Sorry not to get back until now. Spent the weekend in Houston at the Champ Car/ALMS race and didn't fire up the orb until today.
The brackets are divided into 4 groups reflective of lap times. The fastest group usually consists of 944 Turbos, a Cooper S, and a CRX with an Acura VTEC motor. After that it's made up of what the SCCA would class as ITS cars (944's, 911's, RX7's, etc), the next one is the group I usually run in. My main competition comes from older 911's, BMW 325's, and some SM's. The last group is (no offense to them) slugs of various car/driver combinations that want to go fast, but don't want to chance the door to door competition. Hopefully, I'll get some electrical problems that continue to raise their head repaired, and I can move up a class next year.
From the New Orleans area, you're looking at about 45 minutes to the track. Very laid back attitudes and schedules. Great place for testing and shaking off the rust. Entry fee is $65.00 unless you enter late, then it's still only about $100. Schedule usually includes 20 min. qualifying, a 20 minute heat race, and a 20-30 minute feature race. For the price, it can't be beaten.
Also, since you're in New Orleans, Barber Motorsports Park is only about 6 hours away and Memphis Motorsports Park is about 7 hrs. I don't know how far you're used to driving toa a race, but those are as close as we get to where the SCCA is racing.
Hope to see you out at NPR!