In a departure from my usual tearing up hills and round race tracks, I thought I'd have a go at a relatively new branch of motorsport last weekend, AutoSOLO. This is a halfway between the discipline of Autotest and the speed of sprinting. Essentially, it involved driving around some cones set out around an auction mart in Penrith. It proved to be a test of skill and speed to a degree.
The event was organised by Wigton Motor Club and was the first such event that they had organised but it ran fairly slickly and we got 4 runs at the first course in the morning followed by 4 runs in a revised (and longer) course after lunch.
The course itself was made up of a series of 'tests' - chicanes to you and me - which had to be negotiated with considerable precision as quickly as possible. The driver with the fastest combined times was the winner. Penalties were added to each time for every cone hit or going around the wrong way or (as in my case), not stopping astride the finish line.
There was an array of different cars there from a wee mini to a classic old Porsche 911. It quickly became clear that my VX was incredibly quick and nimble with me setting the fastest 'vanilla' times on the first runs. Unfortunately, my driving precision didn't quite match the pace of the car and I kept hitting cones - with the resultant penalties.
Cone damage!
In the afternoon, the course was extended and included a couple of very tight corners that proved virtually impossible to negotoate in one go in the VX. However, after a bit of careful thought, I came up with a route which avoided the problem and stayed within the rules - much to the amusement of the clerk of the course!
In the end, I was delighted to win my class (for RWD cars over 1400cc) and finish 3rd overall.
In summary, a great day's motorsport all for £12 and a tank of fuel - plus I learned a lot about how my car handles in a relatively safe environment. Bring on the next one.
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