Drifting... expensive, loud, flashy, and ruthless on tires. Though it is not a direct "race" these drivers have a lot of skill and are good at what they do. I would go so far as to say it represents more of a manly version of figure skating (yes there was a female driver, but you get my point), than actual auto racing. But don't get me wrong, it's pretty bad ass. Beat up with missing body panels and lots of dents, this series does not contain the nicest looking drift cars out there, but this group still puts on a good show. This event was even better than the last one I attended because it was on the actual race course, not just in the paddock.
Sadly, a good couple hours of the day I spent sitting in my car listening to the announcer repeat over and over again about how slick the track is when it's wet. Yeah so guess what? It rained at Sears Point... With my lack of knowledge of how to keep my camera equipment dry, how to dry it out, or how much moisture it can even handle for that matter, I decided against photographing any of the disappointing qualifying runs made in the rain. After qualifying was over, just about the same time I was going to give up and head back to my hotel room to be sadly pathetic, the rain stopped. After 10mins or so of no rain I got of of my car to watch the drivers line up their awesome machines for the announcement of the qualifying results. After it was over they drove off, in a reckless manor, doing doughnuts with smoke flying and sounds of motors bouncing off their rev limiters, and I realized the track had dried out. Thankfully I stayed that little bit longer as the show put on by the remaining cars was excellent.
Unlike other motorsport events I've seen, these nuts are not required to wear full racing suits, they only need helmets. Crazy be it to me but even the announcer cracked a joke about the one guy who wore a fire suit, and there I was thinking he was the only driver with any signs of sanity. Many times these cars would slide a bit too far and hit the dirt which can always lead to a roll and the announcer even mentioned one of the competing cars had been in a bad wreck.. Oh well it isn't my neck and skin out there. Besides, who likes normal sane people anyway?
These drivers were out there giving it their all for what I understand is only a $3,000 prize for winning the four event series. They are definitely not expecting any type of fame or fortune from running in these events with that prize money and with fans that seem to mostly be made up of friends and relatives. These fans, may I add, were very critical of the judges. Even those routing for other contenders booed the announcement of who was moving on to compete for 1st and 2nd. Clearly the crowed all agreed the driver who ended up in 3rd should have been given the chance to battle for the top spot. Hell if I knew though, the rules and scoring of drifting are foreign to me. I was just there for the show and to snap pictures. Speaking of pictures, the section of the track being used for this event gave little viewing that wasn't obstructed by the safety fence.. Kinda bummed me out but oh well..
I also got to enjoy a peek at this Chevy crate motor swap that I am pretty sure is an LS1.
All in all it was a good day of loud motors and burning rubber...
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