Faster than a Formula One car: ride onboard the 1,000bhp Nitro RX FC1-X

Everything’s a crossover or SUV these days, even racing cars. *Sigh*

True, the global appetite for big, unwieldy cars has yet to show any sign of fatigue. Though it’s difficult to imagine any shape or silhouette better suited to Nitro Rallycross’s comically large jumps and comically entertaining race format; a format where Harry Hogge’s famous maxim from Days of Thunder seems to be the one rule to this flight club.

“Rubbin’, son, is racin’.”

So it’s NASCAR on steroids, then?

Something like that, but before we delve too far into the racing, it would be prudent to get acquainted with the flight path and machinery. The FC1-X is a purpose-built rallycross car that made its debut in 2022, taking inspiration from the fabled Group B era of racing, no less.

“With the FC1-X, our goal was to create the toughest and fastest Rallycross car ever built for competition,” explains series boss and the man behind Nitro Rallycross, Travis Pastrana. “Group B cars were the baddest cars ever rallied. With that in mind, we named this new era of car Group E.” Yes, they’re elec-

Hold up, it’s an electric racing crossover?! Is nothing sacred anymore?! *Sigh*

It is electric, but before you clutch those motorsport pearls, permit us to apply a mildly interesting stat as a balm: the FC1-X accelerates from 0-60mph in 1.4 seconds. That’s faster than a Formula One car, the latter of course built for a series not exactly known for its pedestrian speeds.

Well fine that is very fast indeed. I’m listening.

Ah, about that. Very little noise to report back other than the sound of dirt kicking up into wheelarches and carbon fibre bodyshells cracking against one another in the heat of battle; just like you don’t hear a boxer’s heart, only the sound of leather hammering against face. Sorta.

Underneath the FC1-X’s huge bodyshell is a proper purpose-built spaceframe housing a 51kWh battery in the floor. The max voltage is 870V, and the Newattek cells power four Magelec axial flux motors. Not, as you might be thinking, with one on each wheel, but inside special housings hooked up to Sadev mechanical diffs on the front and rear axles.

There are frankly brilliant ‘R53’ dampers that sit in each corner, featuring much adjustability and a whopping 30cm of travel. This will become important in a moment.

Brakes? Mighty Alcon four-piston units that under extreme forces offer charge back into the battery, hiding behind custom 19in one-piece Rotiform wheels. There’s a roll cage. Carbon seats. Permanent 4WD, 1,055bhp. 811lb ft of torque. And a range of 13 miles at a speed and pace best described as ‘F*&%NPD£F@U’.

So it’s fast then.

Otherworldly. TopGear.com was treated to a special passenger ride on the eve of the Nitro RX final, driven by RX Cartel JC driver Andreas Bakkerud, himself coming off a win in the heats earlier that day. Please do not ask TopGear.com to explain the points system behind these heats.

Upon gingerly approaching the Glen Helen rallycross route’s start line accompanied only by an electromechanical whir as a backdrop, and strapped down tightly enough to become one with that carbon seat, TopGear.com thought it prudent to inform Bakkerud that TopGear.com’s back was not presently in great shape. “How bad?” he asked. “Oh, it’ll probably be fine,” TG.com offered in response.

Reader, it was not fine.

What happened?

Lots. Very quickly and unnervingly. The FC1-X fires off the line with such tremendous violence and spite you’re left gasping for breath; 0-60mph in 1.4s is stomach- and back-troublingly fast. And because there’s no internal combustion bellowing out a heavy metal soundtrack, there’s space to contemplate what 3G and 100ft jumps feel like.

Reader, they feel… fine, actually.

Like we mentioned earlier, the R53 shocks deployed on the FC1-X are otherworldly in their compression, soaking up huge, terrifying jumps with total ease and not a whisper of complaint. They just absorb all that energy and allow Bakkerud the chance to shoot forwards into the next jump… which lands straight into a raised, banked hairpin… which he then powerslides around.

It's not a calm cabin by any stretch: whirs, gravel, the landing thuds and the sensation of flat out pace give the impression of an electric rollercoaster that’s gone postal, but neither does it feel like you're in Mad Max: Fury Road either. Yes, of course it would have been even more visceral had there been a thundering V8 in the back, but this is 2023 and anyway, progress.

The actual racing in Nitro RX is absolutely wild. Imagine beefed up British Touring Cars flying through the air with no regard for one another, and you’re about there. If this is the future of electric motorsport, sign us up. Just when our back is in better shape.