Toyota Korea Participates in the 2025 Boryeong-AMC International Motor Festival
BOREYONG, South Korea, May 9 (Korea Bizwire) — What began as a modest college car festival has evolved into one of South Korea’s largest grassroots motorsports events.
The Boryeong Motor Festival, now in its 15th year, drew a record 150,000 visitors to Daecheon Beach earlier this month, marking a dramatic rise in public engagement with automotive culture in a country historically seen as a motorsports desert.
Launched in 2011 by Ajou Motor College, the event has grown exponentially in recent years, especially after relocating to the popular beachside city of Boryeong in 2023. Last year’s attendance reached 133,000, up from just 20,000 in 2021 — and this year’s surge suggests the festival is fast becoming a cultural staple.
From May 3 to 5, the festival showcased more than 250 vehicles and featured interactive attractions including drift demonstrations, gymkhana races, and off-road test drives of high-performance SUVs.
Toyota Korea, a long-time sponsor, hosted its own “Gazoo Racing” booth and offered rides in vehicles like the Lexus LX 700h, while displaying its GR Supra sports car.
“This is about more than engineering and education — it’s about sharing the joy of automotive culture,” said Ajou Motor College President Han Myung-seok. “The festival is helping to broaden the foundation for motorsports in Korea.”
Professor Park Sang-hyun, who helped create the event, contrasted Korea’s automotive culture with that of other countries where even small motorsport events see family participation. “We wanted something more fitting than celebrity concerts at college festivals — something that celebrates the car itself,” he said.
A car designed and assembled by university students themselves
Rather than traditional oval-track racing, the Boryeong festival emphasizes accessible motorsport disciplines like drift and gymkhana, which allow audiences to get up close to the action. “These events bring motorsports to the people,” Park said. “They’re the grassroots.”
Toyota has embraced this grassroots mission. The company’s Japanese parent refers to such initiatives as “kusanone” (grassroots) motorsports, and its chairman Akio Toyoda — known by his racing pseudonym “Morizo” — has personally participated in Korean drift events, most recently appearing alongside Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun in a joint showcase last October.
“Motorsport is a 3D experience — visual, auditory, and olfactory,” said Lee Byung-jin, Vice President of Toyota Korea. “We’re here not just to sell cars, but to help shape a car-loving culture.”
Lexus Off-Road Experience Zone
Toyota is also investing in automotive education, partnering with universities through initiatives like T-TEP and donating vehicles for student research. “The students racing endurance cars they designed themselves — that’s passion,” Lee added.
This year’s event even featured a husband and wife team who brought their own imported Toyota GR Yaris and modified Hyundai Pride to compete in drift and gymkhana events — a vivid example of how the festival has fostered community and creativity.
Much of the festival’s success is credited to the support of Boryeong City, which has embraced it as part of its broader tourism and cultural development strategy. “It’s rare for a university to sustain a festival like this alone,” said President Han. “But with the city’s support, it has grown into something that contributes meaningfully to the region.”
With its blend of speed, spectacle, and grassroots enthusiasm, the Boryeong Motor Festival is now steering Korea’s car culture into new territory — one drift at a time.
Image credit: Toyota Korea, Yonhap / photonews@koreabizwire.com
