Nissan – Gripshiftslide

Keep It Reet Battle Royale RND#1 – 2023 – Run the wall

Grant — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 02:50:04 +0000

Meguiars MotorEX – Drift Cadet Drift Demo’s

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bonus Video

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

VICDRIFT :: Round #4 – Things get serious

Grant — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 10:58:44 +0000

The year is quickly coming to an end, it’s this time of year when all the motorsport events start to fire up as the weather begins to get warmer.
Round #4 of the Victorian Drift Championship was held at Calder Park in front a strong crowd and a large amount of eager drivers.

Every year we seem to see a changing of the guard, a new champion and a new set of hungry drivers ready to take the title of Victorian Drift Champion.

This is the second last event of the championship, the time to count points, the time to patch the car up and hope it holds together for the upcoming battles.

The day had just begun, it was time for the drivers briefing which was held on track. The drivers were about to learn what exactly the judges wanted to see from them, some divers attentively listened to the judges while others were just talked smack to their mates.

Last year round 4 was won by this man; Adian Ing, he surprised everyone by beating out some very seasoned veterans of the sport. This year he has found him self in a new car for the season and has been looking to steal another win.

This layout is as fun for the drivers as it is for the crowd! Having to throw the car with full commitment straight at the crowd then transitioning up and around the bend makes for an exciting spectacle.

Some of the higher powered cars tended to bog down and lose momentum on this particular track layout. The higher grip lower powered cars were impressive as they are able to catch ground quickly on their high powered rivals.

Jason Ferrons new rig has had its up’s and down’s! Haunted hill’s really made the car look like a half crushed coke can. With help from friends and a lot of talented people the R33 sedan was fashioned back together in time for round #4.

Be gone shabby paintwork! The boys over at WrapedUp did an amazing job making Jason’s car look like it was straight from the paint shop.

Nissan is still the dominate platform for drift around Australia and in many other places around the world. With so many options for custom aftermarket parts made especially for drift I don’t see this trend changing anytime soon.

Choonga the president of VicDrift has had enough of sitting behind the sidelines and organizing everything.
Round #4 saw him borrow a friends R32 four door to jump in the mix with some of Australia’s best drivers.

Everyone was pushing hard during qualifying, Justin Gruener took the top spot followed closely by Christopher Schulze and Matty Russell rounding out the top three.

Every year I watch drivers come up through the ranks and overtime see their skill’s develop.
One of the drivers who has been very impressive in the last six months is Zac Bongnar. Although his name sounds like an evil villain straight from a bond film his driving is aggressive but not demonic.

Alex Gouveia has been charging hard all season! His battle’s are always super entertaining, he is one driver we will be seeing on the podium next year for sure! He put down plenty of great runs during the day but was knocked out of the top 8 by Justin Gruener.

The judges where wanting drivers to run wide on the first corner and touch wheels on a patch of concrete just at the start of the corner. To do this it required a fair amount of speed! Here you can see Zac Bongnar and Christopher Schulze’s first initiation before the cars even get to the corner. Zac’s battle against team mate Christopher was re-run it was so close! Eventually Christopher Schulze ended up winning this battle.

Top 16 and top 8 Results where read out right in front of the crowd sitting on the above hill. Drivers sat side by side as they were read their verdict.

Big power versus no power, Kevin Flynn almost ran into trouble narrowly missing Julian Di Battista on his run. The crowd cheered as they thought they were about to see carnage, yet Kevin Flynn’s years of experience kept him from binning the unique 2JZ S15.

I can’t imagine the thoughts going through Christian Stella head moments before he was to battle his long time friend and Vic Drift President Mathew Choong. Do you push it! Get on door? Or leave a safe distance?

Thankfully Christian Stella did all of the above without damaging the car that Mathew Choong had borrowed especially for the event. It was a great battle that was re-run it was so entertaining! Christian ended up taking the win and moving all the way up to the top 8.

The people’s choice award was voted live on facebook by the crowd watching the event, they chose Mathew Choong and Warwick Fitzgerald as there favorite divers of Round 4 Vic Drift Championship. This then meant that the two would have to battle to the death for the audience’s affection! Both drivers put on one hell of a show with Warwick taking the win in his small but mighty MX5.

Justin Gruener has been hard at work all year! Hey has reached the VicDrift podium many times in the last couple of years yet he has never been able to get the win. This time however all his stars aligned.

Not only did he take first qualifier and impress the hell out of the judges! But he also took the win at Round #4 and the best part is it was also his birthday! What a hat trick!

So who will take the crown of Victorian Drift Champion for 2017? With many regular names missing rounds of the championship its anyone’s game! The 2017 championship definitely looks like it is favoring the underdogs this year. The last round is quickly approaching and we cannot wait to see who can take the win this year.
Thanks for reading,
Grant.

Vivid Motorsports :: Formula 1 Show And Shine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saint Side :: 8th Annual John Street Show and Shine

Grant — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 01:45:34 +0000

Every year the Saint Side John Street Show and Shine never fails to impress! This is the 8th year in a row that Saint side have run this event and closed down the entire street to celebrate the birth of the Saint Side brand.

St Albans basically goes into shut down mode when the annual Saint Side John st celebrations are on! With hundreds of custom bicycles on display and a massive range of cars, whats not to like about the Saint Side Show and shine.

Saint Side fans are dedicated, loyal and fanatical! After eight years the Saint side family has definitely grown and it show’s no signs of slowing down.

A subtle yet appropriate styled R33 Nissan Skyline sat among hundreds of custom bicycles that formed a line from one end of john street to the other.

Dj Rod G kept the tunes going all day with some very cool 90’s classic hiphop, with a mix of new jams squashed in between those hits we all know and love!

This TE27 corolla drew my attention immediately as i walked past, its funky Superlight wheels original paint job and missing front flair gave this corolla some real character.

This annual event always attracts a diverse range of cars from Low Riders to Hot Rods to JDM and everything in between!

Because the show and shine takes up the whole of john st other cars are forced to park a few streets away. I always take the time to walk around the surrounding streets to see the other cars that were not able to fit into the main show. This murdered out FG falcon was so evil it made small children run while dropping and abandoning their beloved comfort toys in the street!

Private Bike shows started to spring up across the road from the main show, Saint Side have reinvented the custom bike by supplying fans with the hottest parts out of america and around the globe.

I’ve spotted this very R32 on the freeway in my daily commute to work, boy does it stand out with that bright teal color and 4 stud conversion complete with Hoshino wheels!

This Chevrolet Pick-up truck was stunning with it period correct signage and wooden side extensions plus it also was carrying a tricked out custom bike in the back!

Next year I think Saint Side should run a dog show alongside the other festivities that take place through out the day. There are so many proud owners and there puppies that come to the Show and Shine. Why not put them on show as well as the cars and bikes.

A good variety of cars showed up to the event with many wildly different cars sitting next to each other. For instance take this track driven 86 and a VIP ride sitting side by side.

Do not mistake the Toyota FJ for an over sized Fiser and Price toy car! From a distance this FJ did not look real! but up close you could see its larger than life personality.

This is the first time I have ever seen a two wheeled General Lee! Love the detail they have gone to with the CB radio on the handlebars and confederate flag on the back!

Denim jackets, gold wheels, red beanie’s you could be forgiven if you thought this was a picture from the nineties!

The Saint Side four legged family was in full force showing that not all Saint Side fans have to be human.

Every detail on these custom bicycles was hand picked and placed on the bike’s for a specific purpose.

Likewise the lowriders had equally as much personality with custom pin striping and chrome to match.

Not to mention there where a few tastefully modified classic Hot Rod’s in attendance. Yet the real focus of the show was the custom bikes.

There where so many bikes it was hard to concentrate on just one! There was a bike to satisfy everybody’s taste!

With a huge mix of styles and influences blended together extending the entire length of john st.

Just like a Harley right? The owner deserves credit for creating such a beast!

When the restoration of low-rider bicycles, streetwear, and collectibles come together you know that the Saint Side crew most likely has something to do with it!

The Japanese influence runs deep with plenty of classic Toyota’s and Nissan’s helping to decorate John st.

The Saint Side event brings together Americana, west coast, custom and vintage lifestyles, for a truly unique experience. Mark and the team have been slaving away behind the scenes to make this years show an absolute hit.
With new clothing being released monthly Australia’s favorite streetwear boutique Saint Side is soon becoming a household name. It is by far one of the most well loved shows of the year and we cannot wait for next years show.
Thanks for stopping by,
Grant

Eastside JDM :: Under The Cover Of Dark

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mini Feature :: The Unlikely Coupe

Grant — Thu, 26 May 2016 01:42:17 +0000

From an unwanted shell to racecar in less than a year, when Michael tried to sell the Datsun SSS 200b coupe shell he had no bites! Rather than have a rolling shell taking up space in the garage it was time to inject some life into this old girl.

Being no stranger to race fabrication Michael dreamed of a setup that could take a corner instead of acting like a brick on wheels, wanting a responsive setup Michael decided to adapt the S14 suspension setup to the front and rear of the 200b. This was no easy task, the design of the 200b suspension setup had to sit a lot higher in the back end of body than the original suspension. This helped to give the car an aggressive new stance with a slight squat in the rear.

I didn’t stop there Michael had to make some serious cuts to the guards of the car to fit the huge 16×8 -4 wide wheels under the arches. Making the 200b sit super low with a large wide stance meant an extreme commitment to fitment!

The Modifications kept getting more complicated with a custom tunnel having to be fabricated to accommodate the RB gearbox that was attached to a very healthy Nissan SR20det engine.

If you have ever driven a Datsun 200b you will know that the steering is heavy and sloppy! Michael decided to fix that problem with a full steering rack from a S14 Nissan Silvia. The rack had to be slightly modified to fit the Datsun SSS plus a full roll cage was installed! With a good balance of power and handling this package makes the car a hell of a weapon.

The sound of this car is truly amazing! hearing the sr20 scream around the Haunted Hills race track was a pleasure. This Retro build is an absolute masterpiece! Michael has some real skill! make sure you check out Large Automotive Industries if you need some custom automotive fabrication. Michael’s Datsun makes a huge impact to those who catch a glimpse of it! A classic with a new lease on life, This is one of our favorite Datsun Builds of the year.
– Grant

AKDP :: Wrapped & Bagged Gloria

Grant — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 10:51:42 +0000

If you’re reading this from outside Japan than chances are this car won’t be instantly familiar to you. It is of course a 1999 Y33 Nissan Gloria.
We met Miyake Jyoko and his impressive Gloria while arranging our shoot of Sumida-San’s STI Forester.
Jyoko-San is another member of the AKDP crew we met up with while in Osaka. Once we saw the car in the light we just had to do a full feature.

The Nissan Gloria is an interesting car to look at by all accounts, a large four door saloon with a host of creature comforts and soft suspension for a smooth and comfortable ride. This particular variant is no slouch ether with a factory boosted 3.0l V6.

The headlights are arguable the most striking feature of the Y33 Gloria and Jyoko-San tells us that they are just one of the reasons he fell in love with the shape of the Gloria some 3 years ago.

This Gloria is a far cry from Jyoko-San’s previous car. Believe it or not Jyoko-San’s first car was a tiny Daihatsu Mira!! (We’ve been told he has picked up another Mira and we can’t wait to see what he does with it!)

Filling out the arches you will find a set of “SX” Seeker’s by Work Wheels. The fronts measure in at 18″ x 9.5″ -5mm.

The rears sit in at 18″ x 10″ -12mm and the generous amount of dish looks impressive tucked up into the rear guards.

Helping get the Gloria to seemingly beach itself over it’s own wheels is an Air Suspension system comprised of Algernon shocks and a Universal Air Compressor.

Inside the car is a large helping of the same style and flair that Jyoko-San has so liberally applied to the exterior. Including a snake skin wrap…

An Avenue steering wheel does away with the giant plastic air bag equipped factory unit. Controlling the suspension height of the Gloria is no harder than using an unlock code on your favorite video game thanks to this PlayStation controller.

It also seems the only thing fresher than the look of the car is the air that Jyoko-San breathes. When I pointed to the small forest of air fresheners hanging from his rear view mirror he couldn’t help but laugh with a grin on his face.

Stepping back the car absolutely oozes Jyoko-San’s style. Easily the the most obvious visual feature is the head to toe wrap. There is no matte or chrome finishes here. It’s all about texture.

Jyoko-San was working at an automotive wrapping company and his Gloria chosen to be the demo car/guinea pig for a VIP Event.
The wrap is a combination of camouflage and crocodile skin.

Separating the two wraps is a unique stitched line running the length of the car. Jyoko-San originally chose the combination as he had never seen anything like it before.

Beneath the wrap the Gloria is sporting a full Rando Ryu LUX body kit.

Adding to the overall look the fenders have also been pulled by 25mm on all four corners to help fit the wheels into the guards.

Together the wrap, suspension and wheels make for a lasting impression.

Poking out from the rear bar is a trio of blast pipes…

Hand crafted by another AKDP member, Yuta Takahashi. He works out of the B-Factory workshop and knows his way around a welder or two.

Under the hood the performance mods have stayed on the conservative side.

The VQ30DET can now breath easy thanks to an A’PEXi intercooler and Trust air filter.

With most ‘VIP’ styled builds performance is never the focus, what Jyoko-San has focused on has been executed perfectly.

The aim of the game is attention and it’s hard to argue that seeing this Gloria roll down the street wouldn’t cause a stir.

Seeing the car the night before the details in the wrap were lost, it looked just like any another matte black wrapped car.

In the light of day it comes alive as the sun hits every textured bump on the surface. The camouflage almost gives a marble effect.

After finishing our shoot it was time to head back to my apartment as I had a Shinkansen to catch, The ADKP crew were more than happy to drop me at the doorstep.

Cruising the streets of Osaka with these guys will be a happy memory to last a lifetime.
I would like to thank the AKDP boys again for sharing their time with us and chauffeuring me around town.
We still have a handful of cars from the group to share with you so keep your eyes out for our third and final AKDP feature.
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.

DCA :: Walls festival

Grant — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 09:09:10 +0000

They say practice makes perfect! Although when the track layout gets changed and new obstacles get introduced things get interesting. Drift Challenge Australia was back again to take over the Thunderdome! With big names like Matt Field, Chelsea Denofa and a host of Australia’s best drivers. Luke Fink has taken DCA all over Australia and the brand is starting to gain momentum with help from our friends at Vicdrift DCA is really starting to pull bigger crowds.

The Elhaouli brothers sitting eagerly on the start line were ready to take on the interstate competition and defend victoria against the foreign invaders. Coming off the back of a win at the Jamboree drift competition at this very track was Moe Elhaouli in his newly refreshed V8 Rocket Bunny S13.

The track started to get dirty very early in the day with plenty of cars off due the technical track layout. The clipping points on the track were set rather high to increase the driver’s angles but many drivers had trouble carrying enough speed into the higher parts of the corner to really hit the clipping zones.

As the day wore on the drivers got more confident and comfortable with the track layout running full drift trains with low and high powered cars!

Thomas Sabo is no stranger to drift competitions, regularly attending VicDrift events throughout the year and placing well in many events.

Passengers are a big feature of dca its the only event that allows and encourages passengers to ride along during qualifying. They not only get to see the track up close but they also get to see the drivers at work.

Unfortunately the only real high speed section of this DCA layout was the initial back section. From the start line up the bank and down into the first corner was the fastest part of this track layout.

Amongst the various cars entered into Wall’s Festival there was one that stuck out of the pack, Katie’s carbon fibre 180sx with its sneaky SR20DET.

The raw gloss Carbon fibre look is really aggressive! Not the type of car you would expect a lady to be driving.

From up high on the bank you could see one of the major clipping points, many drivers found it hard to push right up to the fence and get inside the zone.

For such a challenging layout there were not that many incidents. Until the drivers got too confident and some even launched and mounted on the last corner barrier.

Going three deep into the finish line right in front of the crowd! With our driver Jason Ferron heading up the back of the train! Just like synchronized swimming everything has to be on point to pull off this massive feet.

Transport problem solved! no more walking! these classic Honda pocket bikes were awesome! Later in the day I saw them dragging each other in the car park for bragging rights.

What is an old Ma60 Supra doing driftting? Good question! this is not your average Supra! It is more a hybrid fordyota! Inside you will find a Falcon straight six with a massive turbo hanging off the side.

The Supra had so much torque that it launched its rear end into a barrier! Losing its big wing which meant no track time for an hour or two while they fixed the damage and got the car back on track. This car had traveled a long way to be here and was not going to end its day after one hit! He is one of many Tasmanians that made the trip out to DCA.

Luke Mudde is just 1 of many south ozzys at Walls Festival, his car is looking as good as it had on the very first round of DCA.

Michael ‘PROZ’ Prosenik had come straight off the plane from NZ to compete in DCA. Known as the Potato! Prosenik’s practice car was called into battle as Dazza his competition car is still in NZ.

In the same way a lion chases a gazelle Stewey Bryant chases his prey! As the prey is pushing its limits, making mistakes Stewey is gaining distance and proximity.

Ripped out of place only the wire remains! With no night drift happening tail lights were not really needed.
Qualifying pulled all the drivers into order with our local hero scoring the top position.
1 – Michael Prosenik
2 – Matt Harvey
3 – Josh Robinson
4 – Stewy Bryant
5 – Tom Sabo

Saint Side had a custom show bike show down near the pits. The quality of the bike builds were unbelieveable! from Rat style to Bling there was something for everybody.

Only a concrete barrier separates the drivers from finishing and returning their runs. This is such a great setup because the crowd gets to see all of the action in one spot.

Great to see the fans supporting us! at one of the events we most enjoy! if you like the look of these snapbacks you can get them from our online store.

Wisefab has really made the impossible possible by creating the ability to get more steering lock where there hasn’t been before.

The proof is in the pudding, this s15 was hitting angles a lot harder than many other cars on track with its impressive Wise Fab setup.

Matt Harvey ended up being the winner of walls festival, the boy has skills! take a look how close he is to the wall without any real damage.

With a great crowd and plenty of action Justin Gruener took out the $500 venue voucher for the Watergardens Hotel 60 Minutes to Win it!

This was the last round of the current 2015 DCA Championship. We look forward to seeing the 2016 season for DCA and we know there are bigger and better things on the horizon for this new drift promotion.
2015 Championship Results.
1st place Thomas Sabo
2nd place Brodie Moore
3rd place Stewy Bryant
Final Round Results
1st Matt Harvey
2nd Chelsea DeNofa
3rd Luke Broadbent
Thanks for reading,
Grant