ryans
10-12-2003, 11:09 PM
I left Saturday afternoon and arrived in L.A. at 11pm. I drove the whole 400 miles to L.A. Grabbed a beer at the bar and finally crashed out at about 1:45 am. 6:45 the wake up call. My 8:30 I was at the Drivers meet at Irwindale. There was about 40 cars on hand. Lots of overpowered 240's and hachi's. 1 porsche boxster and some other porsche too. I had brought my 944. Oh yea there was a 350Z. I can't remember all the cars though. Ok so we have our drivers meet and I'm told it will be like 2 hours before I can can run.
they were running 5 cars each for 15 minutes of practice on the track. I finally get to see the course and I tell you I was scared. It was a big course. I've never drifted a course that big. So i'm watching and taking notes. I can tell who kinda sucks (like i do) and who's good. So I figure to watch Alex Pfeifer. He's doing really well in practice. I take some notes on him and then finally it's my turn to run.
For some reason I'm out there with the pro's. Ken gushi is behind me in beginning, and Ueo and Falken guys etc...all those guys are just cutting it up. It's F@#$in awesome to see those guys tear it up 3 at a time on the course. So i'm keeping my distance and trying to do what I had seen Alex do.
The beginning of the course is very long. it's like 1/2 circle of the track, so When I get to the first turn i'm hitting high 3rd gear. This is about 80mph or so. My first two laps some dude in a 240 kept spinning so i just got to do my line and no drifting.
3rd lap i wait until that dude is completely done. I hit it up and did ok. By my 7th lap, I was damn amazed with myslef.
Here it goes. I come in very fast and high. I'm in third gear doing 85 or so, as I near the turn I gently hit the brakes and turn in. My car starts sliding before the turn and I'm going into the apexi perfectly. I downshift to 2nd gear and rev match perfectly. As I'm sliding around the turn I gently give it a little gas and just take the line. I come out of the first turn pefectly. My exit speed was fast, so I hit the 2nd turn and do the same. I'm in 2nd gear this time but it's a tighter turn. I just hit it and gas around the whole turn. It was only natural for the rear to swing out. After that run the guys said that was my last run.
7 laps of practice. I thought this was very short.
So a few more hours later I notice the first run group cars sitting out there. they sit..... then sit..... then sit. and finally the pro's do an exhibition. 20 minutes after that the 1st group goes out. There was no announcer. Nobody knows what's going on. So i watch all the cars go out to do 2 laps from the top of the bleachers. I can't figure out if this is practice for them, or if the 2nd one gets counted? After they're done they sit around for a while more. Then they all go out again. Once again, no announcer telling the crowd who we are, or what we're doing etc.
Since i'm in the 2nd run group I decide to haul my ass down there and get my car over there. I get there and my groups already running. Once again no announcers telling us we need to be there. So as i enter the track they tell me to i'm up right away. They tell me that the 1st session is 2 runs, practice. The 2 after that is what counts.
I do my runs and i do shitty! I think to myself why is my car not sliding how it was before? maybe because my tires aren't warmed up is the only conclusion I can think of. Maybe the 5 hours sleep is catching up to me? I can make up a lot of excuses, but I think these have some merit :)
So I go out there and again and I do shitty. My 2nd run in competition, I almost had it going well, but then I spun out.
All in all, it was a bit disorganized in my opinion. It was fun, but i'd rather to to Al's event for $125 and drift all day long, than just get 11 runs for the same price.
they were running 5 cars each for 15 minutes of practice on the track. I finally get to see the course and I tell you I was scared. It was a big course. I've never drifted a course that big. So i'm watching and taking notes. I can tell who kinda sucks (like i do) and who's good. So I figure to watch Alex Pfeifer. He's doing really well in practice. I take some notes on him and then finally it's my turn to run.
For some reason I'm out there with the pro's. Ken gushi is behind me in beginning, and Ueo and Falken guys etc...all those guys are just cutting it up. It's F@#$in awesome to see those guys tear it up 3 at a time on the course. So i'm keeping my distance and trying to do what I had seen Alex do.
The beginning of the course is very long. it's like 1/2 circle of the track, so When I get to the first turn i'm hitting high 3rd gear. This is about 80mph or so. My first two laps some dude in a 240 kept spinning so i just got to do my line and no drifting.
3rd lap i wait until that dude is completely done. I hit it up and did ok. By my 7th lap, I was damn amazed with myslef.
Here it goes. I come in very fast and high. I'm in third gear doing 85 or so, as I near the turn I gently hit the brakes and turn in. My car starts sliding before the turn and I'm going into the apexi perfectly. I downshift to 2nd gear and rev match perfectly. As I'm sliding around the turn I gently give it a little gas and just take the line. I come out of the first turn pefectly. My exit speed was fast, so I hit the 2nd turn and do the same. I'm in 2nd gear this time but it's a tighter turn. I just hit it and gas around the whole turn. It was only natural for the rear to swing out. After that run the guys said that was my last run.
7 laps of practice. I thought this was very short.
So a few more hours later I notice the first run group cars sitting out there. they sit..... then sit..... then sit. and finally the pro's do an exhibition. 20 minutes after that the 1st group goes out. There was no announcer. Nobody knows what's going on. So i watch all the cars go out to do 2 laps from the top of the bleachers. I can't figure out if this is practice for them, or if the 2nd one gets counted? After they're done they sit around for a while more. Then they all go out again. Once again, no announcer telling the crowd who we are, or what we're doing etc.
Since i'm in the 2nd run group I decide to haul my ass down there and get my car over there. I get there and my groups already running. Once again no announcers telling us we need to be there. So as i enter the track they tell me to i'm up right away. They tell me that the 1st session is 2 runs, practice. The 2 after that is what counts.
I do my runs and i do shitty! I think to myself why is my car not sliding how it was before? maybe because my tires aren't warmed up is the only conclusion I can think of. Maybe the 5 hours sleep is catching up to me? I can make up a lot of excuses, but I think these have some merit :)
So I go out there and again and I do shitty. My 2nd run in competition, I almost had it going well, but then I spun out.
All in all, it was a bit disorganized in my opinion. It was fun, but i'd rather to to Al's event for $125 and drift all day long, than just get 11 runs for the same price.