We’re here
Big sky and desolate landscape, you can see as far off into the distance as the horizon will allow you to. There’s something to be said about the Prairies, it’s a different kind of lifestyle out there, it’s a different kind of serenity. In such a space you quickly gain a sense for how small you are out there surrounded by hectares upon hectares of open land and large blue sky’s. The silence comes and goes, periodically you hear the hum off in the distance from tractors working the fields, oil wells pumping, and the occasional train passing by. When you find yourself in an area without the better part of some sort of industrialization, you’re left with few sounds, the wind blows through the wheat fields, the birds chirp as they fly by, and its just you with your thoughts in this vast open space.
Within this vast space is something special, a hidden gem if you will, where the silence is broken. Fast straights, big sweeping corners mixed with tighter technical ones, separated by many elevation changes throughout it’s footprint, here lies a little slice of heaven, Stratotech park.
It’s a pretty rare occasion to find myself anywhere in the prairies , or more so just going to them. Although for this occasion I need to find out if the rumors where true, I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about Strato Bash, enough so to find myself standing in the middle of this years event. The 11 or so hour drive out was well worth it, I got the chance to see with my very own eyes what this special place was all about.
Stratotech is a road course if you’re wondering, just over a mile long with 9 corners or depending on the layout that this event ran, the S-bend made it 13 corners. The front and back straight make for some high speed big boy entries, pin it in 3rd maybe 4th depending on how you’re feeling, toss a feint entry and the party starts.
I mean if we’re going to compare apples to apples, this track is Canada’s version of PARC in Oregon, but…….faster. I will mention it’s a track meant for grip, so if you find yourself coming out to next years Strato Bash hosted by Spec-d, bring more tires than you need because its aggressive.
Over the labourday long weekend Strato Bash definitely blew my expectations out of the water, two days of back to back drifting from 9:30am to about 5pm is a wild time. There are 3 track layouts with 2 run groups sub divided into 4 (red&blue - green&yellow), which in turn gets you the most seat time you can possibly have here, so much so that if you don’t pace yourself you most likely wont have enough tires for day 2. The first two layouts are split up on the track, composed of the front section and the back section, and then full course from mid-day to end.
For those of you that have been in the scene for a while now and know about DUI (drift union invitational), that event was “the” summer event to be at, you didn’t want to miss driving that event, every summer for the last 10 years it was the be all of events for grassroots drifting in Western Canada. Now that drifting is no more at Penticton Speedway, and I know this is something big to say, but I do feel like Strato Bash is the new DUI replacement minus a few things that were unique to DUI itself.
Yes I went and said that, Strato Bash “is” Western Canadas new DUI, even though it’s a little more East than West. That’s out in the open now, and I’m sticking to what I said. You’re going to find great times here, you’ll make new friends who you can’t wait to drive with again, endless memories, team tandem competition, food trucks, prizes, live music, and just an all around stellar atmosphere to be apart of with your friends.
This year marked the second year that Spec-D put on this incredible event, I was super impressed with how it operated, how it was structured, I’m sure behind the scenes was a chaotic time organizing this event too. But the hard work and effort put into Strato Bash by those at Spec-D really showed. In my opinion this is just the beginning for this event, seeing what this event already is and has accomplished in such a short time, it really paints a promising and exciting picture for the future events to come. Strato Bash is an event you need to pay attention to, as for us who have been apart of one now, this just marks the beginning of many more great memories to come. Strato Bash is what this community needs. I want to go on and say more, just the thing is you need to come out next year and experience it for yourself.
Jason Delehay, a member of the Spec-D family since it’s early days, all the best to you with your new journey ahead in Texas, this one goes out to you. Cheers dude.
