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What is the NXCC?

Introduction:

The NXCC is the National Cross Country Championship. Despite the name it is not about people running around muddy fields wearing athletics gear, it is actually the UK's premier off-road racing championship and it is officially sanctioned by Motorsport UK.

NXCC events are comp safaris. So what are those? Well, they are events where off-road vehicles, modified for competition use, are timed around a set course. For NXCC rounds competitors typically do up to 15 runs of a 6-10 mile course. The courses used in the NXCC are usually based on forestry land and generally consist of gravel forest roads interspersed with technical off-road sections. None of the NXCC events use public roads.


Each event lasts two days and there will be a defined number of runs to do each day. Unlike rallying the crews do not have to do each run at a set time - each crew will have a time by which they must have started their last run of the day. This means that if your car breaks you can spend a few hours fixing it and stay in the competition as long as you get your runs in by the final time.

Cars:

The cars used in the NXCC range from pretty much standard vehicles through to highly-modified "prototypes". As the NXCC events do not use public roads it is not necessary for the cars to be road legal, although they must comply with the Motorsport UK blue book/championship regulations which ensure, for example, that all safety requirements are satisfied.


There are several classes in the NXCC based on the car type, specification and engine size. Details of the classes are published in the championship regulations.