One of the finest vehicular experiences I’ve ever had was my first time I weaved around the plastic cones that marked the course at an SCCA autocross event in the parking lot of Arrowhead Stadium. It wasn’t the speed—I rarely made it out of second gear—but the fact that I was able to push my lowly Civic Si (EP) to its extremely reachable limit. It changed the way I drove my car—I was far less conservative in the corners of normal driving having experienced my car’s edge of lateral adherence.

Sadly, that confidence faded in proportion to my time away from the track; a few short weeks later I had forgotten exactly which shudder and squeal preceded destruction and I was taking those back road turns with something resembling safe restraint.

Then I moved to Brooklyn, sold my car, and began to view driving as an evil best when unnecessary. Still, I’ve spent plenty of hours looking at cars old and new, weighing the trouble of car ownership against the imagined thrill of weekend events in New Jersey. I almost bought an old 280Z; I don’t know if the thought of a few scant weekends of hard driving a year would be comforting each time I had to find another parking space in the cold of winter.

But for those of you with garages and permanent places to park: What are you doing? Autocross is cheap, safe, and educational, giving you an opportunity to really learn what your car can do. You don’t even need anything extra fancy to race; a good driver in a station wagon commands just as much respect as a mediocre one in a Corvette, to my mind.

I could describe the specifics of an SCCA autocross event, but there’s no better way to understand the thrill than to bop over to the SCCA website, find a local event (look under “Solo”), and check it out yourself. Watch one guy wipe out, sending cones flying, and try to resist the creeping suspicion that you could do better than he could if only…

Sadly, most of this year’s racing is nearing its finish, but that just means you have all winter to scheme.

Sports Car Club of America [SCCA.com]