Eco Rallye of the Valencian Community: an experience to remember

Alongside almost 50 teams with electric cars, hybrids and alternative fuels, we took part in the Eco Rallye of the Valencian Community at the wheel of a Lexus CT 200h, a demanding event in which consistency and efficiency are key.

Putting the words “Rallye” and “Eco” together doesn’t sound right, does it? I’m sure the first thing you’re thinking is, what does speed have to do with bacon? Well, in an Eco Rallye, speed and efficiency go hand in hand. Although, rather than speed, we should really talk about consistency. But on any rally stage, even one focused on efficiency, to be consistent you have to “drive very precisely”.

We were able to see this first-hand by taking part in the fifth edition of the Eco Rallye of the Valencian Community, together with Lexus Spain, at the controls of a Lexus CT 200h. The author of this piece had the privilege of taking part (or rather, competing!) on behalf of Top10motor, alongside a fellow driver and good friend, Ramiro Mansanet, from Newspress Spain.

What is an Eco Rallye?

But let’s take things one step at a time, since the result is the least of our concerns right now (or so those who don’t win usually say… right?). What is an Eco Rallye? It is a motorsport event open to the participation of low-emission vehicles (electric, hybrid, alternative fuel… and yes, also diesel and petrol cars, provided their emissions are below 120 g/km), designed to promote efficient driving.

In the case of the Eco Rallye of the Valencian Community, held in Castellón between 17 and 18 November, it forms part of the Spanish Alternative Energy Championship (made up of four rounds), and it counts towards the FIA Electric Vehicle and Alternative Energy Championship. There you have it.

No special preparation is allowed. Participants compete with standard production cars, homologated for use on open public roads, which is where the route takes place, sharing traffic with other vehicles. Competitors must try to cover the route with the lowest possible consumption. It doesn’t sound difficult; the catch is that you must do it while at the same time demonstrating the ability to be consistent, maintaining the average speeds set for the timed sections.

To monitor consistency, the organisation places secret checkpoints along the timed sections. And, as in a conventional rally, there are timed and transit sections. In this edition, the total route for electric-category cars was 270 km (entered in the FIA Championship) or 210 km for participants in the Spanish Championship. All other cars, whether hybrids or other fuels, had to cover 320 km.

The 5th edition of the Valencian Community Eco Rally

The list of entrants for the Valencian Community Rally, now in its fifth edition, included some familiar faces for motorsport fans. Among them was five-time Spanish rally champion Miguel Fuster, at the wheel of a Ford Ecoboost; former world championship driver Luis Climent, in a Renault Mégane; and Salvador Cañellas, multiple Spanish rally and circuit champion.

In a rally drenched by rain (and nothing could be more accurate, since the “gota fría” storm caught us all), Eneko Conde and Adolfo González were crowned winners of the FIA International Championship with their Nissan Leaf, while in the Spanish Alternative Energy Championship the stage victory went to Manuel Cortés and Eloi Alsina in a Hyundai Kona Electric. In the hybrid category, a Hyundai once again topped the standings: the Ioniq PHEV of Lucas Pérez and Miguel Ángel Casado. The “other fuels” class victory went to Óscar García and Adrián Pascual in their VW Polo TDI.

Two rookies in trouble

And what about our own participation? Well, a bittersweet experience, as they say. Things came together a few days earlier, quite unexpectedly. And we didn’t hesitate too much. Lexus provided the car, a Lexus CT 200h that I know well after testing it on several occasions. As near-debutants in the world of Eco Rallyes, we threw ourselves into the adventure. After all, it was about driving lightly and spending little, and about acting as co-driver reading a “roadbook”, something we are used to after several car presentations behind us and more laps around the world than Phileas Fogg.

My partner, Ramiro, is already seasoned in a thousand battles of the kind that require overalls, helmet and gloves. There was one problem, though: here you compete against your rivals, against the stopwatch and against the fuel consumption display of the trip computer on open traffic, in jeans and in a car with race numbers but no roll cage.

For my part, I have only the bare minimum of “real” racing experience. I had taken part just once before in an efficiency rally. I must say I won my class with a Ford Focus Ecoboost (the Vasco Navarro rally, if memory serves; if I’m wrong, I’ll explode). Of course, those were different times. Driving efficiently is still done the same way, but now, to maintain consistency across the sections, you have to train and use electronic measuring devices. To win the trophy I keep from that rally, my partner back then, Javier Moltó (now hooked on efficiency rallies and competing in the championship with a BMW i3), and I had to rely on a calculator and stopwatch and do a lot of calculations… by hand.

Fortunately, nowadays there’s an app for everything. After a “crash course” (quite literally) with the RabbitRally app just a few hours before the start, we were nearly ready. All we still needed was to find an open “Chinese” shop, since, as always, we left everything until the last minute and reached the pre-race scrutineering the night before by the skin of our teeth, to buy something to hold the iPad and a mobile phone on the dashboard, and then get going. By the way, self-adhesive Velcro is wonderful. It’s good for everything…

As the idea was to learn by taking part (we’ll go for the win next time), we split the roles of driver and co-driver. And we started the event just as we couldn’t avoid: full of excitement, nerves… and “messing it up”. We still don’t know exactly what happened in the first timed section, but something failed in our “electronic setup” and everything went wrong. However, as soon as we got the hang of the Rabbit, we really started to enjoy ourselves.

It may sound like a low speed, but I assure you it is not easy to maintain average speeds of 50 km/h (note, I mean average speed, not top speed) on twisty mountain roads in the rain, on slippery surfaces, with a co-driver on your right who keeps relentlessly “calling out” the route in advance – as he must, since the worst thing that can happen here is getting lost – without realising you can’t hear him. All you have in your head is keeping your right foot light on the accelerator, and making sure the blasted Rabbit doesn’t switch from yellow (a sign you’re on track) to red (brake, you’re going too fast) or to green (accelerate, the average is slipping).

Our Lexus CT 200h proved efficient and comfortable over the kilometres, and very frugal if you take advantage of the benefits of a hybrid, with an actual average consumption of just 5.6 l/100 km over the rally.

That’s pretty much how we spent the whole event, alternating the steering wheel with the “roadbook” in some sections. But enjoying what we like doing most: driving. The Lexus CT 200h performed wonderfully, and allowed us to finish the event with an average consumption of 5.6 l/100 km when calculated from the litres refuelled (official measurement by the stewards) and the kilometres covered. A consumption that, according to the trip computer, came down to 5.1 l/100 km and which, in the end, helped us reach ninth place in our category once consistency and efficiency were taken into account.

A combination that didn’t really grab our attention at first, but which has sparked a “bug” that is already leading us to plan rather ambitious projects for next year.