MOTORSPORT: Rallycross jumping again here soon

The revival of rallycross in Australia is little more than three months away now.

And it's coming at the double, with two promoters announcing events for the spectacular form of motorsport that is a combination of rallying and circuit racing with elements of supercross – especially huge jumps.

Rallycross is booming overseas, with a Federation Internationale de l'Automobile-sanctioned, European-based world championship entering its second season this month and another series called Global Rallycross, even though it's essentially American.

Charismatic Norwegian 2003 world rally champion Petter "Hollywood" Solberg became the first rallycross world champion last year, while extreme action man and YouTube sensation Ken Block is the big drawcard in the American show.

In Australia rallycross will be revived on July 19 at Broadford, 90km north of Melbourne, by Bob Watson, an Australian rally champion who also was a star of rallycross in the 1970s along with Peter Brock, Colin Bond, Allan Moffat and Larry Perkins.

Watson's Rallycross Australia has scheduled another one-day event at Broadford, where a 1.8km course is being developed at the long-established motorcycle facility, on October 25 and plans a six-meeting series next year.

Gold Coast-based marketing man David Ridden has grander ambitions, which we revealed more than four months ago.

Ridden has now announced a seven-round national series starting on the Gold Coast at the end of August and running through until next February, with Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide on the calendar.

Among the venues on the schedule for Ridden's Extreme Rallycross Championship are Brisbane's Lakeside, Sydney Motorsport Park (twice), Melbourne's Calder Park – which famously hosted the sport in its earlier era – and Adelaide's Wayville Showgrounds.

Ridden has a naming rights sponsor, tools brand Sidchrome, and says his events will be streamed live and televised later on SBS and Fox Sports.

His focus is on attracting fans in the 16-30 bracket with events, hosted by DJs, to be held over two days – Fridays and Saturdays.

The premier class of Extreme Rallycross will be RX Supercar Lites – $230,000 four-wheel-drive, naturally-aspirated four-cylinder, 300-horsepower cars on a generic chassis built by Sweden's Olsbergs MSE.

One of these cars is due – actually overdue – in Australia next week and will be demonstrated at Sydney Motorsport Park on May 1 by Perth-based Alister McRae, brother of the late, legendary Scottish rally world champion Colin McRae.

The younger Alister McRae is a likely competitor in Extreme Rallycross, while Ridden teases about having V8 Supercar teams and drivers keen too – and the possibility that the final round of the initial series in Sydney could even be a round of the RX World Championship.  That would bring the top-class, 600-horsepower RX cars to Oz.

Chris Atkinson, Australia's top but under-employed rally driver, is a name often linked to the Extreme series, while extrovert South Australian Jack Monkhouse seems a certainty for it.

Extreme Rallycross is allowing for fields of up to 10 in its top bracket, with more in its two support classes – for turbocharged four-wheel-drive machines and naturally-aspirated two-wheel-drive cars.

Watson is going with a simpler format of four cars racing at a time over just three laps at Broadford, where a water crossing is being included.

He is aiming to entice entrants from autocross – a short, introductory form of rallying – and seemingly many of the older, under-utilised rally cars around.

Watson's focus appears to be more on competitor participation than the exposure Ridden is seeking.

Rallycross originated in Britain, began in Australia in 1969 and took off here in the early 1970s, enjoying live television coverage and with Holden, Ford, Renault, Porsche and British Leyland-backed entries.

Larry Perkins won the only Australian Rallycross Championship, in a Volkswagen Beetle in 1979 at South Australia's Tailem Bend, almost 100km east of Adelaide and now being upgraded into a major motorsport complex.

As touring car racing became increasingly popular in Australia rallycross faded – as it did elsewhere, other than in Scandinavia.

Now it has made a huge comeback abroad.

While there are rival promoters in the Australian revival of the sport they appear to be on friendly terms.

Watson says that "rallying is exciting enough, but racing other rally cars is something else", while Ridden claims rallycross "is the future of motor racing in Australia".

Alister McRae adds: "Pound for pound, rallycross is the world's most exciting motorsport. There is no other racing that puts a driver's skill to the test as much as rallycross. The time is right to bring this action-packed sport to Australia's shores."