Extreme Rallycross field filling fast

Sliding into the Australian motorsport calendar later this year is a new form of rallycross that blends rallying and supercross, with music and fireworks thrown in.

Loosely based on the rallycross scene popular in Australia between the late 1960s and early '80s, the Sidchrome Extreme Rallycross Championship is focussed on attracting the difficult-to-engage 16- to 30-year-old age group.

The new spectacle of four-wheeled colour and movement will comprise three categories: the premium RX Supercar Lites, the second-tier all-wheel drive turbo class and the two-wheel drive non-turbo class.

At an RX Supercar Lites test day held last week for prospective entrants and media at Sydney Motorsport Park, organiser David Ridden said the series is well on its way to filling driver entries and should include some big names.

“We can take a maximum of 50 entries across all classes for an event, purely because of the time frame. So the 4WD class is more than half committed, the 2WD class is a third of the way through.

“For the Supercar Lites class, a lot of guys wanted to wait to see what the car was like before they committed to spending a quarter of a million dollars. We’ll know in the next couple of weeks, but I’m confident that we’ll have a minimum of five cars.”

Each round is held over a Friday (practice and qualifying) and Saturday (heats, semi-finals, last-chance qualifier and the final). Gates open to spectators at 11:00am both days and close at 7:00pm on the Friday and 9pm on the Saturday.

Television coverage will be via SBS Speedweek and dedicated Foxtel Sport episodes, while broad social media exposure is slated for platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Dates for the first three rounds have been confirmed, with the remaining four to be confirmed soon. More details are available at extremerallycross.com.au.