Year end reviews can be fun. You can talk about all the neat things you’ve seen and done over the past year, but that takes a lot of time. And at the end, you end up with a deeply personal post that runs the risk of either becoming self-indulgent or losing mass appeal altogether. I’m no Oprah, so there’s no real benefit of me making a list of “My Favourite Things” and there’s even less science involved in that process. I prefer the approach of listing DODOlogic’s top posts of 2016 – just getting down to the cold hard facts of what got read the most. So here they are!
Scott Deeley’s article didn’t have a fancy clickbait-y title to grab your attention. It snagged the number 11 spot with good old-fashioned event coverage and a few photos of our friends’ cars sprinkled through out. DODOlogic was built on articles like this, so it’s nice to see it in the top 11.
10. DUI 2016: You Best Know How to Handle Yourself
The Drift Union Invitational always makes for good content and it’s consistently ranked as one of the top articles of the year. It’s a who’s who of drifting in western Canada, so it makes sense why the content is so popular. The event is even better in person, so if you can make the trip to Penticton, B.C., we highly recommend it.
9. How the Vibes Were Made Good
The GOOD VIBES Street Tribe – what is it, exactly? It’s not quite a drift team and it’s definitely not a car club. I guess it’s a long story with a Forever 21 catchphrase for a name. That being said, the world of cars are divided into two groups of people: those who get it and those who don’t. The GOOD VIBES dudes are constituents of those of just get it. Hopefully we’ll hear more from them in 2017.
8. Canadian Man Plans to Build Border Out of Japanese Wheels
Fake news was a pretty big issue in 2016 and we here at DODOlogic did our best to join in. After it was all said and done, I can sort of see why fake news is so popular. It’s way easier to make shit up than actually create content – and people will read it. If this post was any higher on the list, I’d be rethinking our content strategy for 2017.
7. What I Learned at NissanFest
This article is on the list because Gaelen Norman, the key figure behind the annual event, paid me to put it on the site. See – it’s just that easy to create fake news. But seriously, if I were to speculate about the actual reason this article was read so much, I think it’s because it heavily featured team tandem drifting. This year, NissanFest switched from regular competition drifting to team tandem drifting, and as we get closer to the end of the list, you’ll see why that’s a big deal. Another reason this article probably did so well is because NissanFest sounds super official.
6. Driven Edmonton: Perfect Execution
Jared Krueger joined DODOlogic as a contributor this year and has been knocking out some pretty stellar content. His apt and honest article on the Driven Edmonton show earned him the sixth highest ranked article on the site for 2016. It goes to show that a well-executed event car show is still relevant in a time when Instagram reigns supreme.
5. Defrost 2016: The Biggest and Best Ever
Dance with the one who brought you… This event has our damn name on it and is organized by all the DODOlogic staff you never hear from because they’re busy making stuff like this happen. It’s cool that after all these years and miles (kilometers?) traveled, this event – held in DODO’s backyard – can still bring in a staggering amount of site visits.
4. Dylan Does Final Bout: Special Stage West
Once a year, Dylan Evans from America puts down his bowl of mac n’ cheese, crushes a few “frosty bulls” (Red Bull Slang) and picks up a camera to shoot an event. Ol’ Dyl Dawg Evans may only write one article a year, but he always manages to make our list of the highest ranked articles.
3. Is the Vancouver Import Scene Really Dead?
I write a lot of articles about a lot a different things. Once a year, I write an article with a catchy title about the Vancouver car scene and people seem to like it. It’s usually based on something I’ve heard in passing or the general state of how I perceive things. The Coles Notes version of this year’s article is no, the scene isn’t dead – but it’s not really thriving either. Vancouver needs more big name events and car enthusiasts need to support them.
2. Super D in California: Where Dreams Come True (For Most)
Realistically, I could have mashed the keyboard and tossed up like three photos from this event and this post would still be close the top of the list. The recipe for this event pretty much guaranteed people would care. Take one legendary Japanese drifter, place him anywhere in the U.S. of A and just let it happen. Of course, it helped that a few professional drivers and many of the big name grassroots teams were there to drive with Nakamura as well.
1. A Renaissance in Drifting at Final Bout SSW
Those close to this scene call it the worldwide drift family, and those further removed might turn up their nose at it. Regardless of your views, there’s no denying the impact Final Bout has had on the North American drift scene. You can’t say the words “Final Bout” to a drifter without them having an opinion on it.
Team tandem drifting keeps gaining more and more steam. As I mentioned earlier, NissanFest recently made the switch to this format and the Drift Union Invitational has been doing it for years. However, it’s Final Bout that’s really pushing team tandem into the North American spotlight. Drivers from all over have been scrambling to put teams together just so they can attend these events.
Our fascination with Final Bout led us to Portland for Special Stage West this year and as usual, the coverage topped our list. We here at DODO have been chasing Final Bout around since the very beginning and this is unlikely to change in 2017.
Thank you!
So, that’s the list. There’s obviously a theme that’s been developing. In the past, we used to split our time between big name events like SEMA and the occasional Formula D event, but interest in those events started to wane for us and our readers. There are two things that direct DODOlogic content: the stats that rank these posts and our passion for the grassroots scene. We’ve been lucky that those two things constantly overlap and allow us to keep pursuing the subject matter we care about.
On behalf of all of us at DODOlogic, I’d like to thank our contributors for a great year of automotive content and thank you to each and every one of you who check in with us online and in person. Here’s to an exciting 2017!
Thoughts about this year’s top posts? Want to see us cover something next year? Have ideas for new gear? Looking for information about advertising with DODOlogic? Send us an email at info@dodo-logic.ca or let us know in the comments!