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The Sports Car Club of America (SSCA) is the main governing body of a motorsport called autocross, wherein racers attempt time trials on a unique course of traffic cones at an airport or parking lot. Last weekend was my first-ever racing experience and the Red Hills Regional SCCA's ninth solo autocross event of 2026. Held at Spence Airport in Moultrie, GA, just under 40 people from all over the Southeast US came to race.

Some racers have just started their autocross journey, and others have been racing for over twenty years. The most serious of the bunch trailer in custom cars, but plenty of people will use their commuter cars. At this event, I noticed an unfortunately bright green Corvette, a Mustang with an exhaust pipe coming out of the roof, and a craziest-looking Integra you'll ever see. There were plenty more fascinated cars I just hadn't documented. There are several class distinctions based on the level of the driver and the car they drive, the most competitive being pro and the least being novice. For the first 12 months as a driver, you must compete as a novice, so in an unfair twist of fate for my opponents, I was forced to race in the novice class.

While I would've liked to whip the Weinermobile, I competed in an automatic 2008 Nissan 350Z, swapping at the end of each run with Connor (pictured above), who was also at his first autocross. Usually at the Red Hills events, each driver runs six times, three in the evening and three in the afternoon, and works the cones while not driving. Due to inclement weather, we had only four runs in the morning and ditched the last two runs. I got my best time of 57.741 seconds on my final run. It was enough for an impressive 4th place out of 4 in the novice class. Connor faired better with a top time of 53.653 seconds on his final run, getting him 2nd place in the same class. We placed 34th and 32nd overall out of 36, respectively. The fastest car of the day was that roided-up Integra mentioned earlier with a time of 40.159 seconds.

My Mario Kart Wii prowess did not help me very much. It is not easy to be good at autocross. An experienced driver told us that at some point we should be imagining about seven elements ahead of the one we're in, which seems almost impossible. The most difficult course element was the slalom, but the most challenging aspect of the race in essence was determining the angle and lines for each turn. With enough practice (and a great car), I'm sure it becomes second nature.

It was a genuinely thrilling experience, just feeling the tires slip and then barely regaining control to sweep back into the turn. I would recommend trying it at least once. The one downside is that it is such a short racing time, only 4 or so minutes of actual racing, but continually replacing tires for a longer race format would be a pain and inaccessible to most.

Anyway, 10/10. Had fun. Please try it. Next stop: F1.