For those of you interested in testing the limits of your car but not yet willing to try out the road course, there is another autocross this weekend organized by the Houston BMWCCA chapter. It will take place at the Houston Police Academy which is about 5 minutes from IAH. Saturday will be an Autocross Experience which is FREE and meant to introduce new potential autocrossers to the sport. Per the BMWCCA website:

"We are hosting a multifaceted event on Saturday, February 15th at the Houston Police Academy. In the morning, it's an Alternative Coffee meet mixed with an opportunity for "new-to-autocross" drivers to experience the HPA course. This FREE session will happen ONLY from 9 - 11 AM, and is open to all members, with priority given to lady drivers. If you are an Autocrosser and would like your spouse or significant other to come out and see what you do with your time on Sundays, bring 'em out and let them take a FREE try at it. If you’ve had an interest in learning more, come on out, grab a coffee a take a try at it. It'll be a no-helmet tour of a course, but if you find it too slow, you can come back on Sunday for the real Autocross and test your driving abilities at speed.

No need to register for this portion, just show up."

There is a practice open to members immediately following this event. THEN on Sunday is an official autocross. I'll be there, although co-driving my friend's M3 instead of autocrossing my S2K. Come out and check out the event...it's fun and you'll be hooked if you try it even once. More information below:

http://www.houston-bmwcca.com/portal/#

 

I've always wanted to try this.. seems like the perfect opportunity.

 

Check it out! On Sunday, they always have a rookie walk through of the course before the runs start and they always put an instructor with you at least your first couple of runs.

 

If im an SCCA autoX guy, do i need to sign up for this one too, or just show up and bring a friend along?

 

I'll be there with my S2000 :-). The BMW guys put on really good events, and I would encourage everyone to come out and give it a try! The way the actual events are set up are a bit unfriendly to newbies since you have to pay for membership to the BMW club to participate.

 

Oh i see know. So this event is free for BMW club members from 9-11AM... Not to just anyone?

 

Im not sure about the BMW club, but the SCCA holds monthly auto X weekends too.

http://www.houscca.com/solo/index.php

these are the ones im normally out at and if prices are still the same, its $40 for non SCCA members and $30 for members.

 

For the official event on Sunday you still have to sign up ahead of time. It's still a different organization. For Saturday, the way I understand it, members can bring friends and family and have them try it for free, but I believe anyone can come out and check it out to see what it's all about. You may need to ask one of the members to ride along with you for the free event...or ride with them. The guys out there are pretty friendly.

 

Yeah the downside is REQUIRING membership, but its because of insurance purposes. Overall, annual membership is cheaper with BMWCCA than SCCA. I just renewed mine and it was $48 for the whole year. Last time I was with SCCA it was $75 a year. I'm sure it's gone up slightly...but I might be mistaken. I switched to BMWCCA because you get more runs, but also I went on hiatus after autocrossing with SCCA for 10 years. In BMWCCA, we have as many as 7 runs and as little as 4 during Daylight Savings.

 

Huh, i paid $50 for a year when i signed up. even so $48 is still cheap.