Metaphorically speaking, the Drift Union Invitational is to grassroots drifting what music festivals are to concertgoers. You show up, watch some talented people bang out a few hits and accept that you’ll never catch every act there. So, if the Invitational is like a music festival, then what is the Drift Union Matsuri? If I had to answer in the form of a musical event metaphor, I would say the Matsuri is like an open mic competition and you’re never really sure which direction the performance is going to go.
Now that may sound incredibly rude, but by no means is it meant to. The truth is you aren’t going to get any better if you don’t put yourself out there and try. Nobody wakes up one day and is suddenly a great driver. With that being said, there’s no better place in western Canada to log some valuable seat time and experience the carnage that is the Drift Union Matsuri.
The Drift Union Matsuri – or DUM as it is cleverly abbreviated to – was a whole new experience for me at the Penticton Speedway. At this event I expected to see a lot of familiar faces and endure a lot of rain, but ultimately my expectations were thrashed when I stumbled into a sunny pit filled with mostly unfamiliar faces.
Thrashed is maybe a bit extreme. To be fair, not all the faces were unfamiliar but DUM 2015 definitely had a different vibe than what I ‘m used to. It became clear the event would be very different from the Drift Union Invitational. On the surface, they are both the same concept: a weekend filled with grassroots drifting on top of a mountain in the Okanagan.
Why do I keep comparing everything to the Drift Union Invitational? Simply put, it – and Final Bout – are my measuring sticks for most drift events. In an ideal world, every grassroots event would be as close to those two events as possible and the world would live as one in perfect harmony. But we don’t live in an ideal world, we live in reality. And reality constantly reminds us that there are cold hard truths we all have to learn to live with. The cold hard truth I learned at DUM was that even though things aren’t always as you expect, that doesn’t make them bad. I was also reminded that everyone has to start somewhere.
I couldn’t imagine a better place to start than at DUM. Usually the developmental process for a grassroots drifter plays out something like this: a car enthusiast attends a drift event or watches videos on the internet and decides to become a drifter. If they don’t already have a RWD, they find one and log a little seat time before they decide they need more power. More often than not, they bite off more than they can chew and spend longer than anticipated building a car beyond their skill set. After a ton of time, money and frustration, the car enthusiast ends up no further ahead.
I don’t know how long some of these drivers spent building their cars and I don’t know the frustration and struggles they’ve encountered along the way. What I do know is that I saw these drivers skills grow exponentially from the time I stepped foot on the track in the morning until the time I left. This sounds like a lot of speculation, but over the course of the first day I watched these drivers grow in leaps and bounds. Yes, sketchy road conditions caused by poor weather in the morning may have effected the driving, but there was no denying that as the day went on, the driving became way more exciting to watch.
There is no substitution for seat time. At an event like DUM, drivers get a bunch of seat time over the course of a weekend. Plus, they get to do it all under the supervision of Shawn Browne – a guy who pretty much wrote the book on how to be a Canadian grassroots drifter.
This all amassed into something that began to feel more like DUI. That’s not say that there weren’t a few hiccups here and there, but nothing that wasn’t par for the course when it comes to grassroots events. The event sort of played out as a boot camp for DUI.
That being said, I can’t count how many times I’ve come across drivers who are just starting out in western Canada and set their sights on the Invitational. I don’t blame them, as DUI attendees always leave the event ranting and raving about how great it is (much like I’m doing now).
The thing is that the event is not designed for beginners, and chances are if you’re just starting out and have only been drifting for a season or two, it’s probably not for you. The good news is the Drift Union Matsuri is probably perfect for you. And you get all the same benefits of the Invitational: seat time and tandem practice. That’s not to say the Drift Union Matsuri should be exclusively for beginners or intermediate drivers; there’s plenty of value added by having more seasoned drivers at the event and for people who just want to have fun and drive, this event presents the perfect opportunity to do just that.
The problem with what I’m saying is that ego inevitably gets in the way of people being able to honestly asses their ability on the track and behind the wheel. There’s a sense of urgency and people try to climb too high too fast without knowing the fundamentals. DUM is place where you can lock down or brush up on the fundamentals without overreaching. A part of me wishes that driving the Matsuri became a prerequisite for driving the Invitational – or at least maybe drivers could approach these events with that mentality.
What everyone needs to know is that Drift Union knows how to run a great event, no matter what name that event goes by. I honestly believe that if you live in western Canada and plan on drifting, you need to make Penticton an annual event – whether you attend the Matsuri or Invitational.