Electric World RX series returning to South Africa in October

Hot of the heels of the recent Cape Town E-Prix, Iain Banner – Chairman of the e-Movement, has announced to the public that the World Rallycross Championship will now be making its way to the Mother City too.

Speaking to local radio station Smile 90.4 on Tuesday (30 May), Banner said the World RX series has been provisionally confirmed for the Mother City, with dates listed between 7 and 8 October as a double-header.

EV only

Banner went on to advocate for electrification as the future of mobility which ties into the current World Rallycross vehicles being powered purely by the zero emissions form of propulsion.

Towards the end of 2022, the highly strung four-wheel-drive monsters of the RX1 category transitioned from internal combustion engines to EVs signalling a historic shift for the motorsport.

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Each entrant will now feature a Kreisel electric developed twin motor powertrain, one mounted on each axle. This endows the familiar-looking but far-from-stock models with 500kW/880Nm to catapult them sideways around the dusty corners of whatever rallycross circuit awaits.

In terms of performance, they can beat a Formula 1 car off the line with a 0-100km/h time of 1.8 seconds.

Charging duties will be carried out by GCK Energy for each event using mobile containers that arrive at each circuit, pre-charged with 900-kWh of power and thus eliminating the need for Eskom and their strained grid to provide these behemoths with juice.

Lancia and Loeb

Banner further demonstrated his excitement to see Sébastien Loeb, who he considers one of the greats, strut his stuff within South Africa driving an all-electric Lancia Delta Evo-e RX that bears aesthetic similarities to the most successful WRC car to ever grace the motorsport from yore.

No further details on the event have been announced but it will presumably continue the trend of being hosted at the Killarney Motor Racing Complex. More details are expected soon.

Article first appeared on carmag.co.za.

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