Battery Vehicle Society

Just a couple of pic of me doing a Solo in the Green Peril.

Excellent!

Would you like to give us an informal insight into the competitions at a future Bristol meet?

Nikki.

P.S. January the 5th is the next one!

Why don't you compete in the next Solo? It'd be a great way to show off EVs and confuse the hell out of the organiser responsible for fitting you into a class (it's all done on engine capacity)!

Cheers,
Andy

PS: The next one is 24th February

What is a "Solo" ? Bit early yet but I have a vehicle which would be great to compete in and would love to get into competition with.

A Solo is a low speed driving competition also known as AutoSolo or Slalom/Autocross in the US. Cars compete one at a time on a sealed surface (tarmac or concrete). The course is made using cones to create a series of numbered gates which you must pass through in order. You gain one point for each second on the course and 10 points for clipping a cone. You get two or three attempts at each of between 3 and 6 courses and the person with the lowest overall score wins. Often, the highest score of your three attempts is dropped, so there's margin for error should you spin as I have been known to! The events are cheap to enter (around £25) and you can share a car between two competitors to save costs. There's a more detailed description on the Bristol Motor Club website, which reminds me; you'll need to join a motor club to compete. I've recorded in-car action from a couple of events last year and the footage is on YouTube.

The key thing about electric cars in Solo is that it's all about low speed performance. Speeds are never over 40mph, so even a NEV could compete. You'd end up in the lowest engine capacity class, I expect although that is normally the most competitive class!

Cheers,
Andy