After a 3 year hiatus, the Solo Tour series returns to Atlanta for the second Match Tour of the year. Competing on the site of the old Atlanta Braves stadium, Turner Field provides one of the largest lots in Georgia and the contours and elevation changes always make for a challenging course, often with a great blend of sweepers and transitional elements. Neither the surface, nor the courses favor any particular type of car, so everyone is on a level playing field. Don't forget that tailgating is allowed, and the Atlanta region perenially has some of the best parties of any club nationwide. Daly's Grill will also be providing onsite food through the weekend, though the brisket goes fast, so come early! (Also take note that Georgia was recently selected by TripAdvisor as having the best BBQ in the country. Texas was 3rd. Just saying...)
Competition should be fierce all throughout the weekend. Mike King is entering the autocross fray once again, driving a Mazda RX-8 in C Street, mixing it up with an assortment of MX-5s, 350Zs, BRZs, and other RX-8s. G Street is almost exclusively a battle between the Ford Fiesta ST and Focus ST, with hot shoes like Scott Bourne and Brian Flanagan duking it out to see which platform is more capable. Laura Campbell, fresh off her win in Wilmington, will be back in the action once again in the STF Mini Cooper.
STX is once again the star class, in terms of entrants and car diversity. It is the only class with FWD, RWD, and AWD cars all represented. With Jason Ruggles and Jim Fossum in RX-8s, Kristo Kukk in the Scion FR-S, Randall Prince in his BMW 328is, Randy Wilkinson in his Subaru WRX, and Bill Bounds and Marc Osgood in the Acura Integra Type R, this class should provide some intense competition and a great show, watching how each car and driver attacks this particular course.
With race tires, Jadrice Toussaint will be looking for redemption after narrowly losing out to Jeff Cox at the Dixie Tour, after his Day 2 runs were canceled due to the weather. Also on race tires, last year's SCCA Rookie of the Year, Darren Seltzer, will be hopping into Howard Sharf's Legrand Mk 25 for his first taste of BM, and a very real chance for the top time of the event. FSP brings Dave O'Maley in Justin Barbry's Mazda 323, competing against Steven Duckworth in Geoff Zimmer's Volkswagen Rabbit. Both Barbry and Zimmer cut no corners in prepping their cars to the letter of the rules, so this should be an exciting matchup of some of the best FSP cars in the country. Matt Glagola will also be challenging for that overall win with his blazing fast (and blazing orange) SSM Lotus Elise, after a disappointing second day at Dixie, though he'll have to fend off Tim Smith in his EP Honda Civic for top index honors.
Don't forget to tune-in at 9:30am EST to uStream to listen to all the action and follow all our live results @ sololive.scca.com. Better yet, come on out and see all the action for yourself; you won't leave disappointed!
