X-Games star, new Gymkhana driver and all-around nice dude Travis Pastrana is doing his damndest to save rallying in the USA. He's been a part of almost every series that competed here, and has stared his own series called Nitro Rallycross to take over where Global Rallycross left off. It's an offshoot of his Nitro Circus antics and Nitro World Games, where NRX was a one-off event. Today he and the series introduced the car for the 2022 season. It's all electric and it's called the FC1-X.

The small hatch/crossover is being developed by rallycross company Olsbergs MSE and electromobility specialist QEV Technologies. It will have it's own class starting in 2022 in the global series, alongside more traditional combustion-engine rally cars.

"With the FC1-X, our goal was to create the toughest and fastest rallycross car ever built for competition," said NRX pioneer Pastrana.

The coupe-shaped vehicles look a little bit like the current crop of cars based on the Volkswagen Beetle, Ford Fiesta and Subaru WRX, but features a sloping rear with a sharkfin element that connects to the spoiler. NRX says the cars will be incrementally adjustable to the driver's style. The fenders are flared to give space for more than a foot of suspension travel when landing those jumps. Underneath, it uses a spaceframe construction and Pastrana says it will be the "toughest and fastest rallycross car ever built for competition."

A quick primer on rallycross. The tracks consist of both dirt and gravel parts, along with a jump. The Global Rallycross Championship was mostly held at makeshift tracks, some in parking lots, where Nitro Rallycross will be at purpose-built circuits, to really show what the cars can do. Pastrana built the first one at Utah Motorsports Park and it features several jumps, banked turns and even a tunnel.

Back to the vehicle. The FC1-X's electric drivetrain makes 1,000 hp and sends it to all four wheels. From a standstill it will hit 60 mph in 1.5 seconds, which officially makes it the quickest and most powerful rallycross car built to date. It can pull almost 3gs in the corners.

"A car that will be able to excite the drivers and the fans while withstanding the toughest tracks in motorsport," said Pastrana. "That's a tall order, but after having the opportunity to work with the best in the business we're excited to see the results."

He says the cars take inspiration from the past, including the legendary Group B era. Hence Pastrana wants to call this new era Group E.

The cars will use the same bodywork to start, but eventually manufacturers will be able to integrate their own designs, probably of crossovers or SUVs, to relate them more to vehicles on the road. Those are selling like hotcakes, so it makes sense for the automakers to imbue them with that sort of styling.

"The overall mission of the FC1-X is to show the world the massive performance potential in electric vehicles by creating the fastest rallycross car ever seen," said Joe Carr, CEO of NRX parent company Thrill One Sports & Entertainment. "The tremendous capabilities of the FC1-X, combined with NRX's incredible tracks, sets the stage for an entirely new type of racing supercharged with wide open action and high-adrenaline thrills."

The first FC1-Xs have already been sold to outfits like Vermont SportsCar, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Olsbergs MSE, Gronholm RX, Xite Energy Racing, and Good Times Racing. They go racing in 2022.

If you want to watch you'll need NBC's Peacock app to stream it, for now, but NBCSN will also have a wrap-up show.