When I come home from a weekend full of car stuff, I usually say: ‘Yes, I’ve done car things’ But this weekend was different. I met Mad Mike Whiddett, witnessed time attack cars smashing lap records and explored 101 different types of vehicles at the 2024 International Festival of Speed Perth.
Leading up to the event, my Facebook was buzzing with notifications. Local car group chats lit up with messages: “Does anyone have this part I can borrow?” “What is causing this problem?” Perth’s car community really came together for the two-day festival earlier this month.
On the way to the event on the first day, the buzz of Saturday commuters in Western Australia’s capital faded to quieter roads, eventually giving way to the winding back roads leading to CARCO.com.au Raceway in Wanneroo. As I turned the corner of the spectator parking lot, the walls surrounding the motorsports facility peeled away to reveal a vibrant sea of multi-colored cars spread across the track.
The beauty of the event lay in the varied offering, which combined car shows, drift demonstrations, burnouts (of course) and circuit laps with other quirky elements such as powerful lawn mowers and tractors.
Organizers wanted to engage the public with question and answer sessions, circuit walks, passenger rides, dyno runs and interactive displays.
Key highlights of the event included time attack cars battling for lap records, as competitors from Western Australia and the Eastern State sought perfection. The excitement reached a peak when Tim Slade, driving the Unfortunately, the cars faced challenges on day two, although many drivers improved their starting times significantly.
This was interspersed with main circuit drifting demonstrations by Mad Mike Whiddett in his TCP-Magic built four-rotor, twin-turbo Mazda 3 ‘Bullet’ with local drifting stars, along with historic touring car racing featuring some classic Australian machines.
The presence of high-profile guests heightened the atmosphere and inspired everyone to deliver their best performance on the track.
Off-track car displays added to the energy, with the largest Mazda rotation meeting since 2015 in Western Australia.
The 2024 International Festival Of Speed Perth showed unity in diversity, with camaraderie shining as people from all corners of the motoring community came together to support each other and enjoy the festivities.
Diversity drives enthusiasm, and there is plenty of it for this event.
Jack Major
Instagram: majorlymedia
majorlymedia.com
Photography by Josh Ramsden
Instagram: ramsdenmedia
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