thunderdome – Gripshiftslide

VicDrift Round #3 :: It's not all about constistancy

Grant — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 23:37:12 +0000

This year is soon coming to a close, Round #3 has already arrived although it only feels like June. As the VicDrift Championship heats up the big players cut groves in the bitumen and solidify their positions in the series.

The seasoned drivers have wasted no time fighting their way to the top of the leader board, preparation, a strong team and many hours in the drivers seat are starting to pay off. These events are more than just a drive, hang time with old friends and new friends are what make this drift community so strong.

Looking good in this sport is half the battle, a great looking car definitely helps with building traction while capturing some attention from sponsors. These two are a prime example of this, both cars just cause people to stop and stare.

Josh Robinson was back with a newly installed 6 speed sequential Pfitzner performance gearbox and carbon fibre doors which has helped him shave an extra 100kg off the car. This means more acceleration for josh! The bad thing is that he will have to buy more taillights, The concrete walls of Calder Park are not very forgiving!

Could this be a trophy or just a creative tow hook made out of a conrod? There is most definitely a story behind this yet we may never know why such a creative tow hook was born.

One last check by Troy’s pit crew to make sure that nothing has come loose and everything is safe to hit the track.

Because Calder Park Thunderdome is essentially a giant bowl, on a cold day with high winds conditions just get amplified! Everyone was wearing as many clothes as they possibly could to keep warm.

This particular track layout has not been used for quite a while, it is an original ADGP layout. When this track layout was first launched 3 cars were almost written off and one camera man got injured. But the skills of the drivers are a lot better these days!

Being a lot faster than most other Thunderdome layouts, with big scando’s, a large banked straight and wall scrapes this course has it all.

Up the bank on the exit of the large sweeping corner is where drivers like Michael Bonney and Jason Ferron really excel by getting on door while blazing up the forty five degree angle banked turn.

The looming concrete walls that surround the Thunderdome are the only thing that you really need to avoid! well that and the dirt pit to the right of the sweepa.

With no probationary licence this young man at the ripe old age of 16 made some of the experienced drivers blush. Having never driven this layout while up against true veterans this young guy really proved that the young can adapt and evolve very quickly to the situation at hand.

Sometimes when you play follow the leader your lines can get a little wild. Many drivers dropped a wheel or two in the same muddy spot chasing the lead car.

With the recent sale of Calder Park the future of VicDrift is looking a little bit shaky, this track is the main track used by VicDrift for the majority of their events. The question is how long until they build houses right on top of Calder Park? From the top of the hill you can see the city and the spread of houses approaching this piece of motorsport history.

Struggling to get heat into the tyres and high winds didn’t help Josh Robinson’s campaign, he was knocked out of the top 8 by bonney who’s aggressive driving style was making mince meat of the competition!

Warwick Fitzgerald who is one of VicDrift’s legends was back in the hot seat pushing his MX5 to the limit against much more powerful cars! He put on some seriously close battles and even exchanged paint with a few drivers but sadly he got knocked out of the top 8.

Nerves may have got the best of Justin Gruener with some big performances in previous rounds many expected him to easily make it into the top 4 drivers of the day. But some silly mistakes in the top 16 battles saw Justin out of the running.

The speed of this layout is much faster than the FD layout that is normally run here. The drivers easily were getting into third and even fourth gear towards the end of their runs down the back straight.

There were so many close battle’s throughout the whole day it was hard to see drivers making any major mistakes. Its a good thing i’m not a judge otherwise I would have had battles constantly re-run to force mistakes to pick the winner.

Westside Concepts are really coming up with some unique designs, take this one for instance a combination of Jim’s Mowing and the Big Lez Show’s (Mike Nolan).

Two of the crowd favorites entered into a 80’s style drift battle with their retro drift cars, John Dreyer ended up getting the win which helped propel him into the top four.

You may be thinking why does this commodore look like it is unusually squatting? this is because of an accident at Winton and the best fix was to weld the rear of the commodore at this strange angle so it could be allowed back on track.

Among the thistles and broken chairs you could clearly see a battle in the distance. Going to war in a concrete dome is one fun way to spend a weekend but watching others fight there way to the top of the battle tree is even better.

With Sharky hot in the rear-view mirror its hard not to have a quick look back to see how close he really is.

Among the sea of cars within Vic Drift is a little ford escort with the heart of a Nissan! We have been watching this car appear and disappear over the last three years and it is always a joy to watch.

The true meaning of relationship goals! That’s right what you are looking at here is boyfriend vs girlfriend with some rather close tandem action.

The peoples choice award went to a strong character of the sport Sharky in a battle that was re-run several times and each time Sharky was on door.

Showing the same form that he had in Round one, Bonney’s transition’s while chasing where so insanely close that he was only leaving centimeters between him and his competition. Bonney’s driving was flawless! It was great to see a well deserved win especially when he has been working so hard this season of the Vic Drift Championship.
Thanks for reading,
Grant.

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

DCA : The dome, round 3

Grant — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:28:04 +0000

DCA has been making its’ way around the country and has finally landed in Victoria. Everyone was excited to see Drift challenge Australia at the dome. And after seeing DCA at Raliegh raceway earlier in the year, I had some idea of what to expect.

There was a considerable line to get in to Calder Park, despite the early morning start. Once through the gates, the drivers scrambled to roll their cars off in time for the drivers briefing. The infamous battle master Stewy Byant had made the long tip to Victoria and was looking fresh, even if the car wasn’t.

Peering in through the window, I spotted a monster tacho along with many other gauges… but no speedo? This worried me! What kind of badasses were we dealing with? With lots of interstate drivers competing at the event, the mix of cars was inspiring to say the least.

Chelsea DeNofa, a well know Formula Drift driver from the United States, was the special international guest at round 3. This was the first time Chelsea had seen the car he was driving and he was a little underwhelmed with it.

In all the events that have been held at Calder Park Thunder Dome, never have I seen such an unconventional track layout. At first I was shocked, then confused, but once I saw a few cars run the track, it quickly grew on me! It was not the conventional FD Asia / ADGP layout we are all used to, it was something new with components of old track layouts

Simon Michelmore is never one to shy away from competition. This weekend he was driving his backup car, the R33 Skyline as his competition car was getting a much needed overhaul.

Luke Broadbent’s Nissan Cefiro is never short on power thanks to his super committed pit crew. Luke is a strong performer and he has the talent and car to take him to the top.

A surprise number one qualifier was Warick Fitzgerald in his giant sleighing turbo mx5. He stunned the judges with the most perfect run of Saturdays’ practice. He also won a $250 voucher to Cartel Online for winning qualifying.

A great thing about DCA is the fact that passengers get to ride all day long, even during battles! This is good for the passenger and the balanced weight factor.

Shaun Gilbert is one experienced driver who has driven all over the world. Here you can see him battling Luke Mudde for a spot in the top 16.

Shaun has not lost any confidence since a recent crash at Ebisu Japan, where he flipped his car and ended up knocked out for 4 minutes. He is a true warrior, with so many epic battles over the weekend – he has to be one of the best chase car performers of the weekend.

Tearing it up in your street car is what DCA is all about! Fun drifting – with no bullshit pressure.

The top 16 battles where hectic! And with so much talent and so many big names, one star was sure to fall. The unfortunate driver to make the mistake was Matt Russell in his mighty 86 up against a Cefiro that had at least twice the power of the 86.

Two of the best and most exciting drivers of the weekend had to be Simon and Stewy. Always on the edge, with full commitment and plenty of flare! This pair know how to entertain the crowd whilst managing to look cool.

The Calder Park Thunderdome can be very unforgiving and running too low here can cause all sorts of problems because of elevation changes. Yet we have never seen an ecu loom jump out and get chewed before. This little mishap caused Simon most of Saturdays’ track time! Rewiring an ecu loom is no easy feat.

Guest driver Chelsea DeNofa learned quickly to drive on the right side whilst driving a foreign car and if that’s not enough, he also had to deal with a crazy tight track layout.

Chelsea’s skills where evident! With top level hair splitting accuracy, he was involved in many drift trains and epic battles over the weekend – he soon mastered the track.

With enough power to launch a satellite into orbit, Michael Bony created artificial clouds all day long! He didn’t impress the judges though, hitting clipping points while keeping things smooth is what the judges where looking for, not a power display.

Our man Jason Ferron was out in his trusty R31. Having competed in every DCA round so far, Jason knew what to expect. But the unexpected happened! The welds broke on his diff centre, which meant he had to qualify in Justin Stocker’s rb25 Cefiro. After qualifying, Jason luckily got his mate to retrieve a minispool from Jason’s house. The car was repaired in time for his battle against Denofa, in which Jason spun on the lead lap loosing him the battle. This will be the last time we will get to see the old blue R31 as Jason is upgrading to a wagon and we cannot wait to see him back on track.

Ensuing carnage where ever he went, Johnny from Manic Racing sure knew how to get the crowd going! Not qualifying on the Saturday because of car dramas really didn’t hurt his enthusiasm on track.

On Sunday he was out again being crazy and putting paint on every wall! Johnny literately drove the wheels of his R34 Skyline, putting everything on the line, pushing all the boundary’s and smashing a new shape into the car.

Mitchell Sanders after staring out in the ke70 and not being able to make it work the way he wanted, cracked it and told organisers that he would be late for qualifying. He went and did a 2 hour round trip to pick up the cClica that had sitting on his front lawn, untouched since driving it back from DCA round 2. Once back at Calder Park, Mitchell changed tyres, fluids and the car felt better than it ever had! After putting down a few laps to get a handle on the layout, it was time to put down a qualifying run. The run was good enough for 14th place and a top 32 against Aaron Dewar, which he went on to win before being defeated by Jordan Graham in the top 16.

There was plenty of action on and off the track. The crowd on Sunday was a lot bigger than the crowd on Saturday, yet the action was equally good on both days. The harsh drop off on the dome was damaging all the cars, especially people who hit it on weird angles, they were bending tie rods, snapping wheels and bottoming out suspension.
Below are a few sample videos of what it looked like to drift the dome at DCA.

http://photos.gripshiftslide.com/uploads/2012/02/2014/11/dca_train_1.mp4

Chasing Warick Fitzgerald within the drift train.

http://photos.gripshiftslide.com/uploads/2012/02/2014/11/dca_train_2.mp4

On board with Warick Fitzgerald.

http://photos.gripshiftslide.com/uploads/2012/02/2014/11/dca_train_3.mp4

The view from the middle of the track.

These are your top drivers for round three.
1st Chelsea DeNofa
2nd Josh Robinson
3rd Moe Elhaouli
4th Jordan Graham
Round 4 is set to be one hell of an event with the promise of Ryan Tuerck as the special international guest. Drift Challenge Australia is really bringing the best drifters together into one competition. Luke Fink should be very proud of what he has created in his first year and we know it is only set to get bigger and better.
Thanks for reading,
Grant

Track Battle :: Time Attack – Calder Round1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

lancers where everywhere and they seemed to be dominating.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ADGP Day One :: Tight And Tough

Grant — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:30:29 +0000

Australias best drifters lined up for the first round in a new national drift series.
Calder park thunderdome was the place to be.

The biggest drift event of the year proved a worthy challenge for many. The course was mostly made up of water barriers and was not what everyone was expecting.

All of the drift competitors looked unsure about the layout. There were many broken drifts and sudden handbrakes.

Confidence grew as the drifters slowly started to find there range.

Even race officials were surprised by how hard these guys were pushing it.

There was so much drift action going on it was hard to pick who was leading the day.

The insane crew looked good with there clean new sticker jobs, each individually personalized!

Some drifters were getting sideways way before the first real corner.

Time attack sessions gave the drifters a chance to repair there tired machines.

The pits were a hive of activity, heavy gearbox surgery took place mid way through the day.

This is just a small sample of the carnage that unfolded during the day. The restrictive course resulted in a demolition derby which left Australia’s finest drifters bewildered.

It was hard to find a straight panel on some of these battle tanks.

The top teams had put everything into preparation for this event and the cars looked mint.

The supreme caravans 180sx was looking good, creatd motorsports had given this car a new paint job and the team was puting in a strong performance all day long.

Battle scars were prevalent though out the field.

largest car award goes to this Ford ZL Fairlane, the bloke did well to keep this monster on the track.

A strong performer was Tom Monkhouse, always willing to throw it all out there.

it was flat out on the back straight, most of the field kept the drift going until the turn in.

The thunderdome turned into the icy dome once the sun was down. Yet the crowd was still there to see the top solo runs from the 32 best drivers.
It was great to see calder park thunderdome and lots of people enjoying the day. I can only hope that this venue once sold does not turn into a housing estate! Victoria needs this track to stay alive for the good of motorsport.
Lets hope day two of the Australian Drift GP brings another day of incredibly close action.
-Grant