I have two new hobbies that take up a good portion of my free time.  The first hobby is golf, not many exciting pictures golfing so just use your imagination.  The next hobby also doubles nicely as a daily driving car.  Autocross (not motocross, that's dirt bikes) is the generic name for a type of car racing.  The SCCA, Sports Car Club of America, hosts autocross events called Solo II. 

Solo II events are a type of single car timed competition which place an emphasis on driver skill and precision. Solo II courses are usually laid out on large paved areas such as parking lots and airport runways. Each driver gets several chances to negotiate a twisting course defined by plastic marker cones while being electronically timed. To win, a man or woman must be both quick and precise as there is a time penalty added for each marker cone that is displaced, and victories are often measured in thousandths of a second.

Best of all, you don't need a special racing car, or even a sports car, to take part. With four categories of preparation divided into 31 different car classes, including 18 classes for stock or mildly modified street cars, each driver and car competes against other cars of similar performance, whether it's a stock economy car, an all out racing car, or something in between. In our autocross events there are separate classes for Novice competitors, as well as special Pro, Street Tire, and Vintage categories where cars from different classes compete together with their times equalized using a nationally recognized "handicapping" index.

The most common comment I get is, "you race your BMW?!"  Yes.  Autocross does not put car against car so there is no chance of banging it up and the courses are designed to be so twisty that I never get out of second gear.  Can the car handle the racing abuse?  Don't get me started on how wonderful BMW's are.  Suffice it to say that there is a reason it is call "The Ultimate Driving Machine."  We are required to wear a helmet but since we are "solo" on the course no roll-cage or five point harness is required.

Some people always feel the need to point out the cones that appear to have been knocked down in the pictures.  These cones are called directional cones that help show what direction the course goes.  Since this is in an open parking lot and not a dedicated track you would be surprised how difficult it can be to tell which way to go.  Especially when you are at speed and trying desperately not to loose control.

The most surprising thing to me was something call tunnel vision.  When you are driving as fast as you can on a very twisty course as close as you can to the point at which you loose control there are only so many things you can focus on.  This has very little to do with the ability to multi-task and everything to do with your but wanting to save your hide.

It seems that when you are racing your brain is very focused on the task at hand an your butt wants very much to stay alive.  This means that when it comes time the brain says, "We must look over at the person with the flag to see if we must stop, continue or finish," your butt says, "ARE YOU INSANE! YOU DO THAT AND WE ARE DEAD MEAT! YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING!!!"  The brain says, "Don't be silly, we have to know what color the flag is to continue. Lots of other drivers do this all the time now please look over at the flag,"  The butt replies, "LOTS OF OTHER DRIVERS AREN'T IN THIS CAR RIGHT NOW!!  I WILL NOT GAZE OUT THE WINDOW AT ANY STUPID FLAG, YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US!!!"

Keep in mind this whole conversation takes place over a time span of .001 seconds, yet seems to continue for much longer.  Eventually the brain wins out despite threats that the butt will loose control of its self and make a mess.  It's no wonder that I and up getting the shakes after my first run in every race.  This was my first season and the highest I placed was ninth out of 30 overall but usually always won my car class.  I'll keep you posted on the next season.