April 12-13th, 2014
After a bit of a rocky start with the FAA, the Wilmington site burst onto the Solo scene last year with a bang. It's the site everyone in the Ohio area is talking about and chances are you're already planning on going. But just in case you've been living under a rock, here's are five reasons you should go:
1. The site. 1500' x 1500' for the course area alone. That's about 51 acres of flat airport concrete that was laid down for DHL's use starting in 2005. This isn't some old broken up SAC airbase. And the paddock is equally large. That's another 600'x1200'. Bring a bike!
2. The competition. Like every SCCA national event, the best drivers in the area will be there. But there's only one Solo Driver of the Year ever year and the guy that won it in 2013 is going to be at Wilmington. Along with a bunch of other fast folks, Tom will be in SSR driving the “wrong” car for the class, a Lotus Elise. You know you want to see that! There are also three national events here this year. Your competitors at the ProSolo in July are going to be at the Match Tour getting a jump on dialing in their car. Do you really want to be left behind?
3. There's pizza. Generations Pizza is just down the road and occasional racer/autocrosser Kerry Steed owns it. If you don't know, Kerry was instrumental in getting SCCA the approval to run at Wilmington. They're planning to be on site to serve food too!
4. There's other stuff to do. Believe it or not, some of us are related to people that don't think hanging out at an autocross site all day is a good time. I know, I don't get that either. But fear not, there's stuff for them to do too. Ride the Ozone zipline at Camp Kern (reservations are required, see http://campkern.org/ozone/). Or get your kicks in a kart at Full Throttle Indoor Karting (http://www.cincykarting.com/). You know that Tom O'Gorman guy? This is where he works & trains and his dad Joe is a partial owner. Dave & Busters is right next door as well (pro tip, I suggest eating after karting). King's Island, the largest amusement & water park in the midwest, is only about 25 minutes from the site, but alas they don't open for 2014 until April 18th. So after the Match Tour you'll need to go karting for a few days while you're waiting. Oh, the sacrifices we must make.
5. The site. Honestly, when I was asked to give my top five reasons to go to Wilmington, “The awesome site” filled the top ten spots. But the editors wouldn't let me get away with that, so I had to put down some other stuff. Let's be real though. We're autocrossers. There's 51 acres of beautiful concrete in Wilmington, OH and they want us to come play on it. Do you really need another reason to go?
