Garage Battle

This needs to stop. Most of the kids who goto these events are amatuers at best, and do not possess the car control to correct a problem if and when something goes wrong. I feel it is horribly negligent of the event organizers to allow most of these drivers onto the track.

The point of assumed risk on the drivers part is null, honestly 90% of these guys dont know any better. There are very little venue choices in the first place, and I applaud them for seeking a legal place to drift, but i would sadly recommend that they stay in parking lots and get tickets then chance totalling their car or injuring themselves on an oval.

So I propose to all event organizers, stop taking the easy route and doing oval events. Take the time to secure insurance, find us parking lots, find us tracks, skidpads, etc. I will gladly volunteer my time to help run the events, along with instructing, etc, as Im sure many others will.

When you wrecked, your not driving.

dan

word. ovals are easy for those doing beginner techniques and not going fast, but after 3 or 4 laps of some clutch kick, some go into the turn alot faster thinking they can do a higher speed one, and with higher speeds come the need for quicker and more precise corrections, and errors at higher speeds are more risk for bad things.


i always prefer dday1 style parking lot ones with cones and such, that way, even people like me who suck or want to learn can go balls to the wall without fear of hitting anything, and when you dont have the fear of crashing, you can focus more on learning and giving it all you have, IMO.

im down for helping out organize and work duty on the track as well.

Rey

interesting

briman06

Rob Fleming. We have full insurance, I am putting them into driver siuts. They will go through a Safety Pre-Tech. I have Mark Guilbault as the Race Director. We are in agreement that we need to instruct the new comers to the Sport. I do not know if you have ever seen Charlotte County Speedway. It is very wide Three of my Late Models can race side by side and not have a problem.and the x is three lanes wide also. I am inviting you and your whole ENJUKU FD-1 Team to help train the futurer of your sport. We have Harbor Nissan involved along with the Florida Highway Patrol. SAFETY IS FIRST and FORMOST. CaLL ME AT 813-817-7223. I LEFT A MESSAGE will Teddy for you to call. Please HELP US GET IT RIGHT!!!!
Thanks for your concern and hope you will be part of the movement of grass roots Drifting.
Bobby Diehl

S14_Silvia_SE

bobby i had a great time at the track this weekend, i appreciate all you are doing, and think you have a great attitude towards drifting as a sport, again thanks, i had a lot of fun

Garage Battle

Mr. Diehl im speaking from a personal perspective only, as my views may/may not be shared by Enjuku. The problem is that you've got participants on an oval track that do not possess the skill level to be drifting the banks or even near them. Ive spoken to a few of the drivers, and they are fully confident in their ability to handle their cars, but unfortunately do not when things go wrong.

There is a difference in knowing how to make a car slide and control it, and the split second reaction it takes to use the cars potential to keep it off the wall when something goes wrong. There are even drivers in Formula D (not Formula Dst) that are not as capable of correcting for problems when they get themselves in over their heads. Many times it is simply overdriving ones ability.

You cannot test any potential drivers of events by letting them run around a few times, or having a buddy vouch for them. You cant test ones ability to react until they are actually in that situation, and unfortunately its too late. Mr Diehl to my knowledge there has never been a totalled car at a Florida road/kart track event, nor has their been one at a parking lot event. Yet it seems that accidents are abound ever since we started drifting ovals back in 04.

If you cant drive your car home, you cant keep learning to drift. I propose that you either limit the driving to the infield only, with no banks used, or find different safe areas to have people drift, like parking lots, or better yet, paved infields. Ill come support an event, on a personal level, if I feel its safe. I will not support unsafe events.

If there was true concern for this as a grassroots sport, and concern for the attendies, then an infield would have been paved by now. Cones bruise egos not body parts.

Igor

I've Driven on the Charlotte county speedway plenty of times, I think every time someone hit a wall.

I almost feel like its a matter of time before im next, every time I go out, I find myself going faster and faster, used to do it in 2nd, now in 3rd. After reading these posts, I agree with rob, too many people wreck at these events. Im ganna be taking it very easy around the oval from now on. Thanks for the eye opener.

briman06

Thanks Rob. Call me at 813-817-7223. We would love your direction. All I am trying to do is support the GRASS ROOTS of the NEWEST Motor Sports style of racing. I am a Auto Tech Instructor at South County Career Center. I was granted a $50,000.00 Grant (this is going to add to the $1,000,000.00 shop I have now) to develope a High Preformance High School. This will focus on Drifting and Stockcars both. We will have shock Dyno's alignment equipment, Bump Streer equipment and so on. You would be a Great Consultain for the Advistory Commitittee. Theon Saturday the Day will start at 12:00 for the Drifters. See you there. And again thanks for helping us keep it safe and Proffessional.
Bobby Diehl

The Kyle

Mr. Diehl,

Being an 'Auto Tech Instructor' at a trade school doesn't give you a whole lot of motorsports credibility in my book. It tells us you can change alternator belts and A/C compressors. It doesn't tell me you can run efficient, safe or succesful 'Drift' events. Running some roundy-round racing events is fine and dandy, and have a whole lot less concern because those cars are fully prepared race cars with proper roll cages and safety restraints...not stock street cars with no cages and standard 3 point belts.

One of these days one of these kids is going to wreck on an oval and either DIE or get seriously injured and everyone here will be proper fucked. Stop trying to capitalize on the 'next big thing' and just stick to what you know which is roundy-round racing.

So someone gave you a $50,000 grant to start a performance driving school. On an OVAL? Are you kidding me? I work and instruct for several HPD and Racing Schools all over the country and can promise you, no one who knows what they're doing would do anything remotely close to an oval track. (yes those 'NASCAR-Experience' programs that run on oval tracks exist, but are a terrible idea).

I don't care how much 'instruction' you want to give these kids on your track. Unless your 'school' or instruction sessions are happening in a secure parking lot or proper skid pad, you're just setting yourself up for disaster.

Now, I know that none of our posts here are going to stop you from putting these events on, but hopefully it'll wake the people up that go or consider going to your events. Someone needs to make a thread of just pictures of cars that have been wrecked and TOTALLED at oval/walled drift events, then maybe it'll turn some of these kids off to going to them.

Now, I don't care for you trying to make some cash, that's the American way...go capitalism! BUT - I have a problem with you promoting an UNSAFE event and allowing drivers to unqualified drivers to participate in them.

Hate me all you like for this post or any subsequent posts I might make, but at the end of the day, I know what I'm talking about. Racing is my job.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me and I'll give you my office number to chat. Have a nice day.

The Kyle

Also,

Before someone comes in with the 'Crashing is a part of racing' argument.
(Sidenote...DRIFTING IS NOT RACING)

NO IT IS NOT.



Crashing is a byproduct of poor judgement in the cockpit. If you KNOWINGLY put someone behind the wheel of a car that doesn't understand vehicle dynamics and is ignorant to how a car is going to react on a race track and said person totals their car and injures themselves...I would hold YOU negligent and liable for that crash.

The only thing people learn when they crash is how to deal with body shops and insurance companies.