The New Jersey Motorsports Park to Host First Rallycross

Article by V Kullar









The exhilaration of door-to-door rallycross racing shall soon be brought to NJMP – the New Jersey Motorsports Park by RallyCar, the motorsport company of America, as of the 28th and 29th of August this year. This event is counted as the first to happen in a sequence of 3 events scheduled at this Park. These events shall be broadcasted on the channel ESPN2, and will deliver a peek into the complete national set of races coming up ahead in 2011. This sport’s history includes a start in America, followed by amazing thunders in the X Games which happened in Los Angeles this year, after which it was covered live by ESPN.

All in all this sport combines the best features of off-road racing, rally competition and circuit racing. The track environment is usually spectator-friendly and the action guarantees complete crowd-engagement. A total of five drivers start together in a short course, packed with unbanked turns, jumps, hills and alterations of gravel and pavement. Their vehicles are small and compact, but high on horsepower. The rules oblige each car to take a lap called the joker lap at a specific point in their heat. This lap is basically a tiny detour, mostly in the form of a jump, forcing the driver to change his strategy instantaneously, lending an exciting angle of unpredictability to the game.

The scheduled Rallycross race at NJMP will include some very big names. These names include Dave Mirra and Travis Pastrana belonging to the Subaru Rally Team. Both of these personalities are persistent winner of the X Games having recently finished the 16th X Games.

Another name to feature in this race will be that of Tanner Foust – the recent gold medal champion of the X Games 16. This will be his first race at New Jersey. He has been gaining popularity as the 1st American to contend in the European Rallycross races, and will be looking to use his experience against his American competitors here.

Also coming to this event is Ken Block, of the team Monster World Rally. He is said to be pulling up to this event in his Ford Fiesta of 2010. Before making his name in rally racing, he had established himself as the joint founder of DC Shoes, as well as gaining fame for his sequence of the “Gymkhana” videos which has had a whopping 22 million viewers till now.

Stephan Verdier and Rhys Millen, ace drifters who come from rally racing experiences will be making their debut in the popular game of drifting in this event.

Also, the ace-drifter Sam H?binette will be teaming up with Andrew Comrie-Picard better known as “ACP” for this event. Both had competed in the X Games 16 and won themselves a bronze medal each in their respective races.

This format of racing has a huge fan base in Europe but is new to the U.S. However, it is sure to attract immense amounts of crowds with its exciting, close door-to-door action, the jumping, the sliding and more, especially with the addition of trackside viewing of this aggressive sport.

This year is the initial year of the Rallycross races and it will include two kinds of cars. One is the all-wheel drives which are faster, which are similar to those in use in the open class rally races contemporarily. The other class is that of the two wheel drive cars, which include variety of body-styles from builders like Honda and Dodge. It will also feature rally-style suspension, a horsepower exceeding 450 numerically, and modified engines.



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