SPECULATION: MAD MIKE @ FORMULA D "LONG BEACH" April 9th - 10th 2010

[Justin Banner]

Gimmicks don't impress me. I'd take the carbon fibre trophy over that without thought.

Gimmick? You better be trollin' because it takes more thought and slightly more skill to make those than to just slap some carbon fiber weave on some generic trophy you can buy for $15.

Drift Nirvana is also a grassroots championship, I have yet to see trophies that top theirs at the same level.

[Bebop]

The WHOLE trophy is carbon fiber

But I agree, those drift nirvana trophies are hardcore and so original

[Justin Banner]

The WHOLE trophy is carbon fiber

But I agree, those drift nirvana trophies are hardcore and so original

Still looks like they took a $15 trophy and put a carbon fiber wrap around it. I'm willing to admit I'm wrong on that part, but still, how much imagination did it take to make that CF trophy? Not much.

[Bebop]

So umm yea, that Mad Mike guy....

when is he coming?


lol

[Justin Banner]

Or is he? Or is he just on Vacation in Long Beach?

[Bebop]

Yoshioka attended long beach 07 as a spectator....

But he came back to compete the following year lol

[bergenholtz]

Mad Mike will definately not be on vacation or spectating in Long Beach.

[captainNEO]

Mad Mike will definately not be on vacation or spectating in Long Beach.

Interesting.
I know you guys have a seat "open"...

[Bebop]

Mad Mike will definately not be on vacation or spectating in Long Beach.

I see where you guys are going with this... f*ck hate to say it but this is racing.

Maybe I shoulda kept my mouth shut.

[sidewaysrules]

The tire issue with FD needs to be resolved, FD needs to open the FD Events to every Tire company, Tires are the biggest expense for drivers, I personally know of teams that wanted to run last year but did not as their tire sponser was not approved and they could not afford to buy tires from the Approved Tire companies, FD need to look at the big picture, The econony, the lack of sponsors and teams
just my 2 cents worth
Leon Styles

[Slapshotnerd]

The tire issue with FD needs to be resolved, FD needs to open the FD Events to every Tire company, Tires are the biggest expense for drivers, I personally know of teams that wanted to run last year but did not as their tire sponser was not approved and they could not afford to buy tires from the Approved Tire companies, FD need to look at the big picture, The econony, the lack of sponsors and teams
just my 2 cents worth
Leon Styles

I call shenanigans.

If a team has the proper support, then tires shouldn't be the sole barrier to entry. Are there many privateers who can't afford to run the entire season due to tire costs? definitely! but making it out to 1 or 2 events to prove your worthiness of sponsorship should only cost around $1500 in tire costs. A proper team will be spending $5k to $10k to run an event when you add in the costs to have the proper support staff, accommodations, pit presence, race fuel, entry fees, and standard maintenance and spares. That's on top of the $20k-$40k in car prep, and the $10k-$30k in travel costs, tires, race fuel, and other expenses associated with earning a Formula D license in the first place.

All that added up, you're telling me that teams can't afford $1500 in tires for 1 event after spending $35k - $80k already?! i call bs

[Bebop]

Falken
Toyo
Nitto
Hankook
BF Goodrich
Cooper

I think that is plenty of tire companies to either find a sponsor and or find a tire that suits your needs. Especially compared to other racing series that has 3 or 4 tire companies... and if you aren't sponsored by them you must buy one of there super expensive tires.

I think it would be nice to penalize a driver like 10 points per round for running and advertising a non series sponsored tire company. That's just too keep a non supporter from winning the championship. I would personal not penalize any driver for running "non approved" tires as long as they meet the technical tire requirements (see the tire gate thread), and they do not display any of the tire companies logos on the car or mention the company in any FD related interviews.

[stedriftward]

Mad Mike = a nice guy that's hyped up so much due to his FD's awesomeness.

I predict carnage all year long!

Pare sa yo! Pare ko! Gold Eagle Beer!

[AlexPfeiffer]

I call shenanigans.

If a team has the proper support, then tires shouldn't be the sole barrier to entry. Are there many privateers who can't afford to run the entire season due to tire costs? definitely! but making it out to 1 or 2 events to prove your worthiness of sponsorship should only cost around $1500 in tire costs. A proper team will be spending $5k to $10k to run an event when you add in the costs to have the proper support staff, accommodations, pit presence, race fuel, entry fees, and standard maintenance and spares. That's on top of the $20k-$40k in car prep, and the $10k-$30k in travel costs, tires, race fuel, and other expenses associated with earning a Formula D license in the first place.

All that added up, you're telling me that teams can't afford $1500 in tires for 1 event after spending $35k - $80k already?! i call bs

Thats the thing, if the team or privateer has support. I dont think people realize how hard it is to get tires for a season. I know some of the bigger teams make it look easy but a majority of teams are just scraping by.

I'll just give an example with my lexy, it uses 275x 18 tires, Nitto nto5's. Look on discount tire and they list for $225 each. Add shipping and lets just say $250, so a pair of tires are $500. I did 3 laps at irwindale and burned threw a pair of tires, yes 3 laps. Even if I purchase directly from Nitto, the tires will be cheeper, say $175 each, thats still $350 for 3 laps. Add in how many runs your going to be making durring an FD weekend, I would need at least 20 tires. So $3500 in tires for the weekend. For the year that would be $24,500. If I ended up running that car in FD, I would drive my own truck and trailer to all the events, entry fees, hotel, gas, and everything else would probably cost about the same amount of money. To run the season would be ball park $50,000 and thats if the car makes it threw with not much damage, and everyone knows thats hard to do in drifting.

I guess the point im trying to make, for a small team, tires represent 50% of the budget to run in these events. Theres a big difference between paying 25k for a season, or 50k cause you dont have a tire sponsor.

[Slapshotnerd]

Thats the thing, if the team or privateer has support. I dont think people realize how hard it is to get tires for a season. I know some of the bigger teams make it look easy but a majority of teams are just scraping by.

I'll just give an example with my lexy, it uses 275x 18 tires, Nitto nto5's. Look on discount tire and they list for $225 each. Add shipping and lets just say $250, so a pair of tires are $500. I did 3 laps at irwindale and burned threw a pair of tires, yes 3 laps. Even if I purchase directly from Nitto, the tires will be cheeper, say $175 each, thats still $350 for 3 laps. Add in how many runs your going to be making durring an FD weekend, I would need at least 20 tires. So $3500 in tires for the weekend. For the year that would be $24,500. If I ended up running that car in FD, I would drive my own truck and trailer to all the events, entry fees, hotel, gas, and everything else would probably cost about the same amount of money. To run the season would be ball park $50,000 and thats if the car makes it threw with not much damage, and everyone knows thats hard to do in drifting.

I guess the point im trying to make, for a small team, tires represent 50% of the budget to run in these events. Theres a big difference between paying 25k for a season, or 50k cause you dont have a tire sponsor.

I think there's a difference between you wanting to run your 600+ hp SC300 running a 295 / 18, and the "teams" that Leon knows.

I could see you running 1 or 2 events in 1 season on your own budget, to try and pursue bigger sponsorship. You also have quite the resume of experience behind you, so your proposal is already pretty thick. I have a feeling that the "teams" Leon is talking about are one who either have never run an FD event before, or have run a few events and haven't had any success. If you really have skills in drifting, you should prove them on a shoestring budget before you get a big sponsor. Either that, or piggyback with a team who already has sponsors and believes in your skills. This is the method that has worked in the past, and I don't think that should change anytime soon.

As was already mentioned, tires in other racing series are FAR more expensive than tires in drifting. Sure, they may burn a bit faster in drifting, but I think the total tire costs in drifting are still far lower than other motorsports. Perhaps Falken can chime in with what it would cost an "unsponsored" ALMS team to buy tires for 1 race?