BLADDER_MASTER
is no more
Discuss your thoughts and experience here.
Ter-Tech Feb. 25 Drift Event
- Thread starter BLADDER_MASTER
- Start date
It was a good event because of the spirit/turnout. However, coordination was very bad.
Starting off with the bad:
The coordination was horrible and it was clear that the attention was all focused on the camera crew. The whole schedule changed around bringing the qualifier in front of a practice, canceling the top 4 because of the rain, so on and so forth. In the whole mess, the track was constantly left open.... and then all the "demo" guys went out and had fun... again.... and again.... and again. They probably got +20 minutes of actual track time as anyone who made it into the top 16 got under 10 (even less for those who didnt). A lap is < a minute... we got 4 laps in the practice, then 3 for the top 40, then 3 for the top 16. And even then.... there was a point that there were so many demos done that the track stayed COMPLETELY unused for at least half an hour. That's wasting precious time.... its not every day I get to drift legally, and when I pay for it, I want to make sure that I'm getting the most out of it. The night practice after the whole qualifier was over also killed the whole thing.... I was in line with my engine off for another 1/2 hour until my restless 48 hours caught up with me. I gave up waiting, packed up and drove home.
Now that I got that off my chest, let me start with the good:
The judging was fairly consistent and it did not seem like bias was a big of problem as many were expecting.
I admired even more that the chance was offered to all top16 drivers to attend the Port Charlotte event on the 10th. It shows that it's not all about #1 and it gave us all something to celebrate about.
The consecutive run ideas have potential. Even with the waiting time being horrible, I think that could be improved. But the thought of doing 4 runs back to back with no interruptions is great for the driver because his mind never loses focus, and if you messed up at some point, you can instantly try to correct it.
Best of all, the drifters were more united than ever before. Constantly people walked over and supported... either my driving, my car, or just support in general. Even being a competition, the rivalry was kept on the other side of the barriers, where angle, speed and line did the talking. I was often offered to help me out with whatever I needed and I tried my best to do the same. That companionship thing is something that kicked ass.
More into the whole union issue.... the main thing that got to me was that at the end, it wasnt about me beating you or you beating me, it was the fact we made top 16.
In the end:
I still think that the event was worth the $100 admission price. Even though the event was very successful with a huge turnout (probably the best I've ever seen, Formula D aside), Ter-Tech should use this as an example of how NOT to coordinate an event. Thought should be put into improving the consecutive runs and keeping that track always being used. We paid to play, not to be in a show.
Props to:
- Ter-Tech: This would not have happened at all without them. The amount of work I saw Harri put into the event in the few days I saw him during the month preceding the event was crazy. He was constantly talking to someone or discussing on the phone... something. There is a lot that isn't seen which goes unchecked, and I'd like to thank everyone at Ter-Tech who put such a great effort to host this event.
- Vince / Chris: This event would also not have happened (to me) if it was not for these two guys. They struggled with me the whole entire weekend to get my car running... and even when it all looked good, we went right back to zero with the most unfortunate of consequences, simply hours before the event. We managed to get my car from nothing to perfect in under 2 hours, with just enough time to grab some food, take a shower and head out to the event.
- All the media guys: You are the guys who log this event into the history books. Without it, the event would be nothing but the memories we each have. Thank you so much for everything.
- MyCulture: Although somewhat away from their shirts, they still show up and support. They had a great promotion idea this event that worked out very well. Props for the ingenuity on that one. Many more props for keeping the whole staging area entertained. You guys bring life to the whole pit area.
- Side Mission: For taking their time to mount my tires before the event.
- Travis, Juan and Chelsea: South Florida is proud to have you guys here. Without a doubt.
- All other drivers: For taking their time to walk up to me and talking/helping out the whole time. A few solo drivers aside, props to Side Mission once again, Spool Up Racing, and the Night Monkeys for all their support. Other notable drivers who helped me out a lot: Rick & Juan.
- Spectators: For real.... this isnt some cliche'd saying. Coming into the final hairpin on one of my qualifying runs, I saw the whole crowd pumped up on the barriers. That brings up the spirit 10x more.
As usual there are probably more that I would like to thank and I'll probably edit the post as I go along. There's so many people that I sometimes forget one or two guys.
Starting off with the bad:
The coordination was horrible and it was clear that the attention was all focused on the camera crew. The whole schedule changed around bringing the qualifier in front of a practice, canceling the top 4 because of the rain, so on and so forth. In the whole mess, the track was constantly left open.... and then all the "demo" guys went out and had fun... again.... and again.... and again. They probably got +20 minutes of actual track time as anyone who made it into the top 16 got under 10 (even less for those who didnt). A lap is < a minute... we got 4 laps in the practice, then 3 for the top 40, then 3 for the top 16. And even then.... there was a point that there were so many demos done that the track stayed COMPLETELY unused for at least half an hour. That's wasting precious time.... its not every day I get to drift legally, and when I pay for it, I want to make sure that I'm getting the most out of it. The night practice after the whole qualifier was over also killed the whole thing.... I was in line with my engine off for another 1/2 hour until my restless 48 hours caught up with me. I gave up waiting, packed up and drove home.
Now that I got that off my chest, let me start with the good:
The judging was fairly consistent and it did not seem like bias was a big of problem as many were expecting.
I admired even more that the chance was offered to all top16 drivers to attend the Port Charlotte event on the 10th. It shows that it's not all about #1 and it gave us all something to celebrate about.
The consecutive run ideas have potential. Even with the waiting time being horrible, I think that could be improved. But the thought of doing 4 runs back to back with no interruptions is great for the driver because his mind never loses focus, and if you messed up at some point, you can instantly try to correct it.
Best of all, the drifters were more united than ever before. Constantly people walked over and supported... either my driving, my car, or just support in general. Even being a competition, the rivalry was kept on the other side of the barriers, where angle, speed and line did the talking. I was often offered to help me out with whatever I needed and I tried my best to do the same. That companionship thing is something that kicked ass.
More into the whole union issue.... the main thing that got to me was that at the end, it wasnt about me beating you or you beating me, it was the fact we made top 16.
In the end:
I still think that the event was worth the $100 admission price. Even though the event was very successful with a huge turnout (probably the best I've ever seen, Formula D aside), Ter-Tech should use this as an example of how NOT to coordinate an event. Thought should be put into improving the consecutive runs and keeping that track always being used. We paid to play, not to be in a show.
Props to:
- Ter-Tech: This would not have happened at all without them. The amount of work I saw Harri put into the event in the few days I saw him during the month preceding the event was crazy. He was constantly talking to someone or discussing on the phone... something. There is a lot that isn't seen which goes unchecked, and I'd like to thank everyone at Ter-Tech who put such a great effort to host this event.
- Vince / Chris: This event would also not have happened (to me) if it was not for these two guys. They struggled with me the whole entire weekend to get my car running... and even when it all looked good, we went right back to zero with the most unfortunate of consequences, simply hours before the event. We managed to get my car from nothing to perfect in under 2 hours, with just enough time to grab some food, take a shower and head out to the event.
- All the media guys: You are the guys who log this event into the history books. Without it, the event would be nothing but the memories we each have. Thank you so much for everything.
- MyCulture: Although somewhat away from their shirts, they still show up and support. They had a great promotion idea this event that worked out very well. Props for the ingenuity on that one. Many more props for keeping the whole staging area entertained. You guys bring life to the whole pit area.
- Side Mission: For taking their time to mount my tires before the event.
- Travis, Juan and Chelsea: South Florida is proud to have you guys here. Without a doubt.
- All other drivers: For taking their time to walk up to me and talking/helping out the whole time. A few solo drivers aside, props to Side Mission once again, Spool Up Racing, and the Night Monkeys for all their support. Other notable drivers who helped me out a lot: Rick & Juan.
- Spectators: For real.... this isnt some cliche'd saying. Coming into the final hairpin on one of my qualifying runs, I saw the whole crowd pumped up on the barriers. That brings up the spirit 10x more.
As usual there are probably more that I would like to thank and I'll probably edit the post as I go along. There's so many people that I sometimes forget one or two guys.
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boxmod
Driver
the event was good.
i personally didnt like back to back runs. i had no time to think or adjust anything before it was time to go drive again. practice i was too loose so i made an adjustment before qualifying and bam, too much grip and i struggled to keep rear out. I dont think i shouldve drove as poorly as i did, but I couldnt find out because it had rained before I got to try it again.
the wasted down time was incredibly high. from what I understand the end of the day was because of the interviews.... being done on the track... while I paid for them to park there.
in the end if we were faster getting started, faster doing run groups (dont reset every little cone everytime, unless its important one) and getting atleast 2 run throughs before any qualifying, and not having huge nothing gaps. I understand there are little hiccups here and there but when we sat for an hour at 'lunch time' , and then for an hour after the first round of all qualifying, and then an hour after the competition, we could have been running more practice or something.
all said and done it was still a nice parking lot event, no one crashed, and LOTs of people represented very well (minus me lol).
Harri- car looks smooth man, try to keep the bumpers and motor together !
i personally didnt like back to back runs. i had no time to think or adjust anything before it was time to go drive again. practice i was too loose so i made an adjustment before qualifying and bam, too much grip and i struggled to keep rear out. I dont think i shouldve drove as poorly as i did, but I couldnt find out because it had rained before I got to try it again.
the wasted down time was incredibly high. from what I understand the end of the day was because of the interviews.... being done on the track... while I paid for them to park there.
in the end if we were faster getting started, faster doing run groups (dont reset every little cone everytime, unless its important one) and getting atleast 2 run throughs before any qualifying, and not having huge nothing gaps. I understand there are little hiccups here and there but when we sat for an hour at 'lunch time' , and then for an hour after the first round of all qualifying, and then an hour after the competition, we could have been running more practice or something.
all said and done it was still a nice parking lot event, no one crashed, and LOTs of people represented very well (minus me lol).
Harri- car looks smooth man, try to keep the bumpers and motor together !
Organization sucked. Sorry Harri. Camera Crew or not. 2 1/2 hours of unused track time went to waste, thats never cool in my book.
Track layout = ROCKED MY FUCKING WORLD LOVED it, But there is still alot pavement that was left open that could have been utilized for more turns and a longer run.
Get extra cones and leave them at the Tough spots. This way when I hit every cone on the course the starting guy doesn't have to run out delaying the rest of the group. The extra cones are there and can be reset alot quicker.
The Dj definitely made things alittle more fun but his sound system sucked. If you're gonna do it. Do it right.
Having to do your main event runs in the rain cause of lack organization sucked balls. The last 3 cars had no chance, at that point.
I drove home on the same set of tires I showed up on. thats never a good sign.
All the Drivers did awesome and the Attitude was so Positive I really love South Florida events just cause of how friendly and cool everyone is.
All in all good event but not worth $100.
Track layout = ROCKED MY FUCKING WORLD LOVED it, But there is still alot pavement that was left open that could have been utilized for more turns and a longer run.
Get extra cones and leave them at the Tough spots. This way when I hit every cone on the course the starting guy doesn't have to run out delaying the rest of the group. The extra cones are there and can be reset alot quicker.
The Dj definitely made things alittle more fun but his sound system sucked. If you're gonna do it. Do it right.
Having to do your main event runs in the rain cause of lack organization sucked balls. The last 3 cars had no chance, at that point.
I drove home on the same set of tires I showed up on. thats never a good sign.
All the Drivers did awesome and the Attitude was so Positive I really love South Florida events just cause of how friendly and cool everyone is.
All in all good event but not worth $100.
Chris Jackson
Driver
i had alot of fun every1 was giving me some good advice and encuragement but 100$ for about 20mins i think we could of made it move a little quicker
DrumFunKen said:
sorry to remind you centlemen.
it was not a practise day it was competition.
and on our practise days nobody has ever been un satisfied becouse of the seat time.
organizing was actually pretty good according to the fact that it was competition.
we can't have people practising between the qualifing runs.
i totally agree though that the media wanted too many show? runs.
they took too much time because harri had to prepare for them and then take media people for runs and then the interwiews, and after that he could go back to judging.
we could make runs erlier but harri was interwiwd by 2 tv grews 2 news papers and he had to give rides to our sponsors.???
and you are thinking that why somebody else wasn't judging instead of harri... well you and us wanted as honest judging as possible.
and that was our insurance for that.
the comments about the event are allways wellcome (good ones and bad ones)
but remember that there is actually quite a bit more things in organaising these events than harri just having phone calls.
for example there was 3 guys from ter-tech on friday from 7am to 9.30 pm desining and building the track (that is newer perfect) last time i made it with more turns. so it was too slow now i made it fast and its too short.
extra cones..????
maybe you ditnt realise but yes we had quite many of them but we can have only so many...(you cone eaters
) yeah the PA system was bad. but it was misunterstanding with the dj he was supposet to be facing spectators (standing by vip & judges) but we had only 220 volt outlets there, and he needet 110v
if it was easy we would have five events a week.
the last 3 cars had exactly same chance as other ones.
if it rains every race car driver any form is supposed to be able to adapt to weather conditions.
and thats the reason we want to use judges that nows theyr shit.
they can tell when you are driving fastest possible on dry and they can tell when you drive fastest possible on wet.
and they will score you accordingly.
i probably hate it more than you do that drivers ditn't get more seat time.
after all i burned my neck and face pretty bad for this event. 3 full (LONG) days in sun is not ment to scandinavians
and trust me i will do all in my power to have you guys more seat time next time.
FOR US THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WAS, THAT WE DIT NOT HAVE SINGLE CRASH. AND THE TRACK WAS CHALLENCING. IT WAS NOT EASY.
I'M PROUD OF EVERY SINGLE GUY OUT THERE.
I HAVE SOME VIDEO FOR YOU I'LL POST IT TOMMORROW.
AND IT PROVES EVERYONE WAS DRIVING WERY GOOD TO EXELLENT
ONLY THING YOU NEED IS MORE CONSISTENCY.
sincerely.
Hannu Tervola
President
TER-TECH.INC
FAST-FINN said:
I have to bug in here, but you guys did talk about two practice sessions throughout the whole preparations and even in the morning of the event. The news that one practice was being cut short came after the first practice run.
And yes, I do agree that track time is plenty in most practices, but the "practice" portion of the competition was not coordinated as a practice (either the morning or the night). Not even slightly. There were countless delays, and many sponsors asking for rides.... but in the end: the demos got a lot more track time than the drivers.
Most importantly: It was annoying to see the track sitting for an hour without being used by competitors or demos.......... twice.
Now, I'm not going to say I paid my $100 because I have a fairly good idea that Harri put in a lot more out of his pocket than we did. But if it was to come down for us to have such a long wait to see Harri tearing it up out there again and again, this "competition" would have been much better off as a demo.
Even in competitions such as Formula D, where drivers just drive in and drive out they got more track time than any of us competing did.
It's constructive criticism though, I'm just hoping all of this ranting gets the drivers heard out. All I say is in hopes that Ter-Tech will keep improving their events even more in the future.
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Hey about the cones thing, we tried to keep the line going as fast as possible but alot of times people knocked the cones into the middle of the track and we had to move them, one dude about took out the whole track in his 4 runs, so we set the cones back up after he got done. Then Raffi Ripped a Clip cone in half.
Plus I brought that scooter, cause we all know polocks run slow. I looked dumb on a scooter for you guys's sake lol
Plus I brought that scooter, cause we all know polocks run slow. I looked dumb on a scooter for you guys's sake
lol
Chris Jackson
Driver
upgrade to a goped for the next event!!! lol
so, so, so, soooo much fun and i didnt even get to drive, just watching everyone tear it up, have fun and get along, and to get alot of you guys on film was a blast for me.
thank you Harri so much for making this happen and keep 'em coming.
are you going to change the layout next event/pracitce? i hope not, i really want to drive it, looked awesome.
thank you Harri so much for making this happen and keep 'em coming.
are you going to change the layout next event/pracitce? i hope not, i really want to drive it, looked awesome.
well I want to start by saying thatnks to and in no particular order to:
-Dan my pit crew man, yo without u I would stll be tring to put that shit back together... actualy my car would suck all around.
-Rick and Ali, u guys rocket through a rear end overhaul and helped me out like u dont even know.
-Jose for all his help and suport.
-and to all of those who came in and out of my pit are handing me tools and cheering me on, many thaks, and sorry if I mised some.
now as far as the evnt I think that the track was great and it made all of the oval lover get some real practice.
-props and thanks to Ter-Tech, I know it aint easy planning an event and hoping that all come out ok. you guys did a good job, I had a blast and I will love to do it again so keep them coming. on the other hand I do have to agree with some of the coment made previously about seat time.
-props to the top drivers and the winner u guys ruled... specialy that guy driving the red coupe with no bumper that is in my sig.
-props to all the top 16 u all know it wasnt easy getting there good job.
-thatnks to all the expectators that were cheering on all the driver, it was u guys that made most of us feel beeter about doing better.
-thanks to all the sponsors, you guys made it posible.
-I'm glad that most people left the beef at home and came to compete with good sportsmanship.
Florida drifting is getting alot better by the day lets keep it up.
-Dan my pit crew man, yo without u I would stll be tring to put that shit back together... actualy my car would suck all around.
-Rick and Ali, u guys rocket through a rear end overhaul and helped me out like u dont even know.
-Jose for all his help and suport.
-and to all of those who came in and out of my pit are handing me tools and cheering me on, many thaks, and sorry if I mised some.
now as far as the evnt I think that the track was great and it made all of the oval lover get some real practice.
-props and thanks to Ter-Tech, I know it aint easy planning an event and hoping that all come out ok. you guys did a good job, I had a blast and I will love to do it again so keep them coming. on the other hand I do have to agree with some of the coment made previously about seat time.
-props to the top drivers and the winner u guys ruled... specialy that guy driving the red coupe with no bumper that is in my sig.
-props to all the top 16 u all know it wasnt easy getting there good job.
-thatnks to all the expectators that were cheering on all the driver, it was u guys that made most of us feel beeter about doing better.
-thanks to all the sponsors, you guys made it posible.
-I'm glad that most people left the beef at home and came to compete with good sportsmanship.
Florida drifting is getting alot better by the day lets keep it up.
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Highwaystar22
Spectator
I was pleasently suprised with the whole south Florida community. Everyone I met seemed very cool. I'd have to say that the atmosphere was much better than that of an Ocala event.
Thanks Harri and everyone at Ter-Tech for making an awesome event happen.
Thanks to all the sponsors. Octane TV/WDC, Myculture, BMPC.... all them.
And to every driver and teammate/crew member of every guy that competed, props to all of you. You all made FL look great, made the event fun to watch and be around. Florida has really started to step it up.
Thanks Harri and everyone at Ter-Tech for making an awesome event happen.
Thanks to all the sponsors. Octane TV/WDC, Myculture, BMPC.... all them.
And to every driver and teammate/crew member of every guy that competed, props to all of you. You all made FL look great, made the event fun to watch and be around. Florida has really started to step it up.