French Lesson at X Games 18

Hot Wheels Double Loop, pure science fiction. (more pics at bottom)

You should never leave a motorsport event and think it would have been acceptable to enter your own car. The immodest and irrational will be discounted from this argument. Unfortunately, X Games 18 Rallycross is this kind of situation.


During the Skateboarding Street final one of the commentators remarked that these youngsters could be future Rally X competitors, when they get too old to skate. This comment was cringe worthy, not because it is ridiculous, but for being far too close to the truth. The Rally X field has some ringers, some has-beens and some who knew-the-right-people. Should it be an event that the Statesmen of X Games and Drift retire to? Is that all right? It should rub everyone the wrong way that some of the people were only circulating for reasons of pure economics. But that is motorsport at the end of the day - money controlled. All of this brings us back to the first statement; you should never leave a motorsport event and think it would have been acceptable to enter your own car in it.


These are early days for Rally X and the GRC, the development of the cars was extremely lacking. They do not move like a WRC car and lack the feral nature of a euro Rallycross beast - in fact, when the anti-lag ruckus started on the grid, first thoughts were of Tesco car parks across the UK. Loeb's beast was the exception, though he probably could of won in a Daihatsu. He had turned up in the DS3 XL which was really the re-incarnation of a Group B car. No one else was warming their tires gutter-to-gutter in the demo lap. 


Marcus Gronholm was regrettably MIA after a big crash in practice, which left Sebastien Loeb the sole 'real' rally driver. Predictably, Loeb went on to win the 10 car final by 13 seconds - he was making upward of 2 seconds a lap over the rest of the field, luckily it was only a 6 lap race.

Winning, or as Loeb may say 'Gagnant'

Without doubt, some of these guys can steer a vehicle. Ken Block actually went alright, Deegan has made the transition from bike to car and as you'd expect, Sverre Isachsen was doing well until a bad landing (or maybe cockiness) saw him retire from the final. I didn't get to see Pastrana race because a Saab put him into the wall during the first round. Yes, a Saab...

Pre-race chat.

The Scott-Eklund Racing’s Saabs are awkward in movement and appearance. I felt that Scott's disqualification for putting Pastrana into the wall should have just been a series ban on him and Hubinette having the audacity to show up in such stinky cars. According to a Saab fan (yep...) sitting next to me in the stands, they are rebadged, refaced MY07 WRXs- I cannot confirm this and it would make up for nothing. Sam Hubinette did drive his Saab like a cut snake, all the way to the final, but isn't there a more appropriate company who wants to get involved?

Liam Doran is a brute, and maybe a scouser - the crowd will grow to love him.

Luckily all of this was lost on the crowd. More than expected had turned up as a direct result of the GRC being broadcast after NASCAR. I'd actually like someone to verify if this was just a co-incidence of my seating. All around my vantage point were people swapping various facts about the Rally X cars compared to NASCARs. They loved that the turns were in both direction, flames came out the back on gear changes; there were crashes, jumps and some very visible rivalries.


TLDR? If you are stateside, now is the perfect time to get involved in Rallycross.

Deegan - circle work

Spot the difference

How did Bucky make it to the final?

Lots of Fiestas