ADGP :: Round Two, Day 1.

Well it’s been quite a long time between drinks for me I must admit. But when Gwyn from Gripshiftslide asked me to go out and have a look at the new competition in Australian professional drifting, well that’s as good excuse as any to come out of retirement. Although mother-nature decided she would throw a few curve balls my way with ominous rain and intermittent cloud cover just to make it that little bit harder.

Arriving at the track by 0800 I was able to get an idea of the layout by panning across the open and flat course that is QR. In the past I’ve covered Stadium Drift which substituted more turns for less straights. However at QR the back straight (commonly utilised in the Sprint Series, Powercruise & now Time Attack) would be used as the entry point for maximum speed leading into the dipper followed by a sweeping left back to the northern end of the track. This in a sense really leveled out the playing field, as even the QLD drivers were unfamiliar with this course, so to say I was excited was a fairly large understatement. To couple this excitement I decided to familiarize myself with the pit layout.

The first car I noticed was 50MAN, a very nicely presented Nissan 180sx with an aggressive S14 front.

After no more than 10 seconds, the driver Tony Harrison introduced himself, asked if I wanted to see under the bonnet, inside the boot for the fuel setup etc, just an all round nice guy to talk with.

The motor setup seemed very familiar, and then I remembered Tony ran an LS1 VN for a number of years, and now seems said motor has made its way into the 180. The only other cars that could match this thing for noise and pure obnoxiousness were the two 350z’s.

Tony completing a reenactment of a 360 spin.

Parked just opposite Tony was ‘The Boss Hog’ Danny Kenneally and his renowned Hogs Breathe Café Silvia Ute. Danny’s record over the last few years in Australian drifting is impressive in itself, notching up well over the 50 mark in podium finishes.

Pit lane in itself obviously has the cream of the crop, but you can’t forget about what lurks in the adjacent car park. I managed to find a few beauties on my walks.

Luke Finks daily S14 – Exceptionally tidy!

Dru’s daily R35 GTR. Also worth noting his track car will be competing in the Time Attack series, pictures of that jizz machine later!

A nicely presented FD RX7 from Stiff-Diff.com

Tina’s 02JAP 350z.

Jerome Kennedy’s S15, 530bhp SR20 running a TD06 built by Ivan at Hi-Power Racing.

I managed to catch up with Ivan on the weekend, he also did a lot of work on my own car.

Joe Waghorn’s Nissan S15…

Punching out a healthy 480bhp.

Don’t we all?

Robert Turner in his incredibly clean time attack S15.

Chris Coroneos in staging for his first time attack practice session.

James Willard’s ballistic EVO 6.5. The noise this thing made was beyond belief.

Dru Schull’s Nissan R35 GTR , also a competitor in this years WTAC.

By this time most of the clouds had partially vanished, but due to the previous nights weather events, the schedules had been delayed slightly. Practice sessions began with the Track Battle Time Attack.




By now, it’s out with the grip and in with the slide, the drifters began their staging. Fink preparing for his first run.

Anthony Bilic – Much like Tony Harrison, Anthony was more than happy discussing his car, the track and overall competition with not only media, but the general public as well. He always gives something to the cameras!

Fink giving us the salute, legend.

Some final words of encouragement.

Ryan Cummings S13.5 – I will echo what Gwyn said previously, “this car is by far the best looking in the drift competition”.

Rob Whyte – The sound Bullet and Motul created was pure Armageddon!

This 180SX making a perfect entry to the ‘dipper’.

Fink – What can I say, I really don’t want to sound like a sack-rider, but when someone can throw their car into the entry being full perpendicular to the direction of the track, they get my vote.

Unfortunately for Jake Jones, this did not end so well. Over-corrected during practice, at least he tapped the wall!





Even great drivers like Jake even get a little bit too close at times.

Jerome Kennedy Linked this perfectly through the ‘dipper’, doesn’t look like much of a pig, it’s to clean!

As previously mentioned due to the new track layout and previous nights rain events, delays were to be expected naturally, but eventually the top 32 were qualified . check the Australian Drift GP website for the results.
Day two’s coverage will be up soon, until than…
Thanks for looking.
– David.