GRIDLIFE hosted their first ever event in the west coast for a head to head bracket elimination style track battle and I entered to see what it’s about. The event is widely popular in the east coast due to the “festival” type of event that it organizes. It’s basically a track day, but with car shows, music and food. If you ever been to Bimmerfest at Auto Club Speedway it’s kind of like that vibe.
The morning consisted of 3 regular track sessions, however those that were in the competition had to set a qualifying lap time during those 3 sessions. The fastest of the bunch got to compete in the bracket finals. I went up against another E46 M3 and I ended up advancing. Next I faced Vinny Anatra, from Hoonigan, in his E46 M3 and it was such a rad experience. There’s a competition element to the format so the energy is more intense than normal track days. It’s almost like the first track day I’ve ever done where I’m nervous and just dosing off through the window as I sit on the hot pit waiting to go out. It was a refreshing experience. Something different than just a HPDE “time attack” track day.
We each got 2 runs and whoever takes 2 wins. Vinny led the first run and I ended up beating him. On the 2nd run, Vinny was in the chase and he ended up beating me. So it was 1 and 1 so we had to go One More Time. At the end Vinny ended up beating me, but the whole experience was such a thrill. I would do it again if they came back for another event. There’s nothing like the feeling of going heads up with the entire track to ourselves and battling it out in a bumper to bumper fashion.