Can an EV capable of zero to 60 in 1.4 seconds boost rally?

What do you do with a cutting-edge race car–zero to 60 in less than a second and a half–that no longer has a place to race? For Lance Smith, head of ARA’s RallyForward initiative, you use that rallycross special to grow the sport’s future.

First Corner, part of famed Swedish rally motorsports and development firm Olsbergs MSE, designed the FC1-X, 1000-plus-horsepower EV for Nitrocross. When that series ended its season early last fall, it left that car without a competition venue.

Lance’s Vermont SportsCar brought an FC1-X to the Pine Mountain HillClimb to run in an exhibition class. The car can reach 60 mph in 1.4 seconds, but Smith hopes to use it for more than just racing.

“This is cutting-edge technology in the EV space for race cars,” Lance says. “It’s one of the quickest-accelerating cars there is. We are working with Eastern Kentucky University, and I’m trying to utilize them to help us grow rally, rallycross and anything automotive in the motorsports side.”

Lance Smith. Photo by J.A. Ackley.

Building up rally is a big focus for Lance nowadays. He’s spent a lifetime in the sport, founding Vermont SportsCar in 1988. Rally has grown in interest overseas, but not as much in the U.S. The key, Lance believes, is the next generation.

“We have to start with students,” Lance says of RallyForward. “In four years, if I can grow [rally], I need people to help, and I have to look to the schools to get that knowledge. Most of the knowledge for rally comes from outside the U.S. I’m determined to get it here into the U.S. That means engineering, that means technical stuff, and [that means] starting from the bottom up.”

Photo by Guess Work Photography.

The Appalachian region has seen a sizeable increase in rally activity. Lance feels that Eastern Kentucky is a good place to start. Vermont SportsCar is working on a deal to leave the FC1-X with Eastern Kentucky University.

“The idea is that the students would be able to use it to learn about EVs,” Lance says. “It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of a street car, so they can concentrate on the EV section and handling section for motorsports. The end game is hopefully for EKU to one day develop a motorsports program with a bias toward rally instead of IndyCar or NASCAR.”

It’s no secret that Eastern Kentucky has seen its economy decline. Kentucky native and EKU Executive Director Terry Gray can attest to that.

“Clay County was once one of the leading salt producers in the country,” Terry says. “We lost salt. We lost coal. We lost timber. Eastern Kentucky has been trying to reinvent ourselves for decades now.”

Terry Gray. Photo by J.A. Ackley.

Enter motorsports. Eastern Kentucky, once flush with money from coal, salt and timber, built fantastic roads to move those commodities. Those highways and byways still exist. They have created perfect venues for hillclimbs, rally, togue and other motorsport activities, and the nonprofit Backroads of Appalachia has been promoting those efforts.

“Backroads of Appalachia’s mission has been trying to connect youth with motorsports,” the nonprofit’s Erik Hubbard says. “Implementing motorsports to be able to get the youth engaged and, most importantly, get them high on cars instead of on drugs is a dream come true.”

Terry believes that the Eastern Kentucky people have the grit, determination and know-how to make a motorsports program a success, and that the sport could be their ticket to growing the economy.

“Sometimes people look down on Eastern Kentucky, like we’re less than or we’re rednecks or hillbillies, whatever phrase you want to use,” Terry says. “But there’s a lot of folks in Eastern Kentucky who are really bright, can build things from the ground up and get their hands dirty.”

Vermont SportsCar and EKU still need to work out the details of a potential partnership, but it seems to make sense for both parties.

“My hope is that this [FC1-X] can be used as a tool, because I want to inject something related to rally into the educational system,” Lance says. “If I can get that done, then I have achieved my goal [of having] more passion from youth about our sport.”

Photo by Guess Work Photography.

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