Saturday
This past weekend, ran up to Apple Valley Speedway to checkout the boys at bro bros at Garage Speed doing what they do best... wrench on cars and take them drifting. Garage Speed is a collective group of boys making a splash in the automotive culture in their own way. Grassroots in most ways, they have all of the vibes we all did at their age but definitely more organized than any of us were.
This is their 5th event and to date, the most drivers to have signed up to go drifting. A bit different from Time Attack where racers come out at the crack of dawn to lay down best lap times, the event today started at 10am and most of the people were showing up around 12pm.
Jr Sang gearing up to head out on the track to send it
Garage Speed with the cute Kawaii look on their apparel.
As drift cars were piling in, such as the gorgeous Nissan Skyline R34 Sedan up above, we got hungry and were on the hunt for food. It wasn't long before we found the bacon wrapped hot dogs being prepped for our bodies to receive and then followed by dessert of home made ceviche with some JDM beer to set the morning off.
Soon after, Zenon was getting ready to head out on to the track for his warm up lap in his R32 sedan, where Sam Rojas was setting up cameras to make all the yummy content to follow.
Zenon making sure his steering wheel is tight before he finds out on the track that it wasn't.
If you haven't been to the high desert, just know that the desert is usually hot af or cold af but today we got lucky and it was mildy hot. One thing is desperately needed was some sunglasses as being higher up in altitude made for blinding eyeballs. Just figured you guys should know that.
As we casually walked around to check out the vibes, car after car was coming in burning rubber. Unlike pro drift events where you are so far from the action, these grassroots events the rules are so much more relaxed and you really get to be much closer to the action. If you bring a camera with a 70-200mm, it would be more than enough to catch the folks sliding around. I only brought my disposable camera lens which is a 28mm, so I didn't get anything too tight but enough to capture the feels.
We ended up staying a few hours before we had to get to our other obligations but really look forward to possibly build a group drift car for us to do some fun car skill building but until then, love seeing the GS boys put in work and seeing the fruit of efforts clearly being reciprocated by the community.
Make sure to follow them on social: @garagespeed.jp
Sunday
Before social media really blew up to large weekend gatherings, it was much more innocent with friends gathering to eat and drive. I really miss those days of car culture where it was about doing cool things vs trying to look cool.
I used to do Sunday morning gatherings to hang and drive back in the days but since it has been some time, I decided to do a last minute gathering of eat and drive on Sunday.
Posted a flyer on Friday night about meeting up at Legends Diner in Glendora to eat breakfast and then head up to GMR (Glendora Mountain Road) as long as the group wasn't too big. With so many big events going on, it was nice to have about 15 cars show up for a chill morning gathering.
You have to forgive me for not photographing any of them at the burger gathering as I was actually enjoying the time being an enthusiast vs being a content creator. I always battle this because I end up missing out on sharing these things with you guys reading it but at the same time, it gives me time to live in the moment and not through the lens. For whatever that is worth, thanks for hanging out.
After two hours at the first location, about 1/3 of the folks split off to live their Sunday and the rest of us decided to go up to East Fork before heading back and doing family stuff like the rest of the world.
We all headed down the street to fuel up at the Shell gas station but got in some of Robb's G Body looking super classic before he headed back home. When the moment opened up, a sweet shot of Jesse's Marlboro Black and Gold livery on his 993 RWB was the perfect backdrop.
Since I was driving right behind Nicky Hays, the driving required all of my attention so zero photos were captured but note that fun was experienced. When we got to the fork, we all parked and took some time to enjoy the beautiful day.
As we were looking off into the distance, we could hear a car pushing the limits and quickly we could tell it was a Bahama long hood coming up. Turns out it was a 1967 short wheel base 911S, which is the big monies but when the owner drove up to us and called out my name, I was shocked to have seen Gen doing what he does best. Driving up Azusa to East Fork and then taking GMR down.
We all ended on a high note and decided to call it a day and then head back down. Most went down GMR and Lloyd and I ended up taking East Fork to Azusa down but not before I caught the feels of Kevin and Angel sharing a moment together.
All is well in car culture. People still love cars, people still gathering and talk and eat and talk shit just like we have always done for decades before. Find your people and do cool shit.
Drew Manley
Comments?
Leave us your opinion.