Nother CarGuy

The Hyundai i20 is heading to the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Only it’s not Hyundai that’s taking it there. Instead the i20 has been adapted to rallycross spec by GRX TANECO – the team run by two-time world rally champion Marcus Grönholm. The pair of new i20 supercars are based on the platform that Hyundai ran in the 2016 WRC. FIA WRX Supercars pack 2.0-liter turbocharged engines, sending 600 horsepower to all four wheels to deliver 0-60 times of 1.9 seconds. Short of full factory support, the partnership stems from Grönholm’s personal relationship with Hyundai rally team principal Michel Nandan. “We don’t have any manufacturer backing like some of the other teams in World Rallycross,” said Grönholm, “but we have a lot of information from when we bought the cars from Hyundai.” Reached for comment, Hyundai’s motorsport department confirmed that “this is a private project with no manufacturer involvement.” The i20s will replace the Ford Fiestas that GRX has run un...

The Electric GT Racing Series has attempted to get its feet off the ground with the Tesla Model S for some time now. The all-Tesla racing series was initially announced two years ago, but has just received FIA’s approval and could being as early as this year. According to The Verge, the Electric GT World Series will see heavily-modified Tesla P100D sedans with approximately 778 horsepower compete against one another. The locations, drivers, and championship schedule, though, are still up in the air. All they have said is that the series will race at well-known circuits, which most likely means the Teslas will compete at current or former Formula One tracks. Getting approval from the FIA is a big step forward. The race-ready Model S sedans recently passed official crash tests, as well. The series still needs to attract more teams, only one has reportedly signed on at the moment. But now that the FIA has given the racing series the okay, things should start to fall in line. Moto...

Rallycross is rapidly growing in popularity as a form of motorsport to the point that we have two rival series on opposite sides of the Atlantic. There's the Global RallyCross Championship in North America, and the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Europe. (Both are sponsored, naturally but incidentally, by energy-drink brands.) But now the European series is coming to America for the first time. Organizers of the international series have announced that they'll be holding their first event in the US at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, next year. The round will be held the weekend of September 29-30, 2018, at the same world-class facility that hosts Formula One, MotoGP, and the FIA World Endurance Championship (among so many others). "We are delighted to announce that another FIA World Championship will be coming to COTA," said circuit chief Bobby Epstein. "The addition of a world-class rallycross circuit will be a welcome addition to our...