On 14th August 2015, the first aircraft to ever transport FIA World Rallycross Championship cars landed in Trondheim Airport. The aircraft in question, a Boeing 747-200F, was chartered by Chapman Freeborn to guarantee delivery of the vehicles in time for the eighth round of races of this year’s tournament.
The FIA World Rallycross Championship is a rallycross series that is made up of 13 rounds, each consisting of four heats, two semi-finals and a final. As it stands, Norway’s Petter Solberg is the reigning champion, after beating Finnish driver Toomas Heikkinen by 46 points in 2014. 28 competitors from 11 countries are competing for the title this year, and Solberg is once again top of the leaderboard after eight rounds.
After the seventh round of the series, which was held in Canada, Chapman Freeborn were tasked with transporting 19 rallycross cars from Montreal to Trondheim in Norway. From here, the cars were just driving distance away from the venue of the eighth round of races in the Norwegian village, Hell.
Included onboard the B747, alongside the 19 rallycross cars, was an additional 30 tons of loose spare parts and support equipment for the event. The aircraft departed Montrael-Mirabel Airport on the evening of 13th August, and landed at Trondheim airport in the afternoon of the following day, eight days before the start of the series.
On arrival, the shipment received plenty of media coverage. Solberg and second place Andreas Bakkerund were at the airport to welcome the cars, as were members of the IMG World Rallycross management, and organisers from Hell Rallycross. Journalists and reporters witnessed all of this via helicopters hovering overhead, and Solberg even put on a display in one of the cars once it was unloaded.
Here is a quick factsheet on the rallycross cars that were delivered:
- 0-60 MPH in 1.9 Seconds
- 600 BHP / 900Nm Torque
- 8,000 RPM / AWD
- Manual shift {no driver aids}
The event was won by Swedish driver Timmy Hansen, closing the gap on leader Solberg.