A new Hoonigan YouTube web series highlights the rally skills of top motorsports drivers in no-holds-barred competition. Each episode of the Hoonigan Rally Speedrun Championship features one driver and one car taking on the challenges of a demanding track and a no-nonsense stopwatch.
Drivers bring vastly different cars to a purpose-built track designed to test the driver beyond their limits. The launch episode features eight-time Pikes Peak Class Champion Jeff Zwart. Zwart showed up with a Porsche GT3 Cup Car, a rear-wheel-drive road racer, not a rally car designed for desert racing.
How the Hoonigan Rally Speedrun series tests drivers
Watch the first episode of the Hoonigan Rally Speedrun Championship for a sample of this stopwatch-timed, full-out rally course. Six episodes will feature one rally legend per episode, keeping the focus on the drivers and the tricked-out cars they bring. Don’t expect a full lineup of Dakar-ready jacked-up trucks, although there is one.
The competitors bring a diverse selection of rides to challenge the Hoonigan track, including, in addition to Zwart’s Porsche, surprises such as a drift car, a Mitsubishi Mirage, a Toyota Corolla, and a Crosskart.
Each driver runs a few familiarity laps before the three timed laps. While the drivers are competing, series host Wyatt Knox informs viewers of the drivers’ current heart rates.
Knox describes the course: “It’s built to reward the smart, punish the reckless, and expose every weakness. In rally, they say ‘to finish first, first you must finish’—this track lives and breathes that ethos.”
Honnigan Rally Speedrun Championship first episode – Jeff Zwart
Zwart is a long-time Porsche driver and explains the relatively few modifications they made to set up the GT3 Cup street racer for the rally. It is fascinating to get a close-up view of the rally tires with special grooves that Zwart and his team carved by hand.
Zwart maintained his composure during practice and as he completed his timed laps, according to Knox’s heart rate reports. It was also impressive to learn how consistent his three timed laps were, even though he varied his strategy as he grew more familiar with the track layout and characteristics.
