched a three-year deal with IMG, bringing the final leg of the World Rallycross Championship to South Africa, making it the first FIA World Championship event to be held in South Africa since Kyalami held the Formula One Grand Prix in the early 90’s.
He commented: “Worldwide, motorsport is a significant generator of economic activity and job creation. This event will also contribute to tourism, the marketing of Cape Town as a preferred destination and help grow motorsport in South Africa as well as the rest of Africa.”
There is no doubt that loyal South African supporters will flock to attend an event of this magnitude, especially with it being the first of its kind to be hosted in Africa. The City of Cape Town’s executive deputy mayor, Alderman Ian Nielson, has high hopes that the city’s investment in this initiative will reward the city while reaffirming its status as a world-class African city.
Rallycross is a sprint racing style on a mixed-surface racing circuit, and if you’ve ever been to Killarney Raceway then you’d know that there is just asphalt all around, which doesn’t exactly cut it for Rallycross. This is why the construction of a brand new Rallycross circuit will commence in November and will become a permanent circuit that will be home to an entirely new series of Rallycross racing in South Africa.
Although the final layout of the proposed circuit is still under wraps, it is expected to include a section of the stock-car tar oval and some of the gravel infield area down towards Turn 3, Rose Foundation Corner. One thing we know for sure is that the circuit won’t exceed the length of 1,4kilometers, allowing spectators to keep an eye on their favourite racers almost all the time.
The race cars competing in the series are all developed from rally cars, packing engines capable of producing up to 450kW of raw power! Pair this with all-wheel drive and you’re definitely in for some off-road carnage.
Interesting fact: The latest series of Rallycross race cars actually outpace their Formula One counterparts from zero to 100km/h, all thanks to their lightweight agility and short gears.
A couple of the racing superstars you can expect to watch live in action include Sebastien Loeb, Petter Solberg, and the most recent addition to the Rallycross league, Jenson Button.
