RyanB’s 2013 Year in Review

It’s about that time of year where we take time to look back. Personally, these year in reviews are always my favourite articles to write. Mostly because it means I have survived another year… and if you follow me on Instagram, then you understand that my ability to survive is surprising given my love for the Canadian delicacy known as poutine.

I suppose I could talk about all my personal triumphs, discuss how much the site has grown or point out our fancy new site, but that’s not why you’re here. A year-ish ago, I wrote my last year in review and while I was writing that article, I thought to myself that next year’s article would be super hard to write. I always think the upcoming year will be the year I finally slow down. But much to my surprise, that never seems to be the case. And that being said, I make no promises for next year.

I spent a lot of time away from home  this past season – so much so that people started to believe that I no longer resided in Regina, Saskatchewan. As it stands for now, Regina is still my home but who knows what this next year has in store. My season started at DriftWest Round 1 on May long weekend and involved a road trip that took myself and few others from the DODO crew to Calgary and Edmonton.

The Calgary pit stop was to meet up with 1/3 of the Hotboyz and friend of the site, Eric Zapata. We don’t get to see Eric all that much, so we used the excuse of shooting his car to hang out with him, his girlfriend Shaylee and friend Arif. Most of the night was spent finding cool spots to shoot. Little did I know that my summer would be full of Eric…

From there we made our way to Edmonton for Drift West Round 1 for some event coverage. One of my highlights from the weekend was shooting Paul Harrison’s Corolla. Paul and his car serve as a constant reminder of why I do this whole ‘taking photos and making words’ thing instead of other pursuing other – and perhaps more grown-up – pastimes.

Maybe the weirdest part of this year was the entire month I spent living out of a suitcase in Vancouver. You see, the thing about me is I adore the Pacific Northwest, and the first part of this month-long adventure brought me to the Drift Union Invitational in Penticton. Something about this event feels like a family reunion, even if you don’t know everyone.  The nice thing about this picture is it shows both Jordan Hall and Jon Fiorante doing some tandem. Both are from Saskatchewan and started drifting together a few years ago on a cart track. Now, they’re all grown up.

This also marked the second appearance of Eric Zapata, but this time in motion.

Somewhere between Penticton and Formula D, I took a bus from Vancouver to Seattle and had our Seattle contributor Dylan Evans show me around the Seattle car scene. I think he felt indebted to me because he almost killed us on a mountaintop in Penticton. Regardless, it was a noteworthy weekend and the visit to Stance Wars helped.

Dylan also set up a shoot of Southsound Speedstars, which was incredibly fun and insightful. Sometimes the difference between car culture in Canada and the U.S. blows my mind. Both Dio Ortiz and Erich Hagen have big things coming for them in the next year. Erich is also preparing for the 2014 Formula Drift season and we wish him the best of luck.

Speaking of Formula D, it’s become an annual event on my to-do list. However, recent changes to the media application process is making this harder to do. If I’m completely honest, I felt a little out of my element this year and I missed a bit of the comradery of shooting shoulder-to-shoulder with your peers – as opposed to going up against the titans (in my mind) of automotive media.

I spent a great deal of time hanging out with the Hotboyz, helping them shoot a promo video that will one day exist and apparently meeting Jack Connelly’s future ex-wife. This also marked the third Eric Zapata run-in…

Sometimes I spend so much time talking/shooting other people’s cars that one might forget that I, too, am an enthusiast. Although I don’t possess any real talent behind the wheel, the aquisition of this ’97 Aristo with a 5- speed swap helps me pretend. Acquiring this car was definitely a highlight of my year.

From all the things I did this past year, I think the one thing that had the biggest impact on me was the spontaneous trip to Chicago. Agreeing to take a 16-hour road trip to Chicago with only a couple hundred dollars in your pocket might seem ridiculous. But when it’s all said and done, I’m glad I went.

It was an incredibly insightful trip and reinforced many of the positive ideas I hold about the automotive community. I had always been somewhat familiar with the Chicago scene from what I saw on the internet. However, the hospitality I experienced far exceeded anything I would expect from anyone. The folks we stayed with definitely took a chance when they took us in, but that’s just how the car community is.

Chicago also marked the final Eric Zapata sighting of the year.

You may not have noticed from our coverage, but I was also at SEMA in Las Vegas. After following Scott’s  coverage for the site, it really seemed futile for me to even try to compete – especially because I only spent one day on the floor. I did, however, try to make that time count. A definite highlight was getting the chance to interview Wataru Kato from Liberty Walk Performance.

This year was more about the people than the cars and I had a few revelations about what we do here at the site.  The cars are cool and all, but the people and the community are what  makes having an empty wallet worth it. That is what my year looked like, and I have no idea what 2014 has in store for me.