Elise Autocross Getting Started

Autocrossing Your Elise :: Getting Started

Find a local chapter of the SCCA or other car club offering autocross. Most clubs will have a website with a schedule and basic guidelines for attending one of their events. If they have an online forum or mailing list you should join and introduce yourself to the group, you’ll soon find out that although they all take their racing seriously and don’t like to loose they’re always more than happy to help out the “new guy”.

Once you’ve located a club and picked out an event that you’d like to run you can start to worry about what car you’d like to drive. If you’re nervous about bringing your Elise to the “races” you can get your feet wet in almost any vehicle and have a fun time. As stated before, any car you will be a fun in the beginning to autocross. The point is, come out, have fun and worry about being competitive later.

Now that you’ve decided on a car to drive you should spend a little time getting it ready for the races. The first thing to do is find out what class your car fits into. If you’re planning on bring out your Elise it hasn’t been officially classed by the SCCA at this time. For the 2005 season the Elise was classed in SS. Generally a good resource to find out what SCCA classification a car falls into can be found at Muotons classification site or buy purchasing a rule book from the SCCA..

Once you have found out what class you will be in you should try and contact someone from the club that is hosting the event to get a number. If you have a number and class you can construct a “number panel” generally you can make a panel on your home printer. The general rule of thumb is to make the numbers 8” high and the class 4” high in an easily readable font. If you make the numbers on your printer you can attach the “number plate” to each side (driver and passenger) of the car with blue (easily removable) painters tape.