Vic Drift :: April Members Day

Winton Raceway was once again host to another Vic Drift practice day, being a members only day you have to hold a current club membership to be able to enter.
I believe the popularity of drifting in Australia is finally on the rise. After seeing the amount of cars entering and supporting the club, we are in for a good future.
With so many people traveling 2-4 hours and spending their hard earned just to drive on a practice day, it is a very good sign, not just for the Vic scene but Australia-wide as well.


The level of skill of the drivers is getting better each and every time I attend one of these practice days, there are always plenty of spins and people heading off track too to keep us on the edge of our seats.
But throughout the day, every driver shows so much improvement and most carry that on to the next event, getting better each time.

The weather was beautiful with hardly any wind at all, this made for some interesting shots as the smoke would settle on the track and create some creepy backdrops.

Justin Powers has recently made the switch from behind the lens to behind the wheel and he is killing it!

The car is looking great with all the Insane Drifters livery, loving the sticker location Justin.

The thing that surprised me was the amount of smoke the cars were getting. Normally on a practice day there are only a handfull of cars that can ‘bake’ the rear wheels. Not this practice day though, everyone was showing off!

Entry speeds were also pretty impressive, this of course got a few drivers out of their comfort zones and a few left the track…

Dirt drop!!

Dirt bomb?

There were a few moments with almost ‘Drift Train’ groups linking corners in succession. It looked great seeing some very different cars and drivers of multiple skill levels ripping up the track together.

This R33 was easily one of the most consistent drivers all day, the setup must have been perfect for the day.

Each lap he looked as though he was the happiest person at Winton that day and with all that smoke in your rear view mirror, who wouldn’t be?

As I said before, the smoke made things pretty interesting.

Someone that was going absolutely berserk, was Troy and his rotary powered Corolla!

I always get the same funny feeling seeing this car out on the track. When you look at an ant scurrying across the ground they look unnaturally fast… that’s the sensation I get when Troy’s tiny AE86 flies past!!!

Although, I think it might be because this car is actually scarily fast, while the exterior isn’t as crazy as the engine bay but the interior is perfect!
Clean and functional.

Unfortunately Troy had an incident with the little hatch on one of the last laps of the day, the AE86 ran wide through a corner and became airborne off the rumble strip.
When it came down, it came down hard!! There is a lot of structural damage underneath and we are hoping along with Troy that it can be repaired.

Jason Ferron’s V8 swapped R31 sounded tougher than ever!

This is what this car does best!

Adam ‘Silky’ Graham was going well all day in his S14 despite blowing a turbo in the afternoon!!

Michael Prosnik in the Supreme Caravans 180SX.

The car is performing just as perfectly as it looks, since it’s makeover.

Everyone convince your parents to buy a caravan from these guys, help them because they have done a lot for the Victorian drift community.

Billie’s Sil80 is back from its hibernation, running a new engine setup.

Billie and James are still ironing out some teething issues but it’s nice to see ‘Ziptie’ back in action.

Whats this? ‘Ziptie’ has a brother? Yes!! Billie and James have got their Cefiro track-side now as well!

This Falcon Ute was actually going pretty well all day, no massive angles but the car was sideways every chance it had.

However it did have two wall taps. This was the worse of the two but luckily the Winton safety crew were quick to act!

I’m a big fan of Roman’s 180SX, the car looks great at every meet scraping it’s sump on the cats eyes as it drives on the street.

On the track that very same car at the same height slides like an animal!!

More R31 goodness, there is just something cool about four doors sliding!

Another car I haven’t seen much of before was this “kicker” 180SX.

The 90’s graffiti look grew on by the end of the day too!

Ender Esenyel about to head out for his last track day before ADGP’s in Tasmania.

I think it’s safe to say Ender is loving his new tune, the SR20 is now making 325KW at the wheels!!

Ender’s S13 is probably the most photogenic car in the drift scene at the moment, no matter what colour, parked or driving it looks great!!

It was lucky that Ender had this chance to take the car out as a few laps into the day the car started to misbehave,  thinking the worst he retired the car to the pits.
After a day or two of hunting down the cars ‘gremlins’, the problem was solved by swapping out the crank angle sensor.
I can’t wait to see how he goes in Tassie for the first round of the ADGP series.

Ibi Kunduraci smoking up a storm in the Transcar S15.

In the last 12 months I have seen this car progress, it’s always looked great but it’s performing so well now.
Great work Ibi!!

Mrs Vic Drift herself, Catherine May!
After the new addition of one solid looking roll cage, Mrs May seems to be feeling invincible on the track.

Every time I looked, Catherine was either sideways or smoking up the rear wheels.
Much more consistent driving from Vic Drifts #1 female driver, awesome stuff Cat!

Another driver constantly impressing me is Nick Bennett of Team Tuffcore fame, being a close friend of mine I’ve been able to see the effort going into building this car and to see him enjoy it is priceless!!
Well it’s actually $40, for a high-res copy 😛

Despite some issues with the engine/tune the car performed well and made good use of those rear tyres!

Now my pick of the drivers would have to be this guy in this fearless silver KE Corolla, seeing this car drift the entire straight was definitely my highlight of the day.

The car just did not stop drifting, great driving!!

The sun faded a lot earlier now that summer is over, leaving you with this sun set and smokey haze as everybody packed up to head home.
Another great day by everybody, despite a few bad eggs wondering around the pits and taking other peoples belongings it was a great day to skid.
I hope everybody enjoyed themselves and these photos, I’ve mixed things up a little with my editing for these. Being a practice day I thought I’d practice with my camera too, let me know what you like and what you don’t like about them.
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.