(FEEDBACK) Formula D Irwindale

[INFO]

Please post your feedback on this thread.

Examples;
-What did you like?
-What could be improved?
-Event Schedule
-Access to drivers
-Suggestions for the 06 season

[my 1 88 u]

1 or 2 non competition practice days required for all venues before the event

[Slapshotnerd]

- make a schedule available to spectators at the events
- don't make time announcements unless they are accurate. "Round 1 will start in 5 minutes!!?

things i liked:
- hospitality tent
- instant replay!!!
- media credentialing has been fairly painless
- access to the pits and drivers has always been great
- keep the individual drivers intros that were started in chicago!!
- scheduling has been pretty good this year. not too many breaks, but enough to let us media peeps get stuff done in the pits.

i'll think of more later!

[drift7]

the judgeing system is still needing some improvement... there were a few calls that everybody questioned, drivers and spectators? maybe we need corner judges like D1. there is alot to view from one spot and sometimes things get missed

[rtype16]

1-2 drift days before the event would be good. Although it is quite expensive to rent the track out before hand. Plus most of the times they are reserved for media days and team rentals.

A little pamphet(trifold) of the event times would be good to pass out in the front. Even just a little flyer. Maybe with pit/vendor assignments on one side and an event schedule on the reverse.

Everything this year has been great a few snags and what not, but for the amount of people and what is going on it is running fairly smoothly.

As far as judging one of the things most people do not do is talk to the judges. They are looking for certain things when people are drifting at different tracks. Drivers take the ten minutes to find out exactly what the are looking for at each turn. Remember just cause someone has big smoke and crazy angles doesn't mean he is doing it right. There are three categories that they look for. Entry speed and speed through the drift, clipping points, and lastly this is all lumped into one angle, smoke. So if someone has a crazy angle and smoke does not necessarily mean he is going to win. I cannot stress this enough to talk to the judges and find out what the are looking for at each turn for the event and track.

[swifty949]

water misters would have been sweet!

[rtype16]

I second the water misters suggestion.

[bj@dcx]

Plastic Wall Barriers instead of yellow mini rumble strips for inside corners. Helps define the course better and make it look more professional.

[Slapshotnerd]

Maybe with pit/vendor assignments on one side and an event schedule on the reverse.

dang, i like that idea!!

btw - the rumble strips are much easier to replace if someone doens't make the course... also, they allow someone to go "off course" without crashing or creating chaos. but i know what you mean...

[bj@dcx]

... also, they allow someone to go "off course" without crashing or creating chaos. but i know what you mean...

I hear ya, we smashed the entire side of our car on a plastic barrier in Chicago...

Yet unfortunately, crashes are part of the allure of the sport to a majority of people.

[my 1 88 u]

I hear ya, we smashed the entire side of our car on a plastic barrier in Chicago...

Yet unfortunately, crashes are part of the allure of the sport to a majority of people.

not so much the crashing but the fear of. If you take away the boundries then there is no fear

[_PG_]

How about a full red/white curbing rumble strip like D1 uses in Japan? Crashing is part of drifting, but so are real courses, you shouldn't make all the boundries obstacles that kill cars, that's lame. I would like to see more tracks in US holding events. Real courses. Parking lots and make-shift courses don't compare to something like Ebisu Circuit, ya know...

[aaronlosey]

first of all, formula d is very cool,and does lots of things right. but my suggestions are:


d1 has been using huge pieces of foam to take out some of the impact as cars hit the walls. this also means you can get closer to the barriers as they don't hurt quite as much.

more practice time. most drivers get less than 5 or six runs if they are lucky before they qualify. this gives no time to dial in the car or change anything, let alone find the best line and practice it a little. it also incourages wrecks as people don't get to slowly build up their runs, they feel pressured to go 100 percent on the first run. there are only about 30 or so drivers so far that are up to that challenge, but quite a few more people trying out. makes it a bit dangerous.

maybe a feeder series like drift showoff, that comes into town a few weeks before the real event. this would get qualifying out of the way weeks in advance, and leave lots of practice time the day before the event for everyone. you can save money by having the feeder series in a parking lot that is less expensive, and bring in less walls, media, employees, ect. plus, it would be a really fun drift day like the drift showoff series, but on a more competitive level.

make all the judges drivers, and get rid of the magazine judges. this might not help make everyone happy, but it should improve the sport.

the g4 tv show is a little lame, low budget feel. the intro is kinda lame, and the show is very repeditive. it is enjoyable though, and i really like the driver interviews. you could interview the drivers a bit more in depth though, and not cut away from them constantly trying to make the show more exciting. option videos have a much more exciting, fun feel to them when they show d1. they also have MUCH better camera work lately. the g4 show could also have more episodes, by traveling to local drift events around the country and covering them. it would be very interesting to see what the drift scene is really like all over the country.

[bluegas]

Well come Dec. for JapanvsUSA we wont need mist spayers but i would like too pay for a 2 day pass and watch everyone try to get into the show. and those that don't make the show let them do a free run while we wait between 16 -8 -4 or when ever they need too change tires. The cars are at the site let them run and make the sponsors happy.

On a side note i'm glad its at Irwindale so we don't burn too deaf in the summer or freezze at night when your out at Fontana so please keep all events in Irwindale.

Personaly i like too see formula D on SpeedTV you guys already do demos at 3 or 4 race tracks and i like too see a scoring system used when going around 1 or 2 sections of the track. (Long Beach the last 3 turns is a great place) Also with all the cameras and production truck you can get a better looking show with Speed than you do with G4 also you get more Race fans that will support you and sponsors than some computer geek that may never leave his house and only racing he sees or cares about is in a video game.

[CrazyBadger]

I totally agree about the switching to SPEED, I have been puzzled since I heard that G4 would be covering...There is nothing wrong with G4, I watch it all the time.Its a video game/electronics channel and drifting doesnt exactly fit into that. I think it would just be better for the sport if it was covered by SPEED. They would probably provide a better coverage, because they are used to covering motorsports.There would not be this trial and error stuff that its going through. The show would be longer, showing everything instead of just highlights from the qualifying and what not. Im sure there is a contract and we will never see it on SPEED.Although I do like how it is an actual show also, and not just showing the events and then its over. It adds a more entertainment element, especially since there are not events every weekend. IDK, there is one 1 cent(im a cheap bastard)