ya that looks like it would be a blast to go to
id rock that track
farmer
MAN! You guys would be down with Barrie speedway? We’ve been talking about trying something there since I first started hanging out with Justin and those guys
nice guys now were talking… keep this shit comming.
I talked to Barrie Speedway last year and they were game for it…
im sure they will be this year.
And i totaly agree there has to be driver commitment, or nothing will happen. with out drivers you have no event!
^^ Do it, if ppl are too scared to drift ovals then they don’t have to come.
I know at least 2 hand full of people who would be “down as a clown” as I like to call it 
go intense!
How come we didn’t run it last year?
Whats the rough price to rent the track out?
What are their requirements?
Any infield?
im down dude. Ovals are were its at. can get any better for spectators and you need them for sponsors. then start working on media.
so what are the main problems right now:
-need more local track
-dedication and commitment from drivers
-close the gap bettween drivers
any others right now.
one step at a time and a plan will start comming together.
they didnt realy want to rent the track right away. he wanted to see a few demos first, he said we could practice saterday
for the demos just a halmet, your tipical safty gear
not realy they have a pit lane, but if it worked out im sure they would do something. its not much to pave a strip.
ill have someone talk to flamboro speedway.
but the surrounding houses already complain about the noise. but ill see what i can do
i dont think the casino would let us destroy there parking lot with our tire marks tho.
Let me put in my 2 cents. I think I have a unique perspective coming from other forms of motorsport. I started in karting and my main focus is rally now but I have been getting more into drifting. (I drive the V8 Volvo)
In rally, there is no pro or amateur competitions. There is only the Canadian Rally Championship. I think it’s dumb to call those guys professionals. Yes they are at a level above the “amateurs” but that is mostly because of the cars. And most guys paid for their own cars.
In rally I compete head to head with the factory entries from Subaru Canada, Mitsubishi Canada, Hyundai Canada, and the “Famous Gymkhana Master” Ken Block. (the last 2 times he raced in Canada he wrote off his car:/
HEAD TO HEAD. we are given the same roads to drive, the same amount of prize money, the same tv coverage, the same support from the manufacturers. Everything = same!
There is no discrimination as to how much money you make. If you are fast, you win. Simple.
Again, there is a gap in speed because of the cars but in rally (just like drifting!) it’s more about the drivers. But the “amateur” and “pro” designation is killing the sport. In rally there are only the 2 different championships, Regional and National. If you want to spend the coin to enter national, go ahead.
My point is, the gap is too big because there is a mystique about the pro name. If you go by the terms used in drifting, I’m a professional rally driver. I’m not! I’m a student who slowly built up a Subaru Legacy that can take a beating. My car is not fast. But, I beat the living S**T out of it and I go fast.
In the last event I straight out beat Mitsubishi’s Evo X with a “pro” driver at the wheel. Head to head competition!
If we set up a “regional” championship (instead of Amateur) where everyone has to purchase a license and make a REAL commitment to the sport. If we can prove that we are serious about this sport, we can get the pros to look at us as equals on a smaller budget. Now they look at us like wannabes and posers. There are tons of guys who can drift just as good or BETTER than half those “pro” guys. They have no right to say we are taking up their practice time (downsview 08 I heard too many complaints). They seem to forget that they all started in the same situation that we are in now.
Once we get more serious and committed, people will take notice. Spectators love a show and “amateurs” put on the best show out there!
I have a rally this weekend and I will talk to the producers of the TSN Coverage and see if they will work with drift ops to get us more exposure. I will do my part, how about you?
And yes, I am wearing my flame retardant underwear today;)
The problem with that comparison is that Rally has different classes that allow for different budgets (not that racing, rally in particular, is cheap), but you don’t have to have a WRC spec car to race in Canadian Rally, you can get into it with an older, more simple chassis/car, while drifting doesn’t have that.
Generally in rally, you’re not diving in as a 1st time driver with a $150K car, you’re starting with a stock car with a cage and some rally tires… Unless you can afford that of course… Drifting doesn’t have the same sort of car categorization that allows for someone to get in on the cheap and get good, so you’d have some guy in a stock KA, trying to keep up with a 500hp built drift car… Obviously there’s an unfair advantage there. Rally has classes to keep the cars competitive with each other. I just don’t see the logistics working out to try and set up a drifting comp the same way.
but with driftn ppl associate it with loud exh, tire squeln. waste of tires. mostly u get the whys…why do u do it, whats the point. but then again the bum that clawd out of the bushes the one night we were taking pics asking if i was a drift racer…
rally has its own class ppl understand it more. So they are more acceptable to the noises. just my 4 cents
i think we need a exhibition of pro’s an the am’s just going out having a good time.
for example preformance world have a drifting expo set up in the lot. no? hin and sema did it.
DJPyro, you make a good point. But my point is the guys who have the 500hp drift car will compete in the National championship (now pro) while the KA driver gets the same exposure in the regional championship. When he gets good enough/builds a better car, he can move up to the nationals. Plus, I was watching a Formula Drift show on SPEED the other day. The guy that won was a little Japanese guy in a 300hp Ae86 racing the Rockstar energy 350z with 500+hp.
sli8t, we go through WAY more s**t to organize a rally than you can even imagine. We race past people’s frickin driveways! That permission doesn’t come easy! And rally makes even less sense than drifting if anything. Have you ever tried to spectate at a rally? Walk till you run out of hope, then walk till you get hope again then walk ten minutes and you get a good spectating spot to see the cars go past for 2 seconds.
We need at least one event where everyone can qualify no matter what level they are at.
u dont understand what im saying. rally is more known and understood by the average person.
and how does rally make less sense? u race for times. best time wins easy to understand.
drifting… ask the average person how drifting is judged. see what responses u get back.
I think drifting in Ontario is diminishing at a rapid rate.
When I first got into the scene there were abundant track dates to go to. I remember in 2007, there were like 2 (not including CSCS).
Drifting in Ontario has no WOW factor.
Spectators have no one to cheer for but a bunch of “amateurs” fooling around on a track.
They need a reason to come watch, and there is no reason to watch drifting in Ontario.
No excitement, no thrill other than watching a few skilled drivers do 50 laps over and over again at SMP or TMP.
Grassroot drifters need to step up their game to be recognized. To be able to talk shit and say they are better than 70% of the Pro Drivers in DMCC.
That in itself, will gather huge attention and then spectators have a reason to come watch. Have people to cheer for. Crowds love to cheer for the underdog. 70% of the drivers in DMCC can be beat by Ontario’s finest drivers imo. Being a “Professional” drifter in Ontario is just all about who has the money to build the sickest car. I wonder how many DMCC professionals would pass the Formula Drift or D1GP tests. Anyone that can decently go sideways and has money/car can enter into DMCC. I may be wrong, but from what I’ve seen in the last 2 years at downsview is a joke. SO many drivers just lack plain skill and it’s sad to see them be called Professionals.
What we lack in Ontario or even Canada is the skill…it’s as basic as that.
Sorry, I misunderstood.
I disagree though. Rally is better known world wide but in north america I think drifting is better known. I saw way more people at downsview last year than any rally I’ve been to.
Plus I see drifting on tv all the time, I have to look for rally and it’s never on SPEED.
As for making sense, I was speaking strictly from a spectator/sponsor standpoint. For sponsors drifting should be better, more action right in front of spectators and easier to access. Drifting is seen as a show by the average person (I just took a pole in my thermodynamics class) no one really cares how it’s judged. They know 2 guys battle, one wins. Thats pretty simple to me.
This may sound rude but I think you need to look into the competiton rules for rally. There are a lot of timing issues that NO-ONE has ever heard about. You have to take a specific amount of time to get to a stage, work on the car, gas up, etc and penalties are added based on calculation mistakes. Even I am confused when a driver loses a position because of a fueling time penalty:confused:
^ That’s because people who make it pro care about their skills, they don’t consider themselves above going to a driving school, etc.
The people who go to drift days (with the exception of some), just wanna slide their car around, they don’t want to be the BEST at it. Anyone who’s got the drive to make it pro clearly wants to become the best of the best, otherwise you just can’t do it. I don’t see that here, and I think that’s why it’s dying. They guys who actually gave a shit, made it pro, the rest just ran out of money or interest.
so they dont understand it then.
anyways lets stay on topic
I totally agree with you DJPyro. But there are guys who want to “go pro” but just can’t afford it. Sponsorship is not solely based on skill. It’s not like the movies where you win and people come out of the woodwork to make you drive for them.
There are tons of guys who have the skill and ran out of money. “to make a million dollars racing, you have to start with 2million”
Samson, while i agree with you on the point that the level of skill in DMCC doesnt warrant a speration between professional and amateur, you have to remember, most of the track layouts for dmcc are extremely high speed. I would make the argument that its a different style of drifting relative to what we’re normally used too at TMP. Basically every run is like attacking corner 0 on SMP and then linking from that into the final 3 corners. DMCC has pretty difficult track layouts.
edit: That being said though, dmcc round 4 was disappointing when organizers didnt let amateurs try the pro-layout. I was interested to see how stock cars would attak the layout.
I would like to see more competitions held, maybe at the end of every D-ops or PC track day. While that wont elevate coverage of drifting to a level where easily accessible by the public, i still think it would help build a competitive “community”.
I give a sh*t, spend alot of money of my vehicle, and do what i can to compete in the amateur(cscs/d-ops/dmcc etc.) as competive as possible.
I haven’t gone pro because it is not finacialy feasable, plus i drive my skyline on the street. and I actualy have a life other than drifting.(well…) I dont’ have any money if i don’t work. so i can’t drive halfway around the country without any sponsors.
If you jsut want to slide around and not worried about getting good, you are a hazzard on the track. If you jsut want to slide around a couple of open track days are good enough for you,
if you would like to compete. there should SOME sort of regional comp, (maybe team up with cscs?) We have to work together to make somthing more serious for the weekend warrior. with enough exposure for the posiblity of sponsorship.