Anyone here know if the UTV class will be allowed to participate at Nationals in 2022?
Photography by Rupert Berrington
Story by Rupert Berrington
Currently surrounded by snow? Or dirt? Or maybe even sunny, warm grass? It’s never the wrong time to think about some SCCA RallyCross.
To help fuel those dreams, how about some photos from last fall’s 15th RallyCross National Championships, held for the first time at Ohio’s Ross County Fairgrounds just North of Chillicothe and about an hour south of Columbus.
This was only the second time the National Championship took place east of the Mississippi, bringing the largest turnouts from Ohio and Michigan with most drivers west of Topeka staying home.
The 2021 event stuck with the normal schedule where start order was picked at random within a class for the morning runs and reversed in the afternoon. On Sunday, everyone got four runs on a third course with the fastest drivers going first. This is considered a disadvantage as first cars have to break in new ground and later drivers get a better surface.
This did not seem to make as big a difference on the new site that continued to hold up well, and most of the first-day leaders continued to hold on to take championships in their class. The exception being Chang Ho Kim in SF who came from behind to take his third National Championship in his familiar yellow Acura.
Other winners included:
Anyone here know if the UTV class will be allowed to participate at Nationals in 2022?
Nope, not approved for national competition.
dps214 said:Nope, not approved for national competition.
lame.
UTVs are a rollover risk. One tried rallycross at the venue I go to and after a few two wheels in the air turns the answer was have a nice day.
I don't want to make it out as the only reason because I'm pretty sure it isn't, but rollovers have definitely been an issue. We were pretty sure from the start that the requirements that were set for ride height/track width weren't aggressive enough and there's turned out to be the case. Also I hadn't predicted it at the time but allowing utv tires was probably a mistake. They don't have much lateral grip so pure cornering force rollovers aren't much of a concern, but they're really really good at digging into soft ground which creates a different rollover risk. Plus the rules as they're written now are fairly vague which I'm sure isn't helping with enforcement.
I agree that most utv participants don't have their rig set up optimally to avoid a rollover. But I do. I've been ripping it hard for 2 years now without a rollover and winning pretty much every rally event I enter, including a NASA rally sprint, and about 10 Firm rallyXes, which are more like a stage rally than an SCCA rallyx. I've done a ton of SCCA rallyxes as well with no incident. At least at FL events, the UTVs don't degrade the surface any more than the cars. But I'm not here to change anyone's mind. I'll just keep doing the events where UTVs are welcome. Thought it would be cool to try a National event.
As a UTV competitor I share your concern. Allowable ride height combined with OEM tires (which are typically 27" to 29" in diameter) tends to be a handful to drive in RallyX. But this metric can be tightened up by referencing inboard axle height to outboard hub centerline. Plus the tire rules should be more specific with regard to diameter and tread design. Give us some time and we'll figure it out. In my limited experience the rollover score is CARs-3/UTVs-1. Hmm?
In reply to Lof8 - Andy :
They aren't legal for the national championship, but unless something has changed, regions that host the other national events (national challenges or whatever they're called) are allowed to offer utv class if they want. Pretty sure at least one event allowed them last year.
Is there anywhere that lists where RallyCross takes place around the country? I'd love to try it, but a quick Google search yielded nothing near Atlanta.
SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:Is there anywhere that lists where RallyCross takes place around the country? I'd love to try it, but a quick Google search yielded nothing near Atlanta.
According to the "Atlanta Region SCCA" facebook page, the Middle Georgia Region hosts events at Wildsville, in Reynolds, GA.
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