Thursday

I’ve been in contact with the drift team Makosa since Next Level Drift International back in 2019 and with them focusing on the grassroots drifting scene while also hosting vents I’ve wanted to come over to Finland to meet them for a long time. Well this time their Makosa Matsuri event matched my schedule and a trip was planned.

One Thursday-morning flight later and in Finland I was.

Walking out of the airport I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of cars that the Makosa-airport-taxi-service used. Ville (@somebossi) picked me up in his beautiful Toyota Cressida X30 and we headed straight back to his garage to pack the last things up before heading to the track.

The Cressida is a car that, along with most other 70’s Toyotas, we don’t really see in Sweden that often, or at all. With most of the classic Japanese sedans being very boxy and angular the X30 Cressida is one of the more luxurious looking ones with it’s round headlights, rounded front fenders that flows into the curved bodyline on the side and the angular tail lights and trunk.

Though classy on the outside, the engine and drivetrain is more focused on performance than comfort. The car is powered by an M50B30 fitted with S50 ITB’s and a Catcams camshaft connected to a ZF gearbox. As most other modified old Toyotas it now has an S13 front subframe for more angle and Volvo rear axels to be able to handle the power.

Sharing the garage space with the Cressida was a Honda Integra with a bunch of goodies to it like a JDM front end, Spoon mirrors, brakes, Rays Volk SE37 wheels (a very slept on model) just to name a few things.

After drooling over the Integra for a bit we packed everything up, loaded the car and went on our way.

A good sleep, a stop at ABC for some food, a refuel and 5 hours later we arrived at the Pesämäki track.

Finally at the track I was greeted by the other Makosa members and walked around the pits taking in the friendly vibe and checking how our Finnish brothers builds their grassroot cars.

With some exceptions the Makosa team runs a matching color scheme on their cars which has been a red base with a black and chrome livery for the past few years.

After hearing the quote “Sandels best” for the past 5 years I finally got my hands on some, and an undisclosed amount was consumed over the weekend.

Smaller mopeds like the Honda Monkey or the Suzuki PV were very popular in Finland back in the days and have been getting a cult following in modern times, and their small size makes them perfect pitbikes.

As cars were arriving all throughout the Thursday-evening, one in particular caught my eyes. Seeing it from the front you might not immediately pick up what’s unique about it, but from the rear you will for sure spot the pure width of the arches around the tail lights. This is a BN Sports Blister bodykit that includes the very wide front and rear widebody fenders and a bodykit that is a little bit wider than the regular BN Sports kits to line up with the fenders.
Matched with the kit is a set of Garson Ryugi wheels which coincidently are the same wheels that the BN Blister 180sx demo car had back in the early 2000’s. A full blog post dedicated to this S13 will be posted sometime during fall.

(If you want to learn more about S13 bodykits I recommend that you check out the “full” S13 bodykit guide I’ve made)

As the rain dried up people started hitting the track.

With 3 different layout options available on the main straight the layout was changed throughout the day.

With the event running from Thursday to Sunday you might as well test the car out and find it’s kinks on the first day. Both the E92 and the E36 Compact were fixed and drove the rest of the weekend.

Another heavy rainfall called for some dinner, Sandels and repairs back at the pits. This marked the end of the day for me as I wanted to catch up on some sleep and be rested and ready for the first full day of driving the next day.

Friday.

The weather was still a bit damp but the sun tried it’s best to shine through the clouds throughout the day.
My first stop this morning after some breakfast and coffee was this newly arrived Toyota Carina TA40. Though more popular in Sweden than other old Toyota’s the TA40 is still rare to see driven on track.

This Carina is powered by a 4A-GE Blacktop which really supplies a show both with a beautiful soundtrack and the lower horsepower making the driver use clutchkicks and a lot of momentum to get around the big track.

This might just be me and my nerdy-ness, but what I liked the most about this car was how true it was to what I imagine a car like this would look like in japan.
Function over form on the areas where it’s needed like the wide arches, bumpers removed to allow better airflow to the radiator in the front and access to the rear tow hook in the back. But then you have a few areas where style’s been focused on like the red paint scheme on the wheels, steering wheel, rollcage and the back of the bucketseats and the exterior pieces like the trunk spoiler and the front lip.

Using a variety of good tiny-wheels like SSR Mesh’s as drift spares is another point to the “true” japanese feeling.

And having a good Toyota SUV as a tow vehicle is just the cherry on top.

Going from a Japanese-STYLED build to a genuine Japanese build, here we have a freshly imported Nissan Cefiro A31. This car was bought just how it sits today making for a unique look into the mindset of a Japanese drifter where function is just as important as form. I dive deeper into the build in the part 2 blog post.

Wether or not the SR20DET is “Gods motor” is a whole discussion we won’t go too deep into, but the SR track record was mixed at this event… More on that later. For now, let’s just enjoy the unique car out on the track.

The for sure have some unique pit-vehicles here in Finland…

Ending the day with some extra hypemen and/or tow-staff out on the track.

After finally getting some sun that lasted mostly throughout the whole weekend, Friday’s driving came to an end. As the evening continued more and more people arrived as they drove to the track after work, with even more arriving Saturday morning.

The day ended with some Sandels and sauna and some more Sandels before sleep with two amazing days with better wether, more cars and Good Times Only to look forward to.

Check out the content from the Saturday and Sunday in part 2.