“Driven Calgary 2019 was likely the last one for me as a participant, at least for the foreseeable future….

….other cars from our circle will still attend, I’ll of course never stop going at least as a spectator, and I wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to return with Mustard (or another build) in the future, but I went into the show this year expecting it to be the end for a while. This love of cars and the lifestyle will never go away and we’re fortunate to have teams of people like the Driven staff putting together these events for us, bringing us all together to showcase our projects and connect with other enthusiasts, so I’ll always support it and look forward to it every year regardless of which side of the show I’m on.”

Above is what I wrote to close out the intro post to Driven 2019, and obviously it was long before any of us knew what was to come the following year. I went into Driven 2019 planning to take a break for a little while afterwards, but expected it to be because of my own decision to step back and not because of the world going wrong. A little over two years later we find ourselves finally able to have a Driven show again and while in my head I’d originally pictured a longer hiatus from the event, when the opportunity arose to enter for this year I happily took it.

Also as I’d written in the 2019 entry, more and more of us at that time were stepping back from the show scene to focus on careers and families and that’s only truer today with more friends now being parents and more cars either sold off or spending more time in hibernation, to return at a later date. However, there are also those of us who’ve stubbornly kept busy in the garage over the last 27 months and have new or updated projects with which to enter Driven; and it’s due to both of these factors that our own little group will look quite different this time around as compared to years prior.

First up, many people have asked me if Mustard would be going back to Driven this year and the answer to that is no. Mustard had its run at the show – entering six years in a row and winning twice – and as such has been retired from the event now. We did what we set out to do with the car and its days of competing at shows are more or less behind it. Instead, it’ll be the S15’s Driven debut given the substantial progress it has seen in the last couple of seasons. I didn’t even own the car at the time of the last show!

Next up, the S13 is also a car that won’t be returning to Driven – or at least for a while. It too went a few years in a row (and won) and has also been asked to step back from the event to help change out the cars on display. The Thunderbird had also attended and won previously, so it too will sit this year out. Instead, Dijon will be making its own Driven debut as it has evolved enough and is at a fairly solid state of modification now. While Mustard won’t be present, we can still say that we’ve had a Yellow Blaze Mk3 at every event since 2013!

The last car for our trio this year is keeping with the theme of being new to the show, and that would be Ruzz’s RS! He picked this up in 2019 and hasn’t ever slowed down its rate of progression, resulting in the most powerful and fastest car in the group in a fairly short span of time. With many more new updates for this season, he’s bringing an extremely reworked example of the Mk3 platform to the event to provide strong competition for Dijon, Yolanda’s ST, and whatever other Foci show up.

Speaking of modifications, one thing the return of Driven has brought with it is that familiar pressure to get things done, and as such there are a number of modifications and updates to the cars that now need to be properly shared on the site. Having something big on the calendar once again has been a welcome motivator to finally get some installs carried out and look for further ways to improve the cars so that they’re as good as they can be for the show. Some you would have seen snippets of on our Instagram over the last little while, but I’m looking forward to now having the opportunity to share them in detail and publish the photos/video that were captured during the process – especially in the case of the Miracle Cross Bar the S15 now wears as there was much more to it than just opening the box and bolting it in.

First up though will be to share the coverage from the show itself, which should be a good one! Like with many years prior, I’m writing this post and scheduling it in advance so that it can be ready to go live at the appropriate time while we’re still working behind the scenes to finalize everything for the event (which is happening today, for those of you reading this the morning it goes live); there are surely a few late nights ahead!

However, I’m okay with that. 2019 me had frankly been looking forward to taking a slight step back from big events and relaxing a bit, but 2021 me couldn’t be happier to be returning. Welcome back Driven!

-Bill

DRIVEN CALGARY 2021:

Southcentre Mall Parkade

July 24th, 1 – 7 PM