drifting – Gripshiftslide

Keep It Reet – Friday Night Drifts

Grant — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 04:02:00 +0000

Friday night drifts are always full of good vibe’s and fun times. A mix of drivers turn up to the Keep It Reet Friday night event’s with pro drivers and beginners shredding tyre’s well into the night. Below is a selection of my favorite photos from the event

Shockworks Bayside Matsuri :: A Beachside Touge

Grant — Sun, 28 Oct 2018 22:39:13 +0000

For the last couple of years I had heard of an event by the sea where drifters come together and burn tyres by the beach. When I received an invite to get out to South Australia and check out the Shockworks Bayside Matsuri over the October long weekend I did not hesitate.

This invite included a road trip with Mike Lake a relatively new driver to the drift scene in Victoria and Matthew Choong the local drift club president. How could i say no? Last minute repairs were still being done to the car just before it was to go on the trailer for the long trip to the event.

Everything was going according to plan except the fact that the starter motor, which was only held in with one bolt, decided to free itself when the car was restarted just as the car was being loaded onto the trailer. This then caused a difficult 3 hour fix that none of us were expecting. Once fixed we were on the road and within no time we had arrived in the sleepy town of Mount Gambier.

The first thing that shocked me was exactly how close the event was to the beach!
Held at Surfers Way, Port MacDonnell in South Australia this small beach access road had been turned into a makeshift drift track!

So how did Bayside Drift start?
Bayside Drift started when a local rally club ran a hillclimb on the same bit of road. In April 2015
Ben Collins arrived in his freshly tuned S13 and burnt tyres all day along the winding street course by the bay.

The same event rolled around in 2016 and he did the same thing! Unfortunately this time it didn’t go down so well.. He was asked to leave by one of the stewards for not driving in the spirit of the event.

Fast forward to 2017; when it came time to SEAC running their Twin Peaks Hillclimb for the third time, Ben’s drift club (South East Motorsport Alliance) were offered the opportunity to piggy back alongside their event. Sharing infrastructure, Ben ran on Saturday and they ran on Sunday.

The first event attracted roughly 25 entries from SA and Victoria and was held on one day. Same again early in 2018 Ben piggybacked off SEACs event again but was shunted to a Friday and had trouble filling a field due to the long drive between Adelaide and Melbourne. Hard to justify 10 hours of travel for only a days driving.

This was the first event solely run at Surfers Way, Port MacDonnel by South East Motorsport Alliance as a stand alone event. With only 50 spots available the event sold out very quickly. The field was a mix of drivers from Victoria and South Australia.

Among the list of drivers attending included some very well know and unknown drivers. Names like Simon Michelmore and Luke Broadbent. Both of these drivers have had years of experience and seat time in many high level drift competitions.

The mix of drivers made for some interesting driving, the less confident drivers soon became much better with experienced drivers chasing them down the track and pushing their limits. Mike Lakes BMW was on song all weekend, it didn’t miss a beat. Standing from the sidelines I watched his driving steadily improve as he tandemed with the large variety of drivers.

A surprise attendee was the amazingly unique rx7 from Cliff Clayson sporting a head turning body kit from BN-sports. Its is the very car that is being lent to Takahiro Immamura or otherwise known as the ‘Drift Samurai’ to compete in the World Time Attack International Drift Cup.

With WTAC only a week away is was a great chance for Cliff to give the car a final shakedown before the big event. Recently Cliff had the TTi GTO 6 speed sequential gearbox out of the car, and it was given a thorough going over by NEAT Gearboxes in Adelaide where It had some special treatment ready for WTAC. Along with that Cliff recently added some new MEGAN Racing Australia rear adjustable control and toe arms.

This new design allows for a lot more adjustment over the previous set up, and is far superior in strength with the gusseted bolt thru toe arm connection to the control arm.
We asked Cliff if he was excited to see his car driven by the ‘Drift Samurai’ – “I am so excited, this is a dream come true for myself and the whole team. Personally it’s such an honour to hand the Crazydog Rotorsports Rx7 leash to ‘Drift Samurai’. He has been a long time drift hero of mine, since I started watching the Japanese drift tengoku DVDs back in 2002.

Over the years I’ve been fortunate to meet Samurai on many occasions such as Tokyo Autosalon and D1GP events. I admire his aggressive driving style and individuality. I never would have dreamt anything this cool could possibly happen. A big thank you to Michael Ginn (Dorijunkie Imports) & BN Sports for making this vision a reality”.

Cliff told me that “testing it was insane! Everything is working perfectly”. The team at Garage 7 and Cliff spent the Friday doing the final checks and Saturday morning was spent with the Garage 7 tuner – Declan Walsh.

He went over the computer and shift cut parameters in time for Bayside event. Cliff did however damage the centre bearing cage on the right rear axle part way thru the day. They suspect this was due to damage which had occurred prior to the event. So upon his return to Adelaide, a spare axle will be installed ready for WTAC.

I then asked Cliff “Did you always have this BN kit in mind for the car?”
Cliff: “When I originally set out building this Rx7 back in 2008, I had an idea in my mind to make it as aggressive as possible, both mechanically and in its appearance. Over the past 10 years it has slowly evolved. The first form was completed back in 2015 which we campaigned thru till the end of 2016. It was around this time that I wanted to change the look. With the unveiling of the BN SPORTS BLS FD3S Rx7 at the 2017 Tokyo Autosalon, I knew that this kit would complete it.

With help from Michael Ginn (Dorijunkie) we were able to make this final transformation a reality. I never dreamed it could be this CRAZY but with the help of many amazing people the end result has far exceeded my expectations and I couldn’t be happier”.

I was shocked that Cliff was about to attempt this track considering how technical it is. One mistake and he could be going for a swim. Lucky Cliff was not running the car ‘balls to the wall’ rather just lightly testing the car under load to weed out any weak points before it was about to compete.

Another special guest on the day was Stewy Byrant a rather special driver who has been invited to drift all over the world because of his unique style. If you like sparks and crazy driving check out his promo reel, you will not regret it! ( https://youtu.be/4Qgk16h3uVI )
Stewy is that well respected in the drift scene that he was selected to design the brand new drift track at Taliem Bend!

With his years of experience and depth of knowledge he has even built specialised steering systems, suspension components and other wizardry to help drifters achieve more lock with greater adjustability than anything else on the market. Acostal Ms Dev is some serious gear.
Although Stewy was not driving on the day he did grab a few passenger rides with his mates. One particular ride ended in a serious hit to Simon Michelmore’s car that basically caved in his left rear wheel! Thankfully no one was hurt and the safety crew was there within seconds to render assistance.
(video of crash>facebook.com/inertiams)

The most impressive thing about this track layout is that the drivers get to experience two tracks in one. What do I mean by that? The drivers have to approach each corner differently depending on the direction of the track. The drivers all line up at a dummy grid on top of the hill and once that light goes green they drift their way to the bottom and line up again for the return run to the top.

Over the two days the drifters got more acquainted with the track and were able to form some nice drift trains in front of the small crowd that traveled a fair distance to see the special event. This new style of drift street event is a great mix between illegal streeting and a general drift event at a track.

Yet this one is completely legal with no flashing lights in sight. This could potentially breed a new type of touge competition in the future on public roads around Australia! Maybe I’m dreaming.. but at least it’s a new step in the right direction for the drift community with the limited amount of tracks that allow drifting in Australia.
Thanks for reading
-Grant

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

Drift Cadet :: Bringing Drifting To The Masses

Grant — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 12:54:50 +0000

The popularity of drift within Australia has gone through many phases and the ability to get into the sport has changed. Despite the national drifting series dwindling, statewide competitive drifting has increased, so the question is what is being done to further the culture of drift?

How should the sport foster talent of newcomers? Or even inspire the younger generation? Those kids who haven’t even got their licence yet! How often do you see drifting of any kind on TV? Yes it’s easy to find on the internet, but only really if you go looking for it, and especially Australian drifting.

The culture of drift in Australia is missing some vital things to increase the popularity of drift as a whole. Where is the Auskick for drift? Where are the heroes of the sport and what are the incentives?

The barrier of entry is too large in Australia. There is no easy way to go to a track, acquire a drift car and test
your ability against others; especially if you’re just trying out the sport. Not to mention the now infamous “drift tax”
stopping people from affording cars that were once cheap and capable.

Therefore the amount of drifters are low relative to other countries. The reason being accessibility to the sport and equipment.

Thankfully Drift Cadet has created an entry point into the sport of drift. Not only do they provide the car, they also have Victoria’s best competitive drifters as coaches! With three different levels- beginner, intermediate, advanced. From skid pan to the track, nothing is left out.

One of the greatest features of Drift Cadet is the ability to just arrive and drive. This really puts Drift Cadet on the map as one of the best drift schools in Australia. Better yet there is no cost of owning a car, maintenance, or repairs and no towing the car back and forth from the track.

From viewing drifting through the lens for so long I thought it was time to actually get in there and have a go.
To say I was excited is an understatement! My only drifting experience thus far was wet roads and an over boosted MR2 Sw20 or doing roundabouts in a Honda Beat with over-cambered rear wheels and cheese cutters showing wire on the outer edges.

The Subaru BRZ’s are the cars we were learning in. So why did Drift Cadet choose this platform? Because with the number of BRZ/86s manufactured in the last five years you can most definitely speculate that they will become the new S13 in the local drift scene. So what mods are they running? Well here is the kicker! Basically nothing!

The setups run on both cars are as follows; Kaaz 2 way LSD, Shockworks coilovers, bucket seats, lock spacers and tyres matched to the wet surface of Winton skidpan. If you’ve ever heard the saying “keep it simple stupid”
then you will understand the philosophy of Drift Cadet.

I was so suprised on how well a standard car puts up with such punishment. The BRZ/86 is such an underrated car and the fact is that most people never get to test the full potential of these great cars. The first lesson we had was to perform donuts around a cone on the skid pan. We were instructed to get the car in the high revs then dump the clutch and keep the car in a controlled donut without losing drift.

All the hours on Assetto Corsa drifting on the online GripShiftSlide server helped out and the donut came with ease, yet mastering the figure eight did not come easy. I found out quickly that speed and weight transition are things that translate very differently in the real world. They say that with time you are able to feel what is happening with the car using your bum?

Quickly I went from doing well to constantly spinning out and it was a combination of things I was doing wrong.
Both instructors gave me plenty of pointers yet I was too pig headed and excited to fully implement their instructions.

After learning how to implement the clutch kick and handbrake into the mix I successfully
pulled off a couple of figure eights but often built up too much speed and would spin out.

Breaks in between sessions gave me and the students time to watch others on the skid pan. This also gave us the opportunity to sample the great coffee and snacks on offer from Amabelle Patisserie.

Time went so fast and before I knew it the day was over. I learnt so much yet the surprise of the group was a fifteen year old that made us all look like amateurs! He was cutting figure eights straight out the gate!

Drift Cadet is really the only independent group teaching drifting in Victoria and you also get a CAMS Speed Licence when you complete the beginners course.

When the lessons were over we were invited to go for a ride with the teachers. They didn’t hold back in pushing the BRZ’s to the limit at speed around the skid pan! It was a great way to leave us with a lasting smile.

I really admire Drift Cadet for putting it all out there and creating a platform for beginner drifters in Victoria.
Creating such a great day and driving experience has left me with skills that I will not forget.
If you would like to lean more about Drift Cadet check out their website or facebook page.
Thanks for reading,
Grant

VicDrift :: Drift Summer Matsuri

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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