track day – Gripshiftslide

Performance Tyres that Actually Perform – Bridgestone Potenza Adrenalin RE005

Grant — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 10:24:57 +0000

There’s a big difference between reading about a tyre and actually trying to behave like a responsible adult while it’s actively encouraging you not to. So when Bridgestone dropped us into Norwell Motorplex to sample the new Potenza Adrenalin RE005, the plan was simple: test the product.

That plan lasted about five minutes. I was on double duty camera in one hand, camera in the other, basically running a one-man documentary operation while our special guest Kumar was handed the far more dangerous assignment of driving the cars properly.

A job he accepted with the kind of enthusiasm that should probably be monitored. From there, the day moved into a more structured rhythm, but the underlying theme stayed the same: the more you pushed the RE005, the more it seemed to settle into its work. One of the first things you notice is how quickly it comes online.

There’s no real sense of waiting for it to wake up. You roll out, turn in, and the grip is already there. It doesn’t build confidence gradually it just gives you enough immediately that you start trusting it almost straight away. The steering response is particularly direct. Not nervous, not twitchy just immediate.

You make an input and the car reacts without delay, which makes everything feel more precise than you expect from a road-focused tyre. What’s more interesting is what happens after a few laps. Instead of dropping off or feeling like it’s reached its limit, the RE005 actually feels more consistent as it warms up.

The behaviour becomes more settled, especially through longer corners where stability starts to matter more than initial bite. There’s a calmness to it under load. You’re not constantly managing the tyre or waiting for it to break away it just holds a line and does its job, even when the pace builds.

The wet skid pan in a single shared BMW M240i was basically controlled chaos big circles, low grip, and that familiar moment where everyone pretends they’re testing stability systems while actually just seeing how sideways they can get before lunch. This is where tyres usually reveal their true personality.

Some panic. Some give up entirely. Some just seem to make things up as they go along. The RE005 just hangs in there. Calm, progressive, and surprisingly composed. You can lean on it, slide it, catch it mid-correction, and it stays with you without ever feeling like it s about to step out of line.

It’s predictable in a way that actually encourages you to explore the limit a bit more each lap. Next up was a half-track slalom in the Toyota 86. Hard braking at the end. Quick direction changes. The kind of exercise that doesn’t really leave much room for excuses.

And then because someone clearly enjoys adding pressure we ran the exact same setup back-to-back against a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 5. Same cars. Same cones. Same slightly questionable decision-making process. The RE005 felt tight through the slalom, almost eager like it was anticipating your next input and cleaning things up before they ever became a problem.

Under braking it stayed composed, with none of that vague I hope this works out feeling. Just firm, straight-down stopping and no real drama. After lunch, which mostly involved sitting quietly and reflecting on the fact we’d already done enough to void several warranties, we went back out.

Full track. Proper laps. Real pace. This is where tyres usually start telling the truth about themselves. The first lap is a handshake. The fifth lap is a confession. And the RE005 didn’t really flinch. No sudden drop-off, no greasy slide into disappointment.

Just consistent, repeatable grip lap after lap. It didn’t feel like it was hanging on it felt like it was in it’s working window and perfectly happy to stay there. Then came the point where everyone stops pretending this is testing and admits it’s just racing. A full grid of Toyota 86s lined up for a mock race at Norwell Motorplex.

It was less controlled experiment and more lightly supervised chaos with tyres attached. And while I was back on the sidelines trying to capture something coherent out of the madness, Kumar managed to secure the ultimate position: passenger seat in the middle of a rolling battle royale.

Honestly, the man didn’t deserve it—but there he was, grinning like he’d hacked the system.
Also worth pointing out, the RE005 isn’t some niche fitment experiment either. It runs from 195/55R15 all the way through to 275/30R20, so it covers everything from hot hatch territory to proper performance machinery—and yes, it even fits those damn EVs too.

Across its 50 available sizes (15-inch to 20-inch fitments), the intent is clearly broad application without losing its performance focus. By the end of it all, the RE005 had made its point. It doesn’t ease you in.

It doesn’t politely ask for commitment. It just delivers grip from the first metre, builds more as things heat up, and then sits there in this slightly composed state while you try your best to unsettle it. Which, at Norwell Motorplex, is really saying something.

Blog Heroes :: Low Key Fun

Grant — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 07:27:06 +0000

We’ve all seen the saying “Keep drifting fun” thrown around the net over the years. We certainly have some great national and state competitions in Australia, however outside of some casual drift matsuri style events, there really hasn’t been many track days that nail the brief. Unfortunately over the years many matsuri events have become synonyms with heavy contact driving between beaten up missile spec drift cars.
If you have a clean car and want to get out and burn some tyres with other like minded individuals where do you go? Enter Blog Heroes. The invitational event from the mind of Oliver Parkinson.

Oliver has been around the drift scene for years, in recent years he has been in the spotlight thanks to his stunning creation and arguably the lowest drift car in Australia. This black RB26 swapped S13.

Oliver set out to create his perfect drift car with just as much attention to the aesthetics as the mechanical side of the build. The car was never built with competitions in mind so that left Oliver with little to no events on his calendar to drive the car. The answer? Run your own track day and invite drivers from all over Australia who’ve proven themselves to be great drivers with the right attitude.

The best venue for such an event? Wilby Park Raceway, a great little secret near the Victorian/New South Wales border. The track originally started life as dirt course with an oiled surface. Due to council complaints the track was given a sealed surface. Now it hosts only a handful of events each year. With the event capped at 40 drivers it was the perfect laid back day for both amateur and professional level drifters.

The cars ranged from jaw dropping high dollar builds to low cost, high thrill drift cars. No matter the car, there were no bad attitudes or fake parts in sight. With a very opinionated view on replica parts drivers were encouraged to leave the fakes at home.

John Dreyer a local driver climbing the ranks of the 2016 VIC Drift Club competition was out in force with his incredible Bluebird.

This car started out as a very clean club registered cruiser eventually becoming the SR20 swapped competition ready drift car you see here. Despite the few badges of honor you see around the body, it is still surprisingly clean after it’s fair share of door to door battles.

Another regular of the Vic Drift scene is Mat Russell and his in instantly recognizable AE86.

Matt is not only known for being able to steer the pant’s off this little 86 he is also rather well known for owning every set of Impul Hosino’s in the world!

It’s always a pleasure to see the JVN Garage KE70 Corolla out on track, this car seems most comfortable flying towards a corner while completely facing the wrong direction.

If you’re in need of some GSS stickers make sure you head to our online store. Here.

Easily one of the cleanest drift cars in Australia and it’s street registered!! Gerald’s R33 sedan is always a sight for sore eye’s at local track days.

The most unique car of the day had to be this KE20 Corolla. While it wasn’t exactly setup to slide the owner looked like he was having a ball throwing the little car into each corner.

Another strange sight was this AW11 MR2. The owner brought it along to give the tiny coupe a shakedown. It was there purely for grip laps although that didn’t stop Matt Russel from getting behind the wheel and giving it a flick or two.

By 9am most drivers had finished unloading and then it was time for one of the most relaxed drivers briefings I’ve ever attended!

Oliver ran through the 4 rules of Blog Heroes.

“1. No dirt drops, 2. No spin & pin, 3. No statics, 4. Don’t be a d$#khead!” Easy right?!

Most people seemed to pay attention during the short briefing.

After the meeting the last handful of cars went through scrutineering and it was time to hit the track.

There didn’t seem to much of a warm up to the action, most drivers took to the track like a duck to water. Many of which had never driven here before.

The overgrown fields surrounding the track proved to be treacherous thanks to the heavy rainfall. In some places the standing water was well over ankle deep.

The track also claimed it’s fair share of aero parts early in the morning.

There was also plenty of drift train action between friends.

Despite the relatively low speed course, tyres were being destroyed left right and center!…

Many coming completely off the rim!

One of my favorite pairs to watch, The JVN KE70 and Michael’s R32. These guys had smiles all day long while getting nice and close in the corners.

The tiny MR2 actually became a crowd favorite as it constantly locked up the front brakes while screaming around the small track. It looked incredibly fast out there.

Even after coming off track a few times Gerald managed to keep his R33 sedan super straight although it did pick up a lot of mud by the end of the day.

The smoke kings, John Dreyer and Matt Russell made for an exciting couple of laps with huge thick walls of smoke behind them throughout the entire track from start to finish.

The action was some of the most consistent I’ve seen, there was never more than a couple of quiet minutes on track.

It was good to see a couple of Nissan Cefiro’s hitting the track, a much rarer sight here in Australia compared to our friends across the ditch in NZ who seem to have imported every A31 available from Japan.

Denis’ 1JZ swapped E30 BMW was having some braking issues during the day which meant we didn’t get to see the usual aggressive driving we’re used to from him. Nether the less the car looked and sounded amazing!

After a quick lunch break the cars once again filled the track.

The man himself and the host of the party, Oliver got strapped in ready to finally unleash the RB26 over the afternoon.

After a few reserved laps Oliver turned the volume up to 11.

The speed this car maintains mid drift is ungodly. Oliver was cracking a very large smile even while the rear tyres separated the quarter panel from the chassis.

A man happy to finally be playing with his toy!

I actually kind of dug the “cut away” style look. Maybe this will become a new trend?

By the late afternoon most drivers were really finding their groove.

Even the mighty little Corolla was getting in some impressive lines.

The relaxed nature of the track was an amazing experience for drivers and photographers alike.

This meant the action was super close and the energy from the drivers pushing harder and harder to nail a perfect drift in front of my camera lens was truly surreal.

John Dreyer spent the afternoon mastering backwards entries, many of which defied everything we know about physics. A true mad man!

With the sun soon fading it was time to end what was one of the radest track days I’ve personally been to.

Even with the wet shoes I cannot wait to get back out to Wilby and check out another invite only event.
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.

#T86RS :: Toyota 86 Racing Series

Grant — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 12:30:17 +0000

#T86RS Stands for Toyota 86 Racing Series and I was about to experience what it is like to
be apart of the new racing series. Gone are the days of “Race on Sunday, buy on Monday.” Finally there is some
light at the end of the tunnel thanks to Toyota and the new 86 Racing Series!

Once I arrived at Sydney Motorsport Park I was greeted by a line up of cars that helped define Toyota’s motorsport history. Toyota’s commitment to bringing motor racing back to the youth is something that toyota is really passionate about, not only have they assembled the cars but they also brought some of the drivers from Toyota’s heyday along for the ride.

There were plenty of familiar faces; some from TV ( Neil Crompton, Greg Rust),
and other motorsport royalty (The Bates family, John Boston and more).
We were run through the plan for the series and exactly why Toyota was getting back into local racing.

We were soon taken to “Garage 86” where both of the cars we would be testing were laid out with their various upgraded parts on display.
Australia is the 3rd largest market for the 86 It made sense that Toyota chose Australia for the release of the 86 Racing Series!

First we were introduced to the standard 86 and then the 86 racing version. Powered by the very same 2.0lt boxer engine that is found in the standard car the racing version shares the same power plant. The 86 Racing version includes upgrades like Motec ECU, Oil cooler, headers/extractors and muffler, AP Racing brakes, OZ Racing wheels, NBM Control Spec roll cage and more. 86 Racing Series Brochure

Having never driven an 86 I was very excited to get behind the wheel of both of these cars. We were made to drive the standard car first so we could see the difference between the two.

The standard car feels very balanced with super sharp steering! In the tight corners I really tried to give it the beans but as soon as I did I heard that all too familiar traction control sound and a slight drop in power. Good thing though as Toyota didn’t want us burying their cars into the concrete walls of Sydney Motorsport Park.

After 3 laps of the South Circuit in the standard car I began to understand just why these cars are so damn popular. It’s easy to hate on hype and yes I’m guilty of labeling the car without even driving it! But after a drive I’m a changed man! It’s such a responsive car with a good amount of power and road feedback.

My confidence grew as I figured out the braking points and what speed to take the corners. Our driving instructors were great; they really helped us to get more out of the cars than we initially thought was possible.

Toyota is really investing within this series. Up to 5 selected professional drivers nominated by Toyota will mentor and compete against a potential field of 27 amateur drivers who will qualify to get onto the starting grid. The nominated drivers will not be eligible for prize money but this will add to the growth of the series. Some of the races will even be held with rounds of the V8 Supercars.

Our old mate Justin Fox wasn’t playing around! He had his Stig helmet on and he really put this car through its paces! While waiting for my turn in the racing version of the 86 it was interesting to see the other drivers approach to the same corner in front of the pits. Some would really go wide and ring out 3rd, others would change to 4th early. I tried both but ringing out 3rd felt best up the hill.

It was time to get into the 86 Racing version! All I could think was please don’t stall! But luckily the clutch wasn’t a 100kg leg press and it felt almost identical to the standard clutch.

As soon as I got onto the track I put my foot down and straight away I could feel a difference! It felt a lot stiffer, quicker off the line, and the seating position was much lower.

Now I had learnt the track I was getting a little overconfident. So confident that my instructor was hitting my hand when I would try for an early gear change.

After our 3 laps in the racing version of the 86 we were then able to go for a hot lap with the professional drivers!

I was paired up with the talented Leanne Tander. Once I was strapped into the passenger side it was go time! All three cars left the pits at the same time.

While in the car I could feel the Dunlop Direzzas gripping and throwing us through the corners more than I had felt when I was driving the car. The pro drivers where really on another level! The comparison between driving yourself and a pro driving the same track is a real eye opener.

Neal Bates took everything to the next level by passing both 86s then proceeded to drift in front of us while we struggled to keep pace. The Dunlop tyres are such a great mix of grip and slip and they will definitely make the racing action fun to watch.

The Toyota 86 Racing Series will demand the competitors to adhere to a strict car setup meaning that driver talent, rather than team budget, will be the key to winning.

The 2016 86 Racing Series will be visiting lots of tracks all around Australia including:
Winton SuperSprint 20-22 May
Sydney Motorsport Park 26-28 August
Wilson Security Sandown 500 16- 18 September
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 6 – 9 October
Coates Hire Sydney 500 25-27 Nov

Tetsuya Tada’s dream is about to become true! The 86 Racing Series looks like it is just the right thing to reinvigorate the public’s passion in motorsport and Toyota.
We cannot wait to see this series take off!
facebook.com/toyotaracingaus, twitter.com/toyotaracingaus, instagram.com/toyotaracingaus
Thanks for reading,
Grant

Nugget Nationals :: Round 2 – Winton Raceway

Grant — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 11:32:55 +0000

Nugget Nationals from grip shift slide on Vimeo.

Nugget Nationals is all about competitive fun racing!
The video was shot at (Round 2) Winton Raceway. This is just a sample of some of the action that took place on the day.

The rules!
To compete in the points based rounds, you must purchase/borrow/share a car that comes in at under $3000 and has a naturally aspirated engine with a capacity of no more than 1500cc.
facebook.com/pages/Nugget-Nationals
nuggetnationals.wordpress.com/

MMSC :: Haunted Hills Track Day

Grant — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 07:34:28 +0000

Late friday night I came across a photo of a Mitsubishi Evo on a trailer, that car was Victor’s. It was on its way to Haunted Hills, suddenly I realised there was an event being held at my favorite track!

Without a thought I canceled my original plans and soon enough I was on my way there. After 2 hours at a constant 5,500 RPMs in my silly Kei car I arrived at the Haunted Hills Race Track.

Although it was freezing cold and the fact that you could not see more than 50m in front of your face this didn’t discourage the drivers. The Toyota 86 is really gaining in popularity not only on the streets but here on the track. There were three 86’s registered to race and I was surprised to see so many, when normally you are lucky to see one at any given track day!

As soon as I laid eyes on this Honda Jazz I knew I was in for something special. With some nice subtle exterior mods and sensible light weight wheels this package looked the goods!

When there is an open top racer on a track that had a car roll only a month ago you know this guy had to be a bad arse! The Lotus Kit car was painted in an awesome British racing green complete with some gold highlights. My favorite part of this car was its sneaky air intake which was raised out of the normal shape to give it that extra gulp of air for some extra pony’s.

This is the very car that inspired me to make the trip to Haunted Hills for the day. Victor has been hard at work on his car in preparation for this event. Being victors first time at this track he made the decision to run the car with no front bar to avoid any extra damage that may occur if he was to go off the track.

After a short drivers briefing it was time to hit the track, Harley and his JZX Chaser was one of the first in line and quickly took time to talk track with the man who was organizing the dummy grid.

After being called from the dummy grid you get to the real start line and have to then wait for the remaining car on the track to get to the finish line before being allowed to go.

This slight right hand bend in front of the Evo is known as the “OH’Shit” corner, it is one of the most tricky corners on the track, why because you carry so much speed into it. This happens because of the steep incline shortly after the start line and when it is wet and the track is cold one hesitation and you go straight off the corner.

There was quite a mix of cars in attendance, this XR5 really was hitting the track hard and punishing his tyre’s as he struggled for grip in the damp conditions.

As the track slowly dried out lap times started to fall although there was no sunshine the grass was no longer covered in icy frost.

This little Corolla did more than make beautiful sounds, it was fast! Like really fast! Adrian’s KE70 really had people wondering what the hell is under the bonnet of the bronze beast.

The Corolla made it into the top three fastest cars of the day, even though this car is still a work in progress Adrian managed to scrape more and more time off his PB for this track. Not every lap was perfect and sometimes this track car was quickly transformed into a drift car.

This FG XR6 took it really easy during the early morning session but quickly got faster and more confident as the track warmed up. The Ford and Toyota chaser behaved completely different on the track. The Chaser being the larger car you would think it would be slower and more cumbersome to get around the track, Yet it was faster, flatter and and seemed to fly around the track with ease.

With some very consistent times this RX8 had mastered the track, but wasn’t managing to smash his PB by much. The rotary sounded great and you could hear that rumble echoing around the tiny valley surrounding the track.

Flying into the big hairpin at the end of the track was one way to build up a bit of extra oomph for the hill up to the finish line. But there was another way! the Nissan way, a bit of a clutch kick and you were off and up the hill!

Not everyone had a lucky day, mistakes where made and under such tricky conditions it was bound to happen, the lunch break was mainly used by people to repair and ready their cars for the next session.

After lunch a line quickly formed and the Charge Speed’s Evo X was first in line to hit the track. This Mitsubishi Evo 10 looked great and went very, very well! With plenty of exterior mods and engine mods this is one tasty package!!

This supra knocked almost ten seconds of its original time around the track getting its time into low sixties. The track was run in a clockwise configuration and this made the track a bit easier for the drivers to navigate.

Track days are such a good opportunity to practice the things you are not meant to do on the road. For instance drifting! If you have the power and the know how, why not practice a little?

One of the most imposing looking cars of the day was Victors Evo, that big time attack style spoiler and large front mount cooler really make this car sand out. The car not only looks serious it also has plenty of after market parts that help this Evo attack time.

When this Honda jazz would fly past me I kept hearing a weird sound, I thought to myself “that sounds like a supercharger” could it be? I had to take a closer look and sure enough this little jazz was packing a supercharger! The sound that it made was like a screaming angry monkey! It was scary as hell!

This was one great track day! even though it was super cold and most people watched on from the comfort and warmth of their cars, it was full of action and time slashing goodness. If you would like to know more about the (MMSC) make sure you hit these links Melton motor sports inc – MMSC Facebook page
Thanks for looking,
Grant.

Haunted Hills :: CCRMIT Christmas Break Up

Grant — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 10:45:13 +0000

It is Christmas break up time of year again and the CCRMIT club was lucky enough to score the haunted hills hill climb track for their end of year ‘come and race’ fun day. With a less than desirable weather forecast, things did not look promising.

On the drive out to the track I drove though several storms. Thinking all the rain and bad weather was behind me, I was confident that day would turn out just fine.

I had only been at the track 10 minutes when a great big cloud moved over the top of us all. Driver briefing was hurried up due to the pending rain. Someone from the crowd started a count down and yelled 30 seconds! 10 seconds! 5 seconds!

Bang! The rain hit like a crazy tropical storm and with the temperature at 35 degrees and drops of rain the size of 50 cent pieces it quickly got pretty humid. The rain didn’t stop for a good 20 minutes.

Once the rain cleared, a huge line formed as everybody wanted to get out on the track! Even though it was still really wet nobody wanted to waste a minute of precious track time.

Zac in his KE20 Corolla didn’t mind that the track was damp. He launched the car as if it were a dry day and didn’t hold back.

Many different cars were lining up to take this track on, including this Christmas modified Corolla. The mix of serious track cars and daily drives was impressive.

With an advan inspired paint job, this rare Levin was a real surprise to see on track. It was by no means the normal type of Levin you would see on the streets.

Haunted Hills is a truly beautiful track with long sweeping corners, perched on the side of a hill, this track has it all.

Out on track were a few Datsuns. This one was in great condition and I couldn’t believe how straight all of the classic cars were for being weekend track cars, they were all very impressive.

This Chrysler Lancer was thumping around the track and the boys were loving it! Not only is this car unique, it was the only car rocking the retro ‘poo brown’ colour scheme. I’m not sure if this was the 2.0 litre version but it certainly went like one.

A full rally spec Hyundai Elantra. This thing was flat out crazy with the driver entering corners at speeds that I didn’t think were possible on such a track! There was some serious skill behind the wheel.

After walking through lots of tall grass I found a spot to shoot from. It was just near a rise coming into a sweeping corner. Not 5 minutes after getting to this spot I see a Volvo coming over the hill and think to myself that he was going a little fast. Within a couple of seconds the car was on its’ side and it gently fell back down on all for wheels! I helped to push it out of the embankment and back on to the track.

Not everybody could keep their cars on the track in these challenging wet conditions, but I did see many spectacular saves that averted disaster on some hairy parts of the track.

Because Nissan! That is why there was some good drift action going on at the track that day.

Yet another clean S series Nissan running around the track. I was glad to see some of the more popular car types doing some track time rather than hard parking time.

A rally modified Stanza was cutting some clean lines around the track and always seemed in control.

After the crash, the Volvo made its’ way back to the pits. Tools were soon sourced to pull the radiator out and clean the clay blockages that had inundated the whole front of the car.

The line continued all day and the track was never empty. Some people didn’t even stop to eat lunch, taking every possible chance to get in some solid track time.

There were not many 4wd cars on track but this wrx was a great clean example of the perfect weekend track car.

There were a few rally style Hyundai Excels buzzing around the track. They are probably one of the cheapest and most fun ways to get into rallying and track events, with such cheap parts and being very easy to drive. This Ion sponsored Excel was one of the fastest and most daring of the bunch.

The best thing about the CCRMIT Christmas breakup, was the ‘come try’ aspect of racing. Some families were sharing a car between three siblings and pushing each other for faster times.

This very customized CRX had one of the best brake setups I had seen all day and the owner took good care of this car, both on and off the track.

Another standout driver of the day was Michael in his Datsun. He was linking corners and drifting with great speed and precision.

These very passionate club members live and breathe racing and rallying. From the track open to track close, not a moment was wasted. The enthusiasm and drive behind this club is very strong and I will definitely be attending more CCRMIT events in the future.
Thanks for looking,
Grant