qdos wrote:What is a "Solo" ? Bit early yet but I have a vehicle which would be great to compete in and would love to get into competition with.
A Solo is a low speed driving competition also known as AutoSolo or Slalom/Autocross in the US. Cars compete one at a time on a sealed surface (tarmac or concrete). The course is made using cones to create a series of numbered gates which you must pass through in order. You gain one point for each second on the course and 10 points for clipping a cone. You get two or three attempts at each of between 3 and 6 courses and the person with the lowest overall score wins. Often, the highest score of your three attempts is dropped, so there's margin for error should you spin
as I have been known to! The events are cheap to enter (around £25) and you can share a car between two competitors to save costs. There's a more detailed description on the
Bristol Motor Club website, which reminds me; you'll need to join a motor club to compete. I've recorded in-car action from a couple of events last year and the footage is on
YouTube.
The key thing about electric cars in Solo is that it's all about low speed performance. Speeds are never over 40mph, so even a NEV could compete. You'd end up in the lowest engine capacity class, I expect although that is normally the most competitive class!
Cheers,
Andy