(FEEDBACK) D1 GRAND PRIX - NEW JERSEY - Sep 5th, 2009

[Slappy]

Ernie Manansala (NOS Energy Drinks) was the MC for the New Jersey D1 event?

Yes

But fd has theirs coming out in the same year, even when the season has not finished yet.

Ah, then maybe im wrong...

D1 Japan had a production team on site generating content from each round. What they do with that content has yet to be seen. But there is something in the works.

Interesting...

[ALI's DRIFT GARAGE]

D1 Japan had a production team on site generating content from each round. What they do with that content has yet to be seen. But there is something in the works.

[gigglesnirt]

Im sure its not gonna be this year dood, those thing take time.

But fd has theirs coming out in the same year, even when the season has not finished yet.

[courantcom]

Ernie Manansala (NOS Energy Drinks) was the MC for the New Jersey D1 event?

[Slappy]

Im sure its not gonna be this year dood, those thing take time.

[YOitzJDM]

I want to see it on tv.

When will it be on TV?

I read a thread that said D1 had the "biggest tv deal in history" but I haven't seen any TV shows. Is my TV broken?

http://www.drifting.com/forums/gener...-drifting.html

[Slappy]

Yea i know Dan...I wasn't referring to the Battle Dan was in, i merely stating that when Saito spun during his tandem, he advanced, and when Wagner spun when he was in tandem with who ever it was, did not..

Yea, i was gutted when i seen them towing Brian off course... :_(

Oh and, Petty saves EVERYTHING!

[ReDc0aT]

My Replies in Red.

I paid my $28.99 and sat in General seating and had more fun then the fools that paid for VIP, why? Because NJ has no VIP!..I talked to a few people i knew in VIP seating and they said it was so lame...no kidding.

I had a crew pass and I still couldnt sit in the VIP or general admission bleachers. I couldnt get into the empty spotter's tower till tandem began!

Good to have bleachers though. Do agree though that the VIP was way way way worse than the General Admission

Anyway, afterwards i heard so many negative comments from people. They were saying "it took 15 minutes between each run"...um, more like maybe 3-4 minutes.

The road course is a decently long track to go the full way around, much more track around the bend that no one can see. And also, the pit road criss-crossed the straight away for the the opening turn. The only times it felt long to me was during 5 minute rules.

They also complained about the lack of J drivers, i had to tell them all the reason being stemmed from the events that took place from D1 Chicago.

I had a blast cheering on my fellow ClubLoose bros and just joking with people in the stands ect.

A list of things I myself had problems with.

1. I didn't like that J driver Diago Sato got a free pass to proceed after a spin and Drift Alliance Ace John Wagner did not.

It wasn't John Wagner. It was Dan Savage

2. Announcer. I love you Ernie (Mark dont hate me for saying this) and i understand there's a need to fill dead air but having diarrhea of the mouth is very annoying and unnecessary.

Ernie didn't bug me too much this time. He has def improved since the Nopi Demos... I still don't get the secrecy of judging in the US.. The best MC was when Matt Petty was just talking during qualifying in the morning.

Best part of the night for me was when Ernie called it Formula D! hahahahaha I was rolling.


3. Drift Box still sux, no matter how much the other dood with the mic tried to pump it up.

This was my first experience with the infamous drift box. Seems to me that they are using it the best way they can with the decision to use it in judging. I think it's a good tool for a driver to use for practice... not really for competition. It can def be tricked.

4. Music. Turn it the hell off when drifting is going on!
That was annoying. And the Music at the same time coming from the behind the bleachers.

5. Kill the Nopi BS car show and skanks on stage.

I've been to a ton of car shows. and this one wasn't too bad. Hate to break it to you, but its the car shows that really draw the crowd and income into this series...

6. Take less time to figure out who advances after someone else breaks down...that mess took to long to figure out, not necessary if you have the right people on staff.

Matt Petty was the only saving grace to the judging.

7. Most of all, stop asking US what we think YOU should improve on. Round up everyone, lock yourselves in a goddamn room, and dont come out until you guys know what the hell your doing.

I had a good time. My friend Dan, who I spotted for, Qualified 7th or 8th, I can't remember... one spot in front of Ueno. and Finished 5th I believe. Forrest Wang and Saito killed it. The two driver's from Finland killed it. Felt bad for Brian Wilkerson's suspension problem at the beginning of tandem.

[Slappy]

I paid my $28.99 and sat in General seating and had more fun then the fools that paid for VIP, why? Because NJ has no VIP!..I talked to a few people i knew in VIP seating and they said it was so lame...no kidding.

Anyway, afterwards i heard so many negative comments from people. They were saying "it took 15 minutes between each run"...um, more like maybe 3-4 minutes. They also complained about the lack of J drivers, i had to tell them all the reason being stemmed from the events that took place from D1 Chicago.

I had a blast cheering on my fellow ClubLoose bros and just joking with people in the stands ect.

A list of things I myself had problems with.

1. I didn't like that J driver Diago Sato got a free pass to proceed after a spin and Drift Alliance Ace John Wagner did not.

2. Announcer. I love you Ernie (Mark dont hate me for saying this) and i understand there's a need to fill dead air but having diarrhea of the mouth is very annoying and unnecessary.

3. Drift Box still sux, no matter how much the other dood with the mic tried to pump it up.

4. Music. Turn it the hell off when drifting is going on!

5. Kill the Nopi BS car show and skanks on stage.

6. Take less time to figure out who advances after someone else breaks down...that mess took to long to figure out, not necessary if you have the right people on staff.

7. Most of all, stop asking US what we think YOU should improve on. Round up everyone, lock yourselves in a goddamn room, and dont come out until you guys know what the hell your doing.

[Cavi Mike]

I spent more time out in the lot because the supposed 'VIP' bleacher's view was horrible and for whatever reason security wouldn't allow me in any other bleachers. Makes total sense. I didn't see ANY action. As soon as the leading car initiated, all I could see was smoke and hear the engines. All view was totally obscured by the smoke screen. Because of this, I didn't take a single picture nor did I even turn on my video camera.

Pretty much all I did was chill out in the lot by my car and watch the Moto-X and Auto-X while listening to the drifting in the background. Honestly though, I was content with that, it reminded me just chilling on the beach listening to the waves roll in.

Biggest note to D1, if I have to pay extra for VIP, let people go wherever they want. I know I would have seen the transition if I could have gone to the bleachers on the other end.

[Lord_EJR]

...as far as Savage or "Rapper" for some... vs Saito....

I agree with you that this one should've been a one more time. Lots of people wanted it. I was standing all the way up front at the fence and from my point of view it looked like Savage spun at the first clipping point, causing Daigo to spin to avoid contact. Perhaps that's what the Judges saw too, it was pretty dark to see what really happened.

This sounds similar to what happened to Tanaka at Chicago. Good to hear that Savage was a lot more sportsman like about it.

[N. Chen]

the v-opt staff was Japanese. If anyone noticed the camera on rappadan's car, it was mine. I have footage of all the runs he did, including the saito one. The camera was pointed down at the hood, but It was obvious he got hit when his rear fender was dislodged.

[ReDc0aT]

I'll write my review later...

as far as Savage or "Rapper" for some... vs Saito.

Savage's 3rd gear blew out on their practice lap.

Rapper entered first into their first run, rapper was in 4th, where he had been entering in 3rd all weekend. he was coming in and Saito hit him, causing him to come further in then he would have. Not many people noticed the hit. I was Savage's Spotter. I can post up a picture later of Savage's rear quarter panel to show it. Rapper completed the run, Saito Spun.

Second run, Saito led and came into judging zone at an unordinary slow speed causing Savage not to be able to shift up into 4th in time to get any power, while Savage was clutch kicking he spun around the first clipping point.

When they went back to the line up area, Savage got up to the line for the one more time, they told him he lost, he went to complain and the official yelled at him and said to make an official complaint after the event. Savage waited till the end like he was told. Tried to find the officials, they were already packing up at that point and had no agenda to hear him out.

Good event for "Rapper Dan" Savage. Qualified 7th over UENO. Ended 5th overall I believe.

Bah.

[b_hydra]

(EDIT - This is written from the perspective of one person having been to a number of events and someone new to enjoying the sport. Sorry in advance for a long feedback.)

My friend and I got there around the time the last round of qualifying was going on, so I can't speak to anything before that. While the event was enjoyable, there was a general feeling that it was being run really loosely.

Schedule-wise, there seemed to be a lot of 15 minute delays for no reason. Since people couldn't see the cars staging, it was confusing if someone called a 5 Minutes or they were just waiting. The motorcycle stunt crew managed to come out twice and didn't want to leave the track the 2nd time and let the drifting start. I didn't really enjoy it and the delay didn't help matters.

Its entirely possible the judges vantage point was better than mine, but I agree with N. Chen about the lack of One More Times (the entire day). I think the Saito vs. Savage pairing particularly needed one, as both drivers had situations where they lost drift/corrected in the runs. I will qualify that by saying if during Savage's leading run, he actually caused Saito to correct by a mistake of his own, then the judges moving Saito on makes sense.

My friend and I will add two more votes to the "terrible, awful announcer" feedback. The only thing I liked was when he called it Formula Drift around the final four. Other than that, he demonstrated he didn't have a good knowledge of drifting or the drivers themselves. The feedback that Jarod provides (especially explaining what's going on) is helpful to new fans to understand what's going on. Likewise, during some of the less clear calls (at least at Wall 09), he'd put Tony Angelo or another judge on the mic to explain what they saw. I think this helps at least make it seem less like a random decision if both drivers' runs were spotty in parts. I could complain about lack of family friendly language, but I don't have kids -- others might care, though.

I think there was a bit of a safety concern with a photographer almost having Nomura's Skyline push a K Rail into him, but I'm under the impression he shouldn't have been there to begin with. A few other photographers got a bit of a scare during the Top 16 introductions with a driver doing doughnuts right next to them.

The car show aspect was a pretty nice way to spend time between qualifying and Top 16. There were a fair amount of vendors and things to see and food was reasonable. The pits were easily accessible and seemed to be set up relatively well to accommodate fans walking around and looking at the cars.

[Bebop]

Was the vid opt. staff japanese or american?

And dont be suprised at no team orange... I'm kinda suprised nomuken was there. You get fined, instead of paying it... dont show up to the event.