AutoSOLO was suggested by a new member to our Cambridgeshire MX-5 Owners Club group—Clive Grounds. Clive is also an active member of the Cambridgeshire Car Club, which runs motorsport events in the region. AutoSOLO is driving a car around a predetermined course marked out by cones, against the clock.
There are various classes in Autosolo and I entered Class B, which is for production 2 seater sports cars. All of the cars in this class were MX-5s. I paid the entry fee, plus you have to join a local motor club for the year. You do of course also suffer a slight amount of tyre wear. I entered into the first event in a series run by Anglia Motor Sport Club—a group of clubs who pool resources in turn for attending each other’s events.
AutoSOLO Anxiety
A cold but fine Sunday morning travelling up the A11 from Cambridgeshire to North Norfolk to try my hand at an event being run by the Sporting Car Club of Norfolk. I was nervous, as although I have done a few track days before, I have never tried anything competitive.
How many cones will I hit?
Will I go the wrong way round the course?
How slow will I be?
As they say, you have got try everything at least once and is this not what these cars are for—to have fun in?
I arrive in good time and latch onto some guys in MX-5s who seem to know what they are doing. I follow them into scrutineering where the car is safety checked, including the car’s steering and how the battery is fixed. It’s then onto registration. As part of our instructions we are given course maps, so we proceed to walk each test to see how they are laid out.
Test 1 seems very complicated but the other two appear more straightforward. We then all attend a driver briefing, with a short extra briefing for us newbies.
Ready to Go
Our group starts on test 2, followed by test 3 and then back to do test 1. I am sitting in the queue for my first test. Starting off slowly and cautiously, I clear test 2 and then 3. Not too bad this auto solo business.
But then onto test 1—oh dear—I missed cone 10 altogether so I was awarded a wrong test penalty (fastest time in class +20 seconds). There is a good amount of friendly banter as you wait in line for each test, and it helps to gain advice from other competitors.
Normally, there are three runs in the morning for each test, and then three runs in the afternoon but run the reverse way round. Due to the number of competitors and the amount of us newbies present, we get two runs in the morning and two runs in the afternoon but all in the same direction.
With each run, you gain in confidence and therefore speed. But I must confess, on my final run of test 2 the red mist descended and I miss a cone and gain another maximum time penalty. By the time I did my final run on the dreaded test 1 I was thoroughly enjoying myself throwing the car around.
In the end, I finished 30th out of 38 overall and 8th out of 11 in the class.
Second Time Round
The second event in the series was in Essex at another airfield. I was given a leave by my long-suffering wife to try again. This time Robbie Marsh and Martin Curtis in Project Merlot had taken up an offer from the organising club for members of the MX-5 Owners Club to try AutoSOLO for the first time.
The day started out a bit misty, but we were soon bathed in glorious sunshine.
We walked the courses, had our briefing and then got started. There were 12 drivers in our class all in MX-5s except Leigh Gray, who had his MGB GT but who also confessed to owning a turbocharged MX-5.
In It to Win It
Of course, it started off non-competitively between Robbie, Martin and myself. However, it soon became a case of comparing the times after each test and either looking smug or hanging your head in shame. As a mark of increased competitiveness at the lunchtime break, we even got out the tyre pressure gauges and did a bit of tweaking. Of course, Robbie and Martin had an advantage with that big wing on rear of project Merlot, or was it just there to be a table for the lunchtime cups of coffee?
The day went well, and we did 3 runs at each test in the morning and the 3 runs in the other direction in the afternoon. Doing the runs in reverse order, starting at the highest numbered gate and finishing at the lowest seemed a bit daunting at first, but in fact after a lunchtime walk around the tests was fine.
In the end, Robbie won our little battle as he came 4th in class. I was 6th, and Martin was 8th. Not a bad result for the MX-5OC boys.
We have since discussed that although throwing the car around with tyres squealing may be great fun, maybe there is a faster way around the course. We will try that theory at the next event.
In conclusion, it was a great day out and we are all looking to compete again and try and improve.
Thanks go to the volunteer marshals, standing out in all weathers, who without them we would not have our fun.
Although it may not be for everyone, these cars come alive in these types of events. Given the chance, I will enter some more events and ‘Have more fun’.
Find a club near you and try your hand at AutoSOLO
