Theres no reason for this to be locked... Its a thank you for the fun event sunday thread.

But if it is, we all know why... thanx! way to go

 

All I know is about the worst damage I've seen in street drifting mishaps are bent wheels and suspention pices; Two events on that track = 4 cars damaged with one being totalled... The street looks safer to me than that track.

I'm glad you had fun, but I'm sorry, The LAST place I would pick for a drift spot is a oval track like that. What was wrong with the parking lot style drifting dg trials put on at the same location?

 

I don't know what Matt did or didn't do -- in case you didn't notice, I wasn't there for all but 45 minutes, in which I saw two cars crash. However I do not think that Matt would offer to bribe anyone to not participate. To my knowledge he was offering incentives to people to come up to Primus, just like Tony told me he would offer incentives to people to come down to "Drift Miami." If anyone knows for a fact otherwise, please contact me in private via email to discuss it. I'm not sure why it's OK to offer incentives for people to come to Miami but not to come to Tampa.

Also, this isn't a pissing contest. It's a sensibility contest. It is not sensible to utilize that particular venue just because it may be cheap. If you had read my post on severing ties with SFM, you'd realize what I'm talking about.

Drifting is not about crashing. Professionals wreck only after all other precautions have FAILED -- gravel traps, grass, tire walls, etc. CRASHCAR is an exception to the rule, and, as most motorsports purists will agree, is an extremely retarded sport. It may be challenging, technically difficult, may require just as much car preparation as any other racing, but that doesn't make it sensible.

This is not competition. This is a clinic. A learning environment. You guys are out there with just helmets and have the potential to crash very hard into very immovable objects. No harness. No roll cage. No side impact protection. Some of you even went out there to tandem. No fire suit, no fire system.

I did not NOT mention that Evan crashed, and the first "Drift Miami" went on UNDER PROTEST. Again, read my post about severing ties. Two events, four people hitting the walls.

If you pay attention to what I say and try to look past your own noses and your on preconceptions and prejudices and understand the points that I am trying to make, and look through my posts, I reccomended to everyone that they shy away from this venue being that the walls were so close and so prevalent BEFORE the event. I also indicated that there was somewhat of a restriction to entrants, except for those who were INVITED. Invitees whom, after discussion with Mattback, Kyle, and others, we felt would be able to control themselves best at the facility.

I am not badmouthing the EVENT. I am not badmouthing the PARTICIPANTS. I am not BADMOUTHING. I am making comments about the fact that promoters and organizers and sanctioning bodies alike need to realize that this is a growing sport and that offering affordability at the cost of safety is not a realistic tradeoff.

I am not being sarcastic. I am being flat. Impact with solid objects does not teach you anything. It is the spin that teaches you something. It is the spin that is needed to understand where your limits are. It is the mistakes that teach you. But answer me this one question:

Is there a need to operate in an environment where making a mistake almost guarantees the damage and/or possible destruction of your vehicle and yourself when there are other suitable venues available and at our disposal?

Or maybe this question:

Which is a more cost effective training tool -- spending an extra 25-50 dollars for a suitable and safe venue, or spending several hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars repairing body, paint, and frame damage?

Check the track records for damage at drifting events in the US and look at who is wrecking up cars and who is producing good drifters.

If you guys really have an intense desire to go crash your cars, I'm all for it. Go right ahead. It's not my money being wasted.

Just remember -- learning does not come in the crash. No knowledge is imparted by impact. If you were in a fighter plane, you only usually get one time to crash.

After that, you're dead.

 

Exactly.

I'm not criticizing the drivers at all. I'm glad you all enjoyed drifting, but when I left after the first accident and came back only to see 3 more, I can only shake my head.

 

The telephone polls carry live electricity which cannot be shut off, and there is no effective way to shield them from impact from a car. In addition crowd control is almost impossible there. The reason that SFM "couldn't" get insurance is most likely not because the insco wouldn't allow it, but rather because they do not know anything about motorsports event liability insurance and realized that the Hialeah Speedway insurance only covers activity ON the track.

P.S. The insurance they utilized for the on-track activities was most likely for test and tune and does not even really cover multiple cars running at once (tandem). I'm sure there are other considerations for that insurance that were not met. Insurance alone does not absolve you of liability, especially in the case of gross negligence.

However, these comments may be totally unfounded, and I intend to contact the insurance company they claimed to be using to do a full investigation. The last thing that drift needs so early in the game is to get some people who don't know what they're doing when it comes to running motorsports events to have an accident and cause a big problem for everyone else who does know what they're doing.

Remember, I am not just representing DGTrials. I am also a board member of Go-Drift, an organization which has the goal of uniting the groups trying to promote and further the sport of drifting in the USA. If I see someone doing something risky to the sport, you can bet that I am going to be all over them.

 

Thank you Erik for clearly making the point I was trying to. I just couldn't make it so well-written and clear because I was allowing personal issues to obstruct my replies. I apologize also to everyone for that. I hope you all actually read Erik's letter to Tony and I hope you read his replies here and at least try to understand his point. If not... again I can only shake my head.

 

when i first read this thread i saw the pics and thought, damn that really sucks because she JUST got her car painted... i know everyone wants to learn and everyone wants seat time... iam not saying anyone is being unrealistic but i personally wouldnt want to learn and practice on the speedway with the wall situation... some people are proud of their battle scars and some really just want to keep their car in one piece... but like jamie said its all about having fun and if going to all the events and participating reguardless the track layout is fun, by all means...

in reguards to the quote i sat here and really coincided with that learning idea... i learned this in dday 1

 

Well then by all means please come to D-Day 2!

 

paid 2 weeks ago

 

and your name is on the list!