'This is the F1 car of rallycross' – how Nitro RX plans to conquer motor sport

I don’t really have time to dwell on the stats though, as off-road ace Kevin Eriksson glides into the pit box and I’m strapped into the (for now) silent machine.

We do a handbrake turn to exit the pits – I assume this is de rigueur in rallycross – then once on the start / finish straight, Kevin puts his foot down.

We undergo an acceleration which one can only characterise as ‘violent’, before slamming on the brakes as we take the circuit’s final corner, and head – following it in reverse – onto a mini rallycross course made out of the grand prix track’s final few turns and gravel traps.

We powerslide and handbrake our way round the rain-soaked course, tyres squealing and juddering as they protest at what Kevin ask of them. The driver experiences 3g under full acceleration, and though the engine has been turned down a bit due to the rain, it’s still all I can do to keep this morning’s breakfast down.

“There’s no grip!” the Swede exclaimed on our way back in, but he seemed to be doing OK to me.

Set up by extreme sports star Travis Pastrana, Nitro RX’s progress has been meteoric.

From holding one off events in 2018 and 2019, in 2021 it became a US-based championship held for just one year, and has now has expanded to hold a ’22-‘23 world championship which will take in the UK, Scandinavia, North America and the Middle East.

Nitro aims to put what it does across through revolutionary broadcasting techniques (drones et al) plus racing battles ready-made for memes and viral social media posts, with the hope of capturing viewers more diverse than the causal motor sport audience.

However, Nitro is entering what can only be described as a crowded marketplace. The WRX championship has attempted to market itself in a similar manner: bumper-bashing racing action packed up as a family-friendly day out, accompanied by American stadium style-pyrotechnics and grid girls.

The FIA-backed WRX series hoped to make the crossover and bring in new audiences but this has only had limited success: YouTube viewing figures for race clips in the thousands and comparable to national series like DTM.

Part of this issue is WRX isolating itself its own pay-per-view channel, whilst Nitro has been shown on BT Sport.

Nitro RX general manager Chip Pankow explained to Motor Sport the technical approach it hopes will lead the series to success.

“The car looks the way it does for a very specific reason,” Chip Pankow, he says. “We’ve scanned 21 vehicles, to make sure other EV body shells can be adapted to this design. A lot of manufacturers have been really great working with us on this to make sure it works.

“You’re going to see an explosion in EV sales. Right now, electric vehicle sales make up for about 5 per cent of the global market share. Within five years, that number will be at over 50 per cent.”

“We’re talking to pretty much everyone [in terms of car manufacturers], there’s been a tonne of interest,” Carr says. “Not only are manufacturers going electric, but I think the crossover SUV model and body type [we use] is an important initiative for them in the US.

“The ability for them to actually market real street vehicles with their body type is a huge game changer.”

But which driver will be able to master this beast? Previously Nitro RX has had various designs based around Subaru, Peugeot and Audis models – made to rallycross Supercar rules – competing against one another, but now a full roster of FCX-1s which all teams in Nitro’s have to use means a level playing field.

It seems all the drivers welcome this development, but the car might suit more than others.

“I think a Scott Speed – someone with a smooth style – would do really well on this car,” says Martell. “Modulating the throttle and controlling tyre spin is going to be crucial in getting a car this powerful to go as fast as possible.”

Button is of course too famed for his driving finesse, but Kevin Eriksson thinks it might not be so straight forward.

“Rallycross, especially with this car and with the Nitro championship, is so open to various driving approaches,” he says. “We have the big jumps where all the dirt bike riders have a big advantage whilst guys coming from racing have a bigger problem and more respect for it.

“Then we have the tarmac where guys like me that have more of a dirt background will have a disadvantage towards Jenson Button who has F1 experience. That’s the beauty of rally cross and especially Nitro because it’s added even more elements. There’s no perfect driver because you need to use so much different experience. Everything can work.”

It appears the Nitro RX series really is now set for lift off.