d1 miami

so i went down to hallandale yesterday for d1 miami without high expectations or hopes. boy were my low expectations filled. this event isn't even a shadow of its former self.

lets talk about the venue first.
Gulfstream Park is a horse racing track.
they have massive parking lots.
but for some reason, they had a police car at the entrance to the lot closest to the actual event, telling everyone they had to park on the other side of the venue, almost 1/3 mile away! but then you could walk thru and that lot was less than 1/4 full. gay.
the cop eventually left (must've been time for a bacon break) and we parked much closer after lunch.

the "car show" and vendors were a joke. there were maybe 4-5 vendor booths, and one of them was for a mobile/cell phone company. spec clutch was the only brand i recognized, and the "stunt" bike guys had their own booth. there were about 15-20 show cars on display, with a mix of honda, nissan, mbz, mitsu and scion. the nsx with a do-luck kit (i think?) and forced induction was wicked. the s14/porsche cup car with a 2jz was poorly conceived at best.

alex (roidmonkey) had his car there, and it looks even more amazing now with the new wheels, but since it deserves its own section, i'll leave that for later.

rain is lame. 60% chance of showers was the forecast for the day, and they were right.
it poured on us for a bit, but in typical florida fashion, 10 minutes later it was sticky and humid again.

i won't go into details about who beat who in what round, i actually had to leave during top 8 to go to work, but i will say that the finnish drivers were impressive, and that i was bummed forrest wang broke an axle. i was looking forward to watching him more than any of the other cars.

there were some wimmins there. miami heat girls came out, and are clearly hired for their looks, not their dancing abilities. bikini contest was weak as shit. the only redeeming parts were the chick in the green, who had some top notch bolt ons, and the other chick in the leopard print.

by far the best part of the day was getting to hang out with the guys from orlando. top notch heckling and a good time was had by all. the announcer is still a massive tool. no knowledge of drifting, and still doesn't know what the difference between a soarer and a "sawyer" is. he loves talking about how good one guy is "sucking up on" another tho.

there were a few cool cars in the lots, like an r35, new genesis coupe, and a vip q45, but mostly alot of poor fitment and halfassed cars.

some pixors.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v677/brndck/d1%20miami/?start=all