Skids & Tea At Circuit Meppen

If you call the Netherlands, Belgium or Germany home, and know anything about local street drifting scenes, there’s a good chance you would have heard of the Skids and Tea blog.

Around 10 years ago, friends Lars and Sebastiaan began posting photos and videos of their late-night street adventures in two Mazda MX5s. Often, these drives finished up with licorice tea at the end of the night, and the name ‘Skids and Tea’ was born.

While Sebastiaan eventually began focusing on other hobbies, Lars kept things going and Skids and Tea grew.

By documenting his and his friends’ builds and after-dark antics here in the Netherlands and abroad, Lars has created a tight-knit community of passionate drifters who appreciate early-2000s Japanese drift car style. I have attended several Skids and Tea street meets over the years, and as they’ve always been kept small and selective, there’s never been any trouble.

As you may have seen from various show coverage on Speedhunters, there’s a pretty large modified car scene in the Netherlands. Drifting, however, only has a small following. Some of that can be put down to accessibility. Currently, there is only one circuit that caters for drifting in the Netherlands, and that’s just a tiny oval track with a three-corner infield and a very sketchy concrete outer bank. The other two tracks that once allowed drifting stopped doing so due to noise and pollution complaints. Those complaints ultimately led to drifting only being allowed on wet tracks to keep the noise and smoke to an absolute minimum – a rule that many other circuits in Europe have adopted.

Another factor might be the number of ‘’missiles’ that have historically attended drift Dutch events. Nine times out of 10, these are BMW E36s that are no longer identifiable as a sedan, coupe or compact because their whole rear end has seen more concrete barriers than car washes. I get it, everyone has to learn somehow, but I’m sure that many people are put off by having to share track space with these rough and ready machines.

This is why many Dutch and German drifters skip local days altogether, instead setting their sights on events like Next Level and Shotsu Drift in Poland. But these are ultra-popular and competitor numbers are, of course, limited, so not everyone entering from abroad gets a spot.

For these reasons, Lars decided it was time for a more style-oriented and non-competitive drift day closer to home. He reached out to the owners of Circuit Meppen, a short (2.15km/1.34mi) yet technical track located in Meppen, Germany – just 15 minutes from the Netherlands border – built on the grounds of a former power plant.

After a little back and forth, Lars and Circuit Meppen reached an agreement. All 50 driver slots for the first event held late last month quickly filled from within the Skids and Tea community.

And what a day it was; the variety and quality of cars were amazing.

As the track surface needed to be wet – this circuit has the drift restriction as well – only a part of the full layout could be used. This consisted of some nice cambered corners and fast sections, keeping it fun for all skill levels.

The lack of tyre smoke was compensated with good vibes. There was no competition, just loads of seat time for drivers and passengers, with everyone helping each other out and sharing knowledge, exactly how grassroots drifting should be.

Koen de Laat, better known as KUHNS, was at the event in his E21, which you might recognise from my feature on it back in March. Sadly, Koen had some fueling issues, which resulted in the BMW’s turbo M10 engine blowing its head gasket later in the day.

The Polderlife boys are well known in Europe for their aggressive driving style and were living up to that reputation at Circuit Meppen.

Let me know if you want to see more of Mick and his 2JZ-swapped Toyota Cressida, a combination originally seen in a certain blue Norwegian X30.

If you thought Adam LZ had bought them all up, you thought wrong. I saw not one, but two cars running Blitz Type 03 wheels at the event.

This lineup of old-school Toyotas looked like a scene straight from Japan.

Watching Mike, a coworker of mine, throw his AE86 around all day made me remember how much I miss my Hachiroku.

Sidney, the owner of this clean R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R on 18-inch BBS wheels, is the same guy who built the white, authentic ’90s-styled PS13 Silvia we featured in 2023.

Despite its low engine output, this first-generation Mazda RX-7 had plenty of fun on the wet track

I really can’t say enough good things about this event. It felt like a day at the skatepark when you were younger, just hanging out and having fun. Furthermore, it inspired me to build an ’80s rear-wheel drive car again.

The next Skids and Tea at Meppen date is already booked and blocked off in my calendar with a big fat marker.

Collin Tiemens
Instagram: collinclicksphotos