From Rally Legends to Track Drifts: TOP Spots in Liepāja for Motor Fans
Get ready for an adventure where historical passion meets modern adrenaline!
Get ready for an adventure where historical passion meets modern adrenaline!
Liepāja has long been known as a city where speed, power and courage are written into its genes. If your heart beats faster to the rhythm of an engine, if wind in your hair and the smell of burning tyres are your perfect weekend combination, Liepāja offers the perfect plan for a powerful motor experience. This summer, alongside the famous windsurfing sails and Liepāja rock, two names firmly stake their claim on the city map: “Garāža 1965” and “Drift Arena”.
🕒 Stop 1: Where did the legend begin? The “Garāža 1965” exhibition
Your motor weekend should start where the story of Liepāja rally found its soul. In the Kursa district, in a former net workshop, a unique rally history exhibition called “Garāža 1965” has opened its doors.
This is not an ordinary car show – it's a living story of determination, courage and immense enthusiasm. Interestingly, the exhibition takes you against the chronology:
- Modern power: You are immediately greeted by a beast – the “Škoda Fabia RS Rally2”, with which Mārtiņš Sesks and Renārs Francis just claimed 2nd place in the Scandinavian rally in Sweden.
- Iron Curtain contrasts: You travel back in time all the way to 1965, when Mārtiņš Sesks senior founded the city's first motorsport section and launched the legendary “Kurzeme” rally.
- The exhibition's treasure: Don't miss the legendary “Lada VFTS” – Uldis Sesks once drove his first Kurzeme rally in exactly the same car.
To learn more about the museum: link
🔥 Stop 2: From history to action! Feel the adrenaline at “Drift Arena”
Once your eyes have feasted and you've drawn inspiration from the legends of history, it's time to get behind the wheel yourself or experience speed on your own skin. Right there in Liepāja, “Drift Arena” awaits you – a place ruled by drifts, smoking tyres and pure adrenaline.
“Drift Arena” offers a full motor experience package:
- Adrenaline on the track: Get behind the wheel and, under the supervision of instructors, learn to control a drift trike, enjoying a real sense of handling and power on the track: link
- Virtual speed: If you want to test your skills risk-free, try the most modern drift simulators that provide incredibly realistic handling sensations: link
- Authentic Italian cuisine: After a proper dose of power, you can catch your breath and enjoy delicious, authentic Italian pizzas and refreshing, tasty drinks at the on-site café. It's the perfect way to discuss what you experienced on the track: link
🛠️ Liepāja's shared motor bloodstream
Why are these two places the perfect pair? Because together they show the full spectrum of Liepāja motorsport. “Garāža 1965” instils deep respect for mechanics, history and the people who built motorsport in Latvia with their bare hands. Meanwhile, “Drift Arena” shows how that same motorsport passion lives on today – in a modern, dynamic and maximally powerful format.
