Warning, a little bit of unsolicited SCCA ProSolo propaganda:
tl;dr Do a ProSolo, they are damn fun. The next ProSolo is March 22-23 in Blytheville Arkansas, more info at http://cjh.am/arprosolo
If you've never done a SCCA ProSolo event, you are missing out. It is some of the most fun you can experience in the sport of Autocross, it can get your blood pumping like a normal autocross can’t.
What is a ProSolo?
Basically it is an autocross, with two courses, typically mirrored, side by side. You line up on one course, while a competitor in the same class lines up on the course opposite you. You both start when the "Christmas Tree" lights drop (think, drag race), if you have a perfect reaction time you have a .500 light, anything above .500 means you left time on the clock (that counts in your overall time) and anything less than .500 means you left early, known as a Red Light (RL) (and your run's time won't count). You compete for a time on your side of the course, then after completing that side of the course you immediately come back around and line up to take a run on the other course.
You repeat this process again, taking 4 total runs, 2 on each side, this is known as a Heat 1. You then repeat this process Saturday afternoon (Heat 2), and again Sunday morning (Heat 3). The goal of all 12 of these runs is to compile the fastest possible time on each side of the course, that combined time (best from each side) is used to score/rank the competition.
You are competing against all other competitors in your class for a chance to run in the Super Challenge later in the day on Sunday. While you are on the course at the same time with another car in your class, you aren't actually racing them back to the line. You are racing the clock, trying to achieve your best time on each course, no matter what the other person does.
In the Challenges that is different, you take one run on each side of the course, taking your fastest time, trying to beat the person you are paired up with in your bracket. The Super Challenge is a bracket challenge where the top 32 drivers (All Open class winners get in, and then a finishers who finished closest to their class winner are used to fill in the remaining spots) go head to head, the winner of each bracket (fastest combined times on each side) moving on to the next round.
The Ladies also have their own challenge, running in the same format as the Super Challenge, with 4-16 competitors depending on the number of entries.
Not everyone will make the challenge, but there is still a chance you get into the "Bonus" challenge, which takes 8 (or 16 depending on remaining time) drivers via a raffle and proceeds with a similar bracket challenge as the Super Challenge.
If you win a Challenge you can win cash (Super/Ladies) or a free ProSolo entry (bonus). If you win your class in the Heat competition there are typically trophies.
This post is by no means a full overview of how a ProSolo works, things are definitely different than a normal autocross, and the timing of things, when you work, where you “Grid” are all different. Primarily these things are covered in the rules (linked below).
The next ProSolo is March 22-23 in Blytheville Arkansas, you can find more info at http://cjh.am/arprosolo. I will be there, I hope to see some new faces there as well.
Check out the 2014 ProSolo Schedule at http://cjh.am/prosolo
And of course be sure to read the 2014 ProSolo Rules http://cjh.am/prosolorules