Yes I know, another amateur thinking he's DK asking stupid questions that have come up a thousand times before. Yes, I know you should pay for drift days ect and yes it's stupid to drive like an idiot away from the track. HOWEVER, there must be somewhere away from the roads and houses to do a little skid here and there? Someone, somewhere must know a half decent quiet place pleaaaase! If you do give me a pm. I want to stay off the roads and there is too much time between drift days not the other side of the country! Sarcastic comments welcome I'm sure I'll get abuse for asking this.... Cheers!
The whole tone in which you wrote this was not needed. People on this forum are rather understanding. Even more so when they have an intellectual on the other side. These quiet places may exist, but I imagine they are kept quiet so they don't get banished from there. You can be the one to find a place and invite others there. A few ideas are: learning school training grounds in the after hours, industrial estates with loading areas, logistics company parking lot, small airport, abandoned warehouses, stores in the after hours and for the true DK out there, parking garages. You will however need permission from the owner. Put together a well written letter, tell them how you want to get off the road, you care about safety, you can't afford tracks, you are responsible, etc. Declare practice times, declare max number of participants, declare rules and find something that makes it appealing to them. Wear their ad on your bonnet or something. I am in a similar predicament myself because I moved to a spot on the map where they haven't even heard of drifting and what I suggested to you above is what I am planning on doing.
Hey man, thanks for the advise. I’m sure people have tried before, I know quite a few used to skid around Hampshire but never heard of a solid quiet place so if they couldn’t find somewhere then I probably won’t haha. Or like you said, they want to keep it quiet which is understandable. I have thought about potentially asking a few businesses to use their car parks/land after hours I just assume they’d immediately say no. But I guess you don’t know until you try so maybe i’ll send a few letters and emails. Hopefully somewhere appears! Cheers,
- Update - I have approached a few businesses that seem to suit what I'm after, waiting to hear back. Goodwood motor circuit have offered their low grip wet track which is extremely interesting , especially it being a heritage track! Only downside is the 10mph limit which I don't feel is possible haha. This may still be worth looking into though!
I had written up a rough terms and conditions in the emails I had sent, these included legal road noise limits and strictly no filming exposing the business's brand or location. Loads of other things were in there, like maximum of 4 cars at a time, proof of insurance ect ect. Sounds over the top but I just want to show as much courtesy as possible. But yeah I get where you're coming from, these are the sort of things I'm trying to address. Worth a try I guess man!
This. If there were a quiet place it's long been ragged out now. If you pitch up most anyplace now it won't be long till someone phones the old bill, whether or not you wanna deal with that hassle is your own decision.
Who pays for the damage when a battered E36 skid missile goes backwards through a roller door on an industrial site? Or when Burnley's very own DK rolls their sick IS200 with cut springs through reception? I can't see insurance companies being overly pleased at paying out £95739339 in damages on a car that as far as they're concerned is standard and not a stickered up roundabout terrorisor. It's a cool idea, but in reality, people are fucking idiots and will ruin it. Also, if any of these sites are within 500 miles of a house, you can guarantee the po-lice will be called at the first whiff of tyre smoke and before a complete rotation of a spinning wheel has occured.
Yeah I see your point. What i had in mind is a group of 4 people at a time with fully declared insurance with proof, full MOT and road worthy vehicles. With the proposition I had put forward, it would only be a selected few who are willing to pay towards the usage. Being only a few, I was hoping to know these people before them gaining access? But maybe I've just got my head in the clouds. I suppose drift days are the best option but prices are going up and 6+ hour round trips will be a killer. Roads are the other option :/ I totally see your points and I'm sure these scenarios have actually happened which is annoying. I'll keep asking and maybe successfully keep the retards at bay! Easier said than done but meh, might get lucky. Either way, cheers for the input
Industrial estates usually have a roundabout at one end for lorries to turn around on - this is where I did my first drift in my car. I have found that some night workers love it and stand and watch a give the thumbs up where as others come out and get on the phone straight away (Supposedly to old bill) Just luck of the draw I guess! Either way ive been on my estate for a good hour with a friend in an MX5 and we had no hassle at all, went to another estate and within 5 mins po po are on the scene!
Thanks for the input mate, like you said I guess it's luck of the draw! I'm hoping if worst came to worst and the rozzers do intervene, they'll just ask us to move haha. But it's always a risk, I'm just looking to reduce the risk of pissing people off and staying out of trouble if I can!
Yeah that's it mate, luckily when they turned up we were parked chatting, soon went through the car details, insurance and took a careful look at the tyres, all of the above was legal and there was no evidence of us drifting so it went no further. Have not been back haha.
In any case, try to get owners permission in writing. If the cars are road legal, they should be under 95dB and insured. If police shows up you have the permission on you to show them and all they can get you for is public disturbance. You would be at a remote industrial estate so even that should not be a problem. Should work in theory, hope it works for me in practice too when I come around to finding a spot for myself.
It's more the driving than the noise that they'll have an issue with. If there's absolutely any chance the public have access to the site, you'd best lube up and accept the shaft of the law. Even with the owner's permission, you'll still have public liability issues if there's even a fucking footpath on the site.
Best solution sounds like buying a plot of tarmacked land in the middle of nowhere, all I need to do now is win the lottery haha
It worked for Driftland! Well... that was a kart circuit, but whatever. Proves that drift tracks are viable, at least.
Funny you should say that, I literally just emailed Camberley Kart Circuit. I know they still race there but it's big enough for cars with some run off. Never know?! I'm sure if enough people got interested in a good place to skid something could be sorted. I know there are places to go at the moment but nothing really down south other than Matchams but I don't fancy a banger track.
Lydd kart circuit in Kent used to have drift days... until there was so much smoke coming off the track, the nearby watersports lake owners complained (something about one of their customers nearly dying or something... bloody attention seekers). If yours has literally nothing around it, then you may be on to a winner.
You just can't get the thumbs up from someone and do what you want though. They don't own a motorsports track, you can't practise motorsport there - no matter what they say. Even if you find someone who lets you use their land, the locals are still going to call the police who will still come and bust you. You'll be done for noise complaints and anti-social behaviour, so will the land owner (who also might get fucked over for illegal use of his land).
