Burning Rubber, Loud Motors, and Chicken Sandwiches
(...and obnoxious L.A. drivers)
The relentless buzzing of an annoying alarm clock slowly rattled me awake from the dark comfort of a somewhat restful sleep. The tiny Clarion Suites Comfort Inn in Monrovia served its purpose...reasonable lodings for weary travelers, not unlike our rag-tag team of four bay area filipinos on a quest for some loud drifting action.Only hours before, my body was desperately fighting the caffeine flowing through my brain as I hustled that blazing white Pontiac Grand Prix rental down the 5. They Build Excitement indeed...three-something liters of rambunctious American fury and a brake pedal that sat 12 inches higher than the gas pedal (oh how my ankle hated me!). But hey, can't go wrong for 25 bucks a day! Its little trip computer did spice up the five hour journey a bit.
My bunk buddies slowly gathered themselves and prepared for the day ahead...we finally rolled out of the concrete driveway on that chilly (not too cold!) L.A. morning somewhere near 8AM. With the gates opening at 9, and our past experience with long lines, I was a bit concerned about the possibility of a long line ahead (and the far worse implications of not being able to get an infield pass). My worries were dashed, however, when my eyes couldn't spot a single car after making that left turn from Arrow Hwy onto the frontage road in front of Irwindale Speedway.
We patiently waited in line for our will call tickets (a line significantly shorter than previous events, despite the 8AM-ish arrival time). Then it was off to the gate line for another half hour-ish wait to pass through the security gauntlet. If you listen closely, you can just about hear the busy pit crews uttering orders in Japanese, wrenches and hammers clanging away, drivers focused on the day ahead -- OK, maybe not.
The day was off to a great start -- short will call ticket line, short gate line, and a virtually non-existent line for the fifteen dollar VIP/Infield Passes. And it got even better...no one was guarding the infield wall!! Unable to contain my excitement, I hurriedly picked out a spot along the steel and concrete fence, plopped down my folding chair, and sat. Just off to the southwest, the high-pitched rumble of thirty-two 400-plus-horsepower cars idled their way onto the track. Blow-off valves whistling away, the drivers called attention to themselves with loud jabs of the throttle...and the obligatory screeching of expensive Yokohoma rubber as they went up in delicious plumes of white smoke. The wildly painted and stickered cars slowly made their way around the track, only a few feet away from our face. Then with an incredible roar they were screaming down the back straight, kicking a long smoking left-hand drift around the high banked first corner before the first turn. Hot damn. A few seconds later, they explode onto the second apex sideways! at 80+ mph, and head straight for us. With every passing car, our clothes and face are sprayed by an obligatory coating of rubber, our nose is burned with the fresh aroma of spent race fuel & smoking tires, and our eardrums are hammered by the sound of 8000rpm feeding through 100mm titanium exhaust pipes. YAY!
It was too good to be true... The fun came to an abrupt end with D1 Staff removing us from our intimate perches, pointing us toward the infield grandstands. BOO. Injuries? Lawsuits? What's that? Hell, a chunk of a thousand dollar wheel can come flying in my direction, chop my fingers off, and I wouldn't care.(Well, maybe I would).
Whatever, the twenty minutes of fun was well worth the trip. The experience from the benches wasn't as exciting... You definitely lose the sense of speed when you sit higher up, and the noise is not as fierce. Previous years, we stood behind a concrete barrier, and it was quite an experience seeing the cars do their ballet through the course at speeds that defy belief, exhausts screaming at ear level.
The morning practice showcased some new machinery -- a pair of rear-wheel-drive Imprezas, a Viper, an RX-8, a '69 Camaro, and the new Mustang. They joined the usual platforms: S13's, FC's, 86's, R32s, R34s, (and a bunch of others). After watching the practice, it was clear who my favorite was going to be...Yuke's orange Subaru piloted by Nobushike Kumakubo.
Before the official competition began, we roamed the pits, pausing occasionally to grab some pictures with some company representatives.
Falken Tire had a huge showing in this event, and it's no surprise. Imagine all the money to be had as a tire manufacturer if this competition spread like wildfire through the country?
After a stroll through the crowded vendor area, we snarfed down some pretty disgusting lunches and anxiously awaited the start of the first round of elimination. The first round went quite slowly, with lots of pauses due to course repairs and broken cars. The crowd was definitely not into it. Eventually, though, the judges selected the contestants for the round of 16. And from that point forth, it was tandem drifting, which upped the crowd factor tenfold. The thrill of two drivers sliding their cars inches away from each other at 80+ mph is just an amazing sight to behold.
The morning practice showcased some new machinery -- a pair of rear-wheel-drive Imprezas, a Viper, an RX-8, a '69 Camaro, and the new Mustang. They joined the usual platforms: S13's, FC's, 86's, R32s, R34s, (and a bunch of others). After watching the practice, it was clear who my favorite was going to be...Yuke's orange Subaru piloted by Nobushike Kumakubo.Before the official competition began, we roamed the pits, pausing occasionally to grab some pictures with some company representatives.
Falken Tire had a huge showing in this event, and it's no surprise. Imagine all the money to be had as a tire manufacturer if this competition spread like wildfire through the country?After a stroll through the crowded vendor area, we snarfed down some pretty disgusting lunches and anxiously awaited the start of the first round of elimination. The first round went quite slowly, with lots of pauses due to course repairs and broken cars. The crowd was definitely not into it. Eventually, though, the judges selected the contestants for the round of 16. And from that point forth, it was tandem drifting, which upped the crowd factor tenfold. The thrill of two drivers sliding their cars inches away from each other at 80+ mph is just an amazing sight to behold.
The temperature dropped dramatically as day turned to night. As I bundled up inside my blue parka (yay Target!) I was excited to find that the driver I had wanted to win managed to fight his way to the final round (with some great driving!). This prompted yet another "gentleman's wager" between Randy & I (because we're on a red meat fast, we settled on a Chick-Fil-A sammich instead of the traditional carne asada burrito prize). The odds were against me this year, with Kazama looking strong and consistent throughout the entire day. Regardless, he put up a good fight, but it wasn't enough to dethrone last year's winner.All in all, a great day in L.A.
It's just too bad that the slow shuffle out of the parking lot was tainted by an obnoxious Dodge Ram truck driver that insisted on acting like a 10 year old child. And a Grand Cherokee driver that couldn't stand to let one person into his lane. And the driver of a 4 Runner that shoved his nose closer to the car in front of him when he saw my signal light as I tried to merge. I know hate is a strong word, but boy do I hate L.A. drivers.We topped off the day with a 40 minute detour down the insanely crowded 10 freeway to Ontario for some damned good chicken sandwiches.
Despite the fun-filled day exposed to the sun, the wind, the cold, the noise, and the crowd, I managed to take us home in a reasonable five hours thanks to the help of a Starbuck's Colombian Supremo (Grande) and conversation with good friends over random miscellaneous topics.
Hey Randy, thanks man for introducing me to this fascinating world of drifting over three years ago.
posted by VirtualErn @ 8:52 PM
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6 Comments:
I had fun watching my first D1 event. It's a little different from the type of racing I'm accustomed to watching, but it was very interesting. Especially seeing all the cars that we wouldn't otherwise be able to see here in the US.
BTW, I'm still at home sick. I still have a fever going..
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YER WELCOME MANG. it was 1993 when i was first introduced to drifting. i was watching this japanese movie about street racing which was about drifting the mountain passes and blitzing the busy roadways with top speed passes. the movie was great but never knew the name of the movie. i also saw drifting in "turbo magazine" where "drift king" would judge drift competitions here in the U.S. it wasn't D1GP, but a small competition many people never knew about. when i found out that D1 was coming to the U.S. and judge by the "drift king" i almost made myself soggy and had to go watch.
4 years in a row and still going strong and always exciting. someday, i'll build my rps13 with the s15 front clip. looks like my jeepney project will have to wait!!!!
oh yeh...R.I.P to "bins" lemonade.
Ernie, I like your girlfriend! She's hot!
Damn I miss chick-fil-a. They had those all over south carolina. Do they have any around here?
sorry I had to miss it this year. =(
Oh yeah, I forgot about the "Bins" lemonade and how "Irni" just watched it fall down, while clutching his chicken nuggets. That was classic.
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