DRIFT Showoff (FEEDBACK)

[GoukiS14]

Ben Schwartz u kicked a$$. Well I think they should have done what they did last year w/ the "beginner" section and let them get used to doing donuts and such.... Alex I think you guys did a great job on judging.

[Driftday]

Well, it seems like there are two parties on this subject:

One-The people who expected to get what was advertised on the website and flyer.

Two- The people who know what to expect from Drift Showoff (veterans of Drift Showoff).

I don't think that we should get too defensive over the people have valid complaints of the event. They attended because the advertisement said "Drift Clinic." If anyone does have a complaint about the event, please send an email to the proper people so they can understand what they need to do next time.

For everyone else, I really appreciate your suggestions to attend Drift Days to learn how to drift. We try our best to provide a place for everyone to learn and maximize track time. Just like some people suggested, Drift Showoff is a competition and know one should really expect too much from a spectator event. Moto did send out an email stating that the event would be a competition and if anyone who expected a clinic would be refunded BEFORE the event.

I know the event was not advertised correctly and adjustments had to be made after the flyers were printed out. Alex, does have a point about Irwindale. The entire course had to be set up in the morning because of an event the night before and we were told no driving until 10:30 am. There was a lot of "dead" time and it killed me to see that. There are good reasons for the empty time though.

My feelings at this time is we really need to improve on expanding our relationship with drivers and keep all driver informed as to what is going on in the world of drifitng. Sometimes I feel like we (Drift Association, Drift Showoff and the people around us) expect everyone know what we know. This is not the case and it should be our responsibility to inform new drivers of what is going on before they regret attending ANY event. I have always tried to answer every email I get and even though it may take a while, please be patient.

Naoki Kobayashi
Drift Association LLC.
Naoki@driftday.com

[george]

thank you for the professional response. like i said i paid 150 coming into it knowing all the conditions. the biggest thing that i guess i didnt understand was why was there so much lag time. i believe if the event would have ran a bit smoother and if we had cars constantly on the course we would not have had the amateurs end early and everyone would have been happier.

[R2K]

hey who won the best ff drifter???

[110octane]

Hatakeyama

No competition, just demo with Hatakeya san seen here. He rocks out in that EF!

[kurumakun]

Hey Spoonfork, do you mind if I email you some small footage from drift showoff (grand stand view)

[Brendan Walker]

Well, I might as well post my view of the crash. I think looking at all the facts helps one get a clearer picture of things.

1) It occurred on the first corner of the first lap of our second demo of the day. For the first demo, we had agreed to position ourselves with Ben in the lead, myself, Milano and then Hubert. We never said anything to the contrary for the second demo. If you watch the video, you can see that Hubert opens up some space between both of us. I think he was expecting Milano to slip in there.

2) Instead, Milano decided that he was going to take the inside line but instead of gripping it, he thought he could hold it drifting. At that point, I was still picking up speed on the outside, but as soon as he started to drift, he started shooting way wide - right into my projected line. The thing is, as soon as he started drifting, his speed went down so that, although there was some distance between us, I would have rapidly been crashing into the back or side of his car because he was at that point going slower and I would have caught up.

3) Sooooo, at that point I had two options:1) crash into Milano and hope for the best or 2) try to avoid it by braking. I tried to avoid it and hit the wall. Hubert had nowhere to go so he hit me and the wall. Glad we're both ok.

Here is a pic that was taken right after this, but a split second before Hubert hit me:



Now tell me why Milano has no smoke coming from his tires and why he is so close to the wall (especially since he started on the inside). I'll answer - because he shot from the inside to the outside of the track to the point of almost hitting the wall and was completely off-throttle (i.e., no smoke) to avoid hitting it.

4) After we pulled back in I approached Milano and said some thing to the effect of, "dude - you pushed me right in to the wall" His ultimate response was (and I quote), " thats what happens in competition". My response was that it was a demo, not a competition and that he needed to think about people other than himself. He never once apologized, which is what any normal individual would do.

Thats the way I experienced it and that is what transpired after. Everyone can make their own call about, but my perspective was that it was reckless and that Milano is an *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored*. I also don't think this will be the first example of it.

Someone earlier said that people shouldn't be bitching because damage was expected, but in this case, for a demo, I felt that this was totally unnecessary and could have completely been avoided if it were not for one individual's reckless behavior. On another board I post on, someone even suggested that a petition be started to ban Milano from local drift events. lol.

In case anyone is curious, here are some pics of the damage:










And yes, Benson, I am very disappointed, but this is finally forcing me to make some changes that I've been wanting to do.

[Wayne]

its good that your ok brendan, i was thier for the event and i couldnt believe what had just happened, how are you going to go from the inner edge of the track and than swing right back to the outside almost hitting the wall. alotta people dont respect mr milano and this is just another strike to his awesome reputation

what changes are we talkin about, details detailss

[NiteKids]

What do you have planed exteriorwise for the car now?

[Brendan Walker]

secret. shhhh. lol. I'll know exactly whats happening on Monday - til then I can't talk about it.

[Craftsman]

Re: Hatakeyama



Is that "JDM is *Censored**Censored**Censored*" sticker still on there? Muhahahahaha

[Jayzs147]

crybabys should be banned from drift events. i think people just dont like the guy cuz he doesnt like being pushed around..he has a personality that people just cant comprehend are are so ensetive to ever little mishap that they make it into a big deal..jesus christ.. and im pretty sure brnden couldve slowed it down with the e-brake. ive been to his place alot hes given me FREE stuff wrth 100s almost 600 for free i think hes one of the nicest guys ive met.. maybe if people werent so quick to judge him he prolly woulda fixd your car for free if you werent so quick to blame him ..think about that one. THATS MY view of the crash..wrong decisions by YOU and milno how was jamming on the brakes gunna help anything.

[Brendan Walker]

Well Jayzs147, obviously you didn't really read (or compehend) my post above. Its great that you were able to view the small, unclear video, but just busting a drift as you suggest would have most likely gotten me pinned in between the wall and Milano (because once he started drifting across the track, his speed started decreasing) and then hit by Hubert from behind. Potentially would have had more damage and more cars involved. Chris and I have both posted now - so I suggest we let things rest.


I would like to point out for everyone that neither Milano nor I actually brought up this whole crash topic. However, once it was brought up - I certainly felt the need to post my thoughts.

[kurumakun]

Whewwww! There's alot of people that could put Milano Auto on Blast. Don't judge others until you've been burned by this guy. Now driver to driver we can bite our tounges in respect, but in all honesty you can't protect someones personallity and reputation that they built w/ thier peers for the last couple of years. And receiving Free JUNK!!! shouldn't justify your decision to back someone up. That's my word and all that I'm going to imput on this. Brendan, I'll hit you up next time after I get MY NEW MOTOR INSTALLED!!!