The weekend outlook includes smoke, unheard of traffic and plenty of pain.
Bleak? Just the opposite, in fact.
Gridlife drops in on WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca this weekend, Oct. 20-22, bringing some of the world’s top drivers performing freestyle drift sessions (causing billows of tire smoke), almost constant on track racing and a lineup of music headlined by we’ve-lost-track-of-the-number Grammy winner T-Pain, and a lot more.
The festival is a unique combination of youth car culture and music, making its first appearance on the West Coast. “You hear people saying that kids today aren’t into cars, and that isn’t our experience,” said Gridlife co-founder Chris Stewart in a press statement. “When we pair a live music experience with an amazing on-track show, we know we are sharing our enthusiasm for car culture with a whole new audience.”
By “a lot more,” we mean a midway with retro arcade games and simulators, DJs like Umami and White Mike, karaoke, a concours of hip cars from the ’80s forward, an attempt by Pike’s Peak veteran Robin Shute to break the Laguna Seca track record in The Wolf, social media influencers everywhere and one big, unconfirmed rumor.
At its heart, Gridlife celebrates an inclusive car culture, where Honda FITs in hot hatch form share the paddock with 1,000 horsepower beasts. There will be several racing formats. NOS Energy TrackBattle is a bracketed, multi-class tournament with drivers chasing a fast time. The Gridlife Touring Cup competition pits 50 accomplished drivers—on track at the same time—in a series of sprint races.
But “more” is a theme here. Twenty-five of the world’s top drifters have been invited for a full-course freestyle exhibition. And a concours of curated show-quality cars celebrate the low riders, JDMs, hatches, overlanders, modern muscle and other desirable vehicles. Sunday is largely devoted to a cars and coffee gathering followed by a day-long track day open to those who want to try their car on Laguna Seca’s legendary corners.
While T-Pain—who owns a drift car—headlines, the musical lineup also includes performances by DJs like Umami, Starfari and White Mike. In keeping with the generational theme, proceedings on Friday and Saturday will be live-streamed, and a number of social media influencers and podcasters will be on hand.
“We’re focused on inclusion and community and expect to see a little bit of everything come out to share our weekend,” Stewart explains.
And the party goes on into the night…Oh, yeah. The rumor. Unconfirmed, but T-Pain may drop a new single.
Gridlife takes place 8am-night, Friday-Sunday, Oct. 20-22. WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. $55-$175. 242-8200, grid.life.