Please, people. If you are building a car for an event, plan ahead. If you need a roll bar or a track suspension next week, order it a couple of weeks ago so it's there in lots of time. Don't order it at the last minute, as you might discover that roll bars take time to make or that expedited shipping of a big box of suspension parts is very expensive. And this will be my fault, of course.
The racers running around with their hair on fire at the last minute are rarely the most successful ones.
Wait...You don't do free 2-day shipping, and 1-day or same day for a nominal fee, a keep stock on everything you sell?
Amazon Prime has ruined us all.
This is not an Amazon Prime problem. It's been going on for at least 15 years.
We DO try to keep everything in stock, but some things like roll bars get shipped from the manufacturer. And they may not ship for two weeks, because they're often made to order.
Oh, believe me, I know. Customers who blame their poor planning on your inherent, and obvious/known/stated limitations, are far from restricted to the automotive performance aftermarket.
That still doesn't stop me from finding it entertaining to think of in the Amazon Prime context anyways...For some strange reason though, management (both internal, and the customer) also doesn't often see the same level of amusement in it that I do either.
I know road racers that just plan to "finish it at the track" and wind up thrashing all night.
Keith Tanner said:This is not an Amazon Prime problem. It's been going on for at least 15 years.
We DO try to keep everything in stock, but some things like roll bars get shipped from the manufacturer. And they may not ship for two weeks, because they're often made to order.
QFT
It is amazing to me how many people need "xxx for the race this weekend". Like really, guys, you can't plan another week or two in advance? And then they have the nerve to get uppity when it costs nearly $200 to overnight a set of sway bar half-way across the country...
In the attempt to not be THAT guy, im planning to buy a hard dog roll bar. I was going to buy from you, and then i learned that they are made 30 minutes from my house. Is it possible to buy from you, but pick up there so you male money, and i save shipping?
Was he wearing the shirt of the band he was going to go see?
Dusterbd13 said:In the attempt to not be THAT guy, im planning to buy a hard dog roll bar. I was going to buy from you, and then i learned that they are made 30 minutes from my house. Is it possible to buy from you, but pick up there so you male money, and i save shipping?
Hey, thanks for asking. I'll see if Hard Dog is cool with that or if they want you to buy from them directly.
You'll enjoy the visit. Tom is an interesting guy. You might need to budget some time :)
I knew a guy that drove a production car and never even cleaned or started his car between races. He would spend the entire weekend just trying to make it run, and wanted everyone around him to help. A little planning and prep makes all the difference. When I was helping out with a professional team, we would start as much in advance as possible, and always arrived at the track with a spotless and prepared race car, inside and out. That included for preparing what spares you may need for the weekend for the race car, and items like food and snacks for the crew. Racing is a much organization and preparation as it is driving.
Nessumsar said:Keith Tanner said:This is not an Amazon Prime problem. It's been going on for at least 15 years.
We DO try to keep everything in stock, but some things like roll bars get shipped from the manufacturer. And they may not ship for two weeks, because they're often made to order.
QFT
It is amazing to me how many people need "xxx for the race this weekend". Like really, guys, you can't plan another week or two in advance? And then they have the nerve to get uppity when it costs nearly $200 to overnight a set of sway bar half-way across the country...
Yup. I understand that sometimes stuff happens. But your suspension and a roll bar? That's not a surprise. You've known you'd need that since you started this adventure.
A point of pride for me is that when I raced the Targa for the first time, I had the car loaded in the trailer a full week before I had to leave.
...and then I had to get some replacement shocks shipped to me overnight because I blew one out on the second day 
But Keith, I need 1 of the big ones..no make it 2, and I need them by tonight.
Failure at the track is one thing. Not planning ahead for the initial build is another.
Then again I was just complaining that the shocks and bumpstocks I ordered this afternoon won't be at my house until Tuesday.
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
FYI yes you can drive home with an unmounted Hard Dog rollbar in your Miata with the top down.
Ok. Not really a fair comparison but isn't there an automotive event that has a niche 'parking lot build' sub-event? 
On a side note I've been phaffing about with an exhaust change for emissions and might find out tomorrow that the one I have ( California ) won't fit my Federal car and I will just suck up an overnight/next day just to get the right one and avoid the goobermints wrath. 
But as a waiter boy do you have to turn that frown upside down when you get poo flung at you.
One of the best things the IT guy (also friend) at my last job would say was "poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." I thought it was much funnier than upper management did 
thatsnowinnebago said:One of the best things the IT guy (also friend) at my last job would say was "poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." I thought it was much funnier than upper management did
I could use this everyday at work!!
rustybugkiller said:thatsnowinnebago said:One of the best things the IT guy (also friend) at my last job would say was "poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." I thought it was much funnier than upper management did
I could use this everyday at work!!
I do!
I need to. Every day, "What do you mean you don't have X in stock?". And X could be anything from a light bulb to a power steering pressure hose for a 1996 2.5 TL. I had that call today...
Keith Tanner said:Nessumsar said:Keith Tanner said:This is not an Amazon Prime problem. It's been going on for at least 15 years.
We DO try to keep everything in stock, but some things like roll bars get shipped from the manufacturer. And they may not ship for two weeks, because they're often made to order.
QFT
It is amazing to me how many people need "xxx for the race this weekend". Like really, guys, you can't plan another week or two in advance? And then they have the nerve to get uppity when it costs nearly $200 to overnight a set of sway bar half-way across the country...
Yup. I understand that sometimes stuff happens. But your suspension and a roll bar? That's not a surprise. You've known you'd need that since you started this adventure.
A point of pride for me is that when I raced the Targa for the first time, I had the car loaded in the trailer a full week before I had to leave.
...and then I had to get some replacement shocks shipped to me overnight because I blew one out on the second day
This.
A good buddy of mine successfully campaigns a GT3 Miata in WRL. He doesn't go to a race with anything less than a spare engine/trans, spare assembled front and rear subframes, hubs, etc.
Great drivers and fantastic prep typically has him on the podium in his class at the events.
thatsnowinnebago said:One of the best things the IT guy (also friend) at my last job would say was "poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine."
sadly that is sometimes how things work around here.
I get the fabrication time and all that flutter - but those are usually noobs who just want you to get some E36 M3 out fast. As a racer who isn't a pro racer ... sometimes you need a "something" ASAP because while you might have had a great plan ... you boss sent you to San Fran the week before the big race weekend. It is never a roll cage. It's a damper that didn't pop - or a set of pads and a rotor that are showing bad cracking because there was a dead robin in the brake hose from last weekend and you didn't know until the smell in the garage became horrific. Or whatever.
I frequent the shop that makes stuff happen. But I don't think I'm being unreasonable when I ask for next day air if your your website shows "in stock" so if you are drop shipping from a supplier who does not do NDA... that is on you. Don't make promises you can't keep and I won't ask for unreasonable deadlines.
Deal?
The interwebs would be a better place if everyone just listened to me.
I frequent the shop that makes stuff happen. But I don't think I'm being unreasonable when I ask for next day air if your your website shows "in stock" so if you are drop shipping from a supplier who does not do NDA... that is on you. Don't make promises you can't keep and I won't ask for unreasonable deadlines.
(forum formatting fail here)
Having something in stock and promising to ship next day air are not the same thing. If you call up and say "this is on you" because you have come up with an arbitrary rule like that, you will find that I am far less likely to make your emergency my problem.
Work WITH your suppliers, not against them. This is me admitting to being a real person, not the PR friendly face of FM I have to be all the time.
The "But I need it for an event this weekend!" happens more often with roll bars than anything else. And the website DOES very clearly say it can take 2-6 weeks. If it's a real problem like a blown shock, we'll do what we can. If you're an ass about it, then what we can do will be less than if you're polite. I understand the difference between an emergency and a lack of planning, and the latter usually comes with more attitude on the part of the customer.
Keith Tanner said:Please, people. If you are building a car for an event, plan ahead. If you need a roll bar or a track suspension next week, order it a couple of weeks ago so it's there in lots of time. Don't order it at the last minute, as you might discover that roll bars take time to make or that expedited shipping of a big box of suspension parts is very expensive. And this will be my fault, of course.
The racers running around with their hair on fire at the last minute are rarely the most successful ones.
I respect the sentiments as someone who sits on the business end of the problem, but I've also experienced enough 11th-hour problems to understand the sense of urgency.
Which is part of why I'm going to be driving other peoples' cars this weekend. Did you know that you can't use a Dell'Orto carburetor on a Lake Cities style sidedraft manifold on a 13B, if you're going to be using a stock exhaust manifold? Me neither.
Somewhat related, did you know that Racing Beat has the '81-82 RX-7 style rear muffler on backorder until December?
(odd: I have an '84 RX-7 that requires '81-82 twinpipe exhaust parts, and have an '81 that uses '83-85 single pipe exhaust parts. Why? Why not?)
The part that annoys me is when something has to, has to, has to be done for the weekend, and all kind of hump gets busted in order to meet that deadline, and then it turns into "Oh, uh, I can't actually pick up, lol, I'll get it next week." Oh hell no. I slaved over a hot MIG welder through too many lunch breaks to get this done, you are going to pick it up and you are going to like it.
Reminds me of the time I ordered custom valved suspension and was told 8-10 weeks. Luckily I ordered at the end of September when the next autocross was in March....
I received them after the first event in march after continuously being told soon or in the next two weeks.
Also I understand the inability to instantly deliver. I feel like my customers sometimes think I'm staffed like dominos and can deliver in 45 minutes.
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