Damp earth and wet air and grey, grey sky. Snaking around in ribbons of concrete and asphalt, Rockingham Motor Speedway sits in a squelching, biting mass of British springtime. Stand for a second and the cold set to work, up through your nose and hard against the back of your eyes. There can’t be a single good reason to be here.
Trudge on and ever on, putting one drenched foot ahead of the other until you reach the edge of a massive, earth bowl. Below your feet stands the track, its huge expanse yawing into two long, banked curves at either extent of your peripheries. With your back against the grandstands, you can see everything encircled by the oval’s 1.5 mile sweep. Right now, there’s little more than birdsong and anticipation.
Seconds later, something stirs. On the far side of the track, a mess of blunt shapes yaws forwards, leaving a solitary finger of bright white smoke in their wake. The noise comes next, high-pitched razor scrapes yelping against an air-thumping rumble. Speeding ever closer, the shapes ricochet from one extreme to the other, sliding under you in one long train. Celica, Corolla, Cressida, MR2, S13, Ford Pop and Toyota Chaser, all in quick succession. Welcome to Spring Matsuri.
Held each March, the drift festival guarantees a whole weekend of open pitlane action for any drifter who can grab a ticket. Despite the torrid weather, this year’s event saw everything from battered, barely-modded E36s to lurid British Drift Championship monsters take to three different courses: the serpentine paddock course; the technical infield; and the terrifying oval, which saw drifters slide off the banking and into the pit lane.
The action didn’t stop there. Though Matsuri is intended primarily as a friendly, just-for-fun weekend, there were a couple of events for more competitive skidders. Driftcup, the feeder series for the British Drift Championship, ran its first event of the season on Sunday, while crowds were treated to a team event on Saturday evening.
With brakes glowing, flames licking from screamer pipes and floodlights illuminating tyre smoke against the night, Matsuri might be the perfect way to blow away the bad weather blues.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
"W. R. X. If you’re big into racing, those three letters stand for something special. Thrashing and bashing around the globe, the World Rallycross Championship pitches 600bhp hatchbacks against each other in short, sharp, multi-surface bouts. Blink and you’"
"Damp air on wet gravel. Molasses-gloopy tar hangs in the air, acid grass cutting through the base notes. Up on the hillside, hooded jackets and umbrellas sprout from under the canopy. Orange-suited marshals fuss around their posts: taking half a "
" This weekend at Silverstone there's an opportunity to check out some full blooded sportscar action. The Le Mans series is an evocative formula: an opportunity to get familiar with real endurance racing in advance of that inevitable pilgrimage to Circuit "
"It’s more than just the motor. It’s the history; the stories the metal tells with each scrape, bump or nick and the memories that the fabrics of the seats weave with their smell and feel. To many, that’"
"Scotland has a majesty like no other that must be seen, to truly be believed. From incredible mountain ranges to open fields teeming with wildlife and grand lochs that take your breath away every time they crawl into sight – this "
" What does the future of motoring really look like? At London’s Royal College of Art, postgraduate students on the cutting edge Intelligent Mobility program have been trying to find answers to the question. We met three individuals with interesting "
