Pics from my first time at Solo II

[Ron DiPaola]

<a href = "http://www.sccoa.com/solo2/" target="new">http://www.sccoa.com/solo2/</a>

I went with a buddy of mine from college who has a 2001 Honda s2000

lots of fun!

-rd

[dmitriy]

SO how did you like it?

[fast Ed N]

Solo II is fun, and a lot tougher than looks, isn't it Ron ?

I used to do a lot of Solo I and Solo II with my old 5.0 Mustang before I started regional road-racing with it.

I've thought about trying a Solo II with my Bird, but the courses up here are usually laid out on a big parking lot, and end up being too tight for a long car like an SC. It's lots of fun out on Watkins Glen though !! :-)

cheers
Ed Nicholson
SCCoO

[Ron DiPaola]

Oh man is it a good time, you need lots of practice to know exactly how your car is going to handle. I am sure this will prep me for when I hit Watkins Glen at some point, Ed.

-rd

[Mike8675309]

That looks like it would be fun.. With the right term it prompted me to search in Minnesota and I found a local group that I'll have to check out this year and prepare to participate in next year.

What class or category did your T-bird run in?

Does OC mean your first run took you off the course?

[tbirdsc35th]

If I may throw my .02 in here, Solo II is a lot of fun and you can do it without extreme expense. In the 80's I used to autocross and such with a 70 boss 302 and a 65 mustang GT fastback. The local SCCA people were really nice to deal with and you get to see all kinds of different cars. A fringe benefit with autocrossing is that you really learn how to drive your vehicle more safely. Driving in every day situations will bring out what you learn and you can avoid situations quicker and easier. The SC is a great car to autocross and I had fun with my 89 in the early 90's. Best of luck, Ron, and have fun. It's a kick for sure.

Lance Morgan

[Ron DiPaola]

Yeah, OC means off course, I missed a cone, I was soooooo nervous the first run and the course wasn't laid out perfectly, they ended up fixing it so no one else made the same mistake.

I ran in the FS class, if you search the SCCA site (www.scca.org) you can see what other cars are in the class.

I highly recommend this to everyone!

-rd

[Mike8675309]

Ron,

Even though this was your first experience, any thoughts on what enhancments to a SC would be best investments? We seem to get plenty of info on 1/4 mile improvements... but not much else.

While I can imagine, lowered 1.5", larger anti-roll bar, poly suspension bushings, bigger brakes, one thing pops into my mind after watching the video below. I wonder how well the stock gear ratios work with the 5 speed on such a small course. I imagine spending quite a bit of time in 2 and 3.

I'm already planning on visiting a few events this year to get a feel for what they are doing. Then maybe next year my funds and car will be more up to snuff and I'll participate.

Yikes, they make you purchase the rules.. Did you have to go into the "F" class due to items like overdrive pulley? What was the key that chose that class for you?

Here is a little movie of a Autocross event in Minnesota:

homepage.mac.com/mnautox/iMovieTheater1.html (http://homepage.mac.com/mnautox/iMovieTheater1.html)

[TBone95]

I had the pleasure of watching an Autocross event just like in Mike's video this last fall, it was very interesting. There were all kinds of cars there, from an old boxy Toyota (that thing was on 3 wheels half the time!) to a new Viper. It definately depends more on driver skill than anything, the Viper did barely average because of a bad driver.

I think a long car like ours isnt really suited for it, although Im sure we could still do pretty good. Id love to see George D's car run one of those tracks.

[iamtheid]

I race quite often in the Oklahoma region scca events which are held here at a local police training center. You are correct that most courses are laid out in a parking lot though. The courses here are usually rather tight and it makes it more difficult for our cars but that does not mean you can not have fun. Not to mention our courses are always set up for Miatas all large cars are at a disadvantage. Hell last event a well prepared C5 only beat me by 2 seconds. But for $20 and bringing a helmet I can't find a place that is more enthusiastic about loosing it into a huge cloud of white smoke after oversteering a corner. I do have more difficulty in the SC(I run my 95 32v) the boost makes too much hp too quick. Oh and forget 3rd gear unless you find a large track I stay in 2nd and never need more. If you want class for the SC, E prep is what I run in my 95 SC which puts you in a heavily modified class. It depends on the year though. Anyway I would encourage all to try at least to see how you like it can be cheap or if you really like it you could spend any amount of time and money on it. Don't worry about posting time every event is different so track times mean nothing unless someone else ran the same track.