Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona - Jan 29-30, 2011
- Thread starter THE Phen
- Start date
Perro del Sol
Member
- :
- 2003 MSP, Spicy Orange, 2004 Mazda 6 Hatch, 2004 Mazda 6 Wagon
We have a number of folks coming out. Shoud be a pretty good contingent of folks. We're bringing the wife's Mazda 6s 5-door.....Once we have the schedule, we'll have post up what we are doiing, where and when. We wil have a lot of the same prizes for raffles like last year.
i was planning on joining the corral, but it looks like im going down to tampa with a friend for the weekend. I'm still going to swing by to see the start of the race, but just as general admission. And more than likely i'll be walking from my place to the speedway, but i'll keep an eye out for yall before the race 
and hell i'll fly my lil mazda flag this weekend too with ya dquarasr
and hell i'll fly my lil mazda flag this weekend too with ya dquarasr
Alcohol1511
Member
- :
- 2011 Mazdaspeed 3
I can't read the flyer. What date will this be held on
Alcohol1511
Member
- :
- 2011 Mazdaspeed 3
Ok thanks.
fatti03msp
Contributor
- :
- 03 MSP & 91 RX-7 & 00 1500
you guys doing the camping again? its only 45 min. from my house but im lazy and dont want to drive each day.
MP5stephen
Member
- :
- Mazda Protege5 & Miata M Edition
Where's the corral located? I'm parked by the Geico lot.
No... we didn't do the camping... and we didn't have the corral spot. Daytona has a tendency to fail on things. I saw our old camping spots... filled to the brim with tents, unlike the 6 we had last year. Oh well.
I must admit I was disappointed by the facility. We had ordered two tickets for the Mazda corral but when we picked up the tickets at will call we got only one parking pass. When we went to pick up the other, we were told that the parking was sold out and there was no room.
But wait, weren't these reserved ahead of time?!? So, we end up trying to park one of the cars in the corral and were told by the parking attendants that there were no spots. After arguing (with cars lined up out on the street) they finally relented and let us through saying "you won't find any spots; it's all full".
Of course when we got to the corral area, ther were 4 cars in the 20 spaces allocated for the Mazda corral. So we parked there.
Went back to the will call for the other corral pass again, and were told this time that the corral parking didn't need a special pass. (Huh?) Told them that the parking attendants gave us are hard time getting in, so they gave us a pass.
Why couldn't they do that to start?
Anyways, the whole "corral" deal while a good price didn't seem to have any advantage.
And getting in/out with the "pass out" cards . . . . at one point were were given tan colored pass outs. We got in once without needing to turn in the pass out. THen another time we left and were given a purple pass out. When trying to re-enter with the purple pass out we were told that they weren't valid pass out cards so we I had to turn in my tan colored (which I had hoped to save as a souvenier). But at the very same gate, my friend got in with the purple pass but I had to turn in both the purple pass AND the tan pass (they confiscated the purple one).
Somebody did not train the staff.
We also used the tunnel at turn 1 to exit the infield, not realizing that it did not dump spectators out at the grandstands, but ALL THE WAY OUT, through the exit gates. We had to beg and cajole to get pass outs, explaining that we did not intend to exit the track but only the infield.
The logistics for this race were not good, but the racing and the on-track activities were awesome. We had a great time, walked the entire track on Saturday. Got to talk with Robert Davis (Mazda product dev VP from Irvine, CA), and said hello to David Haskell (Speed Source crew chief) whom I had not talked with for about 15 or 20 years when we used to autocross together. Also got to talk with Scott Pruett before the race, so overall it was a great weekend.
Oh, more on security. Was trying to get to the Sunoco station where a friend of mine was working fire duty. Got stopped at one gate, told that he'd have to come out to get us; we weren't allowed in. Went around a building and there was no gate or restrictions, walked right up to the station and talked with my friend. Definitely the most inconsistent security. Also, each time we went in backpack was searched. Had binoculars in a case and a small cooler. No one opened the case or the cooler, so if I did want to bring banned items in it would have been allowed as long as it was inside something else. Why bother looking if you're not going to look well?
Perfect weather, great racing, rotary race motors still make the most obnoxious sound (although not as loud as the IMSA Prototype rotaries!!!!!).
But wait, weren't these reserved ahead of time?!? So, we end up trying to park one of the cars in the corral and were told by the parking attendants that there were no spots. After arguing (with cars lined up out on the street) they finally relented and let us through saying "you won't find any spots; it's all full".
Of course when we got to the corral area, ther were 4 cars in the 20 spaces allocated for the Mazda corral. So we parked there.
Went back to the will call for the other corral pass again, and were told this time that the corral parking didn't need a special pass. (Huh?) Told them that the parking attendants gave us are hard time getting in, so they gave us a pass.
Why couldn't they do that to start?
Anyways, the whole "corral" deal while a good price didn't seem to have any advantage.
And getting in/out with the "pass out" cards . . . . at one point were were given tan colored pass outs. We got in once without needing to turn in the pass out. THen another time we left and were given a purple pass out. When trying to re-enter with the purple pass out we were told that they weren't valid pass out cards so we I had to turn in my tan colored (which I had hoped to save as a souvenier). But at the very same gate, my friend got in with the purple pass but I had to turn in both the purple pass AND the tan pass (they confiscated the purple one).
Somebody did not train the staff.
We also used the tunnel at turn 1 to exit the infield, not realizing that it did not dump spectators out at the grandstands, but ALL THE WAY OUT, through the exit gates. We had to beg and cajole to get pass outs, explaining that we did not intend to exit the track but only the infield.
The logistics for this race were not good, but the racing and the on-track activities were awesome. We had a great time, walked the entire track on Saturday. Got to talk with Robert Davis (Mazda product dev VP from Irvine, CA), and said hello to David Haskell (Speed Source crew chief) whom I had not talked with for about 15 or 20 years when we used to autocross together. Also got to talk with Scott Pruett before the race, so overall it was a great weekend.
Oh, more on security. Was trying to get to the Sunoco station where a friend of mine was working fire duty. Got stopped at one gate, told that he'd have to come out to get us; we weren't allowed in. Went around a building and there was no gate or restrictions, walked right up to the station and talked with my friend. Definitely the most inconsistent security. Also, each time we went in backpack was searched. Had binoculars in a case and a small cooler. No one opened the case or the cooler, so if I did want to bring banned items in it would have been allowed as long as it was inside something else. Why bother looking if you're not going to look well?
Perfect weather, great racing, rotary race motors still make the most obnoxious sound (although not as loud as the IMSA Prototype rotaries!!!!!).
At other tracks, the corral is A LOT different. At VIR for example, we'll have 70 Mazdas parked together with paddock tours scheduled, give away raffles, and things of that sort. Daytona is just... another beast, all of its own.
Perro del Sol
Member
- :
- 2003 MSP, Spicy Orange, 2004 Mazda 6 Hatch, 2004 Mazda 6 Wagon
DIS are oblivious to us and so we already have an agreement with Grassroots Motorsports to combine efforts for the 50th annivesary. It will be a 1,000 times better and we'll get the piece of land in front of Lake LLioyd too!
Yeah, my expectations were set having been to the NSX corral a few years ago at Sebring, guests of Acura. (Now THAT was awesome. This is when Acura was in LMP2 with the Highcroft and Patron teams - we had about 30 NSXs and we did parade laps about 45 minutes before the race, touring the track in front of all the spectators. I had this irrational fear that my car would develop a rare malady and have to get towed in, embarrasing Honda. Luckily no such problem materialized.)
Even without all that, just having the corral so close to the track (not outside the track like at DIS), made it so nice so we could hang with our colleagues.
At Sebring the Mazda area was over at the far end of the midway, also a good spot conducive to meeting our fellow enthusiasts.
Oh, well, still, it was a great weekend.
