Matsuri – Gripshiftslide

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

Vicdrift Summer Matsuri :: Fun In The Sun

Grant — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:17:48 +0000

So another 12 months has gone by in a flash but in all honesty it doesn’t feel like that long ago since we covered the last Vicdrift Matsuri at Winton Raceway.
What has changed in that time?

There were new cars and fresh builds and of course plenty of familiar faces. All of which were part of the extreme entry competition and even a burnout comp!!!
Hats off to the boys and girls behind Vicdrift pulled off another killer event that saw over 150 entries from drivers all over the country, flocking to try their hand at drifting in what is no doubt one of the best run events in the country. It was two days of non-stop action, burnouts, extreme entries and cash prizes, what’s not to love?

The weekend of skids started with the drivers briefing first up as usual at the crack of dawn on the Saturday morning.

After the usual affair of discussing the rules, timing and awards for the event, we rushed outside to get a few laps of the pits before we headed out onto the track. With Winton being such a big place, you need to plan your day so you don’t wear yourself out coming back to the pits all the time in between shooting the cars.

The newest car to the Team Chaulkin’ line up is David’s latest purchase, an R33 Skyline. The car has received a splash of visual enhancement for your viewing pleasure as it converts tyres into smoke.
The blacked out headlights and widened rear fenders all help add to the appeal.
Happy with what we had seen so far we decided it was time to go track-side.

In true Vic Drift fashion the track was ablaze with the screeching of tyres and the sound of engines on the limit in a matter of minutes from the mornings driver briefing in the hall.

We must have missed the ‘Bring your father to a drift day’ memo but Troy brought his old man along to put his S13 through it’s paces. Hats off to Mr Seguna behind the wheel!!

The amount of cars entered was staggering, with well and truly over 100 cars driving all day there were often large groups on the track at the same time and surprisingly only a few mishaps throughout the whole weekend!

With such a long list of cars there were bound to be some interesting entries like Andrew in his VS Commodore…

Or crowd favorite, Daniel and his VN wagon. The performances this blue family car pushed out all weekend was impressive to say the least. And all thanks to a friendly amount of forced induction with a turbo strapped to the side of the Holden V6.
The only failure we saw all weekend was the cooling system after some serious punishment during the burnout competition. But of course Daniel and the VN were soon back in action drifting again for the rest of the afternoon!!

Now if you guys follow our Facebook page, you would have noticed our infatuation with Stewy’s R32 from hell. Despite its looks, this car has one of the best setups for the purpose at hand… Drifting of course!

Beneath the menacing and rough as guts exterior you see here, there are years of love and knowledge which all help this car to out-perform many ‘prettier’ cars and sees it perform some of the most extreme entries in Australia!!

Plus we love the way the rear bumper lifts up like a cheeky flash from a girl in a dress on a windy day. C’mon gust of wind!

Local boy Matt Russel and his SR powered 86 hatch used the huge amount of track time to shakedown and iron out any bugs before the car will see a full round in the ADGP series later this year.

Without a ‘smorgasbord’ of stickers plastered all over the car, it often gets lost in the group at the larger ADGP events. We wish Matt all the luck throughout the competition season. So keep your eye out for this clean white Corolla coming to an ADGP event near you!

What was the weather like I hear you all ask?? One word – HOT!!!
What would a summer Matsuri be without the summer?! The day saw some near record temperatures and had Winton staff on high alert for grass fires.

There were just a handful of small fires on the track but the threat remained in our minds thanks to thick smoke from surrounding bushfires which made for some interesting lighting conditions as the sun set.

We spotted a few quick repairs in the pits over the weekend and it’s amazing what drifters can fix with some determination, zipties and tape. And all of this performed 100’s of kilometers from home!!

Chris’ suspiciously clean S14 was looking great on and off the track!

Some of the interstate guests at this years event included the infamous Hit and Run boys from NSW making the trip south to blaze some tyres and generally run amok!

We loved the rawness of this v8 swapped S13 from the HnR crew. The switches and sheet metal interior reminded us of the Nascar racers from the states.

A bum only a drifter can love! If we showed this image to regular car enthusiasts they would be forgiven for thinking it was unfinished.
There is a certain amount of beauty that we can appreciate in the ‘progress’ look a lot of cars seem to be rocking these days.

This image caused quite a stir amongst our fans when we posted it, Stewy’s Skyline is certainly one that divides people.

Everything about it looks wrong, this is what makes it so awesome.
If you don’t understand this and don’t see what everyone else sees then try not to take it so seriously and enjoy it for a car full of character and fun.
Remember fun? This is what drift was about before sponsorship and competitions.

Another interstate guest down from NSW was Oliver and his CA powered 180SX.

Esther is one of the latest female ambassadors for drifting in Melbourne and her car is certainly helping encourage not only the girls to get behind the wheel but the boys to step up their game in the visual department.
This car looks great!!

As we mentioned earlier there was an ‘extreme entry’ competition on the Saturday. Held on the main straight of Winton, the aim was to hit the first corner with as much speed and angle as possible.

Jason Dewar took the win in his monstrous V8 swapped S13 and let me tell you, the sound and angle was absolutely savage!

Jason Ferron did very well but missed put on 1st place… Not to worry though as he picked up the win for the burnout comp and best tandem battles alongside Trent Jacotine.

Extreme entries have to be one of our favorite aspects of the sport, seeing a car with the wheels on full lock while still traveling some 140+kph completely sideways is actually one of the most peaceful and almost majestic things to watch.

From the moment that the car transitions into the slide to exit the corner, time itself slows down and it really is one of the best things that drifting has to offer.
How these drivers hold the angle at such high speeds and then navigate the corner without spinning off into a fiery ball of death is beyond me!!

Still the most exciting car to see hit the extreme entry comp was Stewy and his R32 Skyline.
Every run without fail there was absolutely no holding back from Stewy and this made for some truly jaw dropping entries!
After the extreme entry comp, the team and I decided to call it a day and eagerly headed to the hotel with food and drinks in hand.

Bright and early Sunday we headed back to Winton Raceway and had our fingers, toes and every other body part available crossed hoping for a cooler day.
Alas, this didn’t seem to change a thing as yet again we were treated to skin melting temperatures.

Day two saw a couple of cars hit the track that had been in hiding or that had only managed to make the trip up for one day.
Most notable for us was Bill El Haouli’s LS2 swapped S13. Built by JAK Motorworks, the car belts out a healthy 350 rear wheel kilowatts!!

Bill put every single bit of that power to good use and the freshly built car performed effortlessly all day!!

Aaron managed to get his little Corolla three wheeling, an impressive feat in anyones books!!

The day went on without any troubles and spectators were treated to endless displays of tyre punishing drifting. If you have never made the trip up to Winton for a Vicdrift event we strongly suggest you fill up the car and bring some snacks and head to Benalla for the day!

The latest GSS feature car was out stretching it’s legs and the car looked just as good as when it was originally shot for the feature…

Maybe just a little bit dirtier, full feature here >>> http://gripshiftslide.com/bmw-e30-rb30-drift-frankenstein/

Battle damage!! Rough panels make for the best photos because you can literally see the texture of the crunched and rippled panels!

Jason’s 5.7 litre tyre killer up close and personal. This is one of the best sounding drift cars currently running.

Elliot from the Smashbox Sliders was carving up the main straight in his recently completed purple S14. The car has a host of parts from Slide Industries. Be sure to check them out!

Something unique to Winton is the bridge that sits over the main straight, sometimes it is extremely hard capture a great shot with the cars screaming underneath you with debris flying up and the whole structure shakes with each pass.

Occasionally you get a shot that is at least usable.

Back down on the ground we got prepared for the burnout competition and waited for the last drift cars to come back in.

The burnout comp saw some interesting entries, from an EA Falcon and VN Commodore to an Nissan S13, R32 Skyline and even a Laurel!! (Pictured)

The win went to Jason in his yellow R31 Skyline but we enjoyed watching these particular tyres final moments on this VE Ute.

Back to the pits we made our final sweep before packing up a

It’s amazing how much punishment these engines are dealt over the weekend and they just keep purring away session after session!

Stewy made a quick stop on his way into the pits to pick up some pieces that became disconnected from the car while he was out having some fun.

So how do I sum up another killer Matsuri event by the boys and girls behind Vic Drift??
The people! Without the support of fans, drivers, friends and family the sport would be nothing.
So thank you to those that burn every pay cheque into their drift car, the guys and girls that travel hours to each event, the team that constantly deliver with sold out track days month after month.
Thank you and thank you for reading our little article!
– Gwyn.

GSS x Japan :: Autumn Drift Matsuri

Grant — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:36:42 +0000

Last month, GSS visited Japan for the Ebisu G1GP and Autumn Matsuri for the trip of a lifetime.
I set off in the early hours of the morning for Melbourne Airport, and off we went.
After being awake for over 36 hours, two flights, a lot of waiting, and catching trains, we headed straight for our hotel rooms and called it a day.

The next morning saw some sneaky shopping opportunities, then yet another train ride, which took me way up north into the small town of Nihonmatsu. This was to be our central hub for the next week at Ebisu circuit…

The following morning, we finally made it to the circuit complex. My first impression of Ebisu Circuit is that the photos do not do it justice. This place is huge.
We met up with PowerVehicles, who took us down to the ‘graveyard’ where we collected the cars that we would be thrashing on the various courses over the next week.

My friend Evan was more than a little excited to pick up his C35 Laurel with an R34 RB25DET conversion. Unfortunately, this car was to be plagued with issues after the first couple of days, which saw Evan spending most of his time off track trying to get it running right again.

After a quick tune-up of the cars, we headed straight for the ‘school course’. This was a large rectangular circuit with several roundabouts in the centre, some NASTY ripple-strip drops and two concrete walls at 90 degrees to each other for good measure. Don’t let the name deceive you though, this course laid claim to more cars than any other in the entire complex.

Another popular course was the Togue course. consisting of a short and long loop, this is a faithful recreation of the mountain-pass type roads that the local street drifters adore so much.

Proceeding to the North Course – the uppermost course in the complex. This is an absolute power-circuit, with wide, sweeping turns, and a technical S-bend and hairpin section. Of course, there’s also a hefty pit-wall for those classic Ebisu wall-tap moments.

After a few days practicing and working on the cars, by Friday it was time for G1GP. This was the last round in the series, and included a “Super Class” demonstration from some of the country’s best drivers. Naoki Nakamura and his S13 were a crowd favourite.

Moving in for a closer look, I was amazed by the sheer detail in his bonnet artwork.

Heading down the Nishi Course pitlane towards the G1 event, I bumped into this beautiful JZX90 Mark II. I’m often surprised at how few of these we see in Australia either on the road or on track, since they’re such a capable chassis. Needless to say, they were EVERYWHERE at Ebisu Circuit.

The JZX100 chassis were also very popular here. This was my favourite, with it’s low-mount wing and huge widebody conversion.

Love it or Hate it, the JZX110 Verossa is an absolute powerhouse after a little modification. I tried to capture it’s best angle, then remembered it doesn’t have one.

They say you’ll never forget the moment you met your true love. Readers, what you see here is that precise moment in time for me. While standing mesmerised, watching what has to be the world’s most beautiful Mark II being drifted perfectly around every bend at full noise, I realised I had to have one. As soon as I returned home, I started putting plans into action to acquire one.

As part of the G1GP festivities, the Super Class demonstration was mind-blowing. Seeing in person drivers such as Andy Gray, Nakamura-San, and Suenaga-San that I’d read about in blogs for years, was a surreal experience.

All of these drivers have skill and speed in abundance. How’s that for proximity.

At the end of the Super Class battles, Suenaga-San of Team Orange was declared the winner. From there, it was time to head back to the other courses and start preparing for matsuri.

While I’m sure you’re all familiar with the matsuri concept, they do things a little differently in Japan. Where your local circuit will turn the lights off at 9 or 10pm due to noise regulations, Ebisu stays open, under lights, for a full 36 hours. The night before, there was a line at the gate of Japanese drivers, sleeping in their cars to ensure they got the best pit garages when gates opened in the morning.

By this time, the cars were starting to look a little worse for wear. Battle scars (or trophies as the drivers saw it) showed perfectly executed wall-taps, scrapes and bumps with other cars.

I found that one of the best things about Ebisu, was also very reflective of the Japanese psyche. Anything goes and everyone is accepted exactly the way they, cars included. This little Kei car was kicking it around the togue course with all the big-bad JZX, S, and R chassis, and nobody had a problem with it.

Did I mention Ebisu Circuit is also home to a Safari Park? Only in Japan.

The end of Matsuri concluded our stint in Nihonmatsu. With the cars beaten, bruised, and covered in tyre marks from super-close tandems, ( Check out Taylor Wright’s awesome Matsuri video to see just how close – Click here.) it was time to pack up the tools, hop in the vans and head for Tokyo. On the drive back south, we wanted to stop by Nikko circuit, just to check it out. We had no idea if it would even be open, and we weren’t even sure if we were in the right place.

That was until we found this S15, a tell-tale sign that we were going in the right direction.

There just so happened to be a great little monday-afternoon drift meet, with close to 30 of the cleanest, straightest drift cars you’ve ever seen. This C34 Laurel might look to be more stance or VIP than drift, but it’s driver was pushing it as hard as any of the other cars on track that day.

Walking the pit lane, I spotted this cool little Toyota Starlet…

And this Battleship grey S15.

Speaking of S15s, As soon as I saw that two-tone paint, I knew I’d seen this car before, but I couldn’t quite place it. Walking around to the front, I immediately clicked.

That’s not two different cars you’re looking at. You may remember this S15 with E46 front end doing the rounds on the interweb a few months back. Again, while it looks like a mint condition show-car, the driver was not holding back at all out on track.

I was blown away by the sheer entry speed all the drivers were carrying into the turns.

Walking back through the pits to head off, I had to have a quick snap of this S15. The little details were what made this car. Like the green ring around the projectors and the air-horns tucked into the bumper.

Once back in tokyo, it was time to relax, shop, and start preparing for our flights home in the coming days. That said, we made time for the Toyota-sponsored Motoring History museum, complete with vintage Toyotas, this Ferrari Dino, and…

This immaculate KPGC10 GT-R. Seeing this iconic car in person, in such great condition, was a surreal experience.

On my last night, I met up with a local friend for some drinks at an Irish pub. Heading back to the hotel to start getting ready to go home, there was no mistaking that I was still in Japan. Only there would you see an original H1 Hummer towing two I-don’t-even-know-what’s behind it.
This concludes my coverage for GSS of what was for me, the trip of a lifetime.
In the coming weeks I’ll have some additional images over on my personal page – http://www.facebook.com/leighkellyphoto.
Thanks for reading,
– Leigh.