I spent the primary seven-and-a bit years of my life in Poland. Someplace within the mid 2000s, my dad and mom made the intimidating but thrilling choice to immigrate to the UK. By leaving Poland behind for good and making me a Londoner, this modified who I’d turn into as an grownup.

As I grew older I started being drawn in by the world of automotive tradition, rapidly studying that all over the place on the planet perceives what we do otherwise.

Every continent has its personal tackle automotive tradition, and each nation inside has its personal algorithm and restrictions you should boringly adhere to.

Europe is a blended bag. Some nations, such because the UK, have a whole lot of freedoms in terms of automotive modifications. Different locations, akin to Germany or Slovenia, will attempt to crucify you for one thing as straight ahead as becoming wheel spacers.

Poland appeared to be firmly on the former finish of the dimensions. My teenage years have been spent watching awfully fuzzy, flip-phone-quality YouTube movies of Poles going sideways in E36s on public streets.

I by no means went out of my option to discover content material from Poland however, one way or the other, it naturally stored popping up wherever I appeared, be it YouTube, Instagram and even Google Photos.

In reality, In case you entered a selected automotive make and mannequin into Google Photos adopted by the phrases ‘stance’ or ‘static,’ chances are high that the outcomes you’d like most could be on Polish quantity plates.

From an outsider’s perspective, it appeared that the late 2000s and early 2010s have been energetic for Polish automotive lovers. Automotive tradition grew quickly on this time, spurred on by a rising economic system, an absence of any actual restrictions and laws hindering automotive enjoyment, and a whole lot of robust, welcoming communities with energetic social media presences.

Communities matured into occasions, and occasions matured into companies. Out of the bunch, there was one occasion shining manner above and past its friends. Ultrace and the crew behind it turn into the flag-bearers for the Polish modified automotive scene.

Beginning over a decade in the past, Ultrace occasions grew rapidly with annually that previous. With Poland being based mostly in Japanese Europe, the present drew entrants and guests from each Central Europe in addition to Poland’s Japanese neighbours.

In flip, this created a genuinely distinctive mixture of attendees and the automobiles that got here with them. Influences and genres from far and vast made appearances at Ultrace, that means it didn’t take lengthy for the remainder of the motoring world to clock onto the excitement popping out of Poland.

Automobiles from Japan have been being shipped over for Ultrace and other people flew in from America to attend the occasion. Ultrace grew out of merely being a European occasion and commenced to firmly engrave its roots as a worldwide spectacle.

Someplace alongside the road, Ultrace additionally started to supply a dwell drifting show organised by the crew at Subsequent Degree Drift. This blended two cultures collectively – those that loved the game of drifting alongside those that loved the artwork of constructing challenge automobiles (arts that share many crossovers and greater than usually lean on one another.)

So then, having by no means been earlier than and getting teased into FOMO yearly by associates who attended the occasion, it was time for me to get myself right down to Poland. I grabbed my buddy Josh and we booked ourselves a flight from London Luton to Wrocław. Lastly, I used to be going house for Ultrace.

This could really be my first style of Polish automotive tradition too, and what a kick off point. Becoming a member of us in Poland is fellow Speedhunter Vlad. Between the 2 of us, we’ll be bringing you our findings from the occasion.

I arrived on the venue on the Friday earlier than the occasion formally begun, and from the get-go it was straightforward to see what all of the hype was about.

Unbelievable queues stretching the size of the venue gave me a taster of what to anticipate from the Saturday. The variability simply from this stretch alone was what I anticipated, even when it was only a teaser of what was to come back.

The one bit I had entry to at that second have been the pits for the Subsequent Degree Drift show, however I wasn’t complaining in any respect. These automobiles have been perform while pushing the envelope of fashion within the sport. Low, tight fitment and immaculate paintwork are the precedence right here, even when these automobiles will spend the entire weekend sliding about.

Overlooking the pits was the primary a part of the venue. The doorways main upstairs have been shut, so all I bought to see on the Friday have been the nook edges of a number of the automobiles I might get to discover when the present opened up. I might already inform I used to be house, surrounded by like-minded folks, a lot of whom constructed their automobiles particularly for this occasion.

It wasn’t till Saturday although when the doorway opened as much as everybody that I actually realised what Ultrace was all about although. For that although, you’ll have to attend for our full occasion protection.

See you quickly.

Michał Fidowicz
Instagram: candyshowroom