South Australia – Gripshiftslide

ADGP :: Round 3, The Twilight Throwdown

Grant — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 22:09:32 +0000

The Australian Drift Grand Prix has been up and running for the last five years. Every year, the competition continues to get more fierce, amidst competitors rebuilding their cars nearly every round. These cars continue to get lighter with new engine configurations every round that not only push the boundary’s but also push the budget.

Round 3 took place in South Australia at the well known Mallala race track, being only a one hour drive from Adelaide this track is very accessible for those who live in Adelaide. But, if you have driven from Melbourne it is a 9-hour trip with 3 cans of V and lots of bad food.

It was great to see that Micheal Bonney had made the trip up with his trusty s15! complete with new livery design and a few little aero add-ons.
Mallala is a very flat and open track, great if you’re trying to track predators yet not super interesting to the eye. The track is similar to Winton Race Way in the fact that it is a very dry wide open track, the advantage of this is if you mess up your not really going to hit anything but sandtraps.

In all my time I have never seen a temporary grandstand made permanent, constructed of compressed wood boards and scaffolding this grandstand had some serious character. Walking on this was like a chose your own adventure book, patched together like an inherited patchwork quilt. With every step you could feel this raw construction gowning underweight, with one wrong step and you could plummet to the ground!

Rob Whyte’s car looked as though it was having some early morning teething problems, yet i was confident we would see him and his wild machine on track regardless of any problems the car was having.

The always hard charging Micheal Rosenblatt was back in great form, the car looked fantastic and his driving was quickly on point.

This was only the second time Rob Whytes new car had competed this year. Although he has taken out the championship many years in a row this year looks to be his hardest on record.

This car is the second loudest car I have every witnessed with its all new modified sprint car v8! the sound literally causes your inner ear to retreat further into your skull for protection. Josh Boettcher is a serious contender! well traveled with a huge amount of experience and tonnes of talent.

Drivers had free run of the track most of the day with no local club traffic to deal with! this meant the pro’s could really get a great handle on the track’s layout. Getting as close to the clipping points while keeping up the speed on this track was the main aim! While many couldn’t get the snap transition into the second corner quite right, Josh Boettcher looked to have no trouble with this section at all.

After the middle snap transition was a long corner that seemed to continue forever, Some drivers could turn this into great angle near the end of the corner while other chose to maintain a medium angle around the whole corner.

Brent Gordon has really stepped up his game! Qualifying first! beating a whole host of super experienced pro’s while navigating the clipping points like his car was on rails.

Battle weapon always puts on a great show! Finny O’hare really know what he his doing behind the wheel yet when those competition nerves get the best of him sometimes he makes silly mistakes.
Putting down some solid runs Finny managed to Qualify tenth position setting himself right in the middle of the pack.

The R31 skyline is over 20 years old, but this chassis can still hold its own against some of the most modern cars of today. Jack Widdas keeps being knocked out by the top 5 drivers in the championship only because he often gets a raw deal when it comes to the top 16. We predict that next season he will move from the top ten group up into the top 5.

The top 32 battles were over very quickly with not many re-runs or stoppages during the competition. The top 16 grid looked ready for war with many of the drivers gaining surprise entry’s into the top 16. One being Catherine May who had earlier struggled with the course but now had forged her way up the ladder with some big names making mistakes early.

Being a great driver across many disciplines takes incredible skill! Shane Van Gisbergen is one driver that not only competes in V8 Supercars, but also has driven at WTAC and now has found himself a spot in the Australian Drift Grand Prix. Qualifying filth with some incredible entry speeds plus great proximity to the clipping points shows that Shane know’s how to play the game.

The most violent car of the day was Michael Bonney’s crazy powerful S15. Michael’s car had such an extreme transitional snap whenever the handbrake was touched! it was like the car could go from lock to opposite lock within a fraction of a second.

Already known as one of the nicest guys in drift Matt Russell ended up sharing his car with Jarred Klingberg due to jarred’s car suffering a major engine problem in the top 32 battles.

Matt Russell always finds himself up against a super powerful car and often the power outweighs the light nimble AE86. With Some great chase runs and plenty of flair Matt fought hard to finish in the top 8.

The hero of the day was Micheal Rosenblatt! like a possessed warrior he took down many high ranking officers. It was a shame not to see Beau Yates up against Rosenblatt! unfortunately, Beau could not get the new engine swap complete in his Toyota 86 quick enough to compete in Round 3.

A true nail biting set of finals were on the cards with Rob Whyte out the championship was suddenly wide open for Nick Coulson / Micheal Rosenblatt the winner of this battle would determine the current leader of the series.

Levi Clarke is a strong contented and it was no surprise to see him in the final of round 3 up against the hard charging Rosenblatt! Never afraid of a chase

A well deserved win went to Micheal Rosenblatt, he knocked out the best of the best to claim the win with Levi Clarke hot on his heels in second place. Third place went to Brent Gordon who along with Micheal Rosenblatt were the stand out drivers of the day. With only one more round to go in the championship and just eighteen points separating the top two drivers anything could happen!
Thanks for reading,
Grant

Mallala :: Drift Supercup

Grant — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:54:06 +0000

48 hours, one flight, one drift event and one massive drive home!
Last weekend I headed west for the Mallala Drift Supercup and not knowing what to expect, I found myself pleasantly surprised!
I arrived at the track at about 8am after getting a lift from the airport with local photographer, Luke Terbeeke.

I wandered around the pits taking some pics and checking out the competition. Most of the cars had already passed scrutineering and it was time for the drivers briefing.

Luckily, the meeting was short and brief and after a few question from the drivers it was time to hit the track!

Right from the word go, the laps were consistent and fast!
Luke Robinson and Simon Michelmore were running door to door on one of their first practice laps.

One car that I was surprised to see out on the track was this Toyota GZ20 Soarer, being driven by Dean Newcombe.
Not bad driving at all, qualifying 6th in the pro class.

Some of the local drivers formed a 4 car ‘train’ during one of the early practice laps.

Davey Clarke’s tiny Corolla was super impressive through the M section, I also loved the Japanese number plates.

One of the Victorian pro class drivers hit a wall during qualifying.

Driver Michael Prosenik was unharmed luckily, however the car won’t be seeing the tarmac again.

Michael says he has a new car waiting back at home and it should be completed within a few weeks.

Stirling Wright also made the trip over from Victoria and this was his first interstate trip. Despite having some issues with his tow car, we think he enjoyed himself thoroughly.
Stirling qualified 5th in the street class, the highest qualifying Victorian in that level. Well done!!

Andrew Chronis’s Nissan S14 looked like it had come straight off the boat from Japan, with an interesting cream colour and blue tinted headlights it looked like it would be very much at home in the Japanese mountains.

The second crash of the day down the main straight was Luke Broadbent in his purple Cefiro.

Luckily Luke came off a bit better than Michael Prosenik and the car drove away from the crash nearly in one piece.

The first thing I noticed about shooting at Mallala was the speed of entries and it’s no wonder why so many of the local drivers that compete on a national level can perform such ridiculous entries.
Simon Michelmore was doing backwards entries at the end of the main straight nearly every lap!

The real trick was keeping up the speed into the large sweeping corner, which follows the first corner directly after the straight.
It’s here that most of the battles were decided as there would be quite a gap between cars if the chase car couldn’t keep it’s speed from the straight through that first corner.

Corey Yates in the very ‘madmike’ looking RX-7. Corey is set to compete in the next round of the Australian Drift GP here in Melbourne.
We can’t wait to see this scrape the wall at Calder Park!

This was the first time I got to see Jarrad Klingberg’s crazy KE70 Wagon, it did not leave me disappointed.
This thing is as tough as nails. Running an SR20, the light body and responsive engine together prove to be a winning combination.

Easily one of the best two-tone colour schemes I’ve seen. Justin Incorvaja’s R32 from Victoria looked great sliding around Mallala.

The last sweeping corner made for some fantastic slow shutter speed shots. I tried to get a shot of everyone as they baked their tyres through the last bend.

Luke Broadbent didn’t slow down after his smash and was back out on the track in no time!

This is John Papadopoulos’ S14 from the Insane Drifters. John managed to qualify 20 in the pro class.
Not bad considering the level of competition and the home track advantage that many other drivers had.

Leigh Pidwell was showing no fear with his entries all day long, winning the Just Car extreme entry comp later that night!

Tom Monkhouse managed to enter the Supercup in a borrowed Nissan Cefiro, qualifying 4th in the pro class.

During the lunch break I managed to get a closer look at the Supreme Caravan’s 180SX, the car is at least a foot shorter!!

Stewy Bryant’s deadly ‘terminator’ R32 Skyline! The car experienced a few issues but managed to have enough power to continue with the battles in the evening.
Despite being knocked out in the top 16, Stewy took the Drift Attack win for the pro class.

Soon the sun was setting and it was time to start the battles, the grandstands were starting to fill and the lights were now on.

The starting grid was full and the cars and their drivers were ready.

First up were the street class battles, but don’t let the street class title fool you…
These battles were fast and fierce! Mark Longo took the win in the Jaustech R31 Vs. Adam Wood in his R33 Skyline.
Mark went on to win three more battles, placing 1st in the street class!

The pro class battles were nothing short of spectacular, with some of the cleanest and most expensive cars competing against some of the roughest looking drift missiles in the country!

Ender and Hayden had one of the closest battles of the night, with fans and judges sitting on the edge of their seats.
Hayden took the win as Ender needed to be a little bit quicker to match Hayden’s driving style in his V8 VE.

Chris Johnson in his incredibly beautiful R32 against Leigh Pidwell in his very functional S13, despite the home turf advantage, Leigh took the win.

Insane Drifter Aggis, against Hayden Buckham.
Hayden pulled a massive gap on Aggis and knocked him out of the competition.

With the sun down and the lights on, Stirling Wright’s ‘Drift Patrol’ R33 was in pursuit mode with lights flashing and sirens blaring.
The R33 was a big hit with the local crowds!!

Michelmore took the win against Pidwell, both drivers had some of the most extreme entries of the night and made for one hell of a battle!

Soon the temperatures dropped and the stands emptied, only the brave stayed to see the extreme entries comp and final battles.

Adam Wood lost his rear bar on his extreme entry attempt.

The crowd gathered along the main straight to see the trophy ceremony and cheer on their favorite drivers.
Here Tarquin, Jarrad and Simon catch up while waiting for the awards.

SA’s Jake ‘Drift Squid’ Jones was on the other side of the fence, Jake tried his hand at judging for the first time.
I think Jake has a new found appreciation for the judges and their job.

After the awards some of the drivers headed to the skid pan for a victory burnout, the winner Jarrad Klingberg went the hardest of all.
Breaking his tail shaft before he got to blow his tyres!
Winners for pro class :
1st : Jarred Klingberg
2nd: Hayden Buckham
3rd: Tarquin Van Rooyen
4th: Simon Michelmore
Winners for street class :
1st: Mark Longo
2nd: Mark Clarkin
3rd: Peter Ricci
With every event there’s always room for improvement but as a whole, the competition was great and the quality of drivers and cars was A1.
It was also good to catch up with some interstate friends and share a very, very long road trip with some of our local friends too.
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.
Full event results here.