<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BEN @ Jul 26 2005, 04:25 AM)<div class='quotemain'>Doesnt sound good mate....................paste it in and state contains swearing if its full of effin & jeffin at the top please
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fair enough....
Some Profane Language below!!
Not much, but some effs and such....
last warning, turn back while you can!
don't go in these woods at night alone!...
Ok here it is:
We arrived this year after Alex wrote an extensive report last year complaining about the lack of "rules" enforcement, as they so claim they had. The Letter circulated a Ducati Owners message net in which thousands belong and received the letter. One of these people happened to know the woman in charge at Mid-Ohio and forwarded our severly unsatisfactory experiences camping on their grounds to this woman, who in turn replied to alex personally, apologizing and assuring actions would be taken to rectify the many situations explained that were not good. Actually, if you's like, you can read this persons reply to alex's complaints
here
Now, we decided collectively that we think this year will now simply kick ass. So we book it and go back to see the improvements.
This is what our experience brought us for 2005.
I will post the rules that govern behavior and such, as seen on the reverse side of the camping pass, and reply accordingly to experience. I wont waste time typing the ones that werent broken or irrelevent like "no refunds or exchanges" or "gates open at 7am daily."
Here goes...
1. All campfires must be contained in proper grills, which are not provided. Do not dig holes or burn fires on open ground. All fires must be extinguished, then drowned or smothered when you are through.
Ok, when we arrived and set up camp, we noticed first and foremost that across from us was a campsite with an open fire burning on the ground. The person that camped there was no where to be found for hours. Good thing it didnt get out of control. This rule should just as well be removed from the list, as just about every other campsite was in violation in plain view of staff and patrols of police and employees, yet was never once enforced.
2. Limit your Noise and Music to your Campsite.
This is a joke, right? 24 hours around the clock there was some type of noise from other camping areas. Until about 4am nightly (or morningly maybe i should say) i'd guesstimate, The cheers from the Gauntlet - i'll explain what that is another time - , Fireworks exploding, Flare guns shooting off, rev limiters pinging, mini-bikes/golf carts/etc. revving up and down the rows, and music blasting were abundant. This honestly took place from wake-up time before the races or practice sessions began (id guess 7am) until about 4am or so.
3. Quiet Hours will be enforced from 10:00pm until 6:30am
This makes me laugh. This was actually the most rowdy and loudest time of the entire experience, both nights, by FAR. Drop a pin. now drop a bundle of hollow steel poles on cement. this was the difference in volume once 10pm hit. That's how much louder the place got when it was supposed to be that much quieter.
4. Family Camping area with "family camping" in mind. This area is not limited to campers with children. This area is designated for campers wishing a quieter experience. This is a limited access area.
This area would be great if it were segregated by more than a wire fence and available for more people to take advantage of. We arrived at about 9am on friday and this area was full upon our inspection. Also, it was located right on top of last years rowdy area, which was also this years rowdy are as well. How is it designated "quiet" inside a wire fence and rowdy outside, just a few feet away? What they should do is fence off a part of the track far away from this camping area and designate THAT a non-rowdy/family area. Even us being likely 100 yards or more from the "gauntlet" we could hear the cheers loud and clear all night.
5. Showers are available on-Site.
What this fails to say is that if you wish to shower you have 2 options...
1. Shower in an open room with multiple shower heads amongst many hairy men, some who may be referred to as travis would call them.. "Cock Hawks". Some of us just don't find the experience showing in front of multiple strange men all that rewarding.
2. Wait in line for an hour or two. You;d think they'd get a grip on hings and based on camping tickets sold they could plan a little better and make more than one mobile shower accessable by the thousands of campers... It really doesn't take a genious.
6. No Fireworks will be permitted. No firearms/weapons permitted.
Laughable. Not only was my tent and alex's truck covered in fireworks debris from a few of the hundreds of them shot off, but the one that missed travis' head by an inch and landed in between a bnch of us talking in our campsite wasn't too pleasent either. Are flare-guns considered weapons, firearms, or fireworks?
7. Speed limit is 20Mph.
Ahh this rule must apply to walking people, as every other bike, scooter, golf cart, quad, minibike, moped, or whatever else you can imagine, was clearly not limited at 20.
maybe 40.
8. Mini-bikes, Scooters, Bicycles, or All-Terrain Vehicles are not permitted on the premises at any time.
Ok, seriously, you'd be better off counting the 5 or 10 camers who DIDN't use one of the above. Come on. I bet there were more of these than cars, trucks and motorcycles combined, used plainly in front of cops and staff alike. Never once did i see a single one "enforced."
9. Golf carts must be operated by a lisenced driver and must purchase a vehicle pass from Mid-Ohio.
Does an 8 year old with a .... eatin' grin from ear to ear (although ....... hysterical) driving all over the grounds like a maniac sound like a licensed driver?
I think not, nor do i think the other 20 or so people that looked not to be of age.
10. No area's are to be roped off unless by Mid-Ohio staff.
ok I don't blame anyone for roping off their area, but if this is a rule, it wasn't enforced. I actually dont think it should be enforced. Maybe the SIZE of the area, but not the area itself. If people camped between rows and not on the edges, you;d have no choice or you'd have stumbling drunk ........ running through your site raising hell.
Now that i;ve covered the rules and how they simply were not enfoced, i'll get to the worst things about the trip. First is the crowds. They have this area they refer to as "the gauntlet." Basically what it is is a road that you MUST go down (or up) to get in and out of your campsite, to and from showers, in or out of the camp area or track. I met up wth a guy and his fiancee from another website and what happened to them might define how this trip was. He was on his bike, her on the back, and trying to get out of the camping area. The crowd at the gauntlet basically is the rowdy drunks that try to see ...., mardi gras style - complete with beads and all. (how original) Well, as he rode through the gaunlet, she latched on to him for life. she was almost dragged off the bike by people groping her and trying to rip her shirt off. Fortunately the sheriff was right there to witness - or so you;d think. instead the sheriff's reaction was him laughing and applauding with a line something like "Oh man i sure love this stuff, ain't it great!?"
WTF is that all about. When i rode through there with mandi on back we got almost the same thing, minus the touching thank god cause id be dead or someone else would if they did. All we wanted to do was go take a shower and had to ride through this crowd of ........ with no respect for other individuals. we got many comments, her and i, and none of it was necessary.
From what we're told more than half of the campers there don;t watch racing, don;t care about it, don;t ride bikes, and only come for that gauntlet and to get rowdy and drunk and stupid. For these reasons, we will likely NEVER return to Mid-Ohio, and if we do it'll be because we have a hotel room nearby, but i honestly won't waste my time again. I;d much rather venture to road america, road atlanta, or barber motorsports to try that out instead. VIR will be yearly im sure - somewhat a tradition. It is by leaps and bounds better than mid ohio in EVERY way. The showers are clean and there's never a long wait, the bathrooms are impeccably maintained and serviced, the grounds are absolutely beautiful, the people are fantastic, courteous and friendly(fans and staff alike), and the whole experience is top notch.
If i were to rate my mid ohio experience on a 1-10, 10 being the best, i'd give it a solid 2. In comparison VIR would be a 9, if not a 10. I would recommend no one to ever waste their time with Mid-Ohio, and will be writing a big letter about my experience there last year, the promise of change this year, and the fact that it was even worse this year.
There's so much more to it, but thats all im gonna say about that bad crap. On the good side i had excellent company, saw a good race (yeah just one cause we left early due to camping misery...)and had a decent time in the daytime hours. The trip home was most humorous, boxing in traffic at merges as alex said, which will have to be told in person rather than words for full appreciation. Over all it sucked but at least i had good people with me and left with dsome funny stories and we made the best of the rest of the weekend.
(this review didn't eveen include the story about the guy camping next to us getting into it with his wife and the cops removing her from the grounds. this took several hours for the cops to arrive and handle.)
