Reply to "My first autocross"

In the 20 years Judy & I were members of a small but dedicated autocross club in the S.F. Bay area, we had several incidents that pointed out the need for helmets: a car rolling twice when the driver exceeded his skill-level, a couple of others sheared lug bolts and sent a rear wheel flying hard enough to damage a chain-link fence (which we had to fix). SCCA had a driver killed at one of their autocrosses in So-Cal.

You're correct- lawyers killed autocrossing- along with a lack of self-preservation by participants. Parking lot owners used to let autocrossers use their lots free on Sunday when businesses were normally closed; then for a nominal charge, then for a LARGE charge, then only with proof of club liability insurance. When businesses started staying open Sundays, and the required insurance went up to 5 MILLION dollars (sometimes more) for an 8-hr event, most of the small autocross clubs disbanded.

In Europe with vastly different laws, you can still take Mom's van out on the Nurburgring's Nordschleif without a helmet or seat belts and with multiple passengers. No helmets or Tech inspections were required when the Swedish Pantera Club staged an event during a Factory visit at a F-1 Italian race track in the '90s. They got lucky that time when a group of Brits in their Panteras took off the wrong way onto the track at high speed, ignoring the frantic pit-marshals. They were used to circulating in the opposite direction on English tracks from the rest of Europe....