DANVILLE, Va. – HyperFest, the largest automotive event on the East Coast is back. Starting Friday through Sunday, you, friends and family can experience fast cars and all sorts of fun activities.
“HyperFest is what we call the automotive amusement park. It’s a great weekend three days straight here at VIR. We’ve got on-track racing with NASA Mid-Atlantic. We’ve got driving with USDrift,” said HyperFest Operations Manager Kelsy Hill. “We also have a family fun zone. So, it’s a huge event open for everybody.”
There’s even music at night with Club HyperFest.
“A bunch of talent and music, they come out and party all night long,” said Hill.
Hill said they are expecting about 20,000 people to come out this weekend.
One of the activities you can do during HyperFest is drifting. You can either watch or ride in the car with professional drifters like Mike Perez.
“Drifting is basically a controlled power slide but oversteer of a car. So, we basically design the cars now to get the rear wheels spinning and keep them spinning while keeping the front end kind of planted on the pavement, and then we kind of just swing our butt around,” said Perez.
Perez said he’s been doing this for about 15 years. “I’ve been driving this car for close to a decade. Been all over the country now, and this is one of my favorite tracks to come out here. So, I’m definitely looking forward to the weekend of throwing this thing down the hill here,” said Perez.
If drifting isn’t your speed, you can also ride with professional drivers.
10 News had the chance to ride along with Professional Driver Andrew Heffring with Kaizen Auto Sport.
Heffring said he’s been racing for 10 to 15 years across Europe and the U.S. He said there’s no feeling like it.
“I just fell in love with the sport since I was a child and got into it with my family,” said Heffring.
Heffring said this is Kaizen Auto Sport’s sixth year providing ride-a-longs for HyperFest.
There is even karting during this weekend’s festivities.
“Karting in general is your intro into racing. You’ll find that basically all your pro drivers have started on go-karts as children,” said Director of Karting Patrick Eagan at Virginia International Raceway.
Again, HyperFest kicks off Friday until Sunday at VIRginia International Raceway