Even before it reaches showrooms, the new Hyundai Veloster will leap into rallycross racing.
Hyundai’s new Veloster crossover won’t reach showrooms until later this year but the Korean carmaker is ready to take it racing — teaming up with Rhys Millen Racing and Red Bull to campaign the car in the high-energy sport of rallycross.
Hyundai Motor America announced at the Chicago Motor Show that it is adding the Veloster coupe to its young but ambitious motorsports program with help from Millen, who fabricated and will race the first 500-horsepower AWD Veloster rally car in the 2011 U.S. Rallycross Championship.
RMR and Hyundai also are constructing a second Veloster rally car that will be a shared ride between rally champion Marcus Dodd and world record freestyle motorbike rider Robbie Maddison. Millen and Maddison will drive the Veloster rally cars at the next Summer X Games.
“We feel the Veloster is a perfect fit for X Games and the U.S. Rallycross Championship series as we expand our motorsports efforts,” said Mike O’Brien, vice president, Product and Corporate Planning, Hyundai Motor America. “The all-new 2012 Veloster is a playful, fun to drive car and thanks to Rhys and his team we’re excited to introduce it to racing fans ahead of its launch this summer. I teamed up with Rhys’ father, Rod, nearly twenty years ago for Hyundai’s original Pikes Peak rally program, so it is great to be back in the sport again with his son inspiring a new generation.”
The rally version of Veloster will be lighter -- and get an upgrade to 600 horsepower.
Millen elected to take the already light weight Veloster and make it even lighter. His crew took molds of the Veloster body panels to replicate them out of carbon/Kevlar. The hood, doors, quarter panels, front fascia and rear fascia are all built out of carbon/Kevlar
The Hyundai 2-liter four-cylinder engine is further enhanced by a HKS ball bearing turbocharger. The engine is mated to an X-Trac six-speed sequential transmission. The end result is a Veloster that produces 500-horsepower and 600 lb.-ft. of torque.
“The Veloster Concept inspired me to expand Hyundai’s motorsports program back into their routes of rally,” said Millen, professional race driver and founder of RMR. “We’ve transformed the Veloster’s lightweight, rigid architecture into a rally car with an engine producing 500-horsepower and 600 lb.-ft. of torque. We hope some of the performance learning’s from the Veloster rallycross program have a role in the development of future Veloster models.”