Central Carolinas Region, Sports Car Club of America

Novice Primer

Our events are courses laid out in parking lots and such, with traffic cones to delineate the course. Cars run against the clock one at a time. Speeds are controlled by the course layout to be what you encounter in everyday driving. As such, required safety equipment is limited to your stock seat belts and a crash helmet, and we have loaners for those.

Registration on the day of each event is from 8am to 9.30am. Recommend you get there as near to 8am as possible on autox days.

It's a very good idea to attend a school if you've never autocrossed before. You will learn what's expected of you as much as what to do. Plus some tips on preparing your car. You will get to drive your car at the school, to try out some techniques, with an instructor on board.

Car classes are according to SCCA rules, which are listed in their rulebook. Some of those are available at the SCCA web-site http://www.scca.org/. If you're under 26, also check out http://www.speedfreakz.org/, a part of the SCCA. You can pull down membership forms from there as well. Note that "we" are Region 061, Central Carolinas. If you decide to join, enter that as your local region. Be sure to specify the use of your dues according to your interests. It makes a difference in the amount that the region gets.

There's a whole list of what's allowed and not allowed in regard to modifications - too many for here. You can run in NOVICE class for several events, which saves you competing against the top people in any class.

To prepare your car, remove EVERYTHING loose from the car and trunk, including floor mats, radar detectors, sound boxes, etc. Make sure the battery is firmly bolted down, throttle spring is good, seat belts work, and your tires and wheel bearings are OK.

Inflate your tires to about 40 or 45 psi so you can lower to pressure you want at the event, or bring an air tank or small electric pump.

Bring items you would normally want for a day spent outside, umbrella (for rain or sunshade) water, food (often may not have a chance to go for lunch - we don't have a lunch-break during autox), chair, sunscreen, etc.

After registration, your car goes to tech. Get there early and a person in tech will help classify your car.

Autox is not hard on your car, many people use their daily drivers.

We try to be a friendly bunch and you'll learn a lot about what your car can do and what you can as well!

For an excellent and detailed source of information for Novices, check out Kate Hughes' SOLO II Novice Handbook at
http://www.tirerack.com/features/solo2/handbook.htm
then go back though Tire Rack's site to check out the other articles under http://www.tirerack.com/features/solo2/moresolo.htm
(That's the handbook we provide at the Novice school). Also, follow the links from this web site

For lots of useful information on tires in regard to autocrossing, refer to Tire Rack's pages at
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/
especially the sections under "Competition Tires"

Hope this helps.
Martin Bartlett