I think they told me you needed the HPDC and at least an autocross to do a DE.
You do need to be a
PCA member for the HPDC though I'm pretty sure they have locked down registration by now. It took me all summer (until now) to get into one of these classes because I just can't plan far enough ahead most of the time to sign up for one that early.
Are you guys driving over that morning or the night before?