North East IL, where can I run AC or Solo?

[Greg Nelson]

Ok, i'm curious, where are there meets in Northeast IL.? Say from Beloit-Rockford area in the west, Milwaukee north and Kankakee south.
I've seen reference to these events a lot over the years, but I've never seen one or really know what it is or how it works. Know that karts can get envolved I'm interested.
Can I just show up or do I need to join SCCA, a club, pre register, etc.- who should I contact?
What kind of costs are involved for a day autocrossing?
What are the events like?- rain or shine?, a lot of waiting for a 40 second run?, amount of practice time?, do you run head to head ever?- is that the difference between autocross and solo?
Any additional info is greatly needed.
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Motohead

[Larry MacLeod]

I've been autocrossing cars/karts for almost 10 years now. I usually run anywhere from 15-20 events a year.

Autocross is the generic name, Solo is the SCCA trademark name.

Here's autocross/solo in a nutshell:
no warmup.
no practice.
you can only walk the course to learn it.
you get only a limited # of laps (3-6).
Drive 100% for the whole lap.
Best time wins.
you'll likely have to work a shift during the day.

You should plan to be there most of the day. There won't be many karts. Solo events are generally for cars. The adults who show up in karts will all be in one class. For Chicago Region SCCA events, that's usually 2-4 karts. There will likely be "junior" karts there as well. The remaining 200+ people will be in cars, most of them street driven cars.

Usually clubs don't require you to be a member of that region (or any SCCA region) to play but expect to pay a few extra $$ if you're not a member.

There are karters who have tried solo, most don't stick around, although there have been a few. It's a different type of thrill that wheel2wheel. At a much lower cost.

If you're around the Chicago area check out http://www.scca-chicago.com/solo/index.html
Also, there is another non-scca club called "tri-state" that runs solo events in the Chicagoland area.

They might be done with solo events for 2005, but I'm sure they're already working on plans for 2006.

Dan Cyr (2003 F125 National Champ) currently lives in that area and runs those two club series. I might even show up a few next summer since both Detroit Region SCCA and NWOR SCCA have lost their primary event sites for 2006. I'm in/around Detroit.
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F125 #196
Old Birel/ hodgepodge Honda CR125
Lefty Funk
Detroit Region

[Paolo Nunzio Licary]

i've seen an autocross event at sugar river raceway in Brodhead, Wi. There was one kart out there that day. Mostly daily drivers though. you can get the number and ask at sugarriverraceway.com
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Paolo Nunzio Licary
Road Race CIK-125
Italkart Supersonic/Swedetech Pavesi
Badger Kart Club
Italkart Supersonic/Stock Moto
nunzio8084@yahoo.com