Rallycross Guide

RallyCross (RX) is the most widespread and readily accessible form of extreme motorsport in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). It is the perfect place to see if you have what it takes to power-slide your way to victory.

What is Rallycross?

Rallycross is a timed competition pitting a driver (and his/her vehicle) against a traffic cone defined course – but in the dirt, gravel, or snow.  It’s best described as a scaled down version of a rally stage laid out on a non-paved plot of land where the course is marked by traffic cones instead of trees or rocks.

What You Need to Participate in a Rallycross

Entry fees and equipment specifications are significantly less than what is required to enter any other form of performance rally. In fact, in most locations, a driver only needs to register at an event with the following:

• A sound, hardtop vehicle with seat belts
• A Snell 2010 or newer
• The entry fee

Many SCCA Regions have helmets to loan and will assist the first time competitor with entering the appropriate class – making their way through technical inspection and finding their way around the course.

Why Compete in Rallycross?

Because it’s great fun!

For many, rallycross is a great event to practice low-traction driving skills. For some, it offers experience toward performance rallying. Others simply enjoy the experience of joining together with other auto enthusiasts in a day of camaraderie.

Whatever your reason, rallycross is a fun and cost effective way to measure your abilities to “do it off-road”. Not only that, rallycross offers you a safe way to practice your vehicle control skills. Since the courses are defined by cones, drivers can make mistakes without their vehicles suffering damage like they would with trees and rocks while driving on back roads.

Best of all, you can drive your own car!

For many rallycross events, contestants will race with the same car they use to drive to work every day. While the car must be mechanically sound and have working seat belts and a hard top, car specifications are significantly less restricted than other events.

For safety, remember to remove loose items from your trunk, and competitors must use a Snell 95 or newer helmet.

Rallycross offers different classes of vehicle based on vehicle type and improvements, if any. Those classes are Stock, Prepared, and Modified – covering both 2-wheel-drive and 4-wheel-drive groups.

Running the Course

Each rallycross run around the marked unpaved courses are timed and recorded. One major difference with rallycross is that the ideal line changes run after run.

Rallycross events are run off-road, so it will be dusty. Keep those windows up!

Once the runs are all completed, all of a driver’s times compiled at the end of the event. Once all drivers’ times are added together, the total time for each driver is compared, and the driver in each class with the lowest cumulative time is named the winner.