calder park raceway – 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.

Vic Drift :: April Practice Day

Grant — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 08:42:16 +0000

The boys and girls of Vic Drift were at it again last week hosting another practice day, this time at Calder Park.
This had originally been planned as a two day event, but with lower entries than normal there was a push for it to be culled back to only one day much to everyone’s disappointment.

Btu not to worry, as there was still plenty of people willing to get behind the wheel for the one day event and they helped to make the day a huge success and a lot of fun for everyone involved.

Group A was full of top notch cars and drivers despite being just a casual practice day.

Drivers didn’t hold back just because it was a practice day either and the speed of some of the entries was impressive to say the least!

Peter was blasting along the wall all day and the sound that his RB powered Skyline makes is enough to bring a grown man to his knees. It really is a treat for the ears!

We love to see an exceptional series 1 S14 being put to good use!

Michael and Jason with their V8 swapped Nissan’s were going above and beyond with some close action, especially through the huge sweeping corner giving the crowd plenty to see!

Another popular V8 swapped chassis is Aaron’s 5.7 ltr (570SX) S13, this thing is an animal and sounds ridiculously good!

Aside from the A group guys running amok there were plenty of improvements from the other groups all day and you really can see the drivers making progress over the day!

Gerald’s 180SX is one of our favourite street/drift cars, he’s done very well to keep it so clean and straight over the years.

Operation smoke screen was a great success!

Stirling’s drift patrol R33 is always a great sight for sore eyes. He is continually improving the car and his driving is coming along in leaps and bounds!
To follow Stirls in his Slide N’ Destroy Skyline head to his new Facebook page and show your support! –>> http://www.facebook.com/SlidenDestroy

Like any other Vic Drift day there were next to no delays between sessions, so the action was non-stop all day! If you have never been to one of these events before, we would encourage you to check out the Vic Drift website for an upcoming drift day near you.
http://www.vicdrift.com/site/

With a great day of skids done and dusted we will soon again turn our eyes back to Calder Park for the drift event of the year in just under two weeks.
If you have been hiding under a rock you have probably missed our updates, The Australian Drifting GP together with Formula D Asia are putting on one hell of a show on the 27th & 28th of this month.
The worlds best drivers are coming and we caught up with Daigo Saito the number one drifter in the world for a few questions before he arrives in Melbourne.
Follow the link —>>> http://gripshiftslide.com/2013/04/11/the-hot-seat-daigo-saito/

It seems we are a bit drift crazy here in Melbourne with so many drift days happening every month, it is great to see so many taking up the sport and supporting the club that supports you!
Until next time, Thanks for reading.
– Gwyn.
Photos courtesy of Blacktop Images, for more go and ‘like’ their Facebook page for the full album!
http://www.facebook.com/BlacktopImages

Primal MC :: Private Calder Park Drift Day

Grant — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:08:23 +0000

When Calder Park thunderdome is on offer who would say no? So without hesitation Primal Motor club jumped on the opportunity and quickly organized a grass roots drift day. With only 30 spots on offer the event was extremely quick to sell out.

Upon arriving I was completely shocked by the turn out. There were so many nice cars and almost 90% of the people had driven to the event in the car they were competing in. Now that’s dedication!

When you see a Cefiro you know it means business. Even before it hit the track I knew I was in for a treat with this unique Nissan. This was one of the most powerful cars of the day.

The ‘My Little Pony’ drift toy said it all. This car had to be something special if its mascot was a brightly colored horse that could perform magic and fly.

No need for a taxi when Karls Ke70 wagon is in town. It is one of the first I have seen with a quad headlight conversion.

This car made me double take as at first I thought it was Enders car with a new front end straight out of the shop. It looks pro; why haven’t I seen it before and who does it belong to?

This was one of the most consistent cars of the day with the driver constantly hitting his mark and pulling good angle.

What’s a drift day with out an AE86?!

Chris in his s14 was looking great all day long. He was taking plenty of speed into the main corner and very rarely got it wrong.

This is what 80kw chasing 286kw looks like. Ryan in his r32 would initiate the drift early, hoping to catch up mid corner, but the Nissan Cefiro would just disappear as soon as it exited the corner.

The day was split into two courses one for beginners and one for intermediate to advanced drifters. Most people would have a go on the beginners circuit before joining the big boys on the other circuit.

The beginners track layout consisted of many evenly spaced orange markers. This allowed you to drift in between each marker until you reached more at the end that forced you to rip a big u-bomb.

No tofu here; only wicked drift action. John in the blue AE86 had the car screaming the whole time and progressively got better as the day wore on.

Neil in his s13.5 was blowing away the cobwebs before hitting the advanced circuit. It didn’t take long for Neil to get the feel back and he was soon ripping it up with plenty of flair.

The great thing about Calder is its track width. It enables the driver to throw the car at the wall catch grip and use the weight transfer to help propel the car into the main corner.

Sometimes things go bad and it was very sad to see the sil80 crash. We loved the style of this car and have seen it at many events. We hope to see the car reborn and back on the track asap.

The heavens soon opened and the track was littered with puddles. Yet surprisingly the drifters got a lot better with the wet track. They seemed to gain confidence and started to perfect things that hadn’t worked in the dry.

Gerald does know how to thrash a car! His car has been to so many events in the last six months that he himself admits it needs a freshen up.

It wasn’t only men who were drifting. There were some up and coming women who really started to shine once the rain set in.

Even the competitors could not keep their eyes off the track while changing a tyre.

Not only was the main corner being abused, but also the back straight where many people would drift better without the fear and pressure of the crowd.

The angles got more extreme just before lunch was called and maybe it was their hungry stomachs that made them go harder.

There is nothing better than a free lunch. With so many starving people a bbq was the only way to satisfy the large crowd.

While everyone was eating I took the time out to take a closer look at these two beauties! With such great attention to detail both cars really stood out amongst the crowd.

One of the more modern cars on track was this toyota 86, it really looked amazing and we cannot wait to see more of these out there.

The rain came again so we all huddled under a temporarily shelter. The view was limited but the drift action couldn’t of been better!

With so much water on the track it was hard to tell if we were watching boats or cars!

Primal Motor Club really knows how to throw a fantastic casual drift day. It’s great that this group of friends have come together to help extinguish the rivalry and ego that breeds within some parts of the drift scene. If your interested in grass roots drifting make sure you like their Facebook page> (Primal Motor Club Inc) to get involved.
Thanks for looking,
Grant

Vicdrift :: GK Tech Round 3, 2012

Grant — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 07:52:26 +0000

The forecast for the weekend was looking pretty grim, yet seeing as how this is the final event of the VicDrift championship for the year, so the weather was not going to put me off and hopefully the car folk of Melbourne would feel the same. As I got out of my car on that Saturday morning, the pro-class group were already lining up for their first run on the track.

There were plenty of new cars that I had not seen before and it is really awesome to watch how the scene has changed and grown in the short year GSS has been online. There are many more interstate drivers that have had made the trip down to Melbourne for a chance to battle the finest Victoria has to offer.

The insane drifters were out to play and they never fail to impress! I was able to get in nice and close on the first corner to get some shots of the morning action.

Not everyone got it right on their first go, with some coming very close to the sand trap.

It is very easy to build up too much speed into the first corner and this appeared to take many by surprise. Cat looked pretty bummed that she misjudged this one.

Peter Vouyoukas and his shmick looking R33 had some very clean runs and was about to keep up his speed too.

It was great to see Matt Russell getting his Ae86 sideways again. He was in good form and worked his way into the top 16.

Leigh Pidwell was killing it all day long in the trusty onevia. After the events of the weekend, it is now sporting more battle scars.

One of the best parts of drift practice was seeing the pro boys go in 3 or 4 strong with minimal distance and maximum proximity.

Unfortunately there was little to no crowd. It seems they just couldn’t compete with the lure of teh AFL Grand Final and the traditional BBQ’s and parties that go with it. Only a small handful of 100 or so people got to see some of the weekends best action.

After a wild scando on the straight, Team Chaulkin’s s13 was cutting the grass and chewing the dirt.

With such a long straight leading into the first corner, many chose to wipe off some of the speed and warm up the tyres with a little flick.

I am really liking the workmanship under the front bar here. The oil cooler looked like it had been built in straight from factory.

The speed in the dry was amazing, I was just hoping the rain would hold off…

Even the pro boys drop in the dirt from time to time. This track official is just lucky he has some fence in front of him to stop some of the mud.

The only thing I hate about this car is the fact that it has no sponsors! All of the drifters need more sponsorship, it feels as though there is no money in drift within Australia, but plenty of heart.

The sky threatened to rain all day and eventually the heavens opened up and it continued to rain for a good 30 minutes or so, at which point the rain turned into hail, followed by more rain!

These true fans stood out in the pouring rain to witness some of Victoria’s superstars of drift.

The only good thing about the rain is that it helped to save some tyres for the drivers. The bad part of course being that the track developed patchy levels of grip that did tend to catch out some of the drivers unawares.

As the afternoon went on, the rain cleared and the sun briefly showed its face. This seemed to give the teams some time to inspect the cars.

Don’t worry, it was just a small flesh wound, it’ll buff out!
For drifters not accustomed to drifting along walls, it is a hard lesson to learn.

No panel was safe!!

Nigel’s 180sx always looks mint! I didn’t think it was possible, but it looks even better after it has just rained.

Did someone say epic front camber?

This car didn’t end up seeing too much track action. I’m not actually too sure what broke in this instance. It was a shame because over the course of the day, at least 30% of the cars broke something.

No more front bar! That means its time for lunch!

Some of the best touch parking I have ever seen! Sure beats using a brick or bit of wood to stop the car rolling.

This little Ae86, had a V6 Camry engine under the bonnet, not your normal choice of engine swap!

It is always a pleasure to see Jarred back with his KE70 Wagon, as it is one of the most unique cars on the scene at the moment.

Nothing could stop Leigh Pidwell! He is so fearless and has such crazy, high speed entries, he was definitely one of the favourites of the entire weekend.

After lunch it was time for the battles to start!

Nigel started off a bit rusty, but as the afternoon took hold he went from strength to strength, getting into the top 8, only to be beaten by Michael Prosenik.

Another crazy wagon that was out on track and it really showed the sedans how to drift!

Final results for round 3 of the GKTech Championship:
1st Place: James Abbott
2nd Place: Andreas Paraskevas
3: Leigh Pidwell

The overall winner of the VicDrift 2012 series was Andreas Paraskevas from insane drifters. With an outstanding performance all year, Andreas was not afraid to celebrate and later stood on top of his car’s roof with trophy in hand!
The weight of him and his trophy put a sizeable dint in his roof that was soon fixed by a swift punch to the inside roof.
With more action expected on the Sunday, there was no time to relax. Drivers and crew soon headed back to the pits to get the cars ready for the next day of competition.
Thanks for looking
– Grant.

ECB Rally Calder :: Shakedown

Grant — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:50:24 +0000

ARC Rally Calder, the first event on the 2012 rally calendar. With so many new cars, teams and classes it was hard to know what to focus on! The first thing that caught my eye was the polaris All-Terrain vehicles.

Yes you may have noticed they are a little dirty! after heavy rain on thursday the tunnel had to be pumped out because of flooding and the rest of dirt track was looking like a swamp.

By Friday the sun was back out and it was time to get the cars on the track , it was a pity that the grandstands had not received the maintenance that had been planned.

The Legendary ford escort, a classic rally car back in action!

Check out the array of switches, not sure which one launches the missile?

Jeffrey David was one of the exciting guys to watch in his wild Porsche 911, this car was allways thumpin!

Honda pulled out all the stops with their brand new Honda Jazz rally team, Eli Evens and Mark Pedder are the lucky men who get to drive these angry little machines.

A rally Aston Martin V8 Vantage? the sound of this car was amazing! unfortunately this very expensive rally car had a meeting with a barrier late in the rally. See Video

This replica model of the RA40 celica took Neil Bates and his team 18 months to build. Inspired by Ove Andersson and Henry Liddon RA40 driven in the World Rally Championship during the early 1980s.

Overall 2nd in the classic rally division.

A consistent force during all the stages of the rally the powerful Evo of the Knowles team.

Strange choice of rally car but i do like the aerodynamic tunnel on the back.

Presentation line up! check out all those cars!

More dirty polaris!

I still cant believe these things are V8, what a crazy old school machine!

Mascots rock! they are a rare creature that today have almost become extinct in Australia.

Nathan Chivers, Les Chivers coming in 2nd driving the Polaris RZR 900 XP

Cody Crocker, Greg Foletta winners of the Side x Side Rally Challenge.

A well known name in rally! Neil bates win’s with a new car, being out of rally game for a few years this is an extremely good effort!

Another debut and another win, Eli Evens, Glen Weston take out the 2WD Championship

Steve Jakobson, rally driver, movie start, co-host of aus top gear was helping promote rally school this weekend.

Check out the width of the track! originally designed for racing NASCAR, the track is now used for all different types of racing.

Technical problems plagued this team and they were only able to compete in the first round heat.

One of only two Evo 10’s at the event, Tom Wilde managed to win the ARC 4WD Championship

One of the hardest working RX7 on the track this yellow fire breathing dragon managed third in the 2WD Championship.
With an extremely wet track and unpredictable weather all competitors pulled through the 4 day event without to much carnage.
Despite the conditions spectators still showed their support for ARC, for the results Click here or you can download the full list of results as a pdf here. If you have never attended a rally event its one of those things you really should do! more support means more competitors which results in a better overall competition and atmosphere.
-Grant

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.

Track Battle :: Time Attack – Calder Round1

Grant — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 04:05:31 +0000

A good selection of cars turned up for the first Time Attack Track battle at Calder park. One that looked rather smooth and composed was the tech sport evo team.

This car sounded like it had the goods to win the day, a stroked 2 litre kept this evo howling around the velodrome.

Chasers engineer’s toy has come along way, they showed good speed the whole weekend

When i first saw this car i was a little unsure whether it was competing in drift or time attack.

A clean entry by HPF, this car was on track at every opportunity.

The large angled corners of the thunderdome made the time attack cars look tiny.

A nissan bluebird is a strange platform for a time attack car, i was surprised to see it on the track, you do not see many of these on the streets anymore.

later on the Saturday the wheeltech bluebird looked to be having trouble with the angle of the track that seemed to cause the Left hand rear tyre to rub on the guard.

lancers where everywhere and they seemed to be dominating.

Redbus, actually have a red bus believe it or not!, their R33 was pushing it too keep up with the big boys!

The Import Monster R32 driven by Russell Cunningham managed a 54.62, this video shows how cut up the track is.

Adam newton kept this car on track and running good consistent times all weekend.

Robert Turner’s s15 ended up with no rear bar by the end of Sunday, but on the saturday it looked like it had just rolled off the showroom floor.

This nice looking RX7 didn’t see as much track action as some of the other cars.

when the car was out on the track it was siting high on the corners and taking a slightly different line to some of the other cars.

The street class were running rich and producing some nice flames.

This VE ss commodore sounded great around the tunderdome and was by far the most exciting to watch, it would often get sideways through the small water barrier corners

The Tunner class overall winner was the Tech Sport Evo of Adam Newton with a 53.68. Adam put all his targa experience to use on the thunderdome and showed the field how it was done. Unfortunately this event was overshadowed by the Drift GP and it was hard to cover both we apologize for the lack of photos of the field.
It was great to see this track used for time attack, i just wish they designed the layout to use more of the velodrome.
We here at Gripshiftslide hope that time attack events like these continue to build popularity and become part of a more permanent race calendar. See the Time attack results/times HERE
-Grant