The 2019 Drift Matsuri lived up to all the hype.
Over 150 cars, 3 tracks, the ‘Party in the pits’ and SO much more.
The atmosphere was electric all weekend.
Sit back and enjoy just some of the highlights from an epic event!
Spring Matsuri has quickly become the place to be at the start of each drift season, hosted at Rockingham Motor Speedway featuring two days of drifting, four tracks, a skate park, RC drifting, the first round of the HEL Performance Driftcup and even an after party on the Saturday night!
It’s easy to see why Spring Matsuri has become such a well known event for both the drivers and the fans.
The four tracks across the venue challenge the drivers in different ways, the oval features two tracks with high speed transitions on the banking providing a great chance to run the wall in multiple places on each run.
The Infield track is always popular, it’s one of the longest continuous tracks used in the UK with the drivers pushing themselves to link each corner together.
The final track is the Outer Paddock, on Saturday this custom layout is available to all of the drivers before the Driftcup drivers take over on Sunday for the first round of their 2018 season.
The outer paddock layout started off with fast sweeping corners before progressively tightening toward the end of the track, this gave chase drivers every opportunity to close up on the lead car.
The selection of cars at the Matsuri weekends is always impressive and this time was no exception! There were plenty of the usual S13s, S14s and Skylines, alongside rarer chassis choices like Martin Wonnacott’s JZX100 or Leonard Kepert’s monster of a BMW E46.
Something that stands out at these events is the range of driving talent on track at any time, from grassroots drivers to current British Drift Championship entrants.
If the track action wasn’t varied enough there was always the RC drift track with a huge selection of cars for people to try out on their custom track, every time we looked in it was clear that it has become a popular addition to the event.
Team Extreme ran a few demos each day on the skate park that had been constructed for the event, performing their tricks on BMX’s and Scooters. Mark Webb, professional BMXer and drifter also joined in with the displays.
As the darkness drew in on Saturday the tracks closed but it wasn’t the end of the action, the Outer Paddock came to life with the team battles. Each team featured three drivers running together with the aim of impressing the crowds in order to advance through each stage of the competition.
A couple of hours of great drifting followed before the fireworks ended the track action for the evening before the after party kicked off, continuing into the early hours.
Sunday morning came around and it was time to do it all over again on the oval tracks and the infield, whilst Round 1 of the 2018 HEL Performance Driftcup took place on the outer paddock.
The spectators flocked to the wall on the outer paddock to watch as the Driftcup drivers battled hard throughout the day, running in close proximity to each other and the wall in front of the fans.
By the end of the weekend many tyres had been shredded, a lot of fun had been had by all and everyone left the event with smiles on their faces.
It had been another successful Spring Matsuri, an event that continues to grow each year, we are already looking forward to the next one!
If you are interested in drifting, then you can not fail to have noticed the rise to fame of Mark Webb.
The 2016 DriftCup champion won the title with a round to spare. With the standard so high in the series, his results have catapulted him into the spot light.
Webbie is no stranger to the spot light, having become one of the most influential and progressive BMX riders over the last decade.
He has won many competitions, including the International X Games and the Mini discipline at the BMX Masters in Cologne, Germany in 2008. In 2009 he competed for the first time on the Dew Tour in the US, where he made jaws drop with his creative style and incredible technical moves – following a third-place finish at the final stage in Orlando, he finished the Tour in fourth place overall.
His bag of tricks is packed with technical, daring and complex moves, particularly on the mini-ramp and box jump – he landed the world’s first decade 360, and casually executed a 360-tailwhip-to-footjam-nosepick in practice on the Dew Tour in 2009. In recent years, he has set the internet alight with some crazy videos packed full of unique tricks – a number of Webb edits have racked up more than a million views.
We are delighted to tell you that Mark will be at the Spring Matsuri! Not only is he drifting over the weekend, but we will have a half pipe in the paddock area for Mark to show a little of what he is capable of on his BMX!
The ramp will be open both days, not just for Webbie, but for anyone that brings their own bike to have a ride! So if you have a scooter, skate board or BMX, get your self a ticket and come and be apart of the Spring Matsuri 2017!
Tickets can be found here > Drift Matsuri shop