5 Reasons Why You Should Check Out Japfest This Year

If Japanese cars are your bag, few shows will indulge your passion quite like Japfest. The annual event sees thousands of Japanese car fans bring down all sorts of incredible machines - both modified and bog standard - to one place for a big, noisy celebration of cars from the land of the rising sun.

Japfest has been going since 2002, and has outgrown its Castle Combe venue, with this year’s event taking place at Silverstone on 24 April. We’ve been a few times before and have had a blast, and reckon you should give it a look too. Here’s why:

All the Evos!

If the discontinuation of the Evolution has rendered you a blubbering wreck, then take heart: with over 160 Evos due to appear, Japfest 2016 will have the biggest display of the cars anywhere in Europe this year. It’ll be an eclectic mix of examples too, with all generations accounted for and the world’s only road-legal twin-charged Evo making an appearance.

Drift action

My first up-close experience of watching pro drifters in action was at Japfest a few years ago. Seeing these experts of oversteer muscling outrageously powerful drift missiles around - while getting flicked with tiny bits of rubber and enveloped in large clouds of tyre smoke - proved to be a memorable experience.

There’ll be plenty of sideways action to enjoy this year too, thanks to the British Drift Championship-organised Drift Kings segment of the show. Top drivers from around Europe will compete over three sessions.

Track day bro

At the heart of the event is a public track day. Track time can be had by the session, and given that you’ll be on a circuit filled with like-minded individuals, it’s a good chance to give your ride its track debut.

Celebrating the FD Mazda RX-7

Yep, believe it or not the curvaceous FD RX-7 is now 25 years old. Keen to mark the occasion, the ladies and gents at Japfest have put together a special RX-7 stand. There’ll be over 50 cars on display, and 70 cars taking to the track for a parade lap.

Bonkers tuner cars

You’ll see an incredible amount of brilliant modified cars at Japfest, but arguably the most crackers are the ones brought along by tuning companies. This ridiculous wide-bodied Mitsubishi Evo 9 wagon from Japanese Performance Parts caught our eye a few years ago, but even that’s pretty tame compared to the other car the company brought along - a Subaru Impreza Type R with an Evo V front end, an Evo X rear end and a Nissan RB25 heart…

Hands up who’s heading to Japfest this year!