Schedule for Drifting at Import Alliance on Sat.

[revel]

Sorry to dissapoint you revel.

It was my track workers running the event. The NSS workers were not involved at all. It was completely our show. We thought it went on without a hitch. It's a lot of ground to cover with safety workers. Everyone behaved great! We only had a couple delays for breakdowns. I thought it went good. More importantly, Rick at the NSS thought it went good so we'll be going back to the NSS in the future! We're very happy about that.

We learned alot about trying to have a drift day at the NSS. The most important thing we learned is that the course is way too long for most drivers. There were exactly 4 cars that had to power to drift the FOERST corner. The rest of the cars could have started a lot closer to the FOERST hairpin. That would have alieviated a lot of the problems.

We did have some long lines. We did the best we could for the FOERST time being there. Maybe we'll try run groups next time.

i didnt mind the one big run group..it was only 22 drivers, but the lag time between cars on track is definitely the major thing to work on. if you did have run groups of 10-14 then in the more experienced run group wait till the car clears the FOERST hairpin and send the next, with less experienced run group you could wait until the car has cleared the second hairpin. i have been on the NSS road course a few times and most of the time we were going out once the car on track cleared the FOERST hairpin.

as for the track workers...i guess the blue shirts and khakis threw me off. not used to seeing uniformed course workers at a drift event.

if you guys are willing to make the improvements in the smoothness of the runs and the consistency of time between runs (i understand there will be periods of waiting due to spins, off track, stalls, running out of gas, etc..) i will consider coming back out to a TND event at the NSS road course. also for the next IA, if you guys are planning on doing a drift event during it again, please have a separate section for the drivers away from the car show. few times i had to wait on show goers to move their cars so i could get back in my spot, and i believe somebody actually had a show goer park in their spot, lock the car, and go about their merry way. i know that you guys originally had us parking at the other end of the pit garages and that either NSS or IA changed that on you....so hopefully they will be more understanding next time.

last bit- i get that ride-alongs help bring interest and some reimbursement for you guys.....but allow the drivers to pick/choose/allow/disallow riders. sometimes you just want to run alone so you can focus on the course and your lines. it was pretty nice that you guys had a few spare helmets to lend out tho.

[Yoshi]

and i believe somebody actually had a show goer park in their spot, lock the car, and go about their merry way.

/wave lol yeah that kinda sucked.

I think with a few adjustments we could have good events there. I'm looking forward to it.

[racedaygraphics]

Yea, the ride along thing is becoming a thorn in my side. I'm not sure it's worth the trouble.

I know that most of you guys bring your friends to ride along. It's the strangers you don't know that you don't care about, right?

I've been thinking about scrapping the public ride alongs and just letting "pit crew" only ride. That way you can still give ride alongs to your buddies or your ladies, but you won't have to fool with everyone else.

What do you guys think?

[racedaygraphics]

As for the parking, you're exactly right. We started out with a clear pit area just for us. Then soooooooo many cars showed up that they had to start parking them right on top of us. We'll definately change that the next time. I really wish there was a covered garage area on that end of the track. That would make things a lot simpler.

[Yoshi]

I think you can keep ridealongs but leave it up to the person to find a ride. That way if it is important to the person to get a ride they will. This way people who really want rides will get them and it still allows the drivers the option of going by themselves or taking a ride.

[Generz]

if i am driving and mentally unstable plus suicidal.. ride-alongs are not good ideas.

[Generz]

if i am driving and mentally unstable plus suicidal.. ride-alongs are not good ideas. scary though huh?

[revel]

keep the public ride-alongs as it helps get people interested or gives somebody who wants to get into drifting a chance to see what it really is from the passenger seat, but allow the drivers to pick/choose their riders.

for me personally when somebody comes up to my car and is like "whenever you get a chance if i could catch a ride-along". not so much when a person is "hey give me a ride" or i am being told to give somebody a ride...or told my wife needs to get out so somebody else can ride.

[racedaygraphics]

Would some of you guys want to meet up somewhere, grab a bite to eat and talk about all this stuff in the next few days?

[down_shift]

unless your coming to Atlanta I think Patrick is your best bet for an drift consultant.

[revel]

unless your coming to Atlanta I think Patrick is your best bet for an drift consultant.

patrick has much knowledge when it comes to drift events

[P.Haire]

i'm in cookeville at work all week and i've already got a busy weekend.

furrealz best bet would be to go to an event in atl and see FOERST hand how stuff gets done. bring that wheel guy's car so i can drive it too.

[AndrewC]

^^YES! trying to hold events without any outside experience is not a good idea.. heck, come to one of our TO events. we're def not the level of SED but have incorporated a lot of their ideas/organization to improve our events.

if i am driving and mentally unstable plus suicidal.. ride-alongs are not good ideas.

agreed.. i was already having a hard time getting the FOERST turn down and I really wanted some a lone time.

[ChadMK4]

I would've removed the passenger seat if I was told that I "had" to take riders. I don't want someone in my car that I feel might decide to jerk to ebrake into a wall or start freaking out once I get mid slide. It's drivers choice as to who they let ride with them.

[andysapp]

I don't really like giving ridealongs much these days. I just feel like driving. And I always hate how nobody can figure out how to operate a 5-pt harness.