WTAC 2011 – Gripshiftslide

Grip Shift Slide :: 155 Days In 30 Pics.

Grant — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:24:55 +0000

In less than just 48 hours 2011 will be over, bringing with it a whole new year of race days and feature cars that will be gracing these pages for your viewing pleasure.
In just five short months we have grown from the very humble idea between Grant and I in our seedy motel room in the suburbs of Sydney last August, to seemingly overnight having a blog covering local events and cars with over 1100 followers on Facebook and 1000’s of visitors each week.
Here is a quick look back on what Grip Shift Slide has done in 2011…
Five Months, One Hundred And Fifty Five Days… Thirty Photographs.

Pan Speed RX7 – World Time Attack, Eastern Creek Raceway, Sydney.
Having a project like this has helped us meet some amazing people and gain access to some pretty incredible events, shooting at the World Time Attack is easily my favorite automotive experience. ( besides riding shotgun with Nigel late this year)

Jawsh Rogers S14 – Winton Raceway, Melbourne.
Shooting regular drift days has become a big social event. Each time I attend one, I seem to talk to someone new and find myself in an ever growing circle of friends.

Mad Mike’s Red Bull RX7 – Tectaloy Drift Challange, Eastern Creek Raceway, Sydney.
I’ll never forget the haunting sound of Mike’s quad rotor screaming in the distance as it approached the first corner that night.

R32 GT-R – Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne.
Along the way we have snapped some pretty interesting cars even just in the parking lots at some events.

Ken Block Australian Tour – Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne.
Seeing some of the biggest names in the automotive world perform live was a huge buzz for us, to capture a moment like this makes it all worth while…
What with all the angry girlfriends, late nights, long drives and all the costs involved.
We still get a smile on our faces looking at these photos.

Australian Drifting Grand Prix, Round Two – Queensland Raceway, Queensland.
Sometimes we simply can’t afford the time off work or travel expenses, we thankfully have some very talented friends across the country.

Australian Drifting Grand Prix, Round Two – Queensland Raceway, Queensland.
Having someone else shoot for our blog was a little nerve racking at first, but sharing the love and workload was a great success with some absolutely top shots and event coverage.
We hope to have more friends involved next year to help bring more content and exclusive cars from interstate.

Tech Sport Evo X, Track Battle Round One – Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne.
At each event we attend, we try and focus on getting that one shot, that shot that makes or breaks the whole day.
All these photos are our favorite shots and memories thrown together to make the whole year!

Agess’s 180SX, Australian Drifting Grand Prix Round One – Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne.
We have witnessed some well deserved victories along the way, capturing a moment like this really shows just how much some of these guys want to win.

Papa’s 200SX, Australian Drifting Grand Prix Round One – Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne.
It’s easy to forget that all theses people pour their blood, sweat, tears and heart and more often than not gain nothing in return.

KE30 Corolla, Classic Japan – Yarra Park, Melbourne.
Sometimes I would be taken out of my comfort zone taking photos of cars I hardly knew, to say this year has been a learning experience would be a massive understatement!

Ender’s S13, Drift Attack – Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne.
A massive motivator has been finding our photos being linked and shared around the internet.

Stirling Wright’s R33, Drift Attack – Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne.
The support we have been getting from fans, drivers and event organizers has been overwhelming at times.
Just a few months ago we were ‘no-bodies’.
Now we are ‘no-bodies’ with our stickers on some cars!

Nigel Petrie’s ETS UTE – Engineered To Slide Headquarters, Melbourne.
Having the chance to shoot one-on-one with such an awesome build was an extraordinary experience, seeing the craft that goes into such a build was out of this world. Particularly seeing that it was built in a not so extraordinary space made it feel like such an achievement.

JZX100 ‘Camry’ – Winton Raceway, Melbourne.
Trying to get a photo while an owner of a car looks on can be a little awkward at times, as most owners are pretty protective of their cars.

Hardtuned.net Charity Cruise – Docklands, Melbourne.
Holding a massive camera is a great conversation starter and helps when introducing yourself to the owner of a modified car, as approaching almost certainly offends.

JDM Style Tuning, End Of Year Meet – Docklands, Melbourne.
Every event we attend, we get the same sense of excitement looking for a car that catches our eyes.

Azza Bird’s 180SX – Winton Raceway, Melbourne.
We are a pretty determined bunch here at Grip Shift Slide, we don’t take “NO” for an answer…
Sometimes getting photos has required leaping of fences, trekking through vast valleys in the forrest or simply walking around a bloody huge track.

Rob Roy Hill Climb – Melbourne.
The year has brought us some interesting cars and racing events, with Rob Roy Hill Climb and Vic Rally being high on that list.
We never truly get to appreciate some of the classic cars doing what they’re built for… Driving really fast!

JDM Style Tuning, End Of Month Meet – Docklands, Melbourne.
Meeting owners and finding cars to feature has only been a recent development of our site, so far we have been met with open arms and met some very interesting people.

Q Scan’s GT-R – World Time Attack, Eastern Creek Raceway, Sydney.
Seeing incoming traffic from countries all over the world has also put smiles on our faces, eagerly checking site stats early in the mornings before work.
It keeps us going through our boring 9-5 days at work, just so we can get home and edit some new photos.

Tom Monkhouse’s 180SX – Australian Drifting Grand Prix Round One, Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne.
Sending stickers across the country and occasionally the globe has kept us very busy offline, not only do we get a thrill seeing our stickers on a car but the small amount of profit helps us get to events and buy our camera gear. every cent helps!

Classic Japan – Yarra Bend Park, Melbourne.
Our Facebook page has been a massive success during our time online, with loads of fans eagerly checking each day.

Holden Hurricane – Autoclassica, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne.
We hope that flooding you guys with tons of pics from each event keeps you entertained between boring status updates, logging on and seeing the network of fans grow and comment as people tag each others cars has been a great thing for us to watch.

VW Scirocco – World Time Attack, Eastern Creek Raceway, Sydney.
There hasn’t been a single dull moment working on the site, there is always something happening behind the scenes.

Pile Up #4, Hot Rod Show. Doncaster, Melbourne.
2012 will see the launch of our online shop, making it easier to grab stickers and future merchandise.

JDM Style Tuning, End Of Year Meet – Docklands, Melbourne.
Designing T-shirts is something we have been doing of late and hope to have something out early next year.

Rob Roy Hill Climb – Melbourne.
Onwards and upwards, we have our sights set on some big things next year and hope to become a household name when it comes to modified cars in Australia!

Nigel Petrie 180SX – Winton Raceway, Melbourne.
Definitely up on my list of people to thank for the year is Nigel, from the first time I spoke with him he always had a moment to chat.
Suited up in race gear and in uncomfortable warm weather he never seems a million miles away, happily chatting to fans and other drivers.
Without Nigel’s friendly and helpful nature, we would not have had such a great success with this site in the short time that it’s been online.
Thanks for all the help along the way, here’s to another great year of drifting in Australia.

Lotus Exige, Rob Roy Hill Climb – Melbourne.
We hope you have enjoyed looking at these photos as much as we enjoyed taking them.

Mitsubishi Evo VI, Calder Drags – Calder Park Raceway, Melbourne.
From everyone involved here at Grip Shift Slide thank you and have a safe and happy new year too!!
We’ll be back with a feature car or two in the first few weeks, until then…
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.

World Time Attack 2011 :: Roundup

Grant — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:35:24 +0000

That’s right it’s a moving picture! this is just a quick montage of the sights and sounds of WTAC. -grant

WTAC 2011 :: Aero the key to speed

Grant — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:39:25 +0000

The differance between WTAC 2010 and WTAC2011 is every one now has a bigger spoiler! Everyone seems
to be sporting serious aero. Big downforce means faster times, take Advan/Hi Octane Racing with a
1;34.1090 in 2010 and this year they managed to get there time down to 1;31.9050.

Advan seem to have there name everywhere this year and for good reason with at least three cars in the top ten
they have reason to celebrate.

This lotus driven by Warren Luff was on the edge every time i saw it. The aero scraped on all the deep corners and the front splitter sat only centimeters off the ground.

This R35 Skyline was packing some major aero, Mercury Motorsport had two r35’s at WTAC, this was in my opinion the better looking of the two.

Aero matters, Simon Podlewski from Morpowa Racing knows this with a 2nd in open class. This car moved well around the track and often looked like it was going faster than some of the bigger boys in pro class.

The most creative and unique aero award goes to MCA Suspension S13, this thing was huge and often looked like it wanted to take flight. Im not sure if all the aero works but it sure looked cool see more on the build of this car here.
– Grant

WTAC 2011 :: The Greatist Racing Event On The Calender

Grant — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:00:59 +0000

It was easy to see just looking at the serious aero-enhancements, that the World Time Attack Challenge 2011 was on a whole new level of motor sport competition in Australia.

Even the entries in the ‘Recaro Clubsprint Class’ looked like pro team cars, also surprising was the amount of rear wheel drive cars in this years event.

Like the GT Autogarage RX7, it managed to break the 1:44 mark, putting them in 35th spot in the ‘Hankook Open Class’.

This earlier model WRX looked right at home on the track. It goes to show that you don’t need the latest chassis to be competitive.

101 Motorsports took out 18th place in the Open Class in this agile Honda CRX, very impressive for a 20 year old chassis and FWD!!

Tilton Interiors EG Civic, finished two places faster. 16th in the Open Class.

The Croydon Racing Developments R35 looked fast! Grabbing 2nd place in the Clubsprint class behind another R35 GTR.

Anda Suzuki looking determined for a fast lap, the Scorch Racing S15 had so much dry carbon fiber I’m amazed it didn’t blow away in the wind.

The car to beat, The Cyber Evo. No one got close to the final lap time put down by ‘Tarzan’ Yamada 1:28.8510!!!

Mazda Rx7’s seemed to be the cars of choice at this years WTAC, with 11 RX7’s competing over the three classes.

The fastest Australian driver Garth Walden managed a 1:30.8660 putting him in 4th place in the Advan Pro Class.

CRD’s R35 Skyline looked very stable in the high speed corners, piloted by Miles Tauber.

Friday’s lunch break had teams huddled around cars or laptops to rethink strategies and make some last minute adjustments…

While the drift boys got ready to give a quick demonstration on the art of sliding.

Mad Mike’s Red Bull Rx7, eying off the competition…

I still can’t decide if these guys are extremely brave or extremely stupid, ether way it made for some great spectator sport. Here Mad Mike gets over 150kph for the first corner.

Beau Yates linking the corners perfectly during the drift demo was one of the highlights for me at this years WTAC.

Mike’s RX7 spitting flames as he goes for the final run.

As the drift demo wrapped up teams hurried to get any final adjustments finished before going back out.

Morpowa’s 2JZ powered 180sx heads out after some quick changes to the fuel delivery and timing, placing 2nd in the open class. Congratulations to Simon Podlewski and the team at Morpowa.

Tilton Interiors EG Civic won the trophy for ‘fastest FWD’.

Anda Suzuki was a crowd favorite, placing 5th in the Pro Class. An astounding achievement for a privateer entry!!

The cost however, damaging two gearboxes in the process and spending all night repairing it before the following days sessions.

This will be the Australian car to watch at next years event. Dean Evans only managed a 1:35.1340 during the event but this car is quicker than that, much quicker!

Some heat from the exhaust as Garage Revolution’s RX7 is pushed to a podium finish. Some consistent driving by Mitsuhiro Kinoshita, placing 3rd for Pro Class.

This was my favorite car to photograph, no matter how fast it was going it always looked smooth and under control.

Placing 8th, I am sure the boys from Panspeed will have made some improvements before next year.

Saturday night the sun set and the day was done, 108 cars from all over the globe competing in Sydney for the best time attack bragging rights in the world.
Well done to the team behind Cyber Evo and every one involved and especially the organizers.
Without their hard work none of this would be possible. Thanks to sponsorship from Yokohama, Hankook, Recaro and countless local business as well.
I’m eagerly counting down the days till next years event.
Thanks for reading
– Gwyn