Building a rallycross Supercar is never an easy task, but those undertaking such a project can make their lives a little easier by going with flow and building the type of car that others have already built. Such a choice can give access to a ready supply of components, or at the very least, mean that someone else has already done the really hard work of creating the first example.
Of course, choosing something different means you stand out from the crowd and, should you manage to land on a car that is better than the rest, you may just steal a march on everyone. This, however, is a difficult path to walk. Not that the difficulty has deterred drivers who over the years have chosen to do somethimg different. It’s not often, however, that these different strokes result in the kind of knock-outs that Muhammed Ali was explaining when he coined the phrase.
This particular rabbit hole was opened up by the news at the end of last year that Ollie O’Donovan is replacing his Ford Fiesta with a Proton Iriz. O’Donovan is basing his car on a proven R5 rally concept so it’s not all new engineering and the car will be a welcome addition to ranks when it appears later this year.
A new Proton Iriz will be Ollie’ O’Donovan’s new 2021 rallycross Supercar and will styand out from the pack just by being unique.A few tried their hand with a BMW 1 series, Swede Thomas Andersson met with no more success than any of the others with a car that should have worked.Frenchman Mikael Poirier also tried his luck with a BMW 1. It did not work that well, but he did not deserve the indignity of this comedy recovery attempt at Essay in 2011.There were plenty of MkIII Escort Supercars, but Trevor Hopkins’ version used a transversley-mounted engine – in 1986! Plagued by transmission problems, Hopkins replaced it with an RS200.
Dutchman Tom Geenen built this this Opel Corsa Supercar.A Fiat Coupe did Supercar duty for Dutch female Tineke de Poorter.Hyundai has recently become succsessful at World RX level, but Stefan Jansson’s 2009 i30 did not show winning pace.O’Donovan’s 2021 Proton Iriz is unique, but Risto Simonen raced this Proton Satria in the Finnish Rallycross Championship.Renault’s Megane formed the basis of this Supercar challenger from Frenchman Martial Barbette.The Belgian Car Glass team built this Porsche ‘959’ a car that was used by various people for several years, including Denis MarcelBritish racer Mike Jennings built his own Ford Fiesta Supercar in 1985. The unique car used a naturally aspriated BDA and included four-wheel steering as well as four-wheel drive.Gerard Roussel won the French Rallycross Championship with his four-wheel drive version of Renault’s Maxi 5 4×4.
Terry Briggs was never one to go with the flow. His Mazda 323 Supercar was one of few examples of the Japanese production 4×4 used in rallycross.When Great Britain allowed spaceframe chassis cars to race in Supercar Briggs first built this Audi TT clone.Briggs later replaced that TT with this Renault Clio, again using a spaceframe chassis.Group S in rallycross. Opel’s abandoned Group S project surfaced in rallycross when John Welch switched from Ford. It raced as both Vauxhall and Opel Astra.
Installing all the running gear and components of a Supercar into a small chassis is not easy, and the short wheelbase can also be tricky. Colin Anson managed to create this Ford Ka.Citroen’s baby AX turned into a Supercar by French Championship racer Yves Gallais, driven here by Christophe Vaison. Gallais later raced this Citroen Saxo in the French Championship and his home European Championship event.Big cars also present some problems, just because of their sheer size. In the late 1980s Ulsterman Eamon Matheson used a 24v V6 ‘GA’ engine to build this mighty Sierra 4×4.British racer Brian Jukes raced this near-standard Audi TT in British RX…and also did some events with an Audi A4 Quattro. Never conventional, he also had a diesel TT!
