Vic Drift – Gripshiftslide

VicDrift :: Round 1 2018 – Top 8 Video

Grant — Sat, 17 Mar 2018 12:38:20 +0000

Enjoy this eleven minute feature on the very first event for VIC Drift in 2018. Running a completely new track layout, many experienced drivers were knocked out of the mix by young guns.

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.

VicDrift :: Drift Summer Matsuri

Grant — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 09:35:16 +0000

Its been a long time since i have been to winton raceway. Missing drift is what had inspired me to make the 3 hour journey to Summer Matsuri. With a host of wicked cars due to show up at the event and my gear all charged. It was only the road trip that stood in front of me.

Wanting to get to Winton early i jumped in the van at 4am, if you have ever made the trip before you will know that it is pretty much all straight roads. Boaring and mind numbing but rewarding at the same time.

With the sun quickly rising i ran around trying to capture some of drift cars bathing in the morning sunlight before there epic sideways adventures.

Soon this hybrid ford / r33 skyline would be smoking more than “Cheech and Chong” tires of course! Not only where people up early and working on their cars, they were also getting over the effects of drift party life.

When all the money is spent on the car their is not much left over for the drivers or the crew. That means that breakfast is cornflakes served in a halved 2 liter milk container.

Summer Masuri runs both saturday and sunday, this r32 was showing some battle scars from Saturdays long drift sessions that ran well into the night.

Matt Russells drift machine always looks good! it has recently just come back from ADGP in sydney. Although it has been competing against the best in Australia the car still looks straight and is here ready for a casual drift with Vicdrift friends.

This drift interior shows exactly what is needed for your average drift set up. Not everyone runs a heap of gauges and the main essentials are oil, water and boost.

With only an hour until the first session people were already queuing up for their tyres. Impatiently waiting to hit the track and burn some rubber.

The SmashBox Sliders were out in force and ready for another hot day of sideways action. Ryan and Elliott’s cars were looking strong and after surviving Saturdays carnage they knew the cars could hold out for another full day of drift.

Everybody assembled for the drivers briefing, with over 100+ people in attendance yoshi had his hands full instructing the large crowd. The drivers briefing is a good way of letting all the drivers know whats expected of them on the day and how they should behave.

Looking at this large line of people you wouldn’t think that drift is unpopular,but the sad reality is that it’s a fringe Motorsporat in Australia. Yoshi and the VicDrift team are trying to change the impression of drift in this country, doing this at a grass roots level is a long hard job.

As the sun continued to rise it was time to hit the track. With 4 different classes and variety of driver talent the stage was set for yet another awesome day of drifting.

In the drivers meeting there had been a warning about a rut / drop off near the start of the winding section of the track just before the main straight. Luckly most cars avoided this nasty edge by not running so wide out of the first corner after the back straight.

Trent and cat have been using every chance they can to test and tune cat’s new car. Now that the suspension setup is nearly perfect it was time for Cat to get some serious track time. While watching the Chequered Tuning VK shred tyres i noticed a few strange track exits on to the dirt. It turns out the car was suffering from an electrical gremlin which caused the car to cut in and out while in 4th gear,Scary stuff! Luckily trent found the problem and fixed it quickly.

Drift matsuri is a good chance for drivers to push themselves and their own boundary’s. Taking the chance to do extreme entry’s when there in not many cars on track is one one to develop your skills.

Some of the drivers would choose to power up the straight or slightly drift. Only the skilled ones would continuously drift from the bottom corner up the straight into end corner.

I didn’t matter what class the car was part of the simple fact was that everyone on track could really drift. When i think back to the early days of drift at winton there were plenty of drivers that just couldn’t drift.

This is one car that was definitely in the wrong class and should of been part of class A. Why? because Aaron was linking drifts like a pro at high speed while entertaining the crowd.

Sumner Matsuri is one of the best times to practice tandem drift and working on proximity in a competition free environment helps the drivers develop their proximity skills.

Given the weather all of the cars were coping with the thirty degree day. Although it was only twenty in Melbourne Winton often gets alot hotter than Melbourne.

Although some of the drivers may not agree with the organizers of vicdrift decisions they appreciate the facility of vicdrift. Respect is hard to earn but one person who completely surprised me with there hidden talent was Choonga.

Throwing hard and holding nearly every drift choonga would cut pro lines with speed and grace. Good high angle entry’s with plenty of power! The boy can drift. If he did more drifting and had some serious sponsorship he could easily be within the top 10 drifters in Australia.

I have never seen a Corona drift before but I like it. Although it may be slightly heavier than the KE70 it is a smart choice for a good, low cost drift build that will turn heads.

What’s a Drift Matsuri without the traditional Drift Matsuri Burnout competition! This year there was a special guest from Summernats; yet the car that stole the show was this Starion with an incredible rollback burnout that had the crowd screaming like school girls.

Not only was it good at burnouts this old Mitsubishi could skid. With plenty of flair and deep drift lines the Starion really was entertaining to watch.

Track time is the name of the game. If you want to be better at drift then Vic Drift Matsuri is the best way to get some serious seat time. This event is one of the best places to see new emerging talent. Fresh cars, new drivers and a friendly atmosphere! Vic Drift really does know how to put on a show so if you have a taste for drift make sure you attend a Vic Drift event this year.

Jason Ferron :: Choc Mint R31 Drifter

Grant — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 08:49:18 +0000

Jason Ferron may not be a name you know however we’re pretty sure you will remember his bright yellow R31 V8 drift chariot…
The car has now undergone a fresh makeover just in time for WTAC and Jason is set to leave his mark on Sydney Motorsport Park this week.

Off the back of his 2nd place win for the 2013 Vicdrift/Road King Chassis championship, Jason hasn’t rested. Instead he has been spending the last four weeks refreshing his competition winning R31 ready for the 2014 drift season and WTAC team drift competition.

In just three short years, Jason has taken to the sport of drifting like a fish to water.
Starting at the age of 20 with a close to stock R31 Skyline and as Jason improved, so did the car. It’s now sporting a 5.7 litre V8 engine, tuned to a healthy 273rwkw thanks to the team at Chequered Tuning.

“Not another V8 swapped Nissan?!” While many argue against such a conversion, you cannot argue with the results! With a majority of the professional drift field running big powerful V8 motors, it can be an expensive path to try and match their performance with a smaller capacity engine.

At the age of just 23, Jason is still a privateer, so budgets are strict to ensure he can keep driving regularly and as the saying goes ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’. The choice to swap in the late model V8 motor was a no brainer and Jason hasn’t looked back since with numerous wins under his belt.

The most noticeable change to the Skyline has been the colour change from the iconic bright yellow to this very minty fresh blue! The team drift competition at WTAC this week will be the debut event for the freshly made over car.
All the paint work was carried out by HG Autobody and photos just don’t do it justice!

Now with his sights on the national Australian Drifting Grand Prix series next year, Jason has reached out to business small or large to help him realise his dreams.

Drifting is an expensive sport it seems – with 3 laps on a practice day using up a set of tyres!!

Thankfully local tyre shop and experts on all things that grip, shift or slide, Inverse Tyres help ease the damage caused to Jason’s wallet after each and every lap.

Jason’s tyres of choice have been a mix between Achilles 123’s and Nankang NS-2R’s. When it is just for fun though, the R31 Skyline slides on a set of Nexen 600 for practice days.

Steering the 3 piece Heart Racing mesh wheels are a set of S13 JDI Fabrication knuckles, a popular choice by the vast majority of local drifters.

The interior of this R31 is a simple affair. You won’t see any flashy colours, gauges or other distracting elements.
A Cams approved half cage, bucket seats and a Nardi steering wheel is all that is needed to complete this look.

Jason’s simple setup has proven to be a success, with reliable power up front, a host of suspension mods and a hydraulic handbrake taking care of the rear.

Jason and his R31 have been on an incredible journey so far and the future is looking bright with WTAC’s team drift challenge this week and then the 2014 ADGP series next year.

We have no doubt that with a few more stickers added to his doors we may just see Jason at the pointy end of the ADGP field next year! If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor then do not hesitate to get in contact.

The GSS team will be following Jason and his minty R31 and will no doubt be keeping you guys up to date throughout all the competitions he attends. Between the updates on our page, you can keep up with all the latest by following Jason on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/jasonferrondrift
Thanks for reading,
Gwyn.

Video :: Round 2 VicDrift Championship and Practice session

Grant — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 13:24:35 +0000

Roadking Chassis Round 2 VicDrift Championship and Practice session from grip shift slide on Vimeo.

Run the Wall :: VicDrift Practice Calder Park

Grant — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:14:28 +0000

Winter is well and truly amongst us here in Melbourne, while temperatures drop into the single digits and rev heads go into hibernation the boys and girls of Vicdrift came out to play at Calder Park Raceway.
With the Raceway booked for the entire weekend and round two of the Vic Drift x Road King Chassis comp only needing one day, meant a full day of practice for anyone keen to enter.

Early on Saturday morning the gates opened and some 80 entrants arrived with tools and tyres in hand.
I was excited to see the XY again and could not wait to see it out on the track! Getting a larger car like this to drift is no easy task at all.

This is so much better than a pair of fluffy dice! This Nardi Driftworks wheel looks at home under the mirror in this drift ready Soarer.

At Gripshiftslide we like cars that are unique and a bit more individual! Take this gorgeous FD RX7 for instance… It’s got a great colour choice, nice kit and a mad set of steel wheels to match.

Everybody was excited to get sliding, this drift trike was laying down some serious pvc on the tarmac of the pits!

Not every car was ready to hit the track though. Denis’ E30 drift machine and former feature car was undergoing a few repairs before it was ready to go out and tear it up.

Who said drift was dead? With well over 70 drivers registered for the practice day, I think it is safe to say it is here to stay!

Only the brave take their daily drive to go do skidz! With as many tyres as the car could possibly carry, this man was ready to get the job done.

This Ke70 was bashing the limiter up the entire straight and the crowd was absolutely loving it!

Many of the drivers have been awaiting this day for several months and then when it was finally here, they couldn’t possibly contain their excitement!

Denis’ showing off his tremendous amount of steering lock!

The day wasn’t just for the amateurs though, it was a great chance for some of the pro boys to get a feel for the track and stretch their legs.

Entertaining the crowd will always get you some bonus points!

Adrian and his ke70 were at the Haunted Hills not all that long ago. Now he’s sliding the little Corolla around Calder.

Drift Cat was using the day to tune in her freshly installed Shockworks coilovers, so far she has been wrapped with their performance and cant wait to have the car ready for competition.

By the early afternoon the VL-VK was really baking the rear tyres!!

Camry drivers are always trouble even out on the track, After some technical difficulties this Cressida had to be towed back to the pits

The mighty LS7 powered S13 has had a makeover in the off season, much cleaner but still very raw… We love it!!

Really digging the twin pipes on this clean white 180SX.

A regular of Vic Drift days, this mighty S12 Silvia was bellowing out the smoke from the rear tyres all day long!

Catherine May has been driving exceptionally well of late, might have something to do with her latest sponsor R-Power Motorsport making sure the car is performing at it’s best.

It’s amazing how many cars make it out to these events, we’re constantly seeing new cars and faces at every track day.

The R33 seems to have gained a big drift following thanks to plummeting prices and a flooded second hand market.

Road registered skidder, living the dream!

We love this little MX-5, contradicting stereo types every single track day.

The FC RX7 going in for maximum attack…

Looking just as good sideways as it does standing still!

Tough as nails R31 running some very stretched tyres!

Drivers were loving every minute of the laid back Vic Drift practice day, maximum fun, minimum down time.

This Soarer was belting out massive smoke screens along the wall and well onto the straight.

Soon the day was coming to an end which meant the final session had drivers pushing their cars to the limit!

Hats off to the Vic Drift crew for another successful practice day, laid back casual fun all the day before round two of competition series!!
Stay tuned for our round 2 coverage.
Thanks for reading,
Grant.

Vicdrift x Road King Chassis :: Round 1 2013

Grant — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 10:48:01 +0000

The drift competition season has well and truly kicked off here in Victoria with round one of the VicDrift competition wrapping up just over a week ago at Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway.
The track had been set on fire with non-stop drift action all weekend, starting with a full day of open practice on the Saturday and then the first of the three round competition on the Sunday.
There were plenty of familiar faces and also a whole heap of fresh cars thrown into the mix for Sunday’s competition.
(There’s load of extra pics hidden in this article, simply roll your pointer over a photo and chances are you’ll see another image load up… Magic!)

Arriving track-side bright and early, it was soon apparent just how wet the track was from the night of steady rain… this was going to make things interesting.

Khudar’s S14 was still wearing the FD banner from the Formula Drift Asia competition that was held here in Melbourne recently.

Justin’s R32 showing its’ battle scars with pride.

We were looking forward to seeing how Peter and his R33 would go as this is a driver that has really been killing it of late!

Drivers battled the freezing cold and wet conditions to get the finishing touches ready for the first practice session.

Interstate star and all round top bloke, Jake Jones, was revving the guts out of his RB powered Nissan Onevia in the early sessions. Some of the high powered cars struggled and the near stock ‘streeters’ seemed to flourish with the super wet conditions.

Some of the drivers got a little too excited with the instant horse power gained from the wet surface and found themselves a little too close to the wall.

The Insane Drifters are still one man down with Papa’s engine still being repaired after the ADGP/FD double header a couple of months ago.
Aggess stepped up to the challenge and was driving twice as hard in his proven and competition winning SR20 powered 180SX.

Things were starting to dry up but there were still plenty of wet spots with some huge puddles sitting close to the wall.
This caused some issues with cars going from dry to wet and back to dry, meaning we saw plenty of spins and near misses with the wall.

The award for the most interesting looking car certainly went to Scott and his Nissan Laurel. There’s more to this book than its’ cover or should I say camber”
The somewhat ‘missile’ like appearance hides a lot of ingenious and clever ideas on the inside. Everywhere you look there is something on this car that just works but looking at it your brain says it shouldn’t work at all!

Easily our highlight from the field was watching Chris chuck his Toyota Cressida into the wall all day. The expression session at the end of the day was quite an experience!

The biggest casualty of the morning was Adam’s S13, with a lock up sending him hard into the wall. After the impact, Adam managed to straighten everything up and make it back out on to the track but was plagued by issues all afternoon and eventually finished up the day early.

The still damp track made for some ridiculous entries into the huge sweeping last corner.

Matt Russel in his ‘little 86 that could’ was out in force and after finding his groove, qualified in 7th place.

The El Haouli brothers were setting the bar very high all day. As soon as the track started to dry out they were chalking up the track with a constant cloud of smoke trailing behind them.

Khudar started the day very strong after qualifying 2nd!!

After the practice sessions and qualifying rounds were done and dusted, it was time to check out the start line. Here the drivers were positioned in battle order and a quick drop of the arms sent the drivers flying down the straight towards the first corner.

The start line crew gave each driver some simple instructions before each warm up lap or battle.

All the while, they were paying close attention to the battle tree and making sure drivers were on time for each battle.

The energy from the start line was super exciting, waiting between each run there was this eerie silence that seemed to last forever and then bam! the radio would cut in “Send the next car”. Then an engine would fire up and the next car was waved through as it bounced off the limiter screaming up to a suitable speed to initiate into the first corner.

Jake’s Silvia – now available in ‘clean skin’. Jake is now a privateer driver and the car looks super clean without all the stickers, which is a welcome change.

Jake seems more determined than ever and we look forward to seeing him take on some of the biggest names in the sport later in the year at WTAC.

It’s the little details we love in some of these drift cars. Matt’s wheel of choice and signature finish to all his AE86’s… Impul Hoshino Racing <3

The Supreme Caravan Racing S13’s Nascar inspired theme always looks at home at Calder Park, given the brief history running Nascar in the Thunderdome next door.

Tension levels at the start line were very high at times. Here Scott can be seen taking a swig from his imaginary flask of whiskey. Everyone deals with the stress differently.

By now the battles were well and truly underway with the top 8 nearly over. After some fierce battles, we saw some big names knocked out early before the top 4.
Jake Jones and Khudar El Haouli were defeated in the top 8.

Aggess took the win against Russel leaving him in 4th place.

Prosenik took the win against Moe in the blue R32 which meant it was two of the home favourites going head to head. Prosenik and Aggess fought as hard as they could to win the top spot for round 1.

It was so tough to call that they ended up doing 3 re-runs!!! A total of 4 battles to decide the winner.

Aggess crept ahead taking the win by the narrowest of margins, it really could have gone either way.

The boys chuffed with their podium finishes. From left to right – Prosenik, Agges and Moe.

After the award ceremony there was a brief gap for drivers to re-fuel and change tyres so they could get the most out of their entry fee. It was of course time for a good ol’ fashioned expression session!

Cat used the last session of the day to shine, putting down some solid laps around the track.

Most drivers took it as a chance to drive until every panel came off!!

Every tyre was used to the raggered edge!

Everywhere you looked there was new damage after each and every lap.

The star of the day (well our favourite anyway) Chris kept coming in harder and harder..

Finally scraping the length of the wall sending sparks flying and then just drifting off like nothing had happened!

Pretty sure he started the expression session with two taillights and a bumper bar.

Prosenik even enjoyed a couple of quick celebration laps, planting the throttle causing many people to stick their fingers in their ears to block the deafening sound from the monstrous V8!

Loved the Mr Sparkle decal on the bonnet of this 180SX!

Most cars were already packed up by this stage and we were glad to be getting out of the cold.

Another massive weekend of driving and a great start to the VicDrift x Road King Chassis series. We will be following every round in detail this year and can’t wait for the next event.
Make sure you check out the VicDrift website and facebook page to stay up to date with all the latest and hopefully we’ll see you at the next round!
http://www.vicdrift.com/
https://www.facebook.com/vicdrift

The current standings after round 1 are as follows…

Thanks for reading, If you guys would like to see a bunch more photos then leave us a comment below and we might put the rest up on our FB page.
Gwyn.

Vic Drift :: April Practice Day

Grant — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 08:42:16 +0000

The boys and girls of Vic Drift were at it again last week hosting another practice day, this time at Calder Park.
This had originally been planned as a two day event, but with lower entries than normal there was a push for it to be culled back to only one day much to everyone’s disappointment.

Btu not to worry, as there was still plenty of people willing to get behind the wheel for the one day event and they helped to make the day a huge success and a lot of fun for everyone involved.

Group A was full of top notch cars and drivers despite being just a casual practice day.

Drivers didn’t hold back just because it was a practice day either and the speed of some of the entries was impressive to say the least!

Peter was blasting along the wall all day and the sound that his RB powered Skyline makes is enough to bring a grown man to his knees. It really is a treat for the ears!

We love to see an exceptional series 1 S14 being put to good use!

Michael and Jason with their V8 swapped Nissan’s were going above and beyond with some close action, especially through the huge sweeping corner giving the crowd plenty to see!

Another popular V8 swapped chassis is Aaron’s 5.7 ltr (570SX) S13, this thing is an animal and sounds ridiculously good!

Aside from the A group guys running amok there were plenty of improvements from the other groups all day and you really can see the drivers making progress over the day!

Gerald’s 180SX is one of our favourite street/drift cars, he’s done very well to keep it so clean and straight over the years.

Operation smoke screen was a great success!

Stirling’s drift patrol R33 is always a great sight for sore eyes. He is continually improving the car and his driving is coming along in leaps and bounds!
To follow Stirls in his Slide N’ Destroy Skyline head to his new Facebook page and show your support! –>> http://www.facebook.com/SlidenDestroy

Like any other Vic Drift day there were next to no delays between sessions, so the action was non-stop all day! If you have never been to one of these events before, we would encourage you to check out the Vic Drift website for an upcoming drift day near you.
http://www.vicdrift.com/site/

With a great day of skids done and dusted we will soon again turn our eyes back to Calder Park for the drift event of the year in just under two weeks.
If you have been hiding under a rock you have probably missed our updates, The Australian Drifting GP together with Formula D Asia are putting on one hell of a show on the 27th & 28th of this month.
The worlds best drivers are coming and we caught up with Daigo Saito the number one drifter in the world for a few questions before he arrives in Melbourne.
Follow the link —>>> http://gripshiftslide.com/2013/04/11/the-hot-seat-daigo-saito/

It seems we are a bit drift crazy here in Melbourne with so many drift days happening every month, it is great to see so many taking up the sport and supporting the club that supports you!
Until next time, Thanks for reading.
– Gwyn.
Photos courtesy of Blacktop Images, for more go and ‘like’ their Facebook page for the full album!
http://www.facebook.com/BlacktopImages

Vicdrift Summer Matsuri :: Fun In The Sun

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Occasionally you get a shot that is at least usable.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Drift Attack :: GSS Show N' Shine

Grant — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 07:16:31 +0000

A few months ago we received a call from Yoshi (Vicdrift president) asking if we wanted to run a show and shine event to coincide with the Drift Attack event, needles to say we jumped at the opportunity!
We invited 100 car lovers from Victoria to show off their pride and joy at Calder Park in September…

We also invited the De Croft boys along to set up a store with us, they just happened to bring Mark’s sexy R31 Skyline along too.
Now sitting pretty on some freshly rebuilt Panasport G7 wheels!

We were absolutely astonished with the amount of interest we received when we first put up a flyer advertising the event on our FB page, one of the very first cars to enter was Geoff’s very rare Z31 300ZX.
The car was ridiculously clean and did not show it’s age one bit!

We also received a couple of group entries this group however stole the sow, Justin Lim and his friends dropped some jaws as they rolled in through the crowd, with every single car sporting some serious fitment with some killer wheel choices on some very clean rides!

From a perfect DC5 Integra to a little humble and clean AE86 down the end this group had it all!

Work Sp1’s work on nearly every car, so when you throw together a bright yellow S15 and a set of Sp1’s in black to create some killer contrast you can expect to turn some heads!

Continuing on with the black and yellow theme (must resist the urge to quote the Wiz Khalifa song!)…

…This Honda S2000 concrete’s the idea that a clean car with good wheel setup/choice will always be a favorite anywhere you go, except an Autosalon show maybe.

Something you just don’t see, ever!
A tastefully modified Proton, there’s still hope for these misunderstood hatches yet!

Spotted a Kebabhunters sticker too!

Melbourne seems to have been hiding some wicked Mazda MX5’s it seems… with not one, two but three stellar little roadster that came out to play for the weekend.

All varying from look to look but small wide wheels being the common theme here, check out those canards!

Here’s to some of the most extreme over fenders we’ve ever seen!!

John’s S13 now slammed, looking the goods!

Here’s an Evo that has been down the east coast, starting in Sydney with previous owner Hassan Aly of hookitup.co fame.
Now the Evo 9 is home with new owner Baris here in Melbourne.

As well as the GSS car show there was plenty more off track entertainment thanks to the guys at WOT hobbies, running a full blown RC drift comp over the weekend.

These guys did not mess about with a competition and field of cars to rival the actual Drift Attack event!

We stopped in awe of the quality cars these guys had put together, the craftsmanship that goes into some of these RC shells is berzerk!

Back to our car park we also had a Mitsubishi wagon and a sedan Galant come along, we’ve spotted this sedan at a JDMST meet before and fell in love with the carbon spotlight covers with built in air dams on the front bar.

Very humbled to see one of our latest stickers on the windscreen, these new purple GSS stickers will be hitting the online store later this week.

There was also a handful of Nissan GT-R’s floating around, this pair of grey R32’s would have been a trio but one unlucky entry actually blew a turbo on the way to the event!

While standing at the gate letting the entrants through I was approached by a few people wanting to sneak in, not wanting to disappoint I said yes to the owner of this left hand drive legit Yenko Camaro!!

These things are one of the most sort after Camaro’s of all time, to top that off it had one of the lumpiest cams I’ve ever heard!!

The most effort of all goes to Freddy from Topstage Composites for bringing four cars in total, two of which were full blown track cars and needed to be trailerd to the show.

Also included was his immaculate 240Z running an original engine with individual throttle bodies along with a heap of other goodies!

These track cars were the real deal too, this RX-7 recently competed in the World Time Attack Challenge in Sydney!

Colour coded Huffy Slider next to the Honda ‘Hong Kong Taxi’ Jazz.

Justin’s DC2 Integra looking as good as ever, still on his ‘L’ plates too!

One of the coolest Sunny trucks going around!

Steve’s tiny Datsun pickup had heaps of cool additions since last time we saw it like the venetian blinds and the very tough rising sun stitched into the the tray cover!

A lot of people we’re very excited to get up and close with this Honda NSX, you don’t seem to see them at all let alone at a car show/meet.
We were very chuffed to have one on show.

Harley’s striking Mark II Chaser is one of our favorites in the country, word on the street he is selling the wheels and we can’t wait to see what he puts in their place!

All round streeter and recently track slider Chris’s S14 has gone back in time since we’ve known it, changing from a series two front (Kouki) to the older ’rounder’ series one front end (Zenki).
We were shocked at first but have grown to love it, it’s still just as photogenic as ever too!
Now we would love to give out prizes to everyone just to say thanks for being part of it, but we can’t so here are our three winners we picked and chose categories to not discriminate against all the incredible cars that came out to be part of our very first event…

Nick and his Datsun 1200 won the distance award with about four hours between him and Calder park so we really wanted to thank him for making the effort.

Evan his R33 GT-R from R Power Motorsports took out the last man standing being the very one to leave… even after us!!

Justin and his friends grabbed the best group with a staggering 10 cars with each one as flawless as the next, way to go guys!!
But we really do mean it when we say a very big warm thank you to each and everyone of you who took the time out to come and support us at our first event, we have plenty more planned and hope to give something back to the community with regular planned meets and a something exciting planned for this December too!
So from Grant and myself, thanks for reading!
– Gwyn.