ADGP Day One :: Tight And Tough

Australias best drifters lined up for the first round in a new national drift series.
Calder park thunderdome was the place to be.

The biggest drift event of the year proved a worthy challenge for many. The course was mostly made up of water barriers and was not what everyone was expecting.

All of the drift competitors looked unsure about the layout. There were many broken drifts and sudden handbrakes.

Confidence grew as the drifters slowly started to find there range.

Even race officials were surprised by how hard these guys were pushing it.

There was so much drift action going on it was hard to pick who was leading the day.

The insane crew looked good with there clean new sticker jobs, each individually personalized!

Some drifters were getting sideways way before the first real corner.

Time attack sessions gave the drifters a chance to repair there tired machines.

The pits were a hive of activity, heavy gearbox surgery took place mid way through the day.

This is just a small sample of the carnage that unfolded during the day. The restrictive course resulted in a demolition derby which left Australia’s finest drifters bewildered.

It was hard to find a straight panel on some of these battle tanks.

The top teams had put everything into preparation for this event and the cars looked mint.

The supreme caravans 180sx was looking good, creatd motorsports had given this car a new paint job and the team was puting in a strong performance all day long.

Battle scars were prevalent though out the field.

largest car award goes to this Ford ZL Fairlane, the bloke did well to keep this monster on the track.

A strong performer was Tom Monkhouse, always willing to throw it all out there.

it was flat out on the back straight, most of the field kept the drift going until the turn in.

The thunderdome turned into the icy dome once the sun was down. Yet the crowd was still there to see the top solo runs from the 32 best drivers.
It was great to see calder park thunderdome and lots of people enjoying the day. I can only hope that this venue once sold does not turn into a housing estate! Victoria needs this track to stay alive for the good of motorsport.
Lets hope day two of the Australian Drift GP brings another day of incredibly close action.
-Grant