Volland Racing to race in Projekt E

German motorsport experts Volland Racing will graduate to the FIA World Rallycross Championship’s leading electric support series, Projekt E, as it evolves into the future and becomes the first German rallycross team officially committed to the series.

Owned and run by successful rallycross driver and constructor Rolf Volland, the team is a multiple champion in the FIA European Rallycross Super1600 Championship, and has been the dominant force of the category in recent years with its latest Audi A1s.

Bad luck costs Frank Bird and Team Parker Racing shot at Imola podium

Team Parker Racing opened the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season in Italy at the weekend (July 24-26), but unfortunately some bad luck cost the team a shot at silverware.

Despite the best efforts of Bentley Motorsport Academy drivers Frank Bird, Nicolai Kjærgaard, and Euan McKay, a brake issue in the second hour of the race put paid to the team’s chances after it had been running as high as third place in the Silver Cup.

750MC – Mallory Park

Another Sunday and another visit to a circuit meeting. This time it was a true clubmans affair as it was the 750 Motor Clubs Mallory Park meeting. It has been a while but we were quickly remined that Mallory is a great circuit to watch at, especially with race fields of 20+ cars. In the case of the Hot Hatches they were close to 40 cars and the two races were action packed throughout the field. There were the two 750 fields, Historic and Modern, who also ran a pair of races. Last but not least were the Caterham Graduates, who ran a total of 3 incident packed races.

Projekt E passes FIA safety tests

Projekt E technical partner STARD has joined an elite club of world-renowned motor sport engineering names by passing the FIA’s HV crash test with its in-house developed motor sport battery system.

By applying for and passing the FIA Formula E-derived crash test, STARD joins a select group of companies, including Williams Advanced Engineering and McLaren Applied Technologies, to have achieved such an undertaking for a full scale traction battery.

Bentley’s Frank Bird ready to open season as Team Parker Racing heads to Italy

After a pause of more than four months, Team Parker Racing is set to open the GT World Challenge Europe season as it travels to Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Italy for round one of the series’ Endurance Cup with its Bentley Continental GT3 this weekend (July 25-26).

Nicky Grist Stages set to return on 10 July 2021

The Nicky Grist Stages is set to return to the classic mid-Wales forestry stages on Saturday 10 July 2021, following the cancellation of this year’s event.

Quinton Motor Club had originally planned to run the event – which is a five time winner of the BTRDA ‘Rally of the Year’ award – on Saturday 11 July, but owing to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, the event was postponed until Saturday 28 November.

Masters Historic Formula One – Donington

After the covid-19 enforced drought of motorsport, we made our first venture out to Donington Park for the Masters Historic F1 meeting. The entries were slightly down on usual, with many continental competitors unsure of attending. There were several bumper fields though, with the pre-66 Touring Cars providing the usual entertainment. The Historic F1 cars were great to watch and listen to, with the echo of Cosworth DFV’x through the Craner Curves. There were two different sports car fields and rounding off the event with the pre-66 Minis.

On-line entries open this weekend

The Barbados Rally Club (BRC) has announced revised dates for its premier event, Sol Rally Barbados 2020, which was postponed following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March. Sol RB20 is now planned for Saturday and Sunday, October 31/November 1, with Flow King of the Hill the previous Sunday, October 25. The announcement comes as competitive motor sport in the island reopens this weekend, with grass roots disciplines the first to return under strict Covid-19 protocols.

Flow KotH and Sol RB20 will this year carry greater weight than before in the Rally Club’s annual Driver’s and Class Championships, which have been reduced from seven to six rounds due to the pandemic; Flow KotH, which will again play a vital role in creating the seeding order for the following weekend, is round three, with each day of Sol RB20 a separate round.

Customer programme and winning start for electric Ford Fiesta

Projekt E technical partner STARD has announced the world’s first road car-based electric motorsport customer programme aimed at delivering race-ready competition Ford Fiestas onto the market with a bespoke fully-electric powertrain.

This very first electric customer car programme – with the Ford Fiesta built in accordance with the technical regulations for the Projekt E series that will sit within World RX events from 2020 – is focused on achieving unprecedented affordability for a high performance EV race car, with a race-ready price far below that of current ICE [internal combustion engine] rallycross Supercars but with similar performance and significantly lower running costs.

Motorsport is regaining momentum in the UK

Motorsport is well and truly #BackOnTrack, with two successful weekends behind us and the continual confirmation of events within the new sporting calendar.

Glorious sunshine heralded the return last weekend of Autosolos, Autotests, Circuit Racing, Cross Country and Karting events throughout the British Isles. Following the resumption of the sport in England and Jersey, the island of Guernsey held its first motorsport activity since the coronavirus pandemic began. We can also look forward to motorsport resuming in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man during the next few weeks.