How to nail a World Rallycross race start

Once in position, the start procedure begins. Wilks' routine is slightly different to most, because his car’s gearbox is still under development, so isn’t yet able to make good use of first gear.

“I’ll engage second straight away - I have a short first ratio in the Mini, so I start it in second, because in first it spins the wheels for too long,” he explains. “To grab second it’s a double click of the gear lever.”

Observations of earlier starts show that this initial gear selection jolts the car as it sits on the line, such is the brutality of a racing sequential gearbox. There’s also a loud thud as the cogs are forced into place.

Wilks carries on: “At this point, the clutch is obviously in, and anti-lag [ALS] is on. ALS keeps the turbo spinning so I get no lag off the start line,” he says.

It’s now that Wilks can press the launch control button on his steering wheel. “The launch control is like a rev-limit so I can go full throttle,” he says. “We’ll have set the rpm limit for the launch depending on whether the start is uphill, downhill, and how grippy or slippy it is.”

In Barcelona, Wilks' launch control limiter is set to 5200rpm. “That's to get just enough wheelspin not to bog [down the engine], but not too much that we drag it for a long period of time, because obviously we’d go slower – we want traction.”

Having selected the right gear and primed the car’s launch system, Wilks pulls the handbrake on so he can release the footbrake. “I’ve got to make sure I don’t pull it too tight because we don’t want to release the rear differential,” he adds. “Only pull it just enough to hold the car so it doesn’t roll.”

Wilks' focus now turns to the red lights ahead. “When they come on, they’re on for four seconds,” he explains.

Now Wilks floors the throttle to send the car’s turbocharged four-cylinder engine bouncing into its 5200rpm limiter. Exhausts start blasting unburnt fuel out like gunfire, and the drivers, eyes locked ahead, are now breathing heavily.