A few more details

With just over a week before we head to Rockingham Motor Speedway for the 2018 Spring Matsuri, here are a few more details you need to know.

Arrival times
The gates will open to everyone at 3pm on Friday the 9th. They will then reopen at 7am on Saturday and Sunday morning.

GATES WILL CLOSE AT 9PM PROMPT ON FRIDAY. 

Please plan your journey to arrive before the gates shut to avoid disappointment.

The gates will close at 10pm on Saturday night.

Sunday drivers, you are permitted to arrive on Saturday if you wish. If you do, we ask that you park in the spectator area until Sunday.

Saturday drivers, we ask that you park your cars in the spectator area on Sunday to allow your fellow drivers plenty of room in the pits.

Camping

Camping is free of charge to all those attending, Please be aware that there is no camping in the Inner Pits. All tents and caravans MUST be located in the camping area.

There is hard standing and a grassed area. DO NOT DRIVE ON THE GRASS! You WILL get stuck! The grassed area is for tents only.

Facilities are found in the Rockingham main building. Showers can be found to the rear of the Outer Paddock area.

TICKETS
You must have a copy of the ticket that was emailed to you when you placed your order. This contains a bar code that will be scanned when you arrive. This will be exchanged for your wristbands.

No Ticket – No entry. If you have an issue at the gate, simply pay for a wristband and the gate staff will tell you who to contact once in the venue.

Your ticket can only be scanned once and you will receive all the wristbands you have paid for.

We will not be holding any wristbands for your guests/mates/drivers/crews. It is YOUR responsibility to arrange to get them to the rightful owner.

PADDOCK ACCESS
Infield drivers ONLY will have access to the Inner paddock area.

ALL other vehicles MUST be parked in the camp site or spectator area.

TRAILERS
There are to be NO TRAILERS in the paddock areas, this includes the Outer Paddock pits.

Cars MUST be unloaded and driven sensibly to your paddock area.

The unloading areas and trailer park in marked on the map below.

Drivers will receive a much more detailed email in the next few days.

Team Extreme added to the bill

We always bring a little something different to the Matsuri events.

This year is no exception, last year we had a simple half pipe place in the Inner Paddock. Mark Webb and a few other riders were invited to show what they can do on two wheels.

This year we are stepping up the game and have invited ‘Team Extreme’ to entertain those of you who are in to extreme sports.

We are delighted to tell you that we will have some of the best riders in the UK and Europe showing their skills over the weekend.
Mark Webb will be on site, riding and driving so expect fireworks! Alex Coleborn will be joining Mark on the ramp along with Oakley way.

On top of that we will have in line skaters and scooter riders doing their thing.

With shows four times a day each day, the action won’t just be on the track but in the Inner Paddock area too.

Team Extreme Show Reel from Team Extreme on Vimeo.

Drift Matsuri 2017: The Report

The 5th annual Drift Matsuri was held recently at the picturesque Anglesey Circuit, this event has become the place to be for the end of season party over the last few years.

The event saw over a hundred drivers on three separate tracks over the two days with a huge variety of cars, from the usual S-Chassis’….

Skylines….

and BMW’s,

Rarer cars like a Daihatsu Charmant….

Jaguar E-Type…

The Driftworks freshly built 1972 Toyota Hilux, dubbed the DWHi5.

As usual the Toyota AE86 was well represented at the event with at least 5 on track over the weekend.

The three layouts included a touge style course that ran up and over the top half the track in the opposite direction to the way that the circuit runs during race weekends.

The fast track used the first three corners of the circuit, this had many drivers using third or fourth gear throughout each run as they tried to link the track with just a quick manji down each straight.

The third track was the single hairpin, this had a long run up to the corner to give drivers a chance to practice backward entries without the risk of hitting anything.

The event had something for every level of driver, from grassroots to BDC Pro drivers, everyone was welcome and often the grassroots drivers would come around the corner with a BDC driver following closely.

Saturday night featured the third showdown between the UK & Irish drivers, in the past this has been won by James Deane and Richard Grindrod.

The crowds gathered around the outside of the track to see who would take the trophy this year.

As the battles went on a few people were shining through as strong contenders including Martin Richards, Matt Carter and William Rose.

In the finals Matt Carter threw the car in with a huge backwards entry, impressing the crowd and taking the win from William Rose.

Now it was time to party through to the early hours before another full day of drifting.

By the end of the weekend there were many exhausted drivers, broken cars and shredded tyres throughout the paddock.

It was another successful weekend and a great way to end the season. We will leave you with some more photos from the event, until next time…..

TICKET GIVE AWAY

We are giving away TWO free ticket to attend the Spring Matsuri at Rockingham Motor Speedway!

To enter the competition, go to our Facebook page HERE!
We have pinned the poster below to the top of the page.
Simply LIKE – SHARE – Post a comment that you have shared it!
We will pick one lucky winner who will receive TWO free tickets to attend the event FREE OF CHARGE!

Make sure you follow us on Instagram too @DriftMatsuri
We will be doing live sessions from the event – Not to be missed as ANYTHING could happen!

The tracks

The venue at Rockingham Motor Speedway is the largest purpose built oval in the UK.

With its infamous 1 mile oval built for 200 mph NASCAR and INDY cars it has to be WIDE!

With that in mind, we will be constructing two tracks on the banked oval. Both tracks will be driven by drivers, one after the other in a lap of the outer track.

The first track will be at the back of the track. The chance to ‘Run the wall’ will be built in to test drivers who wish to push to the limit. The track will then tighten to make use of the 50 meter wide section of tarmac towards the infield.

There will be an undulation where the banked oval drops to the level of the infield, making the most of out the area available. Twinning and trains of cars through this section will be fantastic, drivers, this section is for you to have plenty of fun with your mates!

If you wish to show the crowd what you are made of, the second track will be made for you!

Set under the a grandstand, a track set up so you can ‘Run the wall’ in front of the crowd and head in to the pit lane! Rockingham have agreed to move the dividing wall in the pit lane to allow cars to finish their drift in the pit lane. Then its down the pit lane to go back to track one!

The infield has already been announced, the track is fantastic, fast flowing with a complete mix of corners for all to drift!

Will you ‘Run the wall’ or play it safe on the infield?

Calling all car clubs

This will be the first event for many car fans in 2016!

As announced earlier this week, we were delighted to announce yesterday that for the first time in in over ten years, Rockingham Motor Speedway will host a drift event. The Spring Matsuri and round one of the 2016 Driftcup series will mean this is a weekend of Drifting not be missed.

This allows us plenty of room for car clubs to join the event and show their cars to everyone present.

If you are the organiser of a club and would like to get involved, drop us a line at [email protected]