Drift Matsuri 2022.
I feel a bit ashamed of this blog post, back when I was just a blogger, I would make sure i shot a wide variety of cars at the events, regardless of my track time. But this Drift Matsuri, I only have a couple of photos, and theyre all of me in front of my car as I really, really wanted to progress my driving & spend as much time on track as possible. To make up for this, I’m going to do a recap of 2021, as I have a full gallery that never saw the limelight, so stay tuned for that. But I wanted to do a review of Drift Matsuri 2022, as I bloody love this event.
Since loosing Rockingham, Drift Matsuri has become a once a year event hosted at Anglesey Circuit. What an amazing venue & track this place is, not only one of the most scenic, but the track itself is absolutely amazing.
It has something for everyone. 3 Track set up -
a Hairpin, also known as the backie track!
a Touge Track, which is incredible fun to play on with friends
And finally, the National Circuit, which is, the fastest track for drifting in the UK, maybe excluding Silverstone, but us meer mortals cannot drift there, so it doesn’t count
Jake Crouch & I Playing around on the touge Track ! Photo by Image b https://www.facebook.com/imagebphotography
The weather wasnt really on our side for this weekend but it wasn’t the end of the world. The track tarmac is incredibly grippy even in the worst rain, most of the time its my own head that stops me giving it my all, which really changed by the Sunday of the event.
Photo By Image b https://www.facebook.com/imagebphotography
For me, this weekend was all about getting some major seat time in my S15, which I hadn’t been able to use since, if I remember rightly, was back in Feb 2022! So almost a whole year without using it which as a passionate drifter & car enthusiast, this hurt my soul & I promise you now, this won’t happen again.
The seat time at Matsuri is phenomenal and I also believe the rain was a blessing for me, I got to learn to drift properly & confidently in the torrential rain. Something I’d only previously dreamt of being able to do. Its a stupid demon I had to face head on & I am so glad I did.
Thumbs up after the morning session! Trusty X5 looking beautiful in the background, best daily driver a man could ask for!
The weather made it really difficult for someone whos out of seat time & a bit rusty to jump straight in. But it allows you to focus on other areas of driving. We arnt all going to be a James Deane straight out of the box unfortunately! But after a year of watching Mr Deane 130 himself & all the rest of the best at Drift Masters throughout 2022, it really was such a joy for myself to finally be behind the wheel!
Photo : https://www.facebook.com/driftmatsuri
I cant speak of what really goes on in the pits at night time. I have forever unfortunately suffered with Migraines & one really wiped me out mid Saturday, I wasn’t just annoyed at this one but I was gutted too. I had been picked to drift in the night demos, something I’ve always wanted to do. This year Id even fitted underglow to the car for it to be ready but, the migraine really messed me up, id gone and tried to sleep it off, came back to get a few last laps in but by the end of the day, that was me done, I had to go rest. Lewis Noakes who was with me this weekend & I came back to watch some of the Drift Matsuri team do the skids in the dark and they killed it, so much fun to watch but I had this horrible, lingering feeling that I should be out there, but my stupid body had failed me this time. Gutted.
Photo https://www.facebook.com/driftmatsuri
Sunday I woke up fully rested. I think I got to bed by 10pm the night before, fuken rock n roll me! We woke up to beautiful blue skies and sunshine!
by the time we got to the track, the weather had…turned… as seen in the photo above! But let me go put my bigboy pants on and go send the car to its possible death. Thats what im here for ! to learn, lets go LEARN
Check out the above video to see how we got on. I had some awesome passengers this weekend from Film maker extraordinaire Al Clark to BDC Grid Girl Saffron Kemp, and not forgetting my bald headed brother Lewis Noakes. I had such a blast.
Damage report from the weekend : 2 cable-ties
Emotional Damage Report : Nothing, pure happiness even in the soaking wet
I want to just make a quick point regarding the tyres around the track as this fucks me off more than anything else. Not the tyres being there but people fucking whinging about them. We all know these tyres are going to be there, its one of the few rules that the track insists on. Mainly due to their loyalty and success with motorcycle racing. They must keep the ruts away incase of motorbike accidents for the safety of the riders.
Drifters, if you cannot avoid a fucking tyre, calm down and learn your limits, like I said, we all know the tyres will be there, if you dont want to drift at a track where the tyres are around the layouts, dont buy a ticket! Go drift somewhere where they dont put them, let those who are desperate for a ticket, desperate at the chance of drifting at a proper International circuit get a ticket!
I missed out on drifting with some of my best friends who drift due to people not getting a ticket, then to hear people whinging who did get one fucks me off more than anything.
We as drifters in the UK have such a tiny select group of tracks to enjoy, so if you’re not having fun, simply fuck off! Let us who do want to have fun at the cost of our cars & possibly our own health do it. Drives me fucking nuts and if you’re one of the big mouths who whinge about it and don’t even come, please shut the fuck up even more! Absolute fun sponges, thankfully their opinions only matter to themselves & this event will always be a sell out.
Regardless of the know it all but do fuck all to help ego maniacs.
And here we are, me calling people ego maniacs whilst only posting photos of my car & talking about myself at an event. I never said I wasnt a hypocrite so sue me.
I want to just thank Marc Sweeps one again for what he does for us. I love Drift Matsuri, getting to drift at a proper race track is just, beautiful.
Yes, it requires me to check my own ego, I have to be super aware of the tyres as I really don’t want to write off the Silvia but I know its a risk I have to take, but I also have to check myself!
I have to be fully focused and I Fkn love that, for 2 days the only thing I think about is my driving & my brilliant car. (Thank you Dave Yandell DY Engines, Js Garage Motorsport - Jack Tonkin, tuner & builder) for making my car amazing. I Cannot wait to take it over to Ireland in a few weeks.
And thank you to the awesome photographers, I wish I had more photos on my Computer to show you but most are just tagged on instagram, if anyone has any of the car please let me know id love to have them to keep.
I’ve got so much driving booked in.
I cannot wait to share this Journey with everyone!
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