Nissan – Gripshiftslide

Meguiars MotorEX – Drift Cadet Drift Demo’s

Grant — Thu, 05 May 2022 13:42:00 +0000

It was 2019 last time we saw Drift Cadet put on a drift demo at Meguires MotorEx. So why has it been so long between events? Well we all know the answer to this one…COVID. That’s right I said the C word! regardless it was great to see Drift Cadet bringing drift to the uninitiated crowd.

Adding a live action event to Meguires MotoEX has made the event so much more than just a car show! Bringing Drifting to those who have never seen it before really blows peoples minds.

The speed and action of drifting really gets the crowd going! Even though some die hard burnout fans think that drift is just like doing a fishy up the street! Its more than that!

If your a fan of GSS you will know 90% of our content is drift! Why? because its our favorite form of motorsport. Although we love Rally, Time Attack and Circuit Racing.

Daniel Prior is a gun behind the wheel, his 370z is so loud and angry! not to mention grippy, the car really gets down and booggies!

Big car show means big crowd, Drift Cadet did a great job selecting some of the best, most consistent safe drivers for this event.

Mr Engineered to Slide, AKA Nigel Petrie. A name that is well know around the internet for a good reason, not only can he build and engineer a car from scratch but he is also one hell of a drifter!

We all know that JDM prices are soaring! And seeing Dean Newcomb throw his S15 around like a toy scares me! Although we love to see these cars in action they are now becoming rare and the parts to fix them even more rare.

Motorsport is not dead! people love it but with the distractions of social media and life many people don’t get a chance to see live Motorsport anymore. This is also a reason why its hard for some drift event to pull a decent crowd.

Now to secure a big crowd at a Drift event you have to spend a big wad of cash to advertise. Social media is still king, to reach an audience these days you have to compete against all the other events. So to even let people know that there is an event on you have shell out more cash than ever.

In the future I think we will see more of these type combination events or pairings. Car show and big drift event together or Major car event plus smaller car event combined.

With the prices of all things on the rise it is a certainty that many events will join forces. More the merrier right? Whatever keeps drift alive is ok with us!

Justin Gruener’s newest addition to his fleet of performance vehicles is this super tough R32. This was the cars first event for Justin and it did not disappoint.

Everything was going great until the clutch started slipping, in true fashion Justin decided to drive around the issue and take it easy on the car to prevent more damage happening.

“Two hot boi’s” Well I think that’s what the kids say these days! What I’m trying to say is that these two boys are super popular online.

Its for a good reason, their S chassis are some of the nicest looking low Silvias in the Victorian drift scene. These boys can also steer! Their cars are not just trailer pony’s!

A historical figure of sorts the 180sx of Nigel Petrie has been in this form for at least ten years! The car still turns heads! The 180sx has been engineered to drive low, Nigel intentionally moved the rear sub-frame up so the rear wheels can tuck and have enough travel to drift well.

Ben Loft is a quiet achiever! Some call him the ladies man of the century.. I’ve herd many rumors that he has millions of fans on social media and has turned down offers to be on the Bachelor TV show.

But its not only the girls that find Ben hot! the boys find his car rather exciting as well. Ben is part of the infamous SR20 tribe and many people in the crowd lined up to hear its sweet sounds.

The smoke the noise and the battles are what was making these kids get rowdy! Im not sure if they had ever seen drift before but one thing is certain, they loved it.

Nigel’s fabrication online courses are a massive success and now he has started his own Youtube channel to document all his adventure’s! check it out here and be sure to subscribe!

The battles between Matt and Ben were intense! They really had some door on door action, the passengers who were lucky enough to get a ride along got the best seat in the house.

The owner of the worlds largest Hoshino racing wheel collection was in attendance at Meguiars MotorEX, otherwise known as Matt Russell.

Gavin having not as much power as the other car’s in the field was having to grip up to catch the faster cars, but once in front he dictated the pace.

Kumar a scholar of the drift game was putting on an absolute clinic for the unsuspecting MotorEx crowd. He kept pushing wide and getting as close as he could to the plastic barriers which was fun to watch.

The late Drift demo show had less of a crowd as the spectators tended to see drifts in the morning then looked at the car show. Because Melbourne Showgrounds is a big place it takes a long time to complete a full lap of the venue.

Top Chef Michael Greenhill cooked up a storm for the demo drivers, then put the Drift Cadet V8 ute through its paces around the car park kidney course.

This was a great event, good crowd great energy and a great bunch of people. Drift Cadet always do a superb job of organizing these Drift demo’s. We can’t wait to see more demos like this at other big events around Australia.
Thanks for reading,
Grant

Bonus Video

Engineered To Slide :: Don't Call It A Comeback

Grant — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 06:44:27 +0000

It seems like a life time ago when I last saw Nigel Petrie drift. Yet out of the blue he turns up to support Drift Cadet at the Melbourne Motor-Ex drift demos. Did Nigel suddenly have a drift relapse? put the motor bikes away and uncover the cars from the shed?

If you didn’t already know Engineered To Slide is the brain child of Nigel Petrie, A garage where wild things are created by hand! Famous for the Hilux drift ute that took the world by storm around 2012.

The tube frame drift Hilux broke the internet way before facebook funneled the internet into a predictive advertising portal.
A time when planking was cool and the Australian dollar was nearly on par with he american dollar.

We were glad to see Nigel Petrie behind the wheel again with two of his most iconic cars, the Drift Hilux and his red 180sx.

The main car he drifted for the Meguiars Motor Ex Drift demos was the 180sx which performed flawlessly all day!
Nigel is a huge fan of the KISS principal and for the reason the 180sx has stayed relatively unchanged in the last ten years.

As a testament to Nigels workmanship this car has being running strong all that time while still running the very same engine and gearbox installed all those years ago.
Athough the car everyone was wanting to see was the Hilux, me included!

It’s amazing that Nigel has not been behind the wheel of his 180sx for 2 years, within 2 laps it all came back to him and he put on a flawless display for the entire 2 days of the drift demos.

Engineered to slide has been concentrating on motorbike build’s in the last 3 to 4 years but it’s great too see that Nigel has not lost sight of his motorsport roots.

Even know I did not get to witness the Hilux drifting in person here is a quick video of what the lucky crowd was able to see at MotorEx.

Thanks for reading,
Grant

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.

Vivid Motorsports :: Formula 1 Show And Shine

Grant — Sun, 09 Apr 2017 10:14:04 +0000

When a group of dedicated car nuts get together only good things can arise! Vivid Motorsports have been on our radar for the last six months and are a group we have been meaning to feature for a while.

When the opportunity to see their car show at the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix was offered, I jumped at the chance!

There were many car groups at the Formula 1 Grand Prix, yet Vivid Motorsports really had the greatest mix of cars compared to the car groups in the area. This classic Toyota Corolla KE30 was one car I did not expect to see! It is one of the most uncommonly modified cars in the scene and also the biggest surprise’s of the show.

Taking influences from the drift world there was a host of Subaru’s sporting blast pipes! Dare I say that the humble Subaru is soon taking the place of the Honda Civic for JDM street dominance.

One of the best things about Vivid Motorsports, it’s not just a group full of hard parking shed pony’s! They actually have full blown track and drift cars within the group.

To me, I believe that cars should be driven not just polished and placed on a pedestal. Vivid Motorsports is what a real car enthusiasts group should be about, track days , social events, car shows and special events.

The fitment scene is really starting to gain popularity in Melbourne despite our crazy strict road laws here in Australia.

Pushing the boundary’s, while avoiding unwanted attention is the great cat an mouse game. Although the game continues to increase in difficulty each and every year.

Their are still some people willing to take a chance for the sake of style! The real question is how fast can you convert your car back to stock?

After setting some quick lap times at Winton Raceway, the Saisoku racing s2000 was looking great sitting among its pals on the lawn just next to Albert Park Lake.

I can even imagine how hard it is to set your car up to sit like this. With its tyre’s tucked and rim’s on the outer edge of the wheel arch. I guess that’s why they call it fitment right?

Tyre stencils are all the rage, yet this looked like it was a new type of stick-on lettering that had a factory style appearance.

Matching the colour with the brake calipers really sets this off and you never know this may spawn a fixie style colour craze in the euro and JDM scene.

The Vivid Motorsports show even had a Maserati on display! The paint job alone was worth more than some of the other cars! Although it was great to see such a complete range of individual and unique cars at the show.

The R32 is one Nissan Skyline that everybody love’s! Such a classic especially when you see a great example like this. Mark my word’s these will start to hit Hako pricing levels in the next twenty years!

Aggressive with a touch of style, this Subaru had plenty of dish!

A wagon you should all be familiar with, Jason Ferron has truly made this R31 wagon stand out by putting it on podium many times in VicDrift and DCA drift competitions. There is a rumor that this very wagon will be for sale in the not to distant future!

One serious package, semi slicks with a spoiler bigger than a Hyundai Excel! Among the daily drivers this R33 really made an impression with the F1 fans.

Vivid Motorsports is really making steps to create a movement and bring back all that is good to the car club community. Putting on social events, track days, kebab runs, movie premieres and more! Vivid Motorsports are really growing in numbers, we cannot wait to attend more of their awesome events in the future.
Thanks for reading,
Grant

Saint Side :: Slab 16 – Slow Low And Bangin

Grant — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 10:25:26 +0000

Our friends at Saint Side are no strangers to putting on a great event. Take for instance their legendary John street show and shine that is held every year which normally attracts hundreds of people! Mark from Saint Side thought it was time to mix things up and have an event away from there physical shop front.

Preston Market was chosen for the first ever Slab 16 – Slow Low And Bangin. With a host of well known cars invited to display at the event things looked promising!

Saint Side has been a name synonyms with car culture for the last 7 years! 2016 is no different with a host of sponsored Drift cars and street vehicles reppin the brand.

Saint Side events are almost like a block party where anything goes and everyone is family including the four legged friends.

Parked right next together where two very different cars, one being the very first Australian Built RWB Porsche and the other a full spec drift car with some Japanese styling.

While Rocket Bunny kits are all the rage nothing compares to the width of an RWB Porsche!

In conjunction with Swunf, GripShiftSlide will be selling the all new air fresheners featuring, Keiichi Tsuchiya(drift King), Mad Mike Whiddett, Diago Saito.

Karl’s KE70 Wagon was in prime position showing off its new 3sge Beams with a super clean install from the boys at JVN Garage. Not only did it look great but it also sounded mad especially on limiter!

If your a child of the 80’s you will undoubtedly identify with chrome BMX’s! That’s right it wasn’t only cars on show! there was also a large display of bike’s of all different types on display.

From classic bikes that look like they have just rolled off the set of Stranger Things to fighter pilot themed bikes! So much character in each example, its not just cars that get modded the retro bike scene is growing and Saint Side has all the parts to make your pushy stand out.

Fresh from a trip to sydney, straight from The-Lowdown Show and Shine at WTAC this immaculate Subaru was giving everyone a lesson in stance.

This is one of the true stand out ride’s of the show! With plenty of quality parts and great colours to match!

It wasn’t only Japanese cars in attendance there were also some tidy euro’s turning heads.

If you a fan of the Melbourne car scene you might have seen t1k tak before, complete with a fresh new look for Slab 16.

Saint Side have attracted a great mix of cars from all over Melbourne to help celebrate their newest event!

Affectionately known as the cookie monster! this 4AGE sat patiently in the back of Karl’s wagon just begging to be installed into any KE70 that had the cookies ready.

Slab 16 was absolutely full of like minded people who really took the time to check out each and every aspect of the event.

Over modifying a car is easily done, once you buy one thing its hard to stop adding more and more bits. Yet this is not the case with Daniels very sleek daily which had many people stop and stare.

Talk about maximum impact! This is one 86 that dragged onlookers in for a closer look. Even the Police could not take their eyes off this 86 awarding it a special yellow sticker on there way home from the event.

Saint Side managed to gather a great mix of cars for their very first Slab 16, with such a strong community of supporters behind the brand it is easy to see why they are so popular.

Throughout the day Saint Side had been selling heaps of raffle tickets for their big giveaway. At the end of the event the winner of the grand prize was announced! Which left a large crowd of supporters disappointed that they did not win a giant Puma sneaker! We thank our good friends at Saint Side for letting us participate in their newest event! Slab 16 We cannot wait until next years event!
Thanks for reading,
Grant
BONUS IMAGES:

DCA :: King Of The Hill

Grant — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 07:04:11 +0000

Drift Challenge Australia has done it! The first official drift event held on public roads. In the beautiful town of Mt Gambier, South Australia an event was about to take place like no other!
One that would leave a mark while also opening up new possibilities in the world of drift.

Luke Fink has picked one of the most stunning venues to hold a street drift competition. Lake Valley is located just next to a well known tourist spot that is a crater from a volcano “Blue Lake.” It is such a cool location with the lake just near the pits and lookouts right around the venue.

With a full three days of drifting on the hill spectators and the town of Mt Gambier had a great opportunity to see drifting for the first time in this area.

I arrived on the Saturday morning to find many cars in disrepair. With the track opening soon I was surprised that these cars were not being worked on. Kris Griffith had blown an engine on the Friday and was planing to do a full engine swap after drivers briefing! Remarkably he knocked it out of the park completing the job within four hours and was drifting the car just after lunch.

Stewy Bryant had a radiator leak in his green Cefiro on the Friday and spent the early morning re-installing the fixed radiator for Yoshinori to drive. Yoshinori heard that Luke Fink was running a street drift competition and he instantly booked a flight from Japan to come and compete against Australia’s best drifters.

Just like Initial D or an Option touge battle streams of highly modified Japanese cars were carving their way through the dense forest.

In the morning briefing drivers were instructed to not use their handbrake. The judges wanted to see full commitment with wide lines into the clipping points to allow the chase driver to get on door during the battles.

With drift practice on the Friday, qualifying on the Saturday and the main competition on the Sunday this gave drivers plenty of time to get used to the track.

The track conditions quickly started to change with light rain at first making the track really slippery. The one driver that was not fazed by the weather conditions was the local bus driver!

That’s right; along with 500kw monsters going sideways down the hill was the local bus route. Every thirty minutes the track action would stop to let a bus through; this is something I have never seen before and may never see again on a track.

The technical layout of this street course combined an up hill section with a steep down hill into the largest corner of the layout at the end of the track. The elevation changes and the tight track all combined to create a drift course that requires full commitment from the driver. Any mistakes and a driver could see himself bouncing rail to rail bumper bowling his way down the hill.

Bus loads of people kept arriving despite the rain as nobody was going to miss the wet and wild action. Many drivers struggled in the wet weather condition not being able to get traction. Not being able to get into third gear meant that a lot of drivers had to stick to ringing out second gear.

After light rain and a brief bit of sun it suddenly poured down for the next 3 hours. The on track action had to be stopped for an hour so the flash flooding could drain off the track; just like the cricket we had to wait for the pitch to dry up.

Lots of media had turned out to see Australia’s first street drift event! The small army of orange vests i.e. the media could be seen recording every moment and when their real cameras ran out of batteries they resorted to using their phones, not wanting to miss a second of the action.

Despite being told not to use their handbrakes the drivers were forced to use them, because of the weather and track conditions, just so they could get around the track safely.

By Sunday the weather had cleared up and it was business as usual. With the grip returning to the track the divers started to get comfortable and more confident as the day wore on.

With so many of Australia’s biggest names in drift fighting it out for a position in the top 32 it was hard to pick the top qualifier of the day. Many great drivers where knocked out of contention. Those who adapted to the ever changing track conditions found a spot in the top 32 with Blake Patterson taking the 1st place in qualifying.

A short practice season in the morning allowed the drivers to hone their skills before they were paired up in the battle tree for the top 32 competition.

The special guest driver for this round of DCA was Shinji Minowa. He is a well known driver from D1GP driving for TEAM POTENZA. We thank him for coming all the way from Japan to help make Drift Challenge Australia a memorable event.

For DCA Jason Ferron installed another turbo with a smaller front housing and larger exit. With a quick re-tune thanks to Chequered Tuning Jason was able to lift his torque and response which made a good difference against some of the best drifters in Australia.

Putting it all on the line takes a special breed of driver. One that is not afraid to sacrifice everything to get their hand raised and to step on the podium.

In typical DCA fashion every driver turned it up to 11! Sunday saw top 32 battles like no other! Luke Fink was literally screaming on the microphone in excitement because of the close intensity of the top 32 battles.

As the intensity of the competition rose the drivers started to suffer under the immense pressure causing numerous spins and unforced errors leaving some drivers with copious amounts of damage.

Two of our local heroes from Vic Drift were up against each other in one of the first battles. Jason Ferron and Moe Elhaouli really pushed the limits. Jason Ferron after qualifying 13th fought his way through mutable re-runs advancing himself all the way to the top 8. There were no easy battles!

A drivers performance tends to change under the pressure of competition. Those who drive well in practice often do not make it to the top 8. The Top 16 battles really shake the field apart until all that is left are four of the most talented drivers of the day.

It really all comes down to the final battle on the final day of competition. Who can keep up the concentration and focus to take the win.

In the end it came down to Joel Donegan and Blake Patterson. The days driving had taken a toll on both cars with Joel’s suffering from gearbox issues leaving him only with 2nd gear to compete in the final battle for 1st.

Blake Patterson was the undeniable winner of DCA- King Of The Hill! he qualified first and continued his amazing form the entire weekend.

After the victory burnouts there was enough time for a final expression session. This is where all the drivers are invited to use up there remaining tyres and go wild for the crowd.

Running drift trains of up to ten cars was really an amazing sight! To say this event was a success is an understatement. Luke Fink has proven time and time again if you bring the best drivers you get the best competition! He continues to break new ground in the drift community bringing a breath of fresh air to a sport that has needed a shake up for a long time.
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.

Eastside JDM :: Under The Cover Of Dark

Grant — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 00:27:41 +0000

On a dark Saturday night a large group of JDM car’s descended on a car park somewhere in Melbourne’s east. Although not all of the cars where exclusively from the east, some traveling from the north for a chance to meet other JDM import owners. Many cars were seen scouting the area even before the meet had started at nine thirty, presumably looking out for police or defect stations.

Other cars where seen doing blocky’s just because they were lost and could not see the meet point. With a vague location listed on the Facebook event page a fair group of cars found themselves congregating around a nearby MacDonalds.

Once a small group of cars lined up next to each other then it was a simple case of follow the leader. Streams of burbling WRX’s arrived with a pack of Nissan’s bringing a chorus of turbo flutter.

It wasn’t just Subaru’s and Nissan’s that brought the JDM flavor but also a few Mitsubishi’s that made an appearance.

There were even a few Euro invaders sneaking in slowly amongst the herd of JDM cars, quietly they found parking spots close to the main action.

Not may people are brave enough to add a bold contrasting color that attracts attention but the red highlights on this R34 help to give the car a bit of an impact.

Rare and unique yet not a JDM car this Ford Sierra Cosworth was hidden up the back of the car meet where it didn’t seem to attract the attention it so rightly deserved.

Among the sea of regular JDM cars was this little and rare semi softtop suzuki swift. I’ve never seen one before however it does make sense that Suzuki would create such a thing especially in the nineties.

Now For the heavy hitters! The crowd pleasures! A supra with some serious power and a full blown drift car driving around on club plates. These two cars pulled the biggest crowd of the night they also attracted the attention of the police who were keeping a close eye on the car meet.

Another euro invader, a mini with some chunky BBS rims and plenty of style.

You can never go wrong with the traditional black and gold combo that’s why the John Player Special livery is one of the most loved race car livery’s.

Two cars that share DNA parked right next to each other! The real question is when will Toyota release a turbo 86? There are plenty of bolt on turbo kits but no factory option, we have only been waiting five years and still we wait.

A rather clean S14 with a fresh looking kit never fails to impress, the S14 is like a middle child it never gets the love it deserves.

Who needs shiny wheels when you have a striking paint job like this!

Selling merchandise at car meets is starting to gain popularity, not only where there all kinds of stickers for sale but there was also hot donuts and coffee!

A strong representation from the AE86 crew with a nice mix of hatch and notchbacks all in a row.

You cannot go wrong with an FD RX7 remarkably this one has a massive front mount intercooler tucked behind the front bar for a bit of extra oomph.

Classic Japanese style smaller negative offset wheels with fat tires, whats not to like about this Onevia!

A change of parking spot brought a whole new crowd to these two show stoppers. Unfortunately the Insane Customs S13 Drift car was not appreciated by the highway patrol who threw the book at them for driving on club plates after 12am.

Looking a little worse for wear this MX5 is mid restoration yet i bet we will see this car with a completely new look very soon.

At first i did not recognize what car this was, I soon discovered it was a Subaru Impreza with some special tuning from AVO. This Impreza goes by the name of GPVII and has it own following on Instagram.

Parked way in the back, ready for a quick escape was this beautiful R34 weapon. It sat quietly in the shadow of darkness just begging for a photo.

Having owned an import i know the feeling of always watching your back when driving in Melbourne, being a target because you have a loud car or something that looks relatively fast does not mean your a criminal. Car meets like this bring together like minded people to share their creations with the rest of the car community. Eastside JDM are helping to keep a good group of JDM fans together much like the original JDMST group and we hope to keep a close eye on this forever growing movement.
-Grant

Cars and Coffee :: Truganina

Grant — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 03:16:19 +0000

It has been almost one year since i have been to Cars and Coffee Truganina, these regular Cars and Coffee events seem to be expanding all over the place. This particular Cars and Coffee event has been running monthly for a couple of years now yet it is one of the originals.

All types of cars started to stream in, including a stanced Audi that was on show at the prestigious 100mm car show.

The que to get into the event continued to grow steadily until 10am. Lots of interesting cars made their way into the parking lot looking for the best spots to show off their rides.

It looked as thou there were a few interstate visitors with plates from NSW, QLD, TAZ. The real question, had they really traveled all that way for this monthly event? Or was it just a case of new car purchases from other states?

Regardless it was great to see such a good variety of cars at the meet. This classic Ford Escort was in great condition! looked like it could have maybe been a barn find originally.

There were plenty of nice Subaru’s in attendance including this charmingly stanced Swagon with some very nice mods including some gear from Like Wise.

This photo does not do justice to how low this R34 is! It was really dumped! full commitment by the owner, sporting tucked wheels at this low static ride height especially on a daily and points for the number plate!

A tidy white on white combo saw this RX8 turning heads! Not only did it attract attention but it also has been spotted and mentioned a fair bit on social media.

Damien from JNC Otaku has his very on unique style and you can see it at play in his classic Honda civic interior.

Although the hype over RocketBunny kits is starting to fade they are still damn impressive to see in person! Especially when combined with a great looking wing.

A little touch of color goes a long way! The right set of wheel nuts can really help to bring attention to your wheels among the sea of modified cars it can be the one thing that draws the eye of any onlooker.

Subtle yet effective this Nissan R32 is siting at just the right height to tuck and still be able to get over speed humps and enter driveways it is really what everyone dreams about.

The latest STI looked at home jammed in between its modified friends, I wonder if the STI needs 5 buttons pushed before it will go fast like the new standard WRX does?

No this is not some type of rare Pokemon! Although many people were hard at work playing Pokemon Go at the event this Gozilla wasn’t part of the hunt for Pokemon.

A good crowd for a Saturday morning, the weather was good which made all the difference plenty of cars in attendance which helped create a great vibe for the event.

Its not to often you see a supra running the classic TRD Supra Aero Bonnet! but by the sound of the car and chequered tuning sticker you know that this car will be packing some serious horsepower.

A car that is really starting to grow on me after the years is the mx5, for the longest time all i saw was a hairdressers car but with the right treatment and a few mods this is one of the best bang for buck cars around.

Interesting steering wheel, from the era of car phones and tape players when you needed 4 horn buttons just in case of a random road rage attack.

Spotted some interesting stickers and sights from the day including plenty of Hanging with the Homies air fresheners and even a few of our stickers.

In prime position were 2 stanced RocketBunny 86’s and 2 other equally stunning cars plus our good friends Saint Side selling plenty of rad merchandise.

Could this be a tribute to the Fast and Furious Eclipse from the original movie? The colors are close!

That’s one serious front splitter very time attack inspired with massive canards and plenty of carbon to match.

Not as popular as the standard R34 the four door still can look great with a good set of wheels and small drop kit to set the car off.

As far as wagons go these BMW’s are one of the most luxurious comfy to drive wagons you will find for the price they look great and run like a dream.

Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, Burt Reynolds was the won who undoubtedly made the Pontiac Trans-Am famous! As a kid i wanted one so bad! It was awesome to see this one in person! Such a classic car!

From one extreme to another! Welcome to Bag town where touching the ground is essential.

An unlikely pair, running a mexiflush setup on a commodore is a statement and a half! Notably bold in comparison to the little mx5.

This KE70 looks like a work in progress with plenty of tasty mods, it also looks like it could be hiding a secret under the bonnet.

The growth of this event is very evident, with increased parking guys helping to fit all the cars into the space while arranging the cars into position. This Monthly event may soon out grow its space come summer! only time will tell if they will have to find a bigger location.
-Grant

VicDrift :: Rolling With The Punches Round #2

Grant — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 01:25:55 +0000

In typical Melbourne fashion things looked gloomy and overcast on the way to the track, was it going to rain? was it going to snow? or where we going to see sunshine? All signs pointed to rain! As i parked my van on the grass i herd a splash sound! i instantly tried to reverse but it was too late I had dug myself in!

Bogged within 5 minutes of arriving was not the start i had hoped for, things where about get better as I heard the beautiful song of an RB motor.

With drift practice on the Saturday and the main competition spread across two days there was almost 20 hours of drifting action to be seen at Calder park over the weekend.

Many of the local favorites showed up to defend their turf against the interstate invaders! Some even appeared out of the wood work. Stirling Wright is one of those drivers we haven’t seen for a good couple of years but when he heard VicDrift was running the FD ADGP layout he quickly signed on to drive.

It was great to see the classic layout back at the Thunderdome with the crowd super close eating smoke and cheering on their heroes.

3 Fingers Neat had made the drive from Sydney to support their mates Matty Hill and Scotty P, both cars looked amazing! Along for the ride was the large 3 Fingers Neat merchandise store with their huge clothing range on sale at the event.

The VicDrift president was having a great time on his mini quad bike until later in the day when it refused to start!
VicDrift popularity is really on the rise! This has to be one of the biggest attendances at a round that I have seen for a very long time!

Shortly after morning practice the drivers briefing was held on track, Chris Dejager told all the drivers they were approaching the drift line completely wrong. The judges wanted to see real commitment around the tight section! Marks were made on track to prompt the drivers where to place their front wheels to set the car up for the correct line.

Shortly after the briefing it took a while for the drivers to adjust their approach to the course layout. Those drivers who still babied their cars around the hairpin where soon kicked out of the top 16.

It didn’t take too long for everybody to get more confident entering the hairpin at speed with much better battles happening in the late afternoon.

With all the action close to the crowd they even get a chance to see the drivers return to the pits after their runs. This means the drivers get a good gauge for what the crowd enjoys and does not enjoy.

Unfortunately Adrian Ing got knocked out on a technicality! I had not heard of this rule until now, “if a driver consistently runs a tire of the rim throughout the day because of low pressure or too much stretch and gets warned but also does it during battles then they don’t get to take advantage of the new tire safety rule”. This was sad because Adrian Ing had been preforming well up until the indecent.

Many drivers where familiar with this track layout almost 20% of the drivers had never driven it. There were lots of spins early in the morning as the new drivers adjusted to this technical layout.

Michael Bonney was pushing hard early trying to scare the interstate guests and force mistakes!
With plenty of momentum from round one Bonney had his sights set on a podium finish.

Part 4wd part R34 four door this surprise entry from Sleeka spares had many peoples attention with its unusually high rear end but boy did it have some lock! And plenty of power to match.

Drifting with a live axle is no joke and takes a lot of skill. This SR20 powered Escort has been in the scene for many years but still proves to be competitive.

Bonney was pulling off some really quick entry’s into the large sweeper and his car wasn’t complaining about it unlike Khudr Elhaouli S14 which broke a tie rod on the dip at the exit of the large sweeping corner.

Over the years we have seen a few cars take flight on the barriers on the outside of the hairpin of this layout. This is the first dramatic roll we have seen off the barrier. Driver and passenger jumped out shortly after the roll and both where fine thanks to their full roll cadge!

After the track was clear of oil and car parts the drifting resumed with everyone being a lot more cautious about throwing the car wide around the hairpin.

With no qualifying during the main event the day ran above schedule, allowing the drivers an extra expression session which meant the driver’s who had been knocked out of the top 32/16 had a chance to burn off some more rubber.

Known as (The Peoples Champ) Michael Prosenik is one of only a handful of drivers to have ever represented Australia in overseas competition and he was back home competing in the very club that helped to launch his driving career.

VicDrift have has finally moved into the modern age by deciding to finally live stream their events! This is the first ever live stream of VicDrift! And the best part is you can watch all the action again! Right here

The Best part of the live stream is the fact the drivers will be able to re-watch their runs, see their mistakes and learn from the experience which will create better driving for all.

Michael Prosenik had lent his backup practice car to a friend from New Zealand who wasted no time getting used to the S13 in the warm up area. This car is known for having a mystery gremlin that like’s to turn off the power steering intermediately midway through drifts!

Matt Russell is one of the main organizers of VicDrift yet he still finds time to throw down laps and burn some tires.

Taking too much speed into the fist corner often throws the drivers across a deep edge and into the mud. Some drivers hold the drift others are not so lucky.

Drivers where rushed into the dummy grid for the top 16 where the cars were matched up for the next set of battles.

Michael Prosenik vs Jason Ferron was one hell of a battle! So good the judges couldn’t not determine a winner so the battle was re-run! With Jason Ferron coming out on top.

During the battle for second place Jason Ferron made an error on his chase run. Jason’s late turn in left him no time to get the car sideways this caused him to slam on the brakes to avoid more damage to both cars, Khudr’s door took the majority of the hit! this mistake handed the win to Khudr.

The one driver who was consistent and preformed flawlessly was Stirling Wright. He made it look easy while other drivers looked like they were struggling.

The day was full of action and with a huge crowd the atmosphere was amazing. The crew behind VicDrift has been putting in a lot of work behind the scenes to make the Vicdrift Championship the best it can be, the club’s momentum continues to impress with every event. Driver entries are continually maxing out the capacity for the current events scheduled leaving a huge waiting list! I have not seen the club so popular in the 5 years that I have been following their events!

Round 2 of the 2016 VicDrift Championship was one of the best rounds we have ever seen!
With 69 drivers competing over 2 days of competition and some very impressive driving the drivers who stood at the top over the weekend are:
1st – Stirling Wright
2nd – Khudr Elhaouli
3rd – Jason Ferron
Forced Motorworx Peoples Choice Award – Justin Gruener.