An Instagram-famous South Korean drift racer attracted more than 100 fans to Richmond’s Garden City Shopping Centre on Saturday night.
Hawaii-born Sara Choi, 29, is a rare female drift racer in the male-dominated car-racing world.
While in Vancouver for the Canada-wide Driven Aftermarket Show tour, Choi decided to host her own pop-up car meet after to meet other local car enthusiasts while enjoying some bubble tea.
“Richmond’s where all the Asians are at,” said Choi.
“It’s also great to throw (car) meets at a plaza that has boba for car enthusiasts.”
Richmond resident and motorcyclist Angela Chang was among the fans at the pop-up event to meet Choi.
Chang said she was starstruck but she finally worked up the courage to greet Choi and described her as kind and warm and “easy to chat with” even though she was surrounded by a crowd of fans.
“I’m a big fan of women who have the courage to venture into traditionally male-dominated industries so it was definitely inspiring to meet Sara,” said Chang.
“Her presence is empowering to any other women who are following in similar footsteps, whether in the automotive industry or any other industries.”
Choi told the Richmond News she was surprised by the number of drivers and fans who showed up despite the last-minute announcement on her Instagram page.
“I had no idea Canada had a huge automotive scene, especially the number of female drivers here,” she said.
“Not that I’m not happy to meet male fans, but when a girl comes up to me, it hits very differently. It’s very humbling.”
It sometimes gets lonely as a female in the car-racing world, Choi said.
“Sometimes I can’t really relate to many other females so it’s really a happy thing for me to see other female car enthusiasts.”
Choi became interested in cars at the age of 15 while working at a tune-up shop in Honolulu. There she found a passion for cars and was eventually introduced to drifting and moved on to a career in racing.
“Somehow in the blink of an eye (my career) kind of got to this point,” said Choi.
She was, however, worried car drifting would die, so she’s happy to be part of car culture and promoting drift-racing.
“I’m just happy that it’s still a non-dying sport.”
