Drifting in the Drift
Irish BMW stunt driver Mattie Griffin awes Muldersdrift with his talented motorcycle skills.
Thirty-eight-year-old stunt driver Mattie Griffin took to the stage at the Pure and Crafted Festival on Saturday, 30 September to showcase the amazing things he can do on a stunt bike.
Wheeling his BMW F800 R across a concrete surface with ease, Mattie made being a stunt driver seem effortless.
Photo: Bianca Pindral
The Irishman, who is a humble and kind driver, said that it was the most challenging surface he has ever ridden on.
“Difficult is an understatement,” he said. “The surface is small, super slippery, and bumpy as hell. This limits my range of stunts tremendously, and I hope I don’t disappoint.”
And with a 200kg bike there’s little room for error.
But, as his first show started, the crowd cheered with great vigour because of the amazing stunts Mattie did.
Even though the driver broke his foot practicing for this event last year, he said it was exciting to see how the crowd enjoyed his performance.
“I’ve been passionate about anything with an engine since I was 6 years old, so being able to do this for a company I believe in so much is really just living the dream.”
Photo: Bianca Pindral
Mattie has been a stunt driver for 12 years now, and has spent 7 of them with BMW.
Although he made the doughnuts around a woman, standing wheelies and drifts seem like the easiest thing to do, he warns that it takes a long time, years in fact, to accomplish perfection on a motorcycle.
“Body armour, shin armour and helmets. That’s my advice to young drivers. You are going to fall. But as long as you ‘fall, tuck and roll’, you’ll be okay.”
Mattie is now looking forward to going home to his partner, his son and his step-son whom he misses quite a lot when he travels the world standing on the back of an 800cc machine.
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