Mini Finalgear Meet @ the Ring, the full story, not for 56k

[Alok]

Drift Day 1: Saturday

Wombad and two of his friends join me and Ice in Bruchsal and we set off for the ring at 9 am.

Wombad in his 'Bling'ssat combi


After about two and half hours of driving and some brutal Carisma acceleration to overtake Wombad over and over, we get to the ring. The weather started off as very nice and as soon as we got within 20km of the ring, the weather just got hopeless. The Nordschleife was closed and we could see the trucks workin on the tracks.

We drive further to the GP 'fahrerlager' and I heard the unmistakable growl of the AMG V8. There was an E63 AMG among others drifting on the track. Shame the track was wet, there wasnt any real tyre smoke.





We then bought 20 euro drift tickets for three laps and we get to choose our car. I chose the E63 merc, partly because it was the only stock car there, but mostly because I had heard that the driver was one of the more experienced. Ice chose a drift spec Honda S2000 driven by a nice guy from Switzerland, Gabor Csabi.

That's me in the Merc and Ice in the S2000


My driver was Werner Gusenbauer, a championship winner (don't quite remember which) from 2006 and 2007 (he said).



He talked me through the entire drift lap, which was constructed as a small six corner section of the GP circuit. In the end, he took me for a lap round around the entire Grand Prix circuit. He said he needed to do it in order to let the transmission cool down.

After that, I walked around the paddock talking to the various drift drivers (who were shockingly nice, compared to drivers in other fields of motorsports!) One of the drift drivers, Jochen Reich agreed to take me infield and Ice followed suit shortly after.

After about 40 mins of rain, heavy wind and a windchill factor of 5 degrees with me in a puny cloth jacket, we decided to get out. Wombad and his friends decided not to go in the drift taxi for reasons I don't fully understand

Here they are, shot at 300mm


At then end we got picked up by a drift spec Mercedes(sorry, I am hopeless with old merc names).



Then we had a chat with one of the drift organizers and he informs us that the Drift King, Paul Vlasblom is coming on sunday with his 3 series estate with an M3 motor. He is currently the only european with a D1 license. Apparently, and I am not sure about this, he is first one to knock a Jap off the top. Some of the drivers gave me their contacts so that I'd send them my pics (albeit me still being an amateur)

More pics from the day












We headed home after that, while chasing this



and onto a fairly decent birthday party at my uni, which ended for me at 6 in the morning and Ice disemboweling himself after 12 or so beers. More on the party and that night from Ice.


Drift Day 2; Sunday

The next day we drive to the ring again, this time with my roommate Tom. Ice was kinda afraid to get pulled over (more on this from his side).

The weather was slightly better and I had a much much thicker jacket. I got my drift ticket and waited in the paddocks for Paul. There was an RTL2 television crew shooting for a program called "Drift" (on which I appear three or four times) and were focused on Paul, I ended up waiting for nearly three hours in the rain and wind, all the while Paul kept coming to me and apologizing for the whole tv thing taking too long.

See the look of the desperate indian hungry for some sideways action...Pic by Ice


After the three hour wait the event was over officially and cars were being loaded into their trailers, just as I was about to give up (I came on sunday specifically for a lap with Paul and I had told him that before) he comes and tells me he is ready.

Me with Paul



What followed was the best 10 or so minutes I have ever spent on four wheels. Since I had a very engaging conversation with Paul prior to the race, he took me for a full 10 or so lap session (instead of the regular 3) pulling some spectacular tandem drifts at ridiculous angles to a BMW M5. The two pics below were taken by Ice, while I was taken around.






I told him that it'd be a shame to go home without any pics of him and if he wouldnt mind awfully if he pulled some drifts in the large car park so I could snap some pics. Instead he asked me to get my camera and then drove me back infield where poor Ice was waiting for the entire time, and then once again pulled some spectacular slides, despite the event being over for over 40 mins.

The sky was heavily overcast and by the time I got to the infield, it got dark so I was shooting ISO800

Some of my shit pics. And yes, before anyone rapes me for this, I did go berserk with vignetting, mostly because of my first day the race organizer had told me he liked that effect, and I needed to pull some legs










We then got picked up, well I got, Ice had to walk back to the paddock (sorry Ice)


Highlights of the day: I had met a lot of drivers, made good contacts, and since some drivers had asked me to send them their pics, I had brought my iPod touch with me and I showed them my pics.(For sheer presentation quality and style, I doubt there is anything that can beat the pod )

I explained to a guy how hard it is to get a press pass and to get infield on proper races and get accreditation and stuff. In the end, he fished out his card and told me "Give me a call, I'll give you a jacket and a pass". He invited me to a couple of drift events he is sponsoring. Turned out he was one of the organising head dudes .


Long story short. In the immortal words of Borat. "Drifting. Very Nice."

[zeroSignal]

Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome!

You guys had a great time, and I'm jealous!

[Dins]

Very cool, maybe next time we can have a go ourselves.

[LurkerPatrol]

Fantastic! It looks like you guys had a great time . I'm completely jealous, I wanna come to Germany one day. It looks like a lot of fun.

Great pictures from the events as well. You look really funny decked out with the ski mask and the helmet

I like the R8 picture... god that thing is one sexy beast

[Cobol74]

Alok nice days out and your usual super pics I see - er I do think the vignetting was a bit 'over the top' tho'. Excellent thread too.

[Alok]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

Alok nice days out and your usual super pics I see - er I do think the vignetting was a bit 'over the top' tho'. Excellent thread too.

Thanks, but like I said, I did the rape vignetting only because the day before the race organiser had told me he really liked that effect, and I really needed to pull his legs in order to get a press pass.

[sabuty]

yeah, I'm on two photos

and yes, I'm one of wombad's friends (@alok/Ice: the one with the "hair" ).

[Ford Prefect]

not bad! Seems like you guys had loads of fun after all. Some friends of mine went to one of these drift-challenge testing days last year and they were thrilled... Did you guys know this was going on or was it just plain luck to go there and find an event like this?

Where are the drinking pics??

edit:

Originally Posted by Alok

...disemboweling himself after 12 or so beers...

NOOB!

[IceBone]

Here's some of my pics (day 2 firstly), i'm just sorting through the sd card first, then the dvd (had to back up after day 1):

Alok feeling quite cold:



Wombad and friends:





The master at work:

[zeroSignal]

That Mustang is a pretty unexpected addition. 0_o

[IceBone]

That thing sounded insane. I think they had it because of its natural inability to go smoothly around corners. Had no traction at all. And the v8 sounded awesome from the start, but it got REALLY annoying after a few hours.

[Alok]

Originally Posted by IceBone

it got REALLY annoying after a few hours.

x 2

[Wombad]

Originally Posted by Alok

x 2

x3

[Blayde]

That S2000 shot is great Ice

Great shots from both you guys, looked like an awesome event

[mautzel]

Damn, I knew I would miss something. Well, birthday cake and stuff wasn't bad either! Glad you guys had such a great week end despite the bad weather and the temperatures. Just on a side note: I love that Jägermeister BMW E21!

[Punisher Bass]

Alok, are you that short or is that driver just really tall?

[Adunaphel]

^ The driver is Dutch, Alok is Indian. I think it's both

[Alok]

[jayhawk]

Originally Posted by IceBone

That thing sounded insane. I think they had it because of its natural inability to go smoothly around corners. Had no traction at all. And the v8 sounded awesome from the start, but it got REALLY annoying after a few hours.

Yeah, Ford V8's are real screamers, but they do get irritating after a while.

Awesome meet!

[Dsemaj]

You guys should have been driving around there!

Very nice photos thought. I need to get my ass to the 'ring sometime!