Do you know what time it is? It’s time for all Scandinavian performance car enthusiasts to pack their bags and head to Gatebil – Norway’s premier summer festival at Rudskogen Motorsenter is now less than two weeks away.
But before that there is still the other major Gatebil event held at Mantorp Park in Sweden. The Gatebil Summer Festival – stop two in the five-event Gatebil 2024 season – is where I found myself the weekend before.
As usual I arrived from Stockholm on Thursday and immediately mingled with the teams in the paddock to see what the event had to offer.
Last year, there was a crazy heat wave hanging over the event. This year, it was rain that came down late Thursday afternoon, and the forecast didn’t look much better for the 72 hours of madness that lay ahead. Since water and electronics aren’t a match made in heaven, I called it a day on Thursday, put my camera down, and braced myself for what was to come.
At 8:00 a.m. on Friday morning, the smell of fried eggs mixed with tire smoke and the sound of revving engines, instantly banishing any thoughts of a possible storm front passing through. The 2024 Gatebil Summer Festival was in full swing.
This year saw the return of Monster Energy, with drifter Dmitriy Illiyk and Gymkhana GRiD World Champion Luke Woodham in attendance, both driving S-chassis cars and ready to tear things up.
As the cars entered the pit lane, it seemed like the event was much quieter than usual. Granted, it was still early on Friday morning, but maybe many spectators saw the weather forecast and decided that Saturday was enough. Or maybe the hype surrounding this Scandinavian car phenomenon is over?
I can safely say that the answer to the last question is no! As the track dried and the Gatebil Drift Series pros left, Mantorp Park was quickly enveloped in smoke.
Being a one-man team, I never spent too much time shooting in one place. Running around Mantorp was the first exercise I had done in months and I can’t say I enjoyed it. My current stamina is terrible.
The dry track also suited the Gatebil Extreme time attack competitors. They wasted no time in pushing their cars to the limit – and sometimes even beyond.
Team KRB Racing Motorsport’s Kai Roger Bakken was back at Mantorp Park with his iconic Lotus Esprit. Gatebil would not Street car without Kai’s crazy creations.
While the wild action on the track and the crazy party atmosphere are the main reason most people come to Gatebil, there is so much more to these events. Even the paddock is an interesting place to visit and if you look hard enough you will find many hidden gems.
Gatebil is also a car show. Thursday is the day of the set up of the event, but due to the bad weather it was still setting up on Friday. The Show Garden filled up nicely and I went back on Saturday to have a closer look. I even shot a spotlight here, so keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks.
Remember the Gatebil aftermovies? This year the media team has something cool in store. Above you can see the pro drifters ready to do some Oscar-worthy acting. I can’t wait to see the result.
The main event on Friday (besides the partying of course) is the evening drift battle between Sweden and Norway in the Nordkampen Showdown (Battle for the North).
It is a friendly match, but some spectators regard it as a Premier League derby match.
It’s fun to see two countries compete against each other, but only one can win. This year, Team Sweden took home the prize.
Once that event was over, the drivers and spectators were eager to get back to the antics of the evening. I still have my main Saturday and Sunday coverage to share with you, so look out for that soon.
Alen Haseta
Instagram: hazeta