Continental Drift

As I wedged myself into the passenger-side racing seat, cinched down the four-point harness and slammed the door, I wasn’t sure if I felt excitement, fear or both.

Sitting on my left, ex-WRC Hyundai driver Chris Atkinson fired up the first example of the RX Rallycross Supercar Lites to land in Australia. This was his first steer of the spaceframe-chassis, composite-body race car on this demo drive/ride day for the Sidchrome Extreme Rallycross series on the Drift Circuit at Sydney Motorsport Park.

With the engine stuttering at idle, my feet were tingling as I braced them against the floorpan, and interior parts were rattling in rhythm with engine revs. No noise and vibration suppression needed here.

I was Atkinson's first media joy-rider for the day, and given I hadn’t written anything nasty about him (there was time, I swore to myself), I hoped he wouldn’t try to reduce me to a sobbing mess by the end of our five laps on this partially wet tarmac course.

Then he floored it. My head snapped back as the sound of a buzzsaw chewing into hardwood screamed to fever pitch behind us. Atko grabbed second in the sequential ‘box and, in a blink, the car reeled into the first corner.

I tried to note Atkinson's movements at the wheel, gear lever and pedals for my upcoming rally drive experience, a gift from my wife last Christmas.

With his hands and feet a blur, I think it’s safe to say Atkinson lost me when he pressed the start button back at the pit garage.

There was no tippy-toeing around the first corner to get a feel for it, as other drivers did on this demo day, with some coming from Group N rally cars, Sprintcars or Monster Trucks.

As the car dived into the tight left, Atkinson cranked the handbrake and we swung around in a gentle arc. Then he grabbed first and, in what seemed an instant, we were on a hairpin right, the Supercar Lite’s stubby nose sniffing the apex.

Then it was into a tight left flowing into an open left, most of it with me looking down the track through my side window. The open left led to a short straight, the car leaping forward and aiming for the fast-approaching left at an impossible speed. Then speed was washed off to almost nothing and my chin was compelled to nudge my chest. This car not only has grip and go, but also the brakes and traction to dismiss forward motion in what felt like an instant.

Soon my ride was over. It was supposed to be five laps, but it all happened so fast that it felt like two.

As I hauled myself out of the seat and crawled out from under the roll cage, I must’ve looked a sight. Not due to the ungracious exit, but because of my idiot grin. That was incredibly fun.

Even if the series does not offer rides to the public, there’s a good chance it get its intended audience, the 16- to 30-year-olds that are notoriously elusive when it comes to motorsport of any kind.

This audience as a whole is wedded to either devices or experiences, according to research unearthed by event organiser David Ridden. Watching the furious blur of up to 10 Supercar Lites sliding door-to-door around a circuit littered with gravel, sand or dirt sections and jumps is bound to draw them in, he believes, as will the opportunity for spectators to meet the drivers and get autographs.

The series will be televised, with the rounds shown on SBS Speedweek and Foxtel Sport. According to Ridden, of more relevance to the target demographic is the live video streaming of each event and the broad social media exposure.

Drivers who want to enter the seven-round series will have to stump up about $240,000 to buy their Supercar Lite, built especially for the series in the USA and Europe (and now Australia) by Olsburgs MSE. Entry fees for the seven-round championship costs $8250 for the RX Supercar Lites, $5500 for the all-wheel drive class and $4620 for the two-wheel drive class.

For drivers like the talented Atkinson, rallycross is a natural fit -- although he hasn’t yet confirmed his role in the series.

“Basically I’m having a look at it as an option to possibly entering the series," he said. "Rallying is not a huge sport in Australia and I see rallycross as the future. It would suit my style of driving, so I’m quite keen to be involved.

"For me, there’s not so many seats available in rallying, so I’ve turned my focus onto rallycross -- it looks like great fun, so if you can involve that with your job… no complaints,” he said.

Meanwhile, some manufacturers also see the attraction of rallycross as a relatively cheap way of engaging a potential band of new customers. While the RX Supercar Lites are effectively a one-make series, the clincher for manufacturers is that the composite silhouette can be changed to whatever they like — that is, a representation of one of their own cars.

The cost of running in the series is about $20,000 per event, according to Ridden, which is a fraction of the cost of running a rally team or V8 Supercar team.

Hyundai PR chief Bill Thomas, who was at the Sydney demo drive day, said he thought the series held great promise.

“We’re just having a look at it. We like it, we like the audience demographic, we like that the sport is growing – it has proved very popular overseas. We think Aussies will really take to it.

"The real attraction for us is that it’s obviously new, so we’re starting from the beginning. The cars look like road cars; it is something you can immediately relate to.”