Corollas Take Over Houston – Texas AE86 Matsuri 2021

Sooo I haven’t used this thing in awhile and actually wrote a long post with 100+ photos, but the damn thing didn’t save… fuck me right? So here I am, rewriting about the first Texas AE86 Matsuri event in Houston, TX. I’m assuming anyone and everyone who’s reading this post knows what an AE86 is… so I won’t go into much detail on what they are… just know its the tofu car from initial D haha. Anyways… the Texas AE86 Matsuri this year had a couple of events… one pre-meet at the Almighty Moontower Inn at the East end of Downtown Houston followed by a track day at GrandSport Speedway in Hitchcock, TX… about 45 miles away from downtown Houston. Unfortunately, “spectators” weren’t allowed due to policies in the contract needing extra security for liability purposes(?). This honestly felt like it was a more intimate California style event and I’m all for it if it were to happen 3-4 times a year. The price is a bit steep to track/drift but maybe something can be arranged or get a lot more interest or attendees for future events to cut the cost down (for the organizers too!).

Overall, the 86 weekend was such a good time… you had to be there… I’m not even just saying that. It was just a chill day Friday evening and then a jam session with grip and drifting on track… You usually don’t see that many AE86s and Corollas around… and they were all driving hard on track too! The 86 spirit is definitely alive in Texas. Hopefully, my photos convey what I experienced over the weekend. I was participating in the event with my Toyota Corolla hatch so I let the other photo guys handle the track photos. I tried getting a photo of everyone’s car during the festivities, but I was just excited to walk around and check out everyone’s cars and chat about random things. Anyways, enjoy the photos!