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Posted by: trackbird Feb 5 2019, 01:36 AM

I've been trying to get to the UMI event for about 3 years now. The first year there wasn't an autocross and I didn't make it. The next ones didn't go much better. Last year we were closing on a new house and packing during the event. This year I'm registered, my fees are paid and the hotel is booked. I haven't run in a long time and the car is likely the heaviest and lowest HP vehicle on the list....but this seems like too much fun to miss. And, the UMI guys are the best group of guys you'll ever meet and it's always great to hang out with them.

Who's going?

Posted by: ar52kortlang Feb 5 2019, 02:21 AM

Maybe..it’s a bit far from me...maybe will fly in and rent a car...


https://www.umiperformance.com/autocrosschallenge/2019/01/11/event-sign-ups-opening-jan-31st/

Posted by: landstuhltaylor Feb 5 2019, 12:07 PM

I am not since registration only stayed open for 30 seconds.

Posted by: SuperMacGuy Feb 5 2019, 05:13 PM

I'm in, I live local in State College.
Our SCCA club has a real nice venue at the MSA Airport, if you ever want to come out for our events (ie Cone Killer weekend).

The UMI park is pretty nice. There are a few points on track where the distance to hard objects is less than SCCA safety spec. One point was a little sketchy IMO but the other places were OK. Nice fast finish. Last year someone managed to get really squirelly and made it all the way up to the wall and roughed up his rear quarter. But that's not a place I would have pegged for slips or hits.

Posted by: trackbird Feb 5 2019, 10:12 PM

Did you sign up for the wait list?

So far it seems that you've managed to get all the wrong attention by harassing the UMI guys online.

Posted by: landstuhltaylor Feb 5 2019, 11:10 PM

I did today which is going to be just as ineffective as if I had made the attempt when I was first able, ~12 hours after it sold out.

And yes that is true. Frankly I've gotten tired of their incredibly dismissive and condescending attitude they have had in all of my dealings with them over the last two years or so. Not that I'm one to claim I never do the same. But if that's the response I get then I also have no desire to pull punches either. I get the feeling they want to shelter their products in their events which is their right. But it reminds me a lot of BMR and I'm not one to keep my opinions to myself.

Whatever, it was going to be an incredibly tight squeeze anyway. I was willing to try to make it work but it looks like the decision was made for me.

Posted by: trackbird Feb 6 2019, 02:07 AM

That's far from how UMI works in my experience. These guys will go out of their way to help people.

Anyway, enough of that for now. I'm trying to avoid sidetracking this thread anymore than I have already.

Posted by: landstuhltaylor Feb 6 2019, 02:18 AM

I've gotten blown off more times than I can count with questions about their products over on the other site mostly. It seems that they are more interested in giving the canned response and getting people to stop asking the technical questions. I can count on one finger the amount of times I've gotten a real answer and even then they specifically avoided giving any details that mattered. Pretty obvious they don't want to spend time on people who haven't already spent a lot of money with them directly.

But yeah, I won't go into it further. I'll just go to Peru and win more Hoosiers.

Posted by: rocky Feb 6 2019, 04:39 PM

It sold out fast. As soon as I saw the email. I clicked on it and said it was sold out. I did not see the wait list option. Probably too late for that as well. I want to at least check it out this year. It really is not a bad drive for me. I just got back yesterday from the NRA great outdoor show in Harrisburg. I almost ran over to their shop just so I could say I did it lol

Posted by: Eredin Feb 6 2019, 05:06 PM

I'll be there, along with a few other on our race team. Two of us went last year and had an absolute blast and I placed way better than I thought I would for my 'needs more money' setup.

Ryan, Ramey and the rest of the crew have always been great and getting to hang out with them last year made that even better.

Hope to see you all there!

Posted by: garage_engineering Feb 14 2019, 07:01 PM

I will be there as well. I volunteered last year as my car wasn't running but hoping to have it ready this year. Great experience last year which I think is shown in how quickly the event sold out. The shop tour and BBQ on Friday night is a great experience alone.

If anyone didn't get in, I know they had some issues with people double- and triple-booking spots so it might be worth an email to them to see how many spots are open once they cleared up all the duplicates.

Posted by: gearhead Feb 18 2019, 04:13 PM

I'll be there again this year with ol' blue, unless something happens. Was one of my favorite events last year.

Posted by: UMI Performance Feb 18 2019, 05:53 PM

Hi All,

Thanks for all the positive feedback. It is great to see!

We were totally thrown off guard by the sign up speed, I never expected that to be honest. I thought with adding a 2nd event this year (KOTM) it will draw a few to that event and ease up on the pressure to sign up immediately. I was wrong.

I have really spent a lot of time on the new race track/park. I have a vision and want to accomplish it over the next few years, it was so nice to see all the positive reviews and compliments after the event. It showed our hard work paid off and made we feel proud of what we have accomplished in such little time. We plan to make more improvements to the track this year prior to our event. We still have a long ways to go but each year you'll see new and exciting changes- 2019 just started but I already have ideas for 2020

Kevin- Glad you can finally make it out! I look forward to hanging out.

Devon- I am sorry about your experiences, honestly from our feedback online I never really hear stories like this. Ramey does most of our online support and is very knowledgeable and helpful. My guys are trained to treat each customer equal, small sales, big sales or no sales. It doesn't make much sense to focus just on current customers and not try to gain new customers? Again I apologize if we upset you. I will say from my standpoint your replies on Facebook aren't the friendliest either. I know our KOTM event seemed hand picked and that's because it was, but that is because we don't know everyone yet. We missed a lot of good people. We are this year getting involved more with the SCCA and will be attending the CAM Challenge in Peru and even sponsored it.

Posted by: UMI Performance Feb 18 2019, 06:21 PM

I really like that outdoors shows. It has been years since I have gone though, I mark it on my calendar every year and still miss it. Grrr. We are only 2 hours from there and I would love to show you around!

Posted by: trackbird Feb 18 2019, 06:35 PM

Me too! I always like to get out and see you guys when you're in town or if I'm out your way. Building a house really screwed up last year and I missed Goodguys and we closed during the UMI event. This is finally going to be my year!!! It's always to see you, Ramey, Jerry and Bethany, Roger and the crew. This will be fun!

Posted by: UMI Performance Feb 18 2019, 06:41 PM

We've made some shop changes too since you've last been here. And the open house has been fun, it's really cool watching people explore and ask questions about how we do something.

Posted by: UMI Tech Feb 25 2019, 07:00 PM

Hey rocky.

If you, or anyone, is ever swinging through our area we happily give tours.

ramey@umiperformance.com to schedule.

Posted by: rocky Feb 26 2019, 02:04 PM

I will remember that in the future. I am still planning on coming up to watch and hopefully put some faces to these names.