winton – Gripshiftslide

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.

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.

EXE CREW :: Track Day Winton

Grant — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:47:14 +0000

Last weekend, Melbourne car club ‘EXE Crew’ held a full weekend of track day fun!
Running over two days at Winton Raceway, day one was an invite only day with some of Victoria’s best time attack cars and drivers heading out to better some personal bests!
Day two was an open day for EXE Crew regulars and friends, the field of cars was varied to say the least!
We managed to get up early enough to catch most of the day two action.

The track was dry and the weather was warm, so conditions were absolutely perfect!

Where else can you see a Honda S2000, a Levin Corolla and a Ford Escort run together flat out?

Honda’s seemed to be a popular choice over the weekend with around ten Civic’s, four S2000’s, four Integra’s and even a Honda Beat!!

20V goodness, this AE86 was a treat for the ears.

There were plenty of Euro’s, with several VW Golf’s, a couple of BMW’s, Porche’s and this very tough little Mini Cooper S.

The cars started to peel out onto the track after the morning drivers briefing.

Tyrepower’s Nissan 370Z is not just a daily driver, it’s also a track monster with a custom twin turbo set up,
running a 1.44.92.
The battle was on between the 370Z and Tung’s 350Z, with an incredibly close time of 1:44.68.

Vu’s S15 changing gears, with a bit of smoke and even a bit of flame!

After attending so many drift days at the Winton track, it was crazy to see the speeds cars were doing down the straight, easily 180kph+ down here!

One of the most unlikely cars to expect at a track day like this… a V8 Porsche!

As the times got quicker, the brakes got hotter and pretty soon a few cars were losing traction going into the hairpin.

This WRX was fighting with it’s tyres all day, screeching through the corners and finally losing the battle at the end of the straight section.

Luckily Nam was quick to act and he saved the car from going too far off the track.

However, Ben was not as lucky in his white S2000…

Coming in far too hot into the hairpin, Ben came off the track and ended up way out in the field at one point!

One of the most exciting cars to watch was this little red Nissan Micra, the little car that could!
Check out the rear tyre lifting off the ground!

It was driven by Thomas and driven hard!

Thanh was finding the ropes in his rather factory looking S15, but there was more than meets the eye here.
Hiding behind the wheels was a massive set of Brembo calipers up front, along with a host of other goodies.

Team Agentz representative, Henry, in his spotless white Evo! He managed a 1:38.0010
This is staggeringly quick for a comfortable four door car that can be daily driven to and from work!

Manu and his Monte Carlo Blue S2000 was consistently quick all day, his poor roof put up with the battering all day without incident!

Looking at the track you could be forgiven for thinking this was the latest driving simulation from Japan.
With so many cars from different manufactures, factory standard models mixing it up with all-out track monsters, this would be a sight some have only seen on a Playstation before.

EXE Crew are strictly a not for profit club, all track days are run on a shoe string budget with members volunteering their time to serve as race officials and safety crews.

Back in the pits there was always a sizable crowd huddled around the state of the art CRT monitor, displaying results in real time!

Despite not being an actual race day, drivers raced against the clock and the other cars as they scrambled for every inch of the tarmac.
Overtaking was a common occurrence, most drivers were very courteous and pulled to the side to allow others to pass.

This was easily the best bunch of guys and girls I’ve witnessed on a track together, everyone was having a blast and everybody got along both on and off the track.
The EXE Crew are actually a very social group, they get together for a monthly carwash meet and even a regular dinner meet back in Melbourne.

Looking at the list of cars entering, I was extremely excited to see Phoung’s beautiful hardtop S2000 on the list.
This is a car I had caught a glimpse of on the internet and couldn’t believe a car of this quality was here in Melbourne, let alone belting around our local track!

Sunday’s fastest car by far… Jimmy’s EG Civic! It hammered around Winton all day long, achieving a massive 1:30.1280!!!
An impressive lap time and an ear piercingly loud exhaust!

There were a few interesting cars battling it out against the clock, like Nick’s supercharged VY Commodore. Getting his time down to an impressive 1:45.0280!

Ying’s driving style is aggressive while being fast at the same time!

Aside from power and the obvious suspension upgrades, most cars had some impressive brakes to help deal with the extra heat and demanding nature of pushing a car to it’s limits.

Vu’s brand new S15 was sporting a heap of track ready goodies such as Project Mu calipers and discs, helping this cream coloured beauty stop when it needs to.

Factory fitted Brembos on this 350Z.

Ben hitting warp speed!!

Clint in his drift spec 180SX chasing down Duy in his JDM Integra DC2.
Clint nearly beat Duy’s time by a full second! Not bad considering his 180SX is set up for drifting and in dire need of a wheel alignment!

This Evo X sounded exactly like a jet when it hit boost, a slow roar followed by a light grey mist from the exhaust and then it was gone!

I often felt like I was on the wrong side of the lens, watching the EXE Crew have fun out there was the first time I wasn’t happy just being behind the camera.

Nearing the end of the day we decided to head back in and do a few sweeps of the pits before leaving.

Kam left his 350Z to cool down in the shade after a blistering 1:38.5290 lap!

Mr Phil Mak’s new car, I am a fan!! Although it doesn’t have the same amount of character as his white S13 did.
I am very keen to see what happens with this S14 in the future though!

Vu’s cars’ always seems to become internet sensations and this cream S15 will be no exception I’m sure.

Only the best for this car! Every time you modify a new car you learn something from your previous attempts. Going from Vu’s last car, this S15 will be pulling out all the stops! On his very first track day with the car Vu managed 1:39.2750!
Well done!

The interior won’t be winning any beauty competitions, this is a no show car!
Form > Function!

Seeing this little red Civic on the track as a red blur screaming past you, it was hard to appreciate the amount of aero modifications and fine tuning that have been done to make this little grocery getter extremely competitive.

This is pure track racing.

Phoung’s S2k was way too clean after a day thumping around the track, I think I might spray my next car grey.

Titanium Go Tuning Exhaust poking out from behind the rear diffuser.

While checking out some of the cars I found this perfect white FD RX-7 sitting on a set of my favorite wheels, Work SP 1’s in black with a polished lip!
I was told it was for sale but I’m afraid I couldn’t afford this beauty…

All in all it was a fantastic day and we have the highest amount of respect for the boys and girls from the EXE-Crew, they ran one of the smoothest running track days we have ever attended.
Add this to the fact the days cost drivers practically nothing compared to other organizations, this is a real drivers club.
We are looking forward to attending the next EXE Crew day from behind the wheel and not the lens!
Don’t forget to check out the club’s facebook page, www.facebook.com/EXECrew
Full results :
Saturday
Sunday
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.
Photos : Grant & Gwyn.

Winton Part 2 :: Going Sideways

Grant — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:40:16 +0000

The action at this weekends Vic Drift day was so good that we had to have two posts covering the day!
Here is my favorite shot of the day, Nigel Petrie tearing it up in his 180SX.

Nigel was not the only one in the A group performing well, Thomas Sabo in this R32 Skyline was an absolute monster on the track.

This white JZX100 Chaser driven by Nic Wilson was incredibly smooth on the track, getting very close to the R32 above during a few tandem sessions.

My pick of the day – I’m a sucker for a tiny Trueno AE86.

Especially when they are as clean as this black example.

Can you imagine if someone put a Honda fwd K20a motor and mounted it in an S13 and strapped a turbo charger to it?
Wait… they did! What an awesome machine and the sound was not what I was expecting, but my god it was tough.

This Black Sil80SX has so much character and presence, topped off by the fact it was the only car driven by a female on the day.
I have a huge amount of respect for Billie, way to go!

Here’s the A class boys getting nice and close.

Even the B group were trying their luck at some side by side action.

The rain made for some interesting grip conditions on the track, luckily drifting requires less grip so the drivers were loving it!

Until this happened… This brown R31 Skyline tried its best to avoid a grey 180SX that had spun out moments earlier.

The 180SX took the brunt of it, the drivers make it look so easy sometimes you forget drifting is actually pretty dangerous stuff.

As the day went on our stickers started popping up everywhere. A big thank you to all the drivers who grabbed one and slapped it on!

Nissan Silvia with a side exhaust, instant win!

By the middle of the day most cars had gone through a set of tyres. I think this car needed to head into the pits for a fresh set, check out the sparks!!

This S13 was a solid performer with great angles all day long!!

Billie at it again, seriously how good does this car look?!

I’m not going to lie, I like this 200SX a lot! Showing a lot of the A class boys how to do it.

Here’s the S15 with the side exhaust again, this thing was loud… really loud!

Some of the A class drivers weren’t all that far behind Nigel in terms of skill, thanks for chucking the sticker on Nic!

Amazing what fresh tyres can do.

While most people would have this clean 180SX Type X in the garage, this owner prefers to use it for some high speed fun.

Tuffcore boys out in force as always.

Including this Onevia, the driver is getting better and better every session. way to go Mikey!

Nigel getting ready for a wet lap, does that sound dirty?

This 180 had some steering issues after it came off the track rather suddenly. The Winton safety crew jumped in to action to get the show back on the road.

Full lock! Thanks for the sticker love Jawsh.

Operation smoke screen.

Plenty of girls representing team Tuffcore on the day, loving the gram lights on this Onevia.

Nigel’s beast looking just as good off the track.

It’s all business in here, Defi gauges, Nardi wheel and a massive gear stick!

One of my last shots of the day, Nigel really is one of the best drifters to come out of Victoria. Top job mate!
The skill level of the regulars attending Vic Drift events has improved so much I forgot it was just another practice day.Angles were more extreme and more drivers were going in for tandem action in the corners.
Thanks again for all the people rockin’ our stickers, was great to get some photos with ‘gripshiftslide.com’ on every second car.
Big thanks to Yoshi and the team at Vic Drift for another great day and of course all the Winton safety crew for working hard throughout the day to keep things on schedule.
Next stop… Drift GP!
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.

Winton :: Wet 'n' Wild

Grant — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:36:13 +0000

The clouds rolled in and it rained! Then the weather decided to do a 180 and the cycle continued,
a great day for a drift practice..

Its an escort, you do not see these everyday. The mighty escort was back at winton again and pushing hard.

A sideways Hi-torque R33 was mixing it up on the track and looking good around a lot of new potential talent.

Entry class was full on, everyone was pushing their limits, some a little to far.

Did someone say professional? Pro class was totally dominated by Nigel from engineered to slide!

The chase was on! everyone wanted to mix it with nigel but he was to fast and too smooth.

Speed and angle, he had both !

The safety crew was kept busy all day with many guys breaking stuff and needing a tow.

Exhaust mounts who need them?

Many R31’s where out and about, and lovin it!

Splash goes the s15!

This guy did not want me to take photos of the tofu delivery vehicle.

Rain makes for better angle, the wet track made the intermediate drivers look like pros. Some where pulling of some amazing drifts.

p plater” with style, this guy looked really impressive the whole day and defiantly needs to move up a class.

Just Holding it on the edge of the road!

Tuffcore, enough said.

When it rained, it RAINED!

Best performance of the day, this guy started off not doing so well, but by the end he was hitting extreme angles like nigel and cuting sick all over the track with little to no errors.

Beached as bro!

The circuit was full the whole day.

Most photogenic car of the day!

The crowd was small, but spirits where high despite the rain.

Even up hill these cars where getting good speed.

The drifters kept lining up even after a long day when many of them had been up since the early hours of the morning.
It was a great day with lots of new talent and many different weather conditions. This Vic Drift practice day is a great lead up to the Australian Drift GP At Calder, we hope to see you all there!
– Grant