Anybody else make it to 86Fest?
 

What did you guys think of the event?

Met lots of nice people and enjoyed the event myself, waiting for parking was a bit lame though. :mad0260:

Way worse then last year. No communication at the initial entry, an hour of waiting in line before getting towards the front and then being told to exit your car to get wrist bands from the ticketing windows and run back to your car instead of having people handle this through your car window as you pulled up like previous years. After that get stuck in another line in front of the gate that didn't move for an hour or more because the organizer was still trying to figure shit out, security guard was not allowed to let us enter until she got the okay from him. Another event was going on inside the same gate so less space was available for the show. Alot of people didn't even park inside because of this which ended up making it a smaller show. The vendors this year did not have anything interesting to purchase for our cars compared to last year. Also food placement was horrible having to walk in the way of cars trying to get out to autocross or the track added to the congestion. The way they did it last year was much better leaving the fence doors open and having the food trucks on the unused side beneath the bleachers.

Funny you mention that I actually got yelled at by one of the drivers for the track event going on because I was apparently in his way (I was following the FR-S in front of me to the parking spot and there were a couple of other 86's following me so I don't see what exactly he expected me to do :iono:)

sounds the same as last year and the year before

Yeah I was running the infield track with a bunch of other FR-S/BRZ's and AE86's

I was very dissapointed this year, not as many vendors. Very unorganized, everytime i asked when judging for the carshow would be announced no one knew snd i was given a different time each time. At one point one of the organizers actually told me they didnt know who to even ask for that answer. I ended up leaving early and missing it because it was so hot and my wife was starting to get sick. Nice attendees though.

When is 86 EXPO gonna be on westcoast again? @ichitaka05..... sounds like 86 expo is just there to get vendor and ppl's money & zero time spent on organizing.... =__=

went there last year and the year before & it sorta got worse and worse

Made it out there today, but probably my first and last 86fest. Was fun for a couple hours spectating the autox/drift sessions and track event, but as for everything else, basically no organization and from what I saw people didn't even need a ticket for general admission when I paid. Majority of who I saw walked past and noone checked for anything. Parts available were so so.

Smart to have the entry line cutting off the entry/exit point for the autocross guys. Logistics was a shit show.

They wanted me to pay for my 3 year old, and I didn't see the part where parking was an additional 15 bucks. While they let me slid on my kid, I'll more then likely not go again. I mainly went to support my friends who had booths, and didn't get the deals I thought i would from vendors.

I hear you man, noone really said anything so we didn't know who to talk to. Also my friend pre-paid to park non judged with the other 86/brz but didnt know where to go so just parked with me at the parking lot outside the ticket entrance. Again I saw people just rolling through like nothing so :iono:

prop the most disorganized show i've been to. The initial parking line was stupid and no one knew what was going on. The $15 parking fee was BS as well. Not many vendors and entertainment provided.

PS: I was one of 3 minivans at the event :D

Haha FYI 86EXPO is owned by us FT86Club. 86Fest is owned by Antonio. Antonio is a good guy and he's car enthuse for sure specially AE86, he's a diehard fan! Just not organized.... but I can't say much either. We had a hard time organizing few yr's back 86EXPO. We had very limited staff w huge space, we were dying.

As for the tickets, it makes sense for them. To make a event, it need money. One of our staff is pushing to make 86EXPO require ticket... but tbh feel waste of staffs. Rather them help w parking & other stuff. BUT keep in mind, can't compare 86EXPO to 86Fest. 86Fest IS the biggest 86/BRZ event in America. Several THOUSANDS of people comes to 86Fest with countless vendors. We in the other hand, we get several hundreds of people come, which I'm totally happy about, cuz I get a chance to talk w em even for few min or secs.

Now back to bringing 86EXPO to west... not sure. I wanna be fair to members in the East too, BUT I'll keep that in mind what we can do. We don't got budget like Antonio, but we'll try to see if we can do 2 small event, one for the East & one for the West.

Yeah, i ran infield with few AE86 & widebody 86s. Here's my breakdown for this year:

1) Communication regarding parking was bad. Track drivers didnt know where to park vs GTA guys since we were pointed left and right. Eventually they told us to park at the garages/ lots furthest from the show...& this all happened at 7am so i cant imagine how bad things got after 10am.

2) Track organizers kept better control of times and everyone got 5 runs as promised. Wouldve got 6 if we were lucky. Less drivers this year so that wasnt so bad. Weather made cars run really hot so 15 min runs were fair.

3) Show was a lot smaller but the attendance made up for it. Nice to see other make/models but i would've liked more 86s. Again, parking facilitation sucked so cars parking in between garages only slowed people that needed to make it onto the track (we only get 13 minutes to drive max) More food vendors wouldve been nice too.

Overall... it was better than last year for me. But thats because i mainly went to track so time went by faster. I could definitely see how it wouldve got boring quick, especially with the heat.

his job is to organize an event, so being unorganized is not really an excuse. It takes money to make money. I get that. But making money without giving customers some sort value for the amt they paid is a ripoff. Outside of the racing events, the rest felt like a car meet with little to no entertainment value.

I agree with you & your statement is totally true & legit. This is the biggest issue they're having AND struggle since first event. For me, I can't point finger and judge, cuz I'm in the same boat to make sure I don't do that lol

I think it would be more fair to say that his job is to promote an event. He is an owner and he's good at "talking up" (promoting) the event. But he really needs a event manager. He used to have that with a partner of his, but they parted ways and it's been going further and further downhill from there.

TBH if his goal was to make money on tickets even that was poorly done. Heard from multiple people they got in for free/ just walked in weren't check for tickets and didn't have wrist bands. It was a car meet where some people paid and the rest go to enjoy with nothing out of pocket. Honestly upset I paid when some didn't.

I was there when he came in and apologize to the guest. He said that the speedway was supposed to have about 30 security on hand to do the parking and what sombut when the day came none of the staff that was hired showed up. I agree with all y'all comments but I work in a place where this stuff happens too and it's a pain when you expect something and get nothing for what you pay for. He pay for security and got none except for the ones he walked in with.

86fest is always a clusterfuck because Antonio has illusions (or should I say disillusions) of grandeur, always making the show "bigger" than what he's able to deliver (this year combining it with GTA, etc. and inviting just a random collection of makes and models, etc.). He's known to also screw over vendors and staff, mostly because, as again, he overpromises and under delivers. Seems the organizers never learn and address the problems; they just think they made it happen again this year so it means we can make it bigger next year.

I'll also add that for those who dealt with "staff" who didn't know anything, I hope you guys didn't take your frustrations out on them. Most of the so-called "staff" were actually just vendor people who the organizers simply pulled to help out without giving any information or instruction at all because their actual staff abandoned them.

Horrible. 1st time attending 86 Fest and very unorganized. It felt merely like a very small car meet. Tbh, Socal Euro has better turn outs than this. Very disappointing, I was expecting the event to be as good as some videos I've seen on youtube....I dont know if I'll return next year.

However, the track runs and autocross/drifting was the best part of the day. And thats about it though...

Nope, never took it out on them, just very disappointed walking away with no info or help. All were very friendly, just had no info on anything going on. If I ever attend this again, it will just be to participate in the time attacks.

Kinda bummed with the turnout, but met some cool people and got to try setting up a booth to sell some stuff. I learned I was not prepared :bonk:. So all in all good for me.

And in comparison to other fests, communication with the road course drivers seemed way better. I've tracked while subie and nissan fest were going on and it sucked. Most drivers missed their run because they didn't have all the PA speakers working and communication between the starters and the track organizers were pretty much non existent.

But, that said, I sat and watched people sit in there cars for a very long time before they parked, and that was after they got in so I can only imagine the chaos behind them.

I'd have to say, even if the staff on site was not knowledgeable, they were friendly as possible in the hot hot heat.

Terrible, especially when the highlight of the event for me wasn't even 86 related.

Lines were long, vendors put forth no effort, terrible organization, paying was essentially optional.

They said they were gonna tow my car if i left it parked outside the ticket booth and walked, I have to pay $15 for parking, so I did and when I left, most of the cars that I saw earlier were parked there with no tow truck in sight.

I liked hanging out with friends around their 86 but I can do that any day of the week for free and in a venue much closer.

Felt like a glorified car meet with piss poor management.

Claimed there was a promo for Federal tires but no booth or information anywhere on the website or at the event.

I would only go next year if I didn't have to pay anything for admission or parking.

Second year in a row going and the event was definitely less exciting. I was able to talk to the vendors, see the cars and talk with some owners, but I was able to do that within the span of about two hours. Overall, I'm unsatisfied with what I paid for; I hope they listen to their community, because I would love to come back if they fixed the major issues.

I had high expectations for this event (as it was my first time going to 86Fest) and wow... I couldn't have been more disappointed. I spent more time in the parking lot (prior to getting wristbands) than the actual event itself. Pretty sad if you ask me.

I came from norcal for this. I was expecting something with the size and organization of mitsubishi owners day. Since I just purchased my 86 I figured I would skip out on MOD and attend this instead. Lowkey it was lackluster and definitly not worth the trip from norcal. I pretty much wasted my money even buying tickets as I was able to just drive right on in to the back. I even paid for car show parking but came at noon and there was really no indication of where I should go. So i ended up parking outside where all the autocross cars were being staged at. Lesson learned.... Take evo to Mitsubishi Owners Day 2018 instead. :-/ At least they give us free food and drinks/water at Mitsubishi headquarters.

didn't go this year because of experience last year. some "shit show" moments and the event being much smaller than expected made me skip it this year. Sounds like i made a good choice and wont be going in the future either

Track was the best part of 86fest. With all the boycotting from the AE86 group... track was plentiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDeG...ature=youtu.be

No old farts to drop oil on the track and take away a session from us :D

Bro I have sick pic with you in it if you want to pm me your email so I can send it. But yeah I do agree the track was the best part

last time I went was back 2014 when they had the show separated with the track event.
The show was at Irwindale if I'm not mistaken, that's where we went with my wife, still had my old 85' ae86 and the show way better than this year.

I took my wife and kids with me, we arrived late, 1:30 pm so I drove in, saw a bunch of cars parked by the main ticket booth, so I thought that was the main parking, so I parked there and we walked, since I already bought tickets online, I was just looking for the main entrance. So kept on walking, and walking, went under a tunnel then we saw the auto cross area. I was like! that was a long walk! and we got in the garage area, I guess that was the main event coz that's where the car show is and the vendors are at. Then I realized, nobody actually looked for my ticket? then we got hungry, and there were only 2 food vendor and one drink vendor? line was soo freaking long, under the heat and the ran out of water when we ordered. >.<

Anyway! My main mission was to show my wife that autocross and track events are actually safer than what she thinks it is. So I got the stamped of approval for next year' already got a set of track wheels , saving up safety gears and track tires. For me it's a success! lol

I didn't go this year because of how terrible it was last year. And I don't plan on going ever again. (I hate car shows/meets in general, very pointless and boring.)

Very disorganized, bunch of trashed and garbage frs's and brz's, and most of the people there were pricks. The only good part of 86fest was the track, and watching the drivers on the track.