Electricity is coming for motorsport, and it's coming hard. For now, battery-powered vehicles are normally competing in their own special class, but these two worlds are bound to merge at some point.
That's precisely what happened last weekend at a Hungarian Rallycross Championship event on the Kakucs Ring track. Among the usual RX vehicles - ranging from beaten-down old Ladas to Mitsubishi EVOs - was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Black sheep's clothing, no less.
The STARD team entered a matte-black Ford Fiesta ElectRX into the race powered by the company's REVelution kit. It is the same electric powertrain to be found on all Projekt E (the name given to the all-electric Rallycross Championship starting next month) cars that's made up of three electric motors with a combined power of 450 kW (612 hp).
As if the power output and ridiculous torque (737 lb-ft or 1,000 Nm) weren't enough, the battery-powered Fiesta also had an experienced driver behind the wheel who used to ply his trade in the World Rally Championship at some point, among other places: Austrian Manfred Stohl.
In the end, the Hungarian event turned out to provide the setting for a historical moment as it was the first time an electric vehicle ever won a rallycross competition. The STARD team made its way to the final where it managed to beat Euro RX regular (and local favorite) Tamas Karai driving an Audi S1.
"My main target at Kakucs was to validate and sign-off the final changes in a real race weekend and competition circumstances from a driver’s point of view. We didn’t focus at all on the chassis performance for this race," said Stohl Group President and Development Driver, Manfred Stohl. “Driving this Fiesta ElectRX gives me more pleasure than any other car before and it was amazing for me to be back on the top step of the podium, together with this car.”
While this is the first official win for an electric vehicle at a rallycross event, the potential of EVs for this type of racing isn't at all surprising. The instant torque and low center of mass make them extremely agile on the narrow tracks, while the all-wheel-drive capabilities help them over the dirt section. Plus, the short nature of the races means that battery size can be kept down, helping with the car's overall weight.
The FIA World Rallycross Championship debuts next month in Sweden on August 23, and Projekt E will be there as well.
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