I'm hoping to be at 5 of these I hope.
Photography Credit: Chris Tropea
More racing, more music, more everything. GRIDLIFE held five National Festival Tour events in 2024; that number grows to nine for 2025.
“Expanding the festival lineup and moving to a three-day format allows us to deliver an even more immersive experience, combining car culture, racing and live music for enthusiasts nationwide,” GRIDLIFE Co-Founder Chris Stewart said in a release. “And now we have a fantastic schedule that's well positioned from a date perspective. It’s really exciting to be able to add gravity to all aspects of the weekend, and make each one feel like a proper GRIDLIFE experience.”
More from the release:
The expanded weekend format introduces GRIDLIFE's newest racing class GRIDLIFE Grand Touring (GLGT) featuring 9:1 power to weight ratio to attract GT4, TCR, and similar speed machinery alongside established fan favorites GRIDLIFE Touring Cup (GLTC), GRIDLIFE RushSR Series, Track Battle Time Attack, and GRIDLIFE Drift. High-Performance Driving Education (HPDE) will continue as part of GRIDLIFE’s core offerings but will now take place during standalone events, with its schedule set to be announced later.
April 11-13: GRIDLIFE South Carolina, Carolina Motorsports Park, South Carolina
May 9-10: GRIDLIFE Special Stage, Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Georgia
June 6-8: GRIDLIFE Midwest Festival, Gingerman Raceway, Michigan
June 27-29: GRIDLIFE Mid-Ohio, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Ohio
July 25-27: GRIDLIFE Summer Apex, Road America, Wisconsin
August 15-17: GRIDLIFE Circuit Legends, Lime Rock Park, Connecticut
September 12-14: GRIDLIFE Chicagoland, Autobahn Country Club, Illinois
September 26-28: GRIDLIFE Laguna Festival, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, California
October 17-19: GRIDLIFE Pitt Race, Pittsburgh International Raceway, Pennsylvania
I'm hoping to be at 5 of these I hope.
Naturally, it's on a weekend I'm already booked.
Hmm, that Pittrace one might be close enough to have a gander...
Not looking like I will be making any this year. But that schedule looks great.
What happened to GTA at Road Atlanta on the same weekend (May 9-10)?
gotta admit, I'm personally a bit bummed they've (at least from what's been announced for now) kicked HPDE to the curb. it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out.
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
I wonder if there will be Gridlife HPDE dedicated weekend without all the circus. (Good circus but makes it hard I'm sure to financially bring all that to an HPDE)
Hows the quality of the racing at these events? I'm intrigued, but haven't heard much about the culture.
nocones said:In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
I wonder if there will be Gridlife HPDE dedicated weekend without all the circus. (Good circus but makes it hard I'm sure to financially bring all that to an HPDE)
yeah, it's been a slow move towards HPDE exiting as competition has taken up the schedule; and I can see how being able to 'focus on the circus' benefits the organization. my main concern is that, from an old dude's perspective, doing that shuts down the driver "pipeline". although, that might be an outdated perspective, with the rise in popularity of SimRacing. Then again, I don't think there are SimRacing programs that emphasize some of the basics that are taught in beginner HPDE... i.e. there's no SimRacing program oriented towards preparing participants for the real track.
re: possibly 'dedicated HPDE weekends'
that's the speculation, but the scuttlebutt sounds like it might only be 3-4? slapping down 9 'full on' weekends in a year for them is doable, but also a bit of a stretch over past years (obviously alleviated by limiting the events scope as a whole).
I've never been to an event but I have some very good connections there. Hoping to get out and work one of the events in 2025. Never been to one, but they sound cool.
Displaying 1-10 of 12 commentsView all comments on the GRM forums
You'll need to log in to post.
