SALINAS — The GRIDLIFE Festival tour comes to the West Coast for the first time ever on Oct. 20-22, bringing its unique youth-oriented music and motorsport event to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas.
An expected 175 race cars will hit the track over the course of the Festival weekend, which also includes live music featuring a performance by T-Pain and a host of support artists, a retro arcade and late-night karaoke to keep the off-track party going long after dark.
The GRIDLIFE focus on grassroots community leaves no doubt that car culture is very much alive for the younger generation.
“You hear people saying that kids today aren’t into cars and that isn’t our experience,” said GRIDLIFE co-founder Chris Stewart. “We welcome everyone to car culture, from hardcore enthusiasts as well as those that may be just a little car curious and our numbers are growing every year.”
Motorsport entries sold out minutes after the event opened registration for GRIDLIFE Laguna, with 100 cars set to race GRIDLIFE’s NOS Energy TrackBattle Time Attack and 50 more in the open wheel GRIDLIFE Touring Cup competition. Some 25 of the best drift drivers in the world are also invited to run fan-favorite freestyle drift sessions all weekend long.
“We know there’s an amazing car scene in California and we’re excited to bring everybody together,” said Stewart. “We’re focused on inclusion and community and expect to see a little bit of everything come out to share our weekend, from low riders, to modern muscle, to overlanders and ’90s JDM cars.”
The GRIDLIFE Concours invites up to 100 curated vehicles from the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s to join a special display. These vehicles are selected from a pool of applicants and owners receive a free ticket for the event weekend. GRIDLIFE Concours applications are open now at tinyurl.com/mubfbr6f.
So far this season, the GRIDLIFE Festival Tour has drawn 40,000 fans to enjoy live music and take in the action on track with as many as 300 drivers campaigning their cars each weekend. The GRIDLIFE Laguna Festival is the first time in the organization’s 10-year history that the tour has stopped on the West Coast and the event is expected to draw crowds.
“When we pair a live music experience with an amazing on-track show, we know we are sharing our enthusiasm for car culture with a whole new audience,” said Stewart. “The best compliment we can get is when someone comes to our events one year as a spectator and then returns the next with a car to drive on track or display in the GRIDLIFE Concours.”
The GRIDLIFE Laguna stop will feature a full live streaming production on Friday and Saturday at youtube.com/gridlife. So far this year, about 650,000 viewers have tuned in to watch weekend streams online.
The 11-turn, 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca road course located on California’s Central Coast has hosted some of the most important motorsport events and moments in the United States, including IndyCar, IMSA GT, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Porsche Rennsport Reunion and MotoGP motorcycle races.
Tickets are available now at gridlifelaguna.com.
