(Each month, Nick Dunlap, the Solo® Events Board (SEB) Chair, brings you the latest goings-on as seen by the SEB, including SEB membership changes, explanations of rules adjustments, and more.)

The Solo Events Board is a constantly changing committee, and each year we say farewell to some members on the SEB and welcome new ones. In 2024, Zack Barnes and Marshall Grice reached the end of their six-year terms. Both were excellent contributing members to the SEB and will be missed. In their place, we welcomed Laurie McCelvey and Brad Smith. Laurie has been involved Regionally and Nationally for many years. Some of her experience includes being on the Solo Committee for the Houston Region, the SCCA Women on Track Committee, the Ladies/Parallel Classing Committee, and serving in multiple Chiefs roles at National Solo events. Similarly, Brad Smith has held multiple roles Regionally, including being on the Solo Advisory Committee, the Regional BoD, and even held the Regional Executive role. Brad has also been serving on the Modified Advisory Committee and was most recently the chair of the MAC.

This year, the SEB grew by one position to eight, with the addition of Rick Myers. I’m sure many people know Rick through the SCCA® National Office where he’s the Director of Rally/Solo. The SEB and the SCCA National Staff have been actively working to build a close working relationship between the two groups, and Rick’s addition helps achieve that goal. So much of the success of the SCCA Solo program is shared by the SEB and the National Staff, and it only makes sense for those two groups to work closely.

Many of the other Program Boards within the SCCA already had staff representation, and as of 2024, all of the Program Boards have at least one SCCA staff member on them.

Hear Me Out

If you read Fastrack, you've seen the results of the excellent work done by the Sound Committee that was created in 2023 to try to improve consistency and accuracy of the sound readings at National Solo events. After a thorough investigation of the current processes and measurement settings, the Sound Committee recommended changes to how the sound meter is configured and where it's placed on course.

To inform these changes, the Sound Committee enlisted the help of local Regions that run sound to experiment with different settings and report back on their findings.

This year will be a transition year with a slightly higher sound limit to account for new measurement weightings and response types. The goal is to give everyone a year to get used to the new readings and, if necessary, make changes to their cars to bring them into compliance with the lower limits that will be in place for the 2025 season.

In future years, enforcement of the sound limits will be more consistent and, as always, the SEB recommends making sure you're well below the limit to account for environmental impacts on sound readings that simply can't be mitigated in open air locations.

Photo by Alexander Hesskamp