Winter Jam '21- Sideways and Smiling
In most of the motorsports world, grip is king. Tune into Formula 1, IndyCar and the 24 Hours of Lemans and one can witness the disdain of engineers at any loss of lateral tire grip. Sliding the rear around a corner makes for good entertainment but the hundredths or tenths of a second lost each time stack up to create a performance wall that will not be broken through without the discipline to drive clean and consistent laps. Head to any GoKart track and soon the lesson will be clear that drifting and sliding is loads of fun but not the fastest way around the track. So what does one do when they need to live the sideways life? Drive to Sonoma Raceway on a cold winter morning of course.
After a year Sonoma Winter Jam returned with 6 courses running simultaneously of track for drivers and spectators to choose from. From professionals to amateurs and everything in between WinterJam offered something for everyone. From purpose-built, throw the budget out the window drift cars to weekend garage projects all the way to slapdash and haphazardly built sh*t boxes the diversity of cars was immense. Couple this variety with the non-judgmental mutual respect of an eclectic grouping of machines and people and one finds democratization of automotive culture rarely witnessed in other forms of Motorsport. Drifting is one of the few automotive ventures where the costs of the car or even it’s looks rarely matter all that much as anything going sideways in a fury of tire smoke and flying rubber is a massive good time on any day of the week.
From refined luxury to destroyer of tires.
Winter Jam is presented by and built on the work of Sonoma Drift which runs fairly regularly during the Spring and Summer on Wednesday nights along with the Wednesday Night Drags program. For $50 in advance or $60 at the gate and a helmet and other appropriate safety equipment anyone with the drifting itch and can show up and take part in various drift courses or simply shred a set of tires in the donut box. The first time we visited Sonoma Drift we mentioned, and still hold to it now, that with the ability to hoon all over Sonoma raceway for a fairly nominal fee makes it a foolish exercise (as well as illegal and deadly) to use public roads and parking lots for sideshows or other acts of automotive chicanery. Not only that, show up and talk to other regulars at Sonoma Drift and you might just learn something.
Finally, a big thank you the organizer of Sonoma Drift and Formula Drift Pro driver Faruk Kugay and the team at Sonoma Raceway. From the ticket office, the corner workers and the safety crews they do the impossible in making an event with six course layouts and constant movement from one area to the other safe and fun for both participants and spectators.
Winter Jam is a sensory experience of organized automotive anarchy where even someone on the fence about embracing automotive culture will find themselves fighting not to crack a big goofy grin or let loose with audible noises of glee. So if you haven’t done it yet, as a participant or a spectator you owe it to yourself to give one or both a try.
