YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*throws confetti*
Thank you Drift Day Miami!
Moderators: charlie, darkducati, andysapp, CodyW
hey!:) glad you like my car-- she's definitely my baby! did you find the web address on a sticker or the button or from another site? [I'm always curious as to what gets the word out the best]LOV2XLR8 wrote:hi! just wanted to say hello from miami!!
pics are awesome and nice STI you guys had in the show i loved it!!
I did the JDM headlight conversion and also blacked them out. You pull them out of the car and bake them in the oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes. Then you pull them apart, pull out the orange pieces, and paint 'em. Once you rebake them, and put them back together you're good to go with a 600 dollar mod for free!
Review - Day One
Well, now that the pictures are online, and I have a free second...
I'd like to summarize the event (better late than never, eh?)
We had an amazing time to say the least. While hitting traffic on the way out of Atlanta sucked... hitting 145mph with a red M Roadster tag-team stylee seemed to make up for it. The ride down was a bit long... and after arriving around 3am... and washing our cars with one bucket, no hose, and a bathtub faucet... we ended up crashing about 5am.
We awoke an hour an a half later to get to the track. We schemed on the way in that nobody's STi was to be my support car... so we could gain free entry for everyone (but me). The unorganization of the event would start here... as they wouldn't let her car in without carshow registration, in which they wouldn't allow yet. So, with nobody parked on the side of the road, I went to register as a drifter. The director would later yell at the gate people, exclaiming that each drifter is allowed ONE support vehicle... therefore getting nobody & Cody in free.
The D1 Driver Search would then cause more confusion amongst the organizers. The Drift Clinic was immediately split: People who wanted to try out for the D1 Search / People who wanted to attend the Drift Clinic. There was no doing both... due to limited infeild car access... and Option Video was basically calling all the shots, and this was how it was going to go.
I chose the Clinic... to test my new sways. The major downside to this, was that ALL the instructors were taken in for the D1 search... and the Clinic peeps were basically on their own.
There were two track set up for the Clinic: a figure eight track, and a small drift track. I ran for about 10 minutes on the figure eight track, trying to get a feel for the sway bars... and my engine started ticking. So, I pulled back to the paddock to cool my e46 down. checked my tyres, and had already killed one. As I was checking the other tyre... the valve stem broke open, therefore killing that tyre. So, 1st 10 minutes, and my oil is bubbling, and I'm out two tyres on an hour and a half of sleep in intensely hot weather. I left for a minute, only to come back & see the DGTrials tent had blown over onto my car, denting the rear 1/4 panel, and leaving a large scratch across the trunk and bumper. Andy not very happy at this point.
I took a li'l nap under the reconstructed tent... to be bit by fire ants... at which point I felt refreshed, and ready to take some runs. I did just that, and found that I liked the new sways. Everyone had seemed to dissapear... so I had the track to myself for a while, which was nice.
I met everyone infeild for the finals of the D1 Search, only to find that Cody had somehow got an all access pass. He introduced my to Chris, who upon receipt of my dM business card, said we could all get media passes for Sunday. {RAWK!}
We had a chance to see Tsuchiya, say hey, and give him a shirt, which totally made all the struggle prior in the day worth it. Cody hopped the barrier, and got killer photos out on the lawn with Tsuchiya, Nomuken, and the Hot Version Bikini Girl. We packed up, and headed back to the hotel shortly thereafter, and I passed out unknowingly.
I'd like to summarize the event (better late than never, eh?)
We had an amazing time to say the least. While hitting traffic on the way out of Atlanta sucked... hitting 145mph with a red M Roadster tag-team stylee seemed to make up for it. The ride down was a bit long... and after arriving around 3am... and washing our cars with one bucket, no hose, and a bathtub faucet... we ended up crashing about 5am.
We awoke an hour an a half later to get to the track. We schemed on the way in that nobody's STi was to be my support car... so we could gain free entry for everyone (but me). The unorganization of the event would start here... as they wouldn't let her car in without carshow registration, in which they wouldn't allow yet. So, with nobody parked on the side of the road, I went to register as a drifter. The director would later yell at the gate people, exclaiming that each drifter is allowed ONE support vehicle... therefore getting nobody & Cody in free.
The D1 Driver Search would then cause more confusion amongst the organizers. The Drift Clinic was immediately split: People who wanted to try out for the D1 Search / People who wanted to attend the Drift Clinic. There was no doing both... due to limited infeild car access... and Option Video was basically calling all the shots, and this was how it was going to go.
I chose the Clinic... to test my new sways. The major downside to this, was that ALL the instructors were taken in for the D1 search... and the Clinic peeps were basically on their own.
There were two track set up for the Clinic: a figure eight track, and a small drift track. I ran for about 10 minutes on the figure eight track, trying to get a feel for the sway bars... and my engine started ticking. So, I pulled back to the paddock to cool my e46 down. checked my tyres, and had already killed one. As I was checking the other tyre... the valve stem broke open, therefore killing that tyre. So, 1st 10 minutes, and my oil is bubbling, and I'm out two tyres on an hour and a half of sleep in intensely hot weather. I left for a minute, only to come back & see the DGTrials tent had blown over onto my car, denting the rear 1/4 panel, and leaving a large scratch across the trunk and bumper. Andy not very happy at this point.
I took a li'l nap under the reconstructed tent... to be bit by fire ants... at which point I felt refreshed, and ready to take some runs. I did just that, and found that I liked the new sways. Everyone had seemed to dissapear... so I had the track to myself for a while, which was nice.
I met everyone infeild for the finals of the D1 Search, only to find that Cody had somehow got an all access pass. He introduced my to Chris, who upon receipt of my dM business card, said we could all get media passes for Sunday. {RAWK!}
We had a chance to see Tsuchiya, say hey, and give him a shirt, which totally made all the struggle prior in the day worth it. Cody hopped the barrier, and got killer photos out on the lawn with Tsuchiya, Nomuken, and the Hot Version Bikini Girl. We packed up, and headed back to the hotel shortly thereafter, and I passed out unknowingly.
Review - Day Two
We hit day two with a lot more rest (although it didn't seem to be nearly enough). We got to the paddock, and unpacked all the tyres'n'tools. This was the day of the competition. During the driver's meeting, they said something similar to the previous day: you must choose either the competition, or the clinic... you cannot do both. Once again... the track politics were coming into play. Everyone chose to compete... so we had to pack everything BACK up, and head to the infeild.
Barry rode with me... somehow I was numbered #1... so I would run FOERST. We unpacked everything on the side of the track, only to be told we would have to move everything back two hundred yards. I thought I was going to die. Barry and I moved everything back... it was about 100-102 degrees out at this point. I checked the condition of my tyres... only to find a bubble in the passenger side rear. It looked like we were going to have to change the damn tyres right there in the grid. I could NOT have done it without Barry. He came through hardCore stylee. It was awesome. We got the tyres swapped... pressure checked... we're good to roll.
It was so ungodly hot outside, that I started to get dick. We ran practice runs, and it was all I could do to stop myself from vomiting in my helmet. The heat was too unbearable... especially in a black car, with a helmet on, and no A/C.
After all our practice runs... the track cancelled out competition... so there would be no competitive runs... no prizes, no glory... nothin. The Drift Day folks (who were absolutly AMAZING in handling everything that went wrong) said if we're not gonna compete, then we're going to run until they shut us down... and that's what we did.
Clouds shuffled in overhead, after I took an hourlong nap in the car with the a/c blasting... and after the sun was gone, I think everyone felt back to normal.
I learned an awful lot running out there on the track. It's amazing how much you absorb when you're not worrying about traffic, cops, getting busted... or hitting curbs. Just open track, with plenty of run-off space. Hiroo Sumida rode a couple runs with me as an instructor, and gave me some really good pointers on what to do to improve. This was what I came for. Not for the D1 Driver Search... not for the competition... not for the spectators... I came to improve... and that's what I did.
The end of the day, the Drift Day folks announced they were either going to refund our money for Sunday... since the venue farked everything up. They said we didn't get NEARLY the amount of seat time we were supposed to... nor the instruction, due to the Option Video team and the D1 stuff. OR, they would hold a makeup event in leiu of the mess that the venue created.
Turns out that a makeup event is in the works... and I can't wait. Can't wait to see some of the people we met in Miami, and I can't wait to get back out there and do what I do best.
Showoff.
Barry rode with me... somehow I was numbered #1... so I would run FOERST. We unpacked everything on the side of the track, only to be told we would have to move everything back two hundred yards. I thought I was going to die. Barry and I moved everything back... it was about 100-102 degrees out at this point. I checked the condition of my tyres... only to find a bubble in the passenger side rear. It looked like we were going to have to change the damn tyres right there in the grid. I could NOT have done it without Barry. He came through hardCore stylee. It was awesome. We got the tyres swapped... pressure checked... we're good to roll.
It was so ungodly hot outside, that I started to get dick. We ran practice runs, and it was all I could do to stop myself from vomiting in my helmet. The heat was too unbearable... especially in a black car, with a helmet on, and no A/C.
After all our practice runs... the track cancelled out competition... so there would be no competitive runs... no prizes, no glory... nothin. The Drift Day folks (who were absolutly AMAZING in handling everything that went wrong) said if we're not gonna compete, then we're going to run until they shut us down... and that's what we did.
Clouds shuffled in overhead, after I took an hourlong nap in the car with the a/c blasting... and after the sun was gone, I think everyone felt back to normal.
I learned an awful lot running out there on the track. It's amazing how much you absorb when you're not worrying about traffic, cops, getting busted... or hitting curbs. Just open track, with plenty of run-off space. Hiroo Sumida rode a couple runs with me as an instructor, and gave me some really good pointers on what to do to improve. This was what I came for. Not for the D1 Driver Search... not for the competition... not for the spectators... I came to improve... and that's what I did.
The end of the day, the Drift Day folks announced they were either going to refund our money for Sunday... since the venue farked everything up. They said we didn't get NEARLY the amount of seat time we were supposed to... nor the instruction, due to the Option Video team and the D1 stuff. OR, they would hold a makeup event in leiu of the mess that the venue created.
Turns out that a makeup event is in the works... and I can't wait. Can't wait to see some of the people we met in Miami, and I can't wait to get back out there and do what I do best.
Showoff.