The process of creation with and for such wonderful people is absolutely unique and priceless experience. From collecting ideas through prototyping, testing, and bringing them to life, it was one endless and fascinating adventure. This journey came with many sacrifices, although they are nothing compared to everything good we have experienced during that time. Last year, we set a benchmark for ourselves, and then we were able to achieve practically all the goals. Therefore, at the end of last year, we stood at the threshold of a very serious challenge, which got a working title: "The Next Chapter."
Our to-do list contained many new checkboxes, each ambitious but also laden with significant risk. We began with great by launching the pre-sale of tickets and achieving record results, this only to confirm something truly significant was coming. For the first time in our history, we were visited by Wataru Kato himself (@libertywalkkato) - artist, visionary designer, and founder of Liberty Walk. A company whose undeniable success was not that obvious at the beginning of their journey. @libertywalknation is a manufacturer of custom-built body kit packages for virtually all the cars that evoke emotions among automotive enthusiasts. This year, they set a milestone by presenting their Ferrari F40 at the Tokyo Auto Salon. Wataru and Toshi (@libetywalk_toshi) entrusted us to send their Liberty Walk Nissan Skyline ER34 and came to the event with a large representation. The entire LBWK Team enjoyed immense popularity at the event, and took hundreds of photos with their fans, and reaching the TOP8.
When we initially brought race cars from Jagermeister (@rennmeister72) and the collection of Lotus John Player Special (@chromecars) to our event, we knew it was a one-way ticket. The history of motorsport has such a significant impact on us that we decided not to halt our search for more projects of this kind. As you can imagine, there are not too many of them, and if they do exist extracting them from private collections is in most of the cases very complicated. Happily we were able to get in touch with The Hofmeisters (@hfmstrs), a community based project centered around the BMW brand. The Hofmeisters have access to cars from the BMW museum in Munich, that lead us to believe that we would obtain something truly exceptional for the show. We went all-in, asking for the BMW M1 Procar and one of the most interesting Art Cars: the BMW E36 DTM 'Sandro Chia.' To put it bluntly, we gave the guys a chance to refuse, hoping to at least see one of these unique cars. You can imagine how surprised we were when a truck arrived at the stadium with both of these cars, escorted by a BMW E9 CSL.
Working on the next edition, one of the priorities was also development of the "Next Level” drifting show. Last year, you could witness Hert (@hertlife) tearing it up, we knew this year had to be even better. We hadn't even started looking for a worthy successor when we received a message from a friend in Dubai. Affirmation and subconscious attraction to good people worked; we're talking about Sultan Al-Qassimi from the United Arab Emirates and his Porsche 997 Old&New – Slant Nose. The only challenge was how to bring a car from Dubai to the Wrocław stadium just 7 days before the event. All our partners who usually import cars for us from Japan and the US failed in this task, but fortunately, @sultanfq came to the rescue not giving up as easily. As a result, you could see him smoking the track in the company of among others, @jimmyoakes, @alclark, and the whole @nextleveldrift crew. If there's something we love most about Ultrace, it's that it brings together completely unique individuals in very extraordinary configurations
Speaking of connecting right people, there were definitely more of those connections. Starting with the visit of Lownatics, who decided to spend a whole week in Wrocław, representing their crew with everything they have best. They had the time of their lives, taking advantage of the kindness of the police and exclusive access to gas stations. The entire story was captured on film by the unique Australian-Polish trio, consisting of Josh (@d_a_t_e_d), Kacper (@chielowskik), and Kamil (@kozlarek_). To not to mention Renan Roberto, a Brazilian who travels the world covering automotive events, he also has covered a considerable distance to join us this year. Another equally unexpected and exceptional connection was our collaboration with Peaches One Universe (@peachesoneuniverse) from Seoul which connected Michał (@goodchubby), Sebastian (@the.indecent), and Alex (@alex.lxfelgen), to create signature designs for BMW M4, Porsche 997, and Ferrari 355, which were premiered at the stadium.
Working on elevating the event's quality, we presented you with unique lineup of Porsche 962 , Porsche 935 along with two original BMW E21 Group 5 cars. We're talking about cars worth millions of euros that inspired us to create a completely new attraction for you - the "Club Ultrace Lottery." Specifically for this purpose, we built a high-quality replica of the BMW E21 Group 5, which could be won during the event! The winner invested 6 euros and now enjoys owning a road-legal car that is impossible to encounter anywhere else in the world. We had more of absolute rarities worth mentioning, like a prototype from Nardone Automotive. This French company specializes in building restomods based on the Porsche 928. The quality and finesse of their solutions captivate both tuners and purists. An extraordinary experience was seeing a serial 928 model next to its modern reinterpretation signed by Nardone. Since we're already talking about prototypes, we can't forget the Porsche 935 Kremer K3 Turbo @chromecars, another racing icon that won the legendary Le Mans endurance race in 1979!
However, we wouldn't be true to ourselves if we claimed that organizing Ultrace 2023 was a just a series of uninterrupted successes. For the first time, we encountered the limits, both for the venue and efficiency of our team. Nevertheless, we have learned from all the shortcomings and we promise to come back stronger next year. Sometimes, you have to take a very difficult step back to take two steps forward and reach the another level. That's exactly what will happen next year, our top priority is to reduce the number of visitors and significantly improve everyone's comfort. We already have a number of ideas and attractions that will greatly enhance the Ultrace experience in 2024.
It was wonderful to see all of you again; it's amazing to witness your enthusiasm and boundless optimism. We always do our best to meet your expectations, and to make each event the best it can be. We've experienced extreme emotions associated with both successes and failures, but in hindsight, was an experience we appreciate the most. Exploring new, undiscovered areas in the automotive world and having the opportunity to share this adventure with you is our greatest reward, for which we sincerely want to thank you. Ultrace 2023 is a closed chapter for us, and we are redefining our goals to surprise you in the coming year - expect the unexpected.
TOP16 Awards:
TOP1 Pontiac Fiero @hard_style_stance
TOP2 Rolls Royce Silver Spur @mister.msix
TOP3 Toyota Cresta @nlgl.grg
TOP4 Kevin @nightride.pl
TOP8 BMW E36 LTO @the_kyza
TOP8 Porsche 911 @moe_pipifein
TOP8 Nissan R34 LBWK @libertywalknation
TOP8 Volvo Amazon Estate @balsbergs
TOP16 Mazda Rx7 @lurchkas
TOP16 Porsche 911 Syberia @burkhard_industries
TOP16 Nissan S15 @silvia_black_s15
TOP16 BMW E30 M3 @benreader__
TOP16 VW T1 @reifenscheune
TOP16 Toyota Supra MK4 @supraworkshop
TOP16 Porsche 928 @nardone_automotive
TOP16 Lexus LS400 @njs_garage
