NOPI (FEEDBACK) LOS ANGELES DRIFT Event

[MonkeySlide]

I figure...they do this everytime there is a Formula D in Cali...so why not start the same tradition with NOPI.

At the press day they encouraged feedback...and with some NOPI people posting on this board I think this would be the best place to do it.

I'll withhold my comments for now and open it up to anyone who was there who has some feedback.

I know everyone is going to ignore me when I say this...but lets try to not turn this into a flamewar with a buch of stupid "well if you weren't driving then you should shut up!" comments because thats BS.

Driver, Spectator, Member of the Media...if you were at this event then please by all means post your thoughts and dont let any of the so called "purists" here deter you from doing so.

Also...if you've been to any of the other previous NOPI events before LA and have some comments that are relevant to this then feel free to throw in your two cents as well.

[Hach1r0k1d03]

well the first thing that bothered me was the pricing. i dont normally go to home depot center but the $15 parking sucked. i dont think i payed that much to park at x-games. and then the $30 ($25 if you have a coupon) tickets were pretty gangster. i mean its not formula d and it is a first for nopi to do a drift series. i knew a couple people that didn't go because they thought it was pretty expensive. i was looking at the d1 event details for vegas and theyre at least doing drifting and drag racing and have alot going on and their pricing is $15 for the 1st day and $25 for the second which i can bet will have a coupon thing too.

then when i got there (which was right after chris cooke crashed),it was a long wait till the action started and i heard alot of complaints about people wondering when the thing was gonna resume. i think they should announce the situation and give people a heads up, not just leave people in the dark then tell then whats going on like an hour later.

i also think the seating situation could use some improvement. i saw alot of people standing. nopi should try to bust out formula d style VIP tents over the stands. i mean people did pay alot of money so why not? haha, jk. but that would be uber great.

as far as the drifting...the action was sweet. the course was pretty cool. i dont think they should put breaks between top 16 to the final but im glad they just put one break. i think nopi should try make it a night event, at least for the summer events. well thats all i got.

[Tracy]

As a driver, I think the judging needs to be more consistent. That's my major complaint right now. Sometimes it's ok to hit a cone, sometimes it's not. Sometimes passing is ok, sometimes it's not. They also need to be a lot more careful with the scores. I have more to say, I just want to be sure to choose my words wisely. I'm still on the road, so I will post more once I get home and get some rest. We have been driving for 28 hours straight so far.

[Hach1r0k1d03]

i think the camera on tracy's car could've been bigger. more like this...

[Tracy]

i think the camera on tracy's car could've been bigger. more like this...

HOLY SHIOT!!!!!!!! Ima ask for that one next time.

[Flybert]

My main problem with nopi is that most of the cars have no style whatsoever, especially the ones with maxxis logos on them.

Drifting should be an action packed car show but when cars look like that, it makes me throw up a little on the inside.

If you are wondering what cool cars look like, just take a look at Justin and Forrest's cars. Both have good taste despite having plenty of stickers on them.

Or take a lesson from Chris Forsberg, maxxis tire sponsored driver, and design your car around the sticker scheme. His car looks awesome.

[carcass]

First of all I have to say that the staff was great and very accommodating. If there were any questions of problems the staff was quick to take care of things and keep us media and vendors happy.

I do, however, agree that the pricing for entry and parking was excessive. I too know of quite a few people who didn't come becaiase of the high prices. The car show definately took a hard hit because of the pricing but the cost is kind of justified since it was a 2 day event.

There definately needed to be better seating. The view was great and very close to the track but there could have been more stands in other locations around the track.

My last gripe is that the advertisement for the show was very weak!! We at LA Auto Guide magazine posted a full page advertisement for the event and also my car club passed out flyers but that was generally the only advertisement that I saw. I spoke with Mark, the event director about this and he agreed that next time they will have a much larger advertising budget.

Other than those few gripes, everything else was great. Great action, cool staff, plenty of booth space, and no problems bringing in coolers full of food and drink.



Q.
www.speedsyndicate.net
www.laautoguide.us

[Slapshotnerd]

Feedback definately taken.

But for those wondering, "it sucked" isn't feedback. Suggestions on how to make things better are always better than complaints about what was bad.

[Bebop]

ok...

So I go to the event expecting to pay 25 without my discount (it said so on the site), So I brang 40 bucks in cash to the event... Pay 15 for parking (redonkules)... thinking I will have $5 left after i pay for my ticket seeing i have the flayer.... it was really 30 bucks. So I'm left with no cash for the rest of the day... no one takes ATM.

At the end of the top 32 I went looking for food since my boy hooked me up with some cash. All the concession places were closed except for "VIP"...they didnt let me in VIP just for a snack. I even offered the guy to escort me, I just wanted a bit to eat and maybe a drink. I wasn't going to harass the "VIPs".

After the cook crash the local staff were ridiculous, not letting anyone chill under the planters where there was shade. Closing the "vip" shaded area and not even offering those with no seats chairs ( and there was about 25 under the VIP tent). And its about 100 degrees outside, could have passed out some free waters at the least. Seeing everyone paid over 25 bucks to get in, they could have at least passed out some lukewarm water to keep us hydrated in the sun.

Judging: I thought it was so so, I dont really like the idea of averaging the scores in but thats me. I didnt like how they had called Dan into the top 16 knowing good and well he spun in all his runs... how did that happened?

I also thought the chris cooke situation could have been handled better. There should have been a second emt on sight, and does it really take a hour and a half to get a car off the track and too fix some water barriers. They seemed like they needed a little more help on hand. The track was decent considering the amount of room that was given.

The top 16 action was good, thats just about the only pro from a spectators point of view I can really give. I've been going to drift events for 4 years, and this was the first time I felt I didnt get my moneys worth.

Oh yea, I did feel that the event was more....homie then the other events I went too though. Chilling and talking to all the drivers during and after the event was cool, it was nice hanging with some of the more known pros that were around.

[Slapshotnerd]

Keep it coming this is all good stuff

ps - if you guys have suggestions of what kinds of advertising you actually are interested in, post it up. Do fliers at local shops still work? fliers at car shows a few weeks before an event (like HIN nightshift SD) ? any other suggestions?

[yukio@jic-magic]

Like any Nopi event that we have participated in, Nopi has treated us very VERY well. I would say the lack of seating was an issue with a lot of people we talked to. After Chris Cook's crash, half of the 'seating' area was gone due to safety reasons.

The crowd seemed to be a mix of people who had no idea about drifting and grassroots fans. That was the great part of it. There were no real 'drift snobs' in attendance.

I think the to have the breaks in between rounds was rather excessive as I was sitting with the drivers waiting to get the Top 8 underway. We got bored and honestly, the competition lost its momentum.

Lastly, I think it would be better if there was better communication with the crew members / drivers at the starting line. The NOPI staff members were able to hear announcements but crew / drivers had no idea what was going or what the results were. That made it a bit confusing and there was a lot of guess work.

Oh yeah... no more water barriers! Unless you'll make Caleb move them every single time. hehe.

Overall, we enjoyed the event and we look forward to the 'next' event.

[Tracy]

My main problem with nopi is that most of the cars have no style whatsoever, especially the ones with maxxis logos on them.

Drifting should be an action packed car show but when cars look like that, it makes me throw up a little on the inside.

If you are wondering what cool cars look like, just take a look at Justin and Forrest's cars. Both have good taste despite having plenty of stickers on them.

Or take a lesson from Chris Forsberg, maxxis tire sponsored driver, and design your car around the sticker scheme. His car looks awesome.

LOLOLOL! At least you are thinking about us. The best thing is...our sponsors love our cars. You can READ their logo's in every shot. So I think I'll take their feedback...although yours is appreciated I'll think about your feedback next time I enter the car show.

[Brian]

Tracy - Flybert is totally correct.

The USA cars suck so bad. There were maybe...4 cars that actually looked good there. It is understandable that the biggest part of USA style is getting the biggest sposnor logos on the car without even considering the style of them. That is just how it is. Probably no changing it. It's just sad that we have to look at them and see them.
If I was a sponsor, I'd want the same thing. Biggest logo possible in some typical location.
Anyways, I have to go rinse out my glass because it has juice in it.

[Tracy]

Tracy - Flybert is totally correct.

The USA cars suck so bad. There were maybe...4 cars that actually looked good there. It is understandable that the biggest part of USA style is getting the biggest sposnor logos on the car without even considering the style of them. That is just how it is. Probably no changing it. It's just sad that we have to look at them and see them.
If I was a sponsor, I'd want the same thing. Biggest logo possible in some typical location.
Anyways, I have to go rinse out my glass because it has juice in it.

I understand what he is saying. But being rude about it isn't really the way to go about it. "but when cars look like that, it makes me throw up a little on the inside" It just shows immaturity, not a true interest in changing anything. We don't deserve to be disrespected like that .

We were going to change our cars this past year ('07) but things happen so quickly, and we have a business to run, that we didn't even work on our cars until 1 week before our first event this season. We are considering changing the cars for next year...mostly because our cars look exactly the same and most people don't realize we have 2 until they see them together (picture wise).

[Brian]

Perfect.

Let me design your cars.