Unfamiliar, Familiar Territory: Excite GP at the Polecat Driving Academy
Since 2017 I’ve been rubber-banding across the United States. In the pursuit of knowledge and a wide variety of experiences, I separated myself from my southern roots. In doing so I have become out of touch with the drift scene of the southeast, a scene I cut my teeth on and what propelled me into the future I’m living today. As of 2022 I returned to the South, and I’m beginning to immerse myself into that under sung southern car culture once again. What better way to do that then with shooting an absolutely stellar drift event at a track I’ve never been to?
In early 2023, through the channels of social media, I began to hear whispers of a drift event at a track I had never heard of, the Polecat Driving Academy. I looked into it and found that it was a training center for open-wheel race cars. I thought to myself, it was absolutely crazy that something like that was nestled into the foothills of rural Tennessee, and even crazier still how iTrackmotorsports managed to broker a deal into using it to host a drift event, which was a first for the Polecat Driving Academy. Despite its popularity, drifting is still relatively limited in how often it’s able to use dedicated track facilities like this, and judging from the pictures and video online, this place looked so beyond the scope of what you normally would come to expect from the drift track experience.
The morning of the event I stepped out of my car and was completely blindsided by the sheer scale of the track. Nothing online accurately depicted the scale of this place. The pit area was more than accommodating for the 20 or 30 cars that were out there that day. The track snaked out of sight up and over hills, peeking through the wooded outcroppings surrounding it. The 2.1 mile track and its infield reminded me heavily of my time hiking through the jungle that is Road Atlanta. Throughout the day I found myself hiking through thickets, having my ankles swallowed by gullies and peeking out of the tree line. It was a serene experience, the colorful and loud cars cutting through the forest on a track designed for open wheel race cars, an experience that no other track I’ve been to has offered.
After having spent a couple hours observing the speeds that these cars were being thrown into the corners, I knew it was a fast track. I only took one ride along during the course of the day. To quote the driver “it’s a pretty stock mustang” followed shortly by a laundry list of blatantly not stock parts. Sure, I would have been more at home in some souped-up s-chassis, at least more familiar in one, but I had seen this thing rip through the course all day so I knew the driver and the car were more than capable. Let me tell you, with how this track is laid out and how it's constructed you can gather up some serious speed, it felt like no other track I had been on. I’m really trying my best here to convey this track to you all, but it’s truly something you have to be there to experience. The elevation changes, the speed, the layout, the cambered corners, there’s no mistaking it for anything other than a race course, which is what made drifting on it even all the more insane.
My gear selection for the event was sub-par, but I thought that even in an unfamiliar environment that I could thrive given my experience. My initial thoughts were correct, but I won’t lie, I absolutely considered going home when I got out on track. Instead I tempered my usual shooting style and decided to be way more choosy with my shot choice and locations. As a result I took substantially less photos. Compared to the last drift event I attended, that’s about seven thousand less, but what I did get I am extremely happy with. Armed with only an 85mm lens and my two legs to get me closer, I shot some of the best drift cars I’ve seen in years down here in the Southeast. Normally I would have done due diligence and done my best to talk to the owners and record information about these machines, but I knew from the jump the real story here was the track. What photos I do have for you all today is something I hope you enjoy, and something I know won’t showcase the scale of the track.
My hope in writing this isn’t to put over any one car from the event, although I do have my favorites, my hope is that with these shots you get a semblance of an idea about just how out of this world the track was. This track is something worth revisiting, it’s something worth talking about. I hope more than anything that I can return there with iTrackmotorsports and see another exciting round of some of the best drift cars in the southeast. Next time I’ll be better prepared and next time I’ll do my due diligence to give you all the full story. Thanks for reading.
Please enjoy the two galleries below covering the entire event.
