Team Japspeed join the party

In case you have been living in a cave for the past month, you can’t have failed to notice the much publicised build up for the 10th birthday of Japfest at Castle Combe in Wiltshire. It was a special day to celebrate what is arguably the biggest Japanese-based car show, with an average of 15,000 people attending, it is always a monster of an event, and often marked down as being the start of the show season for many.

With the 2012 event being a 10th birthday bonanza, the Japfest team laid on a host of special attractions to celebrate the occasion, it lured in a record number of visitors who were keen to soak up some sunshine and track action along the key spectator points.

Inside the busy show area it was crammed with Jap fans who were out looking for bargains in the trader village and admiring the show cars that were on display on various tuner and club stands. The drift cars were especially popular as it presented a chance for the public to get up close to the cars which are often seen through a haze of tyre smoke.

Japfest organisers invited Team Japspeed and various Maxxis British Drift Championship drivers to come down and hold a little on-track party of their own for the crowd to bring in this special birthday with a bang. The gang relished this chance and did exactly that!

This year we sent down “Baggsy” in the Subaru and “Smokey” in the S15 to do some 1JZ-powered partying of their own!The lads made those Team Japspeed monochrome monsters dance, as they smoked up their Maxxis MA-Z1 drift rubber before the huge crowds that gathered on the corners. The twinning between Baggsy and Smokey around Quarry brought a few people up on their feet as they wanted to get a better view of the door to door driving.

Japfest organisers laid out three extended drift sessions for the BDC stars. When they first went out on track, the Team Japspeed duo did go a little mental, shredding the brand new Maxxis rubber to the canvas within around 3 laps! To do that to such high quality tyres speaks volumes about how hard they were pushing, any following cars had to battle through a thick fog of smoke left by the boys.

This brought lots of attention and admirers over to the Team Japspeed stand in-between runs on track. Many fans were keen to know when the next round of the BDC is (Norfolk Arena “Night Fight” 1st and 2nd of June).

Out on track again Baggsy and Smokey tuned into the same frequency on the Team radio, this allowed the pair to communicate with each other while driving, they wasn’t discussing the weather or football results though, they used the radio to great advantage; informing each other of the lines they were about to take in and out of the corners, it made for some seriously technical and beautifully executed drifts. Everyone loves a spot of twinning.

As the sun set and the track shut, everyone knew they’d been part of a special day, it showcased a sample of what the Maxxis British Drift Championship has to offer to a selection of people who’d never managed to get to an event. Team Japspeed did themselves proud and while the preparations are already underway for Round 2 in Norfolk, we’re also looking forward to Japfest 2 at Donington Park on July 8th. It’ll be a summer sensation!