Car park for hire?
Discussion
I recenty attended my first Drift Training Day. 
All was well and good, except that there was not enough time in the car. 19 times round three different 30-second courses amounted to less than 15 minutes total driving time over the entire day.
As many of you will know, the 'course' is actually just a handful of cones laid out in a car park. Admittedly, this was a very nice car park, but nevertheless, it was still just a suitably large and deserted area of black stuff.
So now I know what I need to concentrate on, where can I actually go and practice?
If any other PHers are of a similar mindset, maybe four of five of us could rent a suitable space for a day and get some proper driving time.
I am in NW London and would be happy to travel anywhere around the south if a suitable venue was available.
Comments?
All was well and good, except that there was not enough time in the car. 19 times round three different 30-second courses amounted to less than 15 minutes total driving time over the entire day.
As many of you will know, the 'course' is actually just a handful of cones laid out in a car park. Admittedly, this was a very nice car park, but nevertheless, it was still just a suitably large and deserted area of black stuff.
So now I know what I need to concentrate on, where can I actually go and practice?
If any other PHers are of a similar mindset, maybe four of five of us could rent a suitable space for a day and get some proper driving time.
I am in NW London and would be happy to travel anywhere around the south if a suitable venue was available.
Comments?
I've seen a few similar posts to yours in here recently and I'm sure a lot of people have had similar ideas, so I thought it would be useful to let you know a few facts about venues for driving activities.
Although we can all think of nice big car parks, airfields and other areas of open tarmac around, it's not just a matter of contacting the owner and bunging them a few quid to let you use it.
Firstly, if the venue is already being used for any sort of driving activity, the owner will be wary of letting an unknown individual use it because if there are noise complaints they will lose the use of that venue. Tyre noise is the biggest issue when it comes to drifting.
If you happen to find a land owner who doesn't use their space for driving activities and is prepared to hire it to you, then that's a good start, but you still have to think about noise or, as has happened now on several occassions, you'll use it once or twice and then the council will find out and stop any activity from taking place there, probably preventing anyone else in future using it for any activity.
There are ways to limit the noise generated when drifting and we have to take measures to ensure that noise isn't an issue at several venues we use. The vast majority of open spaces suitable for practise are noise-sensitive. That's just something we have to deal with in this country and it's only going to get worse.
Drift event organisers face some big challenges when it comes to finding (and keeping) venues and it's very important we project a responsible and safe image or there will be nowhere for any of us to go.
From your description of the event you attended, it didn't sound like one of ours, as we strive to give our guests maximum seat time (40-50 minutes over a day), but I do know that the most common request at any drift day is for more driving time. This is tricky to achieve at a reasonable cost per head when suitable venues are expensive to hire and public liability insurance is a requirement, because our cost base is so high before we even think about instructors, marshalls and all the other essentials.
Having said all of that, we are looking at ways to offer more intensive courses with increased driving time and practise days for very small groups who really want to hone their drifting skills once they've been on a basic course. We'll announce these days early in the new year via our e-mailed newsletter, which you can sign up to by sending your address to: newsletter@driftacademy.co.uk
If it's organised properly, there's no reason why we shouldn't have several 'drift friendly' venues opening up to us in the future, but we have to take it carefully or we'll all lose out.
Although we can all think of nice big car parks, airfields and other areas of open tarmac around, it's not just a matter of contacting the owner and bunging them a few quid to let you use it.
Firstly, if the venue is already being used for any sort of driving activity, the owner will be wary of letting an unknown individual use it because if there are noise complaints they will lose the use of that venue. Tyre noise is the biggest issue when it comes to drifting.
If you happen to find a land owner who doesn't use their space for driving activities and is prepared to hire it to you, then that's a good start, but you still have to think about noise or, as has happened now on several occassions, you'll use it once or twice and then the council will find out and stop any activity from taking place there, probably preventing anyone else in future using it for any activity.
There are ways to limit the noise generated when drifting and we have to take measures to ensure that noise isn't an issue at several venues we use. The vast majority of open spaces suitable for practise are noise-sensitive. That's just something we have to deal with in this country and it's only going to get worse.
Drift event organisers face some big challenges when it comes to finding (and keeping) venues and it's very important we project a responsible and safe image or there will be nowhere for any of us to go.
From your description of the event you attended, it didn't sound like one of ours, as we strive to give our guests maximum seat time (40-50 minutes over a day), but I do know that the most common request at any drift day is for more driving time. This is tricky to achieve at a reasonable cost per head when suitable venues are expensive to hire and public liability insurance is a requirement, because our cost base is so high before we even think about instructors, marshalls and all the other essentials.
Having said all of that, we are looking at ways to offer more intensive courses with increased driving time and practise days for very small groups who really want to hone their drifting skills once they've been on a basic course. We'll announce these days early in the new year via our e-mailed newsletter, which you can sign up to by sending your address to: newsletter@driftacademy.co.uk
If it's organised properly, there's no reason why we shouldn't have several 'drift friendly' venues opening up to us in the future, but we have to take it carefully or we'll all lose out.
OK. Now I see the problem. Thanks for laying it out.
Finger-crossed, Santa is organising for me to attend one of your events in the New Year.
In the mean time, I am praying for snow.
BTW, where did *you* learn to drift in the first place? Was it on deserted country lanes in your reckless youth perhaps?
Finger-crossed, Santa is organising for me to attend one of your events in the New Year.
In the mean time, I am praying for snow.
BTW, where did *you* learn to drift in the first place? Was it on deserted country lanes in your reckless youth perhaps?
The honest answer is when I wanted to learn to drift properly (and I've still got a lot to learn) I went to every drift practise event I could, because I knew it would be the only way to learn safely and really push the limits. However, proper tuition wasn't available and the amount of tracktime was pretty limited, hence I though Drift Academy might be a good idea.
There were actually a lot more organised events taking place then. Unfortunately, most of those venues I went to with other organisers a couple of years ago have been lost because of noise complaints, hence my earlier comments.
The priority now is finding places we can use for practise, building a good working relationship with the owners and then proactively managing the environmental and safety issues to ensure we don't lose them. It's not easy.
There were actually a lot more organised events taking place then. Unfortunately, most of those venues I went to with other organisers a couple of years ago have been lost because of noise complaints, hence my earlier comments.
The priority now is finding places we can use for practise, building a good working relationship with the owners and then proactively managing the environmental and safety issues to ensure we don't lose them. It's not easy.
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