Vicdrift – Gripshiftslide

VICDRIFT :: Round #4 – Things get serious

Grant — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 10:58:44 +0000

The year is quickly coming to an end, it’s this time of year when all the motorsport events start to fire up as the weather begins to get warmer.
Round #4 of the Victorian Drift Championship was held at Calder Park in front a strong crowd and a large amount of eager drivers.

Every year we seem to see a changing of the guard, a new champion and a new set of hungry drivers ready to take the title of Victorian Drift Champion.

This is the second last event of the championship, the time to count points, the time to patch the car up and hope it holds together for the upcoming battles.

The day had just begun, it was time for the drivers briefing which was held on track. The drivers were about to learn what exactly the judges wanted to see from them, some divers attentively listened to the judges while others were just talked smack to their mates.

Last year round 4 was won by this man; Adian Ing, he surprised everyone by beating out some very seasoned veterans of the sport. This year he has found him self in a new car for the season and has been looking to steal another win.

This layout is as fun for the drivers as it is for the crowd! Having to throw the car with full commitment straight at the crowd then transitioning up and around the bend makes for an exciting spectacle.

Some of the higher powered cars tended to bog down and lose momentum on this particular track layout. The higher grip lower powered cars were impressive as they are able to catch ground quickly on their high powered rivals.

Jason Ferrons new rig has had its up’s and down’s! Haunted hill’s really made the car look like a half crushed coke can. With help from friends and a lot of talented people the R33 sedan was fashioned back together in time for round #4.

Be gone shabby paintwork! The boys over at WrapedUp did an amazing job making Jason’s car look like it was straight from the paint shop.

Nissan is still the dominate platform for drift around Australia and in many other places around the world. With so many options for custom aftermarket parts made especially for drift I don’t see this trend changing anytime soon.

Choonga the president of VicDrift has had enough of sitting behind the sidelines and organizing everything.
Round #4 saw him borrow a friends R32 four door to jump in the mix with some of Australia’s best drivers.

Everyone was pushing hard during qualifying, Justin Gruener took the top spot followed closely by Christopher Schulze and Matty Russell rounding out the top three.

Every year I watch drivers come up through the ranks and overtime see their skill’s develop.
One of the drivers who has been very impressive in the last six months is Zac Bongnar. Although his name sounds like an evil villain straight from a bond film his driving is aggressive but not demonic.

Alex Gouveia has been charging hard all season! His battle’s are always super entertaining, he is one driver we will be seeing on the podium next year for sure! He put down plenty of great runs during the day but was knocked out of the top 8 by Justin Gruener.

The judges where wanting drivers to run wide on the first corner and touch wheels on a patch of concrete just at the start of the corner. To do this it required a fair amount of speed! Here you can see Zac Bongnar and Christopher Schulze’s first initiation before the cars even get to the corner. Zac’s battle against team mate Christopher was re-run it was so close! Eventually Christopher Schulze ended up winning this battle.

Top 16 and top 8 Results where read out right in front of the crowd sitting on the above hill. Drivers sat side by side as they were read their verdict.

Big power versus no power, Kevin Flynn almost ran into trouble narrowly missing Julian Di Battista on his run. The crowd cheered as they thought they were about to see carnage, yet Kevin Flynn’s years of experience kept him from binning the unique 2JZ S15.

I can’t imagine the thoughts going through Christian Stella head moments before he was to battle his long time friend and Vic Drift President Mathew Choong. Do you push it! Get on door? Or leave a safe distance?

Thankfully Christian Stella did all of the above without damaging the car that Mathew Choong had borrowed especially for the event. It was a great battle that was re-run it was so entertaining! Christian ended up taking the win and moving all the way up to the top 8.

The people’s choice award was voted live on facebook by the crowd watching the event, they chose Mathew Choong and Warwick Fitzgerald as there favorite divers of Round 4 Vic Drift Championship. This then meant that the two would have to battle to the death for the audience’s affection! Both drivers put on one hell of a show with Warwick taking the win in his small but mighty MX5.

Justin Gruener has been hard at work all year! Hey has reached the VicDrift podium many times in the last couple of years yet he has never been able to get the win. This time however all his stars aligned.

Not only did he take first qualifier and impress the hell out of the judges! But he also took the win at Round #4 and the best part is it was also his birthday! What a hat trick!

So who will take the crown of Victorian Drift Champion for 2017? With many regular names missing rounds of the championship its anyone’s game! The 2017 championship definitely looks like it is favoring the underdogs this year. The last round is quickly approaching and we cannot wait to see who can take the win this year.
Thanks for reading,
Grant.

VicDrift Round #3 :: It's not all about constistancy

Grant — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 23:37:12 +0000

This year is soon coming to a close, Round #3 has already arrived although it only feels like June. As the VicDrift Championship heats up the big players cut groves in the bitumen and solidify their positions in the series.

The seasoned drivers have wasted no time fighting their way to the top of the leader board, preparation, a strong team and many hours in the drivers seat are starting to pay off. These events are more than just a drive, hang time with old friends and new friends are what make this drift community so strong.

Looking good in this sport is half the battle, a great looking car definitely helps with building traction while capturing some attention from sponsors. These two are a prime example of this, both cars just cause people to stop and stare.

Josh Robinson was back with a newly installed 6 speed sequential Pfitzner performance gearbox and carbon fibre doors which has helped him shave an extra 100kg off the car. This means more acceleration for josh! The bad thing is that he will have to buy more taillights, The concrete walls of Calder Park are not very forgiving!

Could this be a trophy or just a creative tow hook made out of a conrod? There is most definitely a story behind this yet we may never know why such a creative tow hook was born.

One last check by Troy’s pit crew to make sure that nothing has come loose and everything is safe to hit the track.

Because Calder Park Thunderdome is essentially a giant bowl, on a cold day with high winds conditions just get amplified! Everyone was wearing as many clothes as they possibly could to keep warm.

This particular track layout has not been used for quite a while, it is an original ADGP layout. When this track layout was first launched 3 cars were almost written off and one camera man got injured. But the skills of the drivers are a lot better these days!

Being a lot faster than most other Thunderdome layouts, with big scando’s, a large banked straight and wall scrapes this course has it all.

Up the bank on the exit of the large sweeping corner is where drivers like Michael Bonney and Jason Ferron really excel by getting on door while blazing up the forty five degree angle banked turn.

The looming concrete walls that surround the Thunderdome are the only thing that you really need to avoid! well that and the dirt pit to the right of the sweepa.

With no probationary licence this young man at the ripe old age of 16 made some of the experienced drivers blush. Having never driven this layout while up against true veterans this young guy really proved that the young can adapt and evolve very quickly to the situation at hand.

Sometimes when you play follow the leader your lines can get a little wild. Many drivers dropped a wheel or two in the same muddy spot chasing the lead car.

With the recent sale of Calder Park the future of VicDrift is looking a little bit shaky, this track is the main track used by VicDrift for the majority of their events. The question is how long until they build houses right on top of Calder Park? From the top of the hill you can see the city and the spread of houses approaching this piece of motorsport history.

Struggling to get heat into the tyres and high winds didn’t help Josh Robinson’s campaign, he was knocked out of the top 8 by bonney who’s aggressive driving style was making mince meat of the competition!

Warwick Fitzgerald who is one of VicDrift’s legends was back in the hot seat pushing his MX5 to the limit against much more powerful cars! He put on some seriously close battles and even exchanged paint with a few drivers but sadly he got knocked out of the top 8.

Nerves may have got the best of Justin Gruener with some big performances in previous rounds many expected him to easily make it into the top 4 drivers of the day. But some silly mistakes in the top 16 battles saw Justin out of the running.

The speed of this layout is much faster than the FD layout that is normally run here. The drivers easily were getting into third and even fourth gear towards the end of their runs down the back straight.

There were so many close battle’s throughout the whole day it was hard to see drivers making any major mistakes. Its a good thing i’m not a judge otherwise I would have had battles constantly re-run to force mistakes to pick the winner.

Westside Concepts are really coming up with some unique designs, take this one for instance a combination of Jim’s Mowing and the Big Lez Show’s (Mike Nolan).

Two of the crowd favorites entered into a 80’s style drift battle with their retro drift cars, John Dreyer ended up getting the win which helped propel him into the top four.

You may be thinking why does this commodore look like it is unusually squatting? this is because of an accident at Winton and the best fix was to weld the rear of the commodore at this strange angle so it could be allowed back on track.

Among the thistles and broken chairs you could clearly see a battle in the distance. Going to war in a concrete dome is one fun way to spend a weekend but watching others fight there way to the top of the battle tree is even better.

With Sharky hot in the rear-view mirror its hard not to have a quick look back to see how close he really is.

Among the sea of cars within Vic Drift is a little ford escort with the heart of a Nissan! We have been watching this car appear and disappear over the last three years and it is always a joy to watch.

The true meaning of relationship goals! That’s right what you are looking at here is boyfriend vs girlfriend with some rather close tandem action.

The peoples choice award went to a strong character of the sport Sharky in a battle that was re-run several times and each time Sharky was on door.

Showing the same form that he had in Round one, Bonney’s transition’s while chasing where so insanely close that he was only leaving centimeters between him and his competition. Bonney’s driving was flawless! It was great to see a well deserved win especially when he has been working so hard this season of the Vic Drift Championship.
Thanks for reading,
Grant.

VicDrift RND#1 :: From Day To Night

Grant — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 10:53:45 +0000

Starting the day with a sleep in is the best! Getting to the track at midday was strange but awesome. A new year; a new system! The Dejager System!
Although the Dejager system sounds like some sort of Dutch mathematical term it really is a completely new way of organising drift battles and the competition tree.

With a host of new drivers competing in round 1 there were plenty of new faces that had travelled a long distance to tackle the infamous Calder Park.
This track layout has been run many times now and most of the drivers know it well however the cross over section can be tricky especially for newcomers.

Spotting a car you’ve seen on track years ago is like seeing an ex-girlfriend in a crowd of people. First you get flashbacks of the good times then you slowly release why you do not see them anymore.

Blasting out of the pits just in time for battle is the one and only Aaron Dewar in his new S14! If you’ve seen Aaron’s old car you will know he likes his cars on the more powerful side.
His new s14 build has all of the same party tricks and more.

Drift veteran Anthony Cece also made an appearance in his Kendra sponsored car. Coming all the way from Adelaide is a hell of a trip and it was great to see such a seasoned competitor showing the new drivers how it’s done.

Aaron Dewar wasted no time quickly thrashing the new car while ironing out the bugs.

Travelling from Radelaide Suspect Drift Team Joel Donegan was back to take on the Victorians at their own game. After impressing everyone at round 5 last year we can see he is back to do it it again while upsetting a few locals.

Greg Matthews in his neo s14 with a respectable 340kw from his rb25 powered rig. Not only does this car look the part it does quite well on the track!

Greg made good use of the cross over section of the track using his power to transition over the hill.

Waiting times at the dummy grid were a little lengthy because of the new system. At first winners of each battle were brought back on track to show the crowd who won but this really took too much time and was abandoned quite quickly.

Just like synchronized divers the SC team from Adelaide knew how to keep it together! Really one of the best, most in sync teams on the day.

Unfortunately, the Supra from Link Management that has traveled from NZ was having troubles all day but their trusty mechanic Mr Chicken was able to get the car running by night fall.

A new season and new graphics for the young and upcoming Alex Gouveia who is now battling against the best in this current season of the Vicdrift championship.

From photographer to driver Joey Canals was driving well the whole day and he even found time to check tinder between battles. Although he had never driven this track he quickly became comfortable with the layout.

It’s so good to finally see something other than a Nissan drifting on track! A BMW with a good old M52b28 engine and no dirty backyard sr20 job. The E30 is such a classic shape and we really hope to see more more of them enter the drift scene in the next few years.

Drift OG John Dreyer is making his return to drift in this classic Bluebird! He will be drifting the entire Vicdrift season in this very car. Whilst most of the top guys are running v8 powered Nissans John is going the low powered, skilled style of drift of the old days. We cannot wait to watch this car perform in the next up coming rounds.

The moment before Kevin Flynn from Driver Dynamics gave James Mackie a love tap leaving a permanent scar on his door. This was a close battle that got replayed several times. The battle was so close I don’t even know who won in the end.

As night fell it was clear that many of the cars had been poorly set up for the night. Headlights pointing toward the sky is a clear indication of a rushed night setup.
Vicdrift’s Facebook page exploded when the regulations for headlights were realeased with a ban on LED light bars! There were many angry drivers having to source OEM headlights for their cars in a hurry.

There was no shortage of skill on the night with the boys from Garage Worx / Team Elhaouli coming into the first corner full clip one handed while waving to the crowd.

Forced Motorworx people’s choice award! This was the chance for the crowd watching to give one of their favorites another chance. Bring back two favorite drivers to battle it out for the award that was live voted via Facebook. Amongst the public’s favourites were: Aaron Dewar, Adrian Ing, Luke Barbieri, Jason Ferron , John Capuano, Josh Robinson, Scott Dickie and Michael Prosenik.

There was not much light over the cross over section and a few cars nearly came unstuck. Luckily all drivers involved kept their wits and avoided damage.

Moe Elhaouli was down on power as his car had snapped its supercharger belt plus various other things had broken. He therefore had to nurse the car through the final battles against Justin Gruener. Although Moe’s car was down on power Justin’s car was still underpowered in comparison and he was lucky to beat Moe with his proximity and emulation.

Another great battle of the finals was between two well known characters of the club in Jason Ferron vs Matt Russell. Both pushed it to the limit with little to no mistakes making it very hard for the judges to pick a winner.

Michael Bonney has been on a tear in the last six months making a real charge for the spotlight and his confidence is growing with every win. His consistency kept him ahead of the field and it was enough to overcome Justin’s hard charging R33.

In the very last battle Bonney received a bump which broke all of his main exhaust mounts. This sent a plume of sparks along the track as his full exhaust was dragging underneath the car whilst he drifted towards the finish line! The crowd cheered as they were treated to a serious fireworks display.

Big changes bring big disruption. The new system made no new friends initially but many of the drivers grew to like the Dejager system by the end of the night; despite its initial technical difficulties. Let’s hope that round #2 runs smoothly and keeps the players happy.
Vicdrift Rnd 1 Results
1st – Michael Bonney
2nd – Tom Sabo
3rd – Justin Gruener
4th – Moe Elhaouli
Thanks for reading,
Grant.

Vic drift :: run the wall #2 practice day

Grant — Sat, 14 Mar 2015 11:54:21 +0000

As the sun slowly rose, cars moved back and forwards from the scrutineering bay. There were heaps of new cars fresh from drift skills ready to take on the challenge of calder park.

Early morning repairs are an essential when your going to be giving your car hell for the next 8 hours.

It does not matter how neat your engine bay is its how you drive that counts! too many people get so caught up in the aesthetics of there cars and not the function.

Showing off your JDM bull bar looks cool and avoids buying new front bars but having no protection for your intercooler is a risk many take.

Chequered Tuning and drift cat were doing some final checks on the car ahead of a full day of furthered tuning for the VK drift machine.

Nothing like a classic nardi steering wheel to complement an AE86. Such a cult car with so many of them being used only to hard park. Its great to see that this AE86 is used for the track were it belongs.

Everyone was egar to get on track, lining up early on the dummy grid ready to get sideways. With over 60 cars waiting to get on track the que just continued long into the day.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing, the track may look easy but it has its quirks. The ripple strips occasionally jump right out in front of you and if you do not have fast reactions they can bite!

There is throwing your car and there is really throwing the car! on the straight this is something only experienced people can pull off good looking manji drifts. The practice day is not only for the beginners its a great chance for people to get some extra track time under their belt.

The best way around the sweeper is good hard acceleration! especially on the exit to the main straight.

Neil still getting used to his S15 was gaining more confidence as the day wore on. He soon got a good hang of the track and was starting to link drifts pretty well.

Its been a long time since we have seen an RX7 on track! This particular one was very unique, with its overfenders and bonnet boob.

The crowd was small but their enthusiasm was big! Although only friends, family and pit crews seemed to be in attendance the atmosphere was

With big power comes big smoke, Michael Bonslide Bonney was out further testing and tuning his car while getting in some much needed practice.

Pros and armatures were mixing it up on track while pushing them selfs a little too hard at times. The practice day before the competition is a great chance to try new things and make sure the car is solid for the next days competition.

Coming hard into the sweeper with plenty of power while flicking the car sideways with a touch of handbrake is the what we like to see. Some choose to to just power drift it with almost no handbrake use, but we have seen that go very wrong many times!

There was a serious amounts of red flag track stoppages. These gave drivers a chance to reflect, talk to mates and organize battle partners.

This practice day was a special one “why” because it was the first time we had seen the full track drifted with the end corner resembling something out ebisu in japan.

Everything was going great until Jason Ferron pulled off a crazy high speed backwards entry into the corner that got everyone excited! Drivers kept pushing and pushing until two collided on the entry.

Every tyre that had some meat left on it was quickly put on to the remaining cars. The last session of the day was held with not much light, yet the drivers did not waste any time and quickly destroyed there last sets of tyres.

The end of the day came quick, ending in a meeting held on track. With drivers, vicdrift staff and coordinators collaborating together to arrange a completely new and never before seen track.
A track that was made to be difficult while providing close battles, VicDrift round #2 looked as though it was going to be something special! stay tuned for our coverage of the event and more from VicDrift.
Thanks for reading,
Grant

VicDrift :: Drift Summer Matsuri

Grant — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 09:35:16 +0000

Its been a long time since i have been to winton raceway. Missing drift is what had inspired me to make the 3 hour journey to Summer Matsuri. With a host of wicked cars due to show up at the event and my gear all charged. It was only the road trip that stood in front of me.

Wanting to get to Winton early i jumped in the van at 4am, if you have ever made the trip before you will know that it is pretty much all straight roads. Boaring and mind numbing but rewarding at the same time.

With the sun quickly rising i ran around trying to capture some of drift cars bathing in the morning sunlight before there epic sideways adventures.

Soon this hybrid ford / r33 skyline would be smoking more than “Cheech and Chong” tires of course! Not only where people up early and working on their cars, they were also getting over the effects of drift party life.

When all the money is spent on the car their is not much left over for the drivers or the crew. That means that breakfast is cornflakes served in a halved 2 liter milk container.

Summer Masuri runs both saturday and sunday, this r32 was showing some battle scars from Saturdays long drift sessions that ran well into the night.

Matt Russells drift machine always looks good! it has recently just come back from ADGP in sydney. Although it has been competing against the best in Australia the car still looks straight and is here ready for a casual drift with Vicdrift friends.

This drift interior shows exactly what is needed for your average drift set up. Not everyone runs a heap of gauges and the main essentials are oil, water and boost.

With only an hour until the first session people were already queuing up for their tyres. Impatiently waiting to hit the track and burn some rubber.

The SmashBox Sliders were out in force and ready for another hot day of sideways action. Ryan and Elliott’s cars were looking strong and after surviving Saturdays carnage they knew the cars could hold out for another full day of drift.

Everybody assembled for the drivers briefing, with over 100+ people in attendance yoshi had his hands full instructing the large crowd. The drivers briefing is a good way of letting all the drivers know whats expected of them on the day and how they should behave.

Looking at this large line of people you wouldn’t think that drift is unpopular,but the sad reality is that it’s a fringe Motorsporat in Australia. Yoshi and the VicDrift team are trying to change the impression of drift in this country, doing this at a grass roots level is a long hard job.

As the sun continued to rise it was time to hit the track. With 4 different classes and variety of driver talent the stage was set for yet another awesome day of drifting.

In the drivers meeting there had been a warning about a rut / drop off near the start of the winding section of the track just before the main straight. Luckly most cars avoided this nasty edge by not running so wide out of the first corner after the back straight.

Trent and cat have been using every chance they can to test and tune cat’s new car. Now that the suspension setup is nearly perfect it was time for Cat to get some serious track time. While watching the Chequered Tuning VK shred tyres i noticed a few strange track exits on to the dirt. It turns out the car was suffering from an electrical gremlin which caused the car to cut in and out while in 4th gear,Scary stuff! Luckily trent found the problem and fixed it quickly.

Drift matsuri is a good chance for drivers to push themselves and their own boundary’s. Taking the chance to do extreme entry’s when there in not many cars on track is one one to develop your skills.

Some of the drivers would choose to power up the straight or slightly drift. Only the skilled ones would continuously drift from the bottom corner up the straight into end corner.

I didn’t matter what class the car was part of the simple fact was that everyone on track could really drift. When i think back to the early days of drift at winton there were plenty of drivers that just couldn’t drift.

This is one car that was definitely in the wrong class and should of been part of class A. Why? because Aaron was linking drifts like a pro at high speed while entertaining the crowd.

Sumner Matsuri is one of the best times to practice tandem drift and working on proximity in a competition free environment helps the drivers develop their proximity skills.

Given the weather all of the cars were coping with the thirty degree day. Although it was only twenty in Melbourne Winton often gets alot hotter than Melbourne.

Although some of the drivers may not agree with the organizers of vicdrift decisions they appreciate the facility of vicdrift. Respect is hard to earn but one person who completely surprised me with there hidden talent was Choonga.

Throwing hard and holding nearly every drift choonga would cut pro lines with speed and grace. Good high angle entry’s with plenty of power! The boy can drift. If he did more drifting and had some serious sponsorship he could easily be within the top 10 drifters in Australia.

I have never seen a Corona drift before but I like it. Although it may be slightly heavier than the KE70 it is a smart choice for a good, low cost drift build that will turn heads.

What’s a Drift Matsuri without the traditional Drift Matsuri Burnout competition! This year there was a special guest from Summernats; yet the car that stole the show was this Starion with an incredible rollback burnout that had the crowd screaming like school girls.

Not only was it good at burnouts this old Mitsubishi could skid. With plenty of flair and deep drift lines the Starion really was entertaining to watch.

Track time is the name of the game. If you want to be better at drift then Vic Drift Matsuri is the best way to get some serious seat time. This event is one of the best places to see new emerging talent. Fresh cars, new drivers and a friendly atmosphere! Vic Drift really does know how to put on a show so if you have a taste for drift make sure you attend a Vic Drift event this year.

Calder Park :: Roadking Chassis Round 2 VicDrift Championship

Grant — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 05:27:13 +0000

The second round of the VicDrift Roadking Chassis championship was underway and it was clear that things were going to get pretty serious. Some of the biggest names in VicDrift had arrived to continue their fight for the championship. The small crowd quickly grabbed a seat and settled in for what would be one of the best drift competitions since Formula Drift visited Australia.

Drift Squid had made the long trip to Calder Park from South Australia to lay down some skids. Last time he was in town for a Vic Drift event his handbrake destroyed itself but this time the car was good to go and ready for battle.

Jakes pilot chair looks inviting and when you glance in, it is hard to ignore all the coloured buttons that are just begging to be pressed.

The Toyota Cressida is not normally known as a drift weapon, but this rig is more than just a luxurious ride.

This car has seen its fair share of battles and if zip ties could tell stories, then I’m sure that all these ones would have a yarn or two to tell.

The little Onevia with its’ big brothers the R33’s. No one knew that this Onevia was capable of mixing it with the big boys and it sure made the judges take notice.

It’s great to see Warrick’s MX5 frequenting a few events recently.

Ever wondered what tyres look like after a few laps at Calder Park? Well this is it! You can see that the tyre has been worn down right to the ply cords. Depending on the car, most tyres don’t last more than 5 hard laps on the rough surface known as Calder Park.

Adam was really killing it with massive amounts of smoke and angle and the crowd was loving the action! Running with no front bar for maximum air, Adam’s Onevia was screaming like a wild octane fueled banshee.

It’s great to see support from sponsors while the sport of Drift is still finding its feet. With 1,800 fans through the gates over the two days already, who knows what potential numbers the events could draw in if there was even more sponsorship.

Peter’s R33 was cutting lap after lap of drift perfection, he made it look so effortless!

The LS1 equipped R31 driven by Jason had been preforming well all day until he took a passenger for a ride and took a bit too much speed down the straight and ended up just slightly off the track.

From the stands the crowd does not get to see the start line or how a battle is often won or lost by a bad start. Often the more powerful car will fang it down the straight and leave the less powerful car behind causing the underpowered car to drive straight through corners to catch up to the lead car.

The VicDrift safety crew were on high alert! By midday there had been several red flags and even one small car fire that was quickly put out by the Calder Park track safety crew.

While hanging it all out, the Cressida’s boot became dislodged and every wild swing of the steering wheel would cause it to open! The crowd cheered as he went past but the boot problem was soon fixed before Chris’ next lap much to the crowds dismay.

Throwing it right at the apex was Peter in his Lookout Drift Racing R33, the car is so low that the ripple strip nearly claimed his front bar.

Another standout performance was Lachlan’s powerful R32. He had some great snap initiations and held strong angle through the main corners. Pleasing the judges is one thing but making the crowd and also the judges happy is the hardest thing. Luckily Lachlan could achieve both.

Making epic smoke was no problem for this beast! With the sound echoing off Calder’s sidewalls, people knew this car was more than just a boosted R32.

The mighty LS7 truly had to be close to the most powerful car of the day. With a smoke trail that seemed to never end and the air filled with tyre remnants, there was no stopping this incredible machine.

Drift Squid was at it again, showing the crowd what a professional drifter can do on a track like this! There is never a shortage of speed with Jake and his trusty steed.

The crowd surged forwards to see the top 16 battle, but many of the crowd disagreed with the choices of the judges! With the advent of Formula drift visiting Australia earlier this year things have gotten more technical. The judges had stipulated strict guidelines during the morning briefing and not every driver had listened!

A slight wall tap saw this s13 a little worse for ware but luckily there was no major damage to the car and it continued to drift up until it was knocked out in the final rounds.

Talk about David and Goliath, Matt Russell and his little 86 were up against many high powered V8’s. With what seemed an impossible task ahead Matt buckled up for what would be some of the best battles of the day and the whole crowd was cheering on this under-powered underdog in his tofu mobile.

Who said four door saloons cant drift as well as coupes? This wild R32 was getting door to door with heaps of cars and managed to impress everybody with his proximity and control.

Jasons’ R31 just keeps getting better and better. He had many super close battles over the weekend. Jason is one to watch especially since he will be making an appearance at WTAC this year!

The judges wanted to see hard throws and lots on angle early whilst holding that deep angle the whole way through the corner. Too many cars were still scandoing and only getting real angle as the approached the inner apex of the corner.

Michael Prosenik is the man of the hour! He has been winning everything lately and for good reason! Prosenik has mad skill and adapts well to what judges want to see. Being able to change his style or standard approach to the course enables him to maximise his chances for points. Drift is changing within Australia and just throwing a car around a corner sideways with no form or reason will not win you competitions!

After a day fully packed with drift the winner was finally announced! Prosenik worked his magic again and secured first place at Roadking Chassis Round 2 while also being on top of the championship after two rounds.
TOP 5
1. Michael Prosenik
2. Matt Russell
3. Lachlan White
4. Jason Ferron
5. Khudar El Haouli

No VicDrift day is complete without an expression session! It gives drivers who have been knocked out of the competition another chance to slay some tyres and wow the crowd!
Round 3 of Roadking Chassis is coming soon and the action is only going to get better with many teams furiously working on their cars to improve suspension setups and increase horsepower.
So until then we hope you have enjoyed our wrap up of Round 2.
Thanks for reading,
-Grant

Run the Wall :: VicDrift Practice Calder Park

Grant — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:14:28 +0000

Winter is well and truly amongst us here in Melbourne, while temperatures drop into the single digits and rev heads go into hibernation the boys and girls of Vicdrift came out to play at Calder Park Raceway.
With the Raceway booked for the entire weekend and round two of the Vic Drift x Road King Chassis comp only needing one day, meant a full day of practice for anyone keen to enter.

Early on Saturday morning the gates opened and some 80 entrants arrived with tools and tyres in hand.
I was excited to see the XY again and could not wait to see it out on the track! Getting a larger car like this to drift is no easy task at all.

This is so much better than a pair of fluffy dice! This Nardi Driftworks wheel looks at home under the mirror in this drift ready Soarer.

At Gripshiftslide we like cars that are unique and a bit more individual! Take this gorgeous FD RX7 for instance… It’s got a great colour choice, nice kit and a mad set of steel wheels to match.

Everybody was excited to get sliding, this drift trike was laying down some serious pvc on the tarmac of the pits!

Not every car was ready to hit the track though. Denis’ E30 drift machine and former feature car was undergoing a few repairs before it was ready to go out and tear it up.

Who said drift was dead? With well over 70 drivers registered for the practice day, I think it is safe to say it is here to stay!

Only the brave take their daily drive to go do skidz! With as many tyres as the car could possibly carry, this man was ready to get the job done.

This Ke70 was bashing the limiter up the entire straight and the crowd was absolutely loving it!

Many of the drivers have been awaiting this day for several months and then when it was finally here, they couldn’t possibly contain their excitement!

Denis’ showing off his tremendous amount of steering lock!

The day wasn’t just for the amateurs though, it was a great chance for some of the pro boys to get a feel for the track and stretch their legs.

Entertaining the crowd will always get you some bonus points!

Adrian and his ke70 were at the Haunted Hills not all that long ago. Now he’s sliding the little Corolla around Calder.

Drift Cat was using the day to tune in her freshly installed Shockworks coilovers, so far she has been wrapped with their performance and cant wait to have the car ready for competition.

By the early afternoon the VL-VK was really baking the rear tyres!!

Camry drivers are always trouble even out on the track, After some technical difficulties this Cressida had to be towed back to the pits

The mighty LS7 powered S13 has had a makeover in the off season, much cleaner but still very raw… We love it!!

Really digging the twin pipes on this clean white 180SX.

A regular of Vic Drift days, this mighty S12 Silvia was bellowing out the smoke from the rear tyres all day long!

Catherine May has been driving exceptionally well of late, might have something to do with her latest sponsor R-Power Motorsport making sure the car is performing at it’s best.

It’s amazing how many cars make it out to these events, we’re constantly seeing new cars and faces at every track day.

The R33 seems to have gained a big drift following thanks to plummeting prices and a flooded second hand market.

Road registered skidder, living the dream!

We love this little MX-5, contradicting stereo types every single track day.

The FC RX7 going in for maximum attack…

Looking just as good sideways as it does standing still!

Tough as nails R31 running some very stretched tyres!

Drivers were loving every minute of the laid back Vic Drift practice day, maximum fun, minimum down time.

This Soarer was belting out massive smoke screens along the wall and well onto the straight.

Soon the day was coming to an end which meant the final session had drivers pushing their cars to the limit!

Hats off to the Vic Drift crew for another successful practice day, laid back casual fun all the day before round two of competition series!!
Stay tuned for our round 2 coverage.
Thanks for reading,
Grant.

Vicdrift x Road King Chassis :: Round 1 2013

Grant — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 10:48:01 +0000

The drift competition season has well and truly kicked off here in Victoria with round one of the VicDrift competition wrapping up just over a week ago at Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway.
The track had been set on fire with non-stop drift action all weekend, starting with a full day of open practice on the Saturday and then the first of the three round competition on the Sunday.
There were plenty of familiar faces and also a whole heap of fresh cars thrown into the mix for Sunday’s competition.
(There’s load of extra pics hidden in this article, simply roll your pointer over a photo and chances are you’ll see another image load up… Magic!)

Arriving track-side bright and early, it was soon apparent just how wet the track was from the night of steady rain… this was going to make things interesting.

Khudar’s S14 was still wearing the FD banner from the Formula Drift Asia competition that was held here in Melbourne recently.

Justin’s R32 showing its’ battle scars with pride.

We were looking forward to seeing how Peter and his R33 would go as this is a driver that has really been killing it of late!

Drivers battled the freezing cold and wet conditions to get the finishing touches ready for the first practice session.

Interstate star and all round top bloke, Jake Jones, was revving the guts out of his RB powered Nissan Onevia in the early sessions. Some of the high powered cars struggled and the near stock ‘streeters’ seemed to flourish with the super wet conditions.

Some of the drivers got a little too excited with the instant horse power gained from the wet surface and found themselves a little too close to the wall.

The Insane Drifters are still one man down with Papa’s engine still being repaired after the ADGP/FD double header a couple of months ago.
Aggess stepped up to the challenge and was driving twice as hard in his proven and competition winning SR20 powered 180SX.

Things were starting to dry up but there were still plenty of wet spots with some huge puddles sitting close to the wall.
This caused some issues with cars going from dry to wet and back to dry, meaning we saw plenty of spins and near misses with the wall.

The award for the most interesting looking car certainly went to Scott and his Nissan Laurel. There’s more to this book than its’ cover or should I say camber”
The somewhat ‘missile’ like appearance hides a lot of ingenious and clever ideas on the inside. Everywhere you look there is something on this car that just works but looking at it your brain says it shouldn’t work at all!

Easily our highlight from the field was watching Chris chuck his Toyota Cressida into the wall all day. The expression session at the end of the day was quite an experience!

The biggest casualty of the morning was Adam’s S13, with a lock up sending him hard into the wall. After the impact, Adam managed to straighten everything up and make it back out on to the track but was plagued by issues all afternoon and eventually finished up the day early.

The still damp track made for some ridiculous entries into the huge sweeping last corner.

Matt Russel in his ‘little 86 that could’ was out in force and after finding his groove, qualified in 7th place.

The El Haouli brothers were setting the bar very high all day. As soon as the track started to dry out they were chalking up the track with a constant cloud of smoke trailing behind them.

Khudar started the day very strong after qualifying 2nd!!

After the practice sessions and qualifying rounds were done and dusted, it was time to check out the start line. Here the drivers were positioned in battle order and a quick drop of the arms sent the drivers flying down the straight towards the first corner.

The start line crew gave each driver some simple instructions before each warm up lap or battle.

All the while, they were paying close attention to the battle tree and making sure drivers were on time for each battle.

The energy from the start line was super exciting, waiting between each run there was this eerie silence that seemed to last forever and then bam! the radio would cut in “Send the next car”. Then an engine would fire up and the next car was waved through as it bounced off the limiter screaming up to a suitable speed to initiate into the first corner.

Jake’s Silvia – now available in ‘clean skin’. Jake is now a privateer driver and the car looks super clean without all the stickers, which is a welcome change.

Jake seems more determined than ever and we look forward to seeing him take on some of the biggest names in the sport later in the year at WTAC.

It’s the little details we love in some of these drift cars. Matt’s wheel of choice and signature finish to all his AE86’s… Impul Hoshino Racing <3

The Supreme Caravan Racing S13’s Nascar inspired theme always looks at home at Calder Park, given the brief history running Nascar in the Thunderdome next door.

Tension levels at the start line were very high at times. Here Scott can be seen taking a swig from his imaginary flask of whiskey. Everyone deals with the stress differently.

By now the battles were well and truly underway with the top 8 nearly over. After some fierce battles, we saw some big names knocked out early before the top 4.
Jake Jones and Khudar El Haouli were defeated in the top 8.

Aggess took the win against Russel leaving him in 4th place.

Prosenik took the win against Moe in the blue R32 which meant it was two of the home favourites going head to head. Prosenik and Aggess fought as hard as they could to win the top spot for round 1.

It was so tough to call that they ended up doing 3 re-runs!!! A total of 4 battles to decide the winner.

Aggess crept ahead taking the win by the narrowest of margins, it really could have gone either way.

The boys chuffed with their podium finishes. From left to right – Prosenik, Agges and Moe.

After the award ceremony there was a brief gap for drivers to re-fuel and change tyres so they could get the most out of their entry fee. It was of course time for a good ol’ fashioned expression session!

Cat used the last session of the day to shine, putting down some solid laps around the track.

Most drivers took it as a chance to drive until every panel came off!!

Every tyre was used to the raggered edge!

Everywhere you looked there was new damage after each and every lap.

The star of the day (well our favourite anyway) Chris kept coming in harder and harder..

Finally scraping the length of the wall sending sparks flying and then just drifting off like nothing had happened!

Pretty sure he started the expression session with two taillights and a bumper bar.

Prosenik even enjoyed a couple of quick celebration laps, planting the throttle causing many people to stick their fingers in their ears to block the deafening sound from the monstrous V8!

Loved the Mr Sparkle decal on the bonnet of this 180SX!

Most cars were already packed up by this stage and we were glad to be getting out of the cold.

Another massive weekend of driving and a great start to the VicDrift x Road King Chassis series. We will be following every round in detail this year and can’t wait for the next event.
Make sure you check out the VicDrift website and facebook page to stay up to date with all the latest and hopefully we’ll see you at the next round!
http://www.vicdrift.com/
https://www.facebook.com/vicdrift

The current standings after round 1 are as follows…

Thanks for reading, If you guys would like to see a bunch more photos then leave us a comment below and we might put the rest up on our FB page.
Gwyn.