As some of you know, winters here in Norway are long and dark. That means all our prized possessions and joys goes into somewhere luke warm, away from the white stuff for some TLC.

Not so long after my last post about my car, I put it in the garage the first day of proper snowfall. With some plans of cleaning it up a bit.

The mission was: Tear everything down, strip it to bare metal and make it pretty again. As you can see it wasn’t looking too bad, but to someone who takes pride in their automobile you don’t want nothing but perfection. Am I right? Besides, if this thing is to survive a Norwegian winter, where they salt the roads like kettle chips – It’ll need a bit more protection than that thin, factory underseal.

It’s safe to say that this process is not one I’d like to repeat too many times. But after all too many hours with a grinder underneath the car, it was finally time to give it a lick of paint.

And learn from me kids, remember to have good ventitaltion and new filters in your face mask. Think I’ve shortened my life with several years this winter. Good thing I don’t smoke, eh?

After everything underneath the car, I mean everything: Inside all four wheelwells, inside the petrol tank cavity, gearbox tunnel – everything, was painted it was time to start reassembling the damn thing.  Boy, that did wonders on my motivation. Real visible progress!

With a lot of goodies on the car, like these V8 Roadster upper balljoints. Adjustable! All in the name of handling. Plus, it was cheaper than replacing the entire upper arms with oem joints. 

I’ve had this cage sitting outside the house for a good while, to the great displeasure of my parents. So I thought I’d do them a favour of moving it into the car.

It was crunch time at this point. 10-14 hour days, every day, in the garage to get it back on its wheels. And if you look closely you might get what on earth I mean with the title of this very article.

I don’t think a lot of people grasp the concept of why guys like us do this.  Messing up your sleep rythm, always aching in your body and bloody knuckles. Not to mention always being broke, just waiting for that next piece of paper to roll in so you can buy more parts.

It’s all down to those sweet moments like this. Once you see all your hard work finally pay off. I swear I stood at that one spot for five minutes just watching it. All covered in paintdust, grime and grease. And I’ve never seen something so satisfactory in a long time.

It felt good!

Straight out of the garage, I struck frame and left big black marks in the pavement. I’ll let Micke from Superiorimports explain this picture, and I quote: Dude is only happy when he is messing up his car. Such a strange young man.

It looks pretty clean on the underside now.

Ended up with these figures. Not too bad I reckon! 1.5 degrees too much camber at the rear for it to be an ideal trackday setup! Not too shabby for a silly stance car.

I must be strange. Or any other synonym of that word, for that matter. Why? Because this strange young man actually wants to lower it more. Would bagging it be blasphemous?

It at least needs a new paintjob. That’s for sure…

But that’s not gonna happen in a little while. Now I just want to drive the thing.

I gotta thank those of you who’ve helped me out throughout the build. For lending me a couple hands those late nights in a cramped garage to get it back on the road. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you guys!

::Dan

You must have known this was coming sooner or later. We couldn’t leave you guys hanging any longer, so here it is, your very own desktop of the 2012 Formula Drift champion Daigo Saito. His Achilles Tires/Bridges Racing Lexus SC is sporting a new black, white, and green livery this year, but that doesn’t make it look any less menacing. Enjoy, and hit us up in the comments if there is another driver you want to see featured as a desktop!

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Sometimes words simply don’t do a car justice. This is the part where I shut up, and let you guys simply enjoy the simple beauty of Will Parsons‘ AE86 Corolla from last weekend’s Formula Drift Road Atlanta paddock.

Formula DRIFT kicks-off the 10th championship season on the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Street Course.

Formula DRIFT Returns to Road Atlanta Home of the Inaugural Formula DRIFT Event Back in 2004.

Road Atlanta opened in 1970 and was home of the inaugural Formula DRIFT event back in 2004. The 2.54-mile, 12-turn track is owned by Panoz Motor Sports Group and hosts many events throughout the year including Formula DRIFT.

Utilizing Turns 10A, and 10B of the road course, cars slide sideways through the turns and then hit the loop before the bridge and back towards Turns 10B, 10A, and then ends dramatically by drifting uphill on an incline.

Round 2: Road to the Championship at Road Atlanta will be one of the most anticipated events of the season. The event will be spread between 2 days of drifting action. Drivers are tested on the fast entry and tight turns of the road course and will have to prove that they have what it takes to reach the podium.

Friday, May 10, 2013 – Practice / Qualifying

8:00am – 6:00pm – WILL CALL: Open for Vendor/Sponsor/Team – Will Call
10:00am – 10:30pm – GATES OPEN TO PUBLIC – Venue
8:00am – 8:20am – GTA: Session #1 – Track
9:00am – 9:20am – GTA: Session #2 – Track
10:00am – 10:20am – GTA: Session #3 – Track
10:40am – 11:00am – GTA: Session #4 – Track
12:40pm – 1:00pm – GTA: Session #5 – Track
2:00pm – 2:20pm – GTA: Session #6 – Track
2:00pm – 2:30pm – FD: Mandatory Drivers Meeting – FD HQ
2:30pm – 3:00pm – FD: Mandatory Safety Meeting – FD HQ
3:00pm – 3:30pm – MEDIA: Mandatory Meeting for ALL ‘Hot Area’ Access Credential Holders – FD HQ
3:00pm – 4:00pm – FD: Autograph Signing – GoPro Area
4:30pm – 5:25pm – FD: Open Practice – Group 1 – Track
5:35pm – 6:30pm – FD: Open Practice – Group 2 – Track
6:45pm – 9:00pm – FD: Qualifying – Knockout Format – Track
9:15pm – 9:30pm – FD: Mandatory – All Drivers Meeting; Qualifying Results – FD HQ
10:00pm – 11:00pm – FD: Open Practice – Top 32 – Track

Saturday, May 11, 2013 – Main Event

8:00am – 7:00pm – WILL CALL: Open for Vendor/Sponsor/Team – Will Call
8:00am – 8:20am – GTA: Session #1 – Track
9:10am – 9:30am – GTA: Session #2 – Track
10:00am – 10:30pm – GATES OPEN TO PUBLIC – Venue
10:10am – 10:30am – GTA: Session #3 – Track
10:40am – 11:00am – GTA: Session #4 – Track
11:50am – 12:10pm – GTA: Session #5 – Track
1:00pm – 1:20pm – GTA: Session #6 – Track
1:00pm – 1:30pm – FD: Mandatory Drivers Meeting – FD HQ
1:30pm – 2:00pm – MEDIA: Mandatory Meeting for ALL ‘Hot Area’ Access Credential Holders – FD HQ
2:30pm – 4:00pm – FD: Open Practice – Top 32 – Track
4:00pm – 6:00pm – MAIN COMPETITION: Round of 32 – Track
6:00pm – 7:30pm – “Halftime Break”
7:30pm – 8:00pm – National Anthem / Opening Ceremonies – Track
8:00pm – 10:00pm – MAIN COMPETITION: Round of 16 to Finals – Track
10:00pm – 10:30pm – Trophy Ceremony & Closing – Main Paddock

*SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

I’m sure it’s the same no matter which country you call home. A full season’s competitive drifting takes its toll on a car.

Unless you’re pretty well set financially, and incredibly well prepared, come the end of the season your drift car usually looks significantly worse for wear than when you started out.

Which is why most drivers take the opportunity during the winter downtime to spruce things up, tidy the rough edges and do those fiddly little jobs that you’ve been putting off all year.

You might even treat the old girl to a lick of paint if you’re feeling so inclined?

The paddock on day one of the season is a beautiful sight for any drift fanatic.

You’re greeted with an impressive display of fresh paint jobs, shiny wheels and exciting new liveries.

(You’ll also notice a large number of tired faces staring back at you from countless nights spent preparing the cars!)

Not to mention those who pour their everything into making sure the events run as planned.

So with all of this in mind, you’d think that drivers would want to ease into the season and preserve their newly-prepared machines in pristine condition for as long as possible.

Don’t be silly. This is drifting.

The mantra ‘go hard or go home’ rings true whether out for the first lap of the year or the last.

The boundaries of the circuit are there to be tested, skimmed, pushed.

Of course there’s the odd unfortunate accident.

Motorsport is never without its risks.

But the crucial thing is that you enjoy yourself, whether nailing a clipping-point-perfect lap…

…or wiping out in spectacular fashion.

You’ve still got to smile.

You do it because you’re drifting, and when it all boils down this is EXACTLY the reason you poured so many hours into preparing your car.

To enjoy every inch of the circuit…

…and a couple of feet off the edge of it at times.

To push the throttle pedal through the floor…

…if it means spinning the wheels that little bit faster, or a split second longer.

Few things are as satisfying as seeing a huge cloud of tyre smoke in your rear view.

To push 110%, even if it means collecting a few battle scars along the way.

Some would argue that they even add character.

A trip into the gravel might dent your pride.

But everyone would rather see a driver who’s committed than one who’s cotton-carrying their car around the circuit.

If the competitors of the 2013 Maxxis British Drift Championship are starting out as they mean to go on…

…then this year is going to be very special indeed.

Go hard or go home? There’s only one choice really.

Photos: Jordan Butters, Ian Gratton & Ste Trackslide
Words: Jordan Butters

When I later paid a visit to where the car was parked in the paddock, I came across a very friendly bunch of people. I was able to meet the car’s owner, Josh Cartu, the driver, Adam Frank and also its chief enginneer, Szabó Zsolt. They were all very open and gladly told me everything I wanted to know about the car, which also continued after the event by mail, for which I want to thank them here right away.

As it turned out, this car isn’t simply a drift project for a guy who wants to go out and have some fun. Instead it’s a well planned project, led by its owner, Josh Cartu. Josh has had quite a lot of success with his various IT companies (some of which are displayed on the car), which nowadays allows him to enjoy his many hobbies to the fullest. He’s currently training in a Ferrari 458 GT3 for the WEC FIA GT Open and has several impressive cars to enjoy on the road. Some time ago he decided to build “the fastest, most powerful and most capable drifting machine the world has ever seen”, as he puts it. This is why he founded Cartu Drifting, and started planning the car you see here with the help of Adam and Szabó and, basically, unlimited funds. Adam and his partner Efrat together run the successful MyWay Drift School and Szabó (also a drifter, competing in the Hungarian drift championship) is a very experienced builder of high-level drift cars.

The car is, as I’m sure you’ve already determined by looking at the pictures, based on an E46 3-series. The exterior is enhanced by the nowadays popular Flossmann GTR body kit. The paint scheme is based on a camouflage pattern by the Kryptek Outdoor Group, which is usually used for military gear. As I’ve been told, there might also be a switch to the snow camo pattern by the same company in the future.

The rims are custom items by ADV.1, who make a variety of awesome wheels mostly seen on high-end performance cars.

Opening a very light door with its polycarbonate windows, you’ll see a cleanly finished interior with a nice flocked dash, surrounded by a well-crafted rollcage.

It gets even more interesting as soon as you open the bonnet; obviously the E46 chassis has undergone some major surgery at the hands of Szabó. As Adam tells me, the entire front end, the firewall and the gearbox tunnel were cut out, then the engine and gearbox were placed at the exact position for the car to have a 60/40 weight balance front to rear.

Once the location of the drivetrain was determined, all the cut chassis parts were replaced by handmade ones, including a tubular front end with new upper mounting points for the D2 suspension to create more caster and optimum camber angle. Obviously, this entire conversion also results in a substantial weight reduction; at the moment 1100kg is quoted.

The above as well as the following picture were, among many others, sent to me by Frank and show the car during its build-up. The 65 degree steering angle was achieved using parts handmade by Szabó.

The engine is a fully built 2JZ utilizing a Garrett GT35, currently developing about 700hp. Originally, Josh had wanted to use a fully built E60 M5 V10 for the car, but in the end they decided in favour of the Toyota straight-6 for maximum torque. The unusual thing about it is the aforementioned fact that this engine runs an anti-lag system (ALS). This has been used in rally cars for decades to keep the turbocharger spooling while the driver is off the throttle, resulting in a stark reduction of turbo lag.

The system itself is relatively simple, requiring no major additional mechanical parts. Basically, fuel is still injected while the engine runs off throttle, and by igniting it very late, close to when the exhaust valve opens, the majority of it is burnt in the engine’s exhaust system, in front of the turbocharger’s turbine. This keeps the turbine spinning although there’s barely any engine load. Additionally, with combustion mainly happening outside the combustion chamber, it makes for a particular, very awesome sound. The reason this isn’t usually made use of in anything except manufacturer racecars is the fact that there are explosions continuously happening inside the exhaust manifold, which puts extreme stress on all the parts involved and severly increases the temperature of the turbocharger as well as the exhaust valves and their surroundings. All this means that the life expectancy of the aforementioned parts are markedly reduced. For the Cartu Drifting E46 however, money restrictions were never regarded as a valid reason not to do something, therefore the ALS is used to full effect.

According to Josh, the car as it is now is “but a shadow of what [he has] planned”. Very soon, and maybe even in time for the next round of King of Europe, two replacements are going to happen. A Garrett GTX42 is planned to take the engine to its full 1000hp potential, and the Getrag gearbox is to be superseded by a sequential gearbox. For the next season, the rear end, which at present is still in its original form except for a race-spec fuel cell, will also be cut off and replaced by a tubeframe construction.

Listening to the team talk tactics before battles started in Greinbach, it was clear that Josh’s approach is based on his successful career, adapted to the world of drifting with the help of some very experienced insiders. I’m very curious to see what this colaboration will lead to in the future, especially as I have it on good authority that this is not the last car they’ll build and that the next car will be something nobody has done yet.

For now, the Cartu Drifting E46 in the hands of Adam Frank is definitely a very high spec drift car with a lot of potential that’s going to be a force to be reckoned with in this year’s King of Europe Championship.

Words & Photos: Martin Aeppli
Photos of the car under development: Cartu Drifting

Janis Eglite, one of Latvia’s most highly acclaimed drifters, is seen here training in Poznan, for the 1st round of the Polska Federacja Driftingu (PFD) and Eastern European Drift Championship (EEDC). Impressive driving of his E30 saw him finishing 4th overall. You can download the full sized desktop images below (Right-Click Save-As)!

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So after getting up at 5 am on friday morning, the following was the view I had for most of the day. Well, when I turned my head obviously.

The view out front was mostly very wet, which didn’t seem very promising. Thankfully though, the weather turned out to be way better than expected in Greinbach, in fact we had perfect conditions for the whole weekend.

While travelling there in your own car and sleeping in a hotel certainly has its advantages, the best way to experience a drift event in its entirety is to tag along with one of the teams and, if possible, sleep in the paddock. I have to admit that I haven’t done it very often, but sitting in a hotel just isn’t the same as having a barbeque with drifters next to their cars until late at night. This meant that, after technical inspection and setting up the tents (and what seemed like an entire second car’s worth of spare parts that Phil had brought along), we produced some non-internal combustion.

After no drinks whatsoever, I went to my very own hotel room on wheels, which looked remarkably like Phil’s towing car.

The next morning, the competition drift season finally got underway for me. Walking through the paddock right after getting up, it was clear that we had come to a professionally organized event, with different sponsors setting up booths, tents and shops. A sign for the high level of drifting that was to be expected were the 255 and 265 cross section semislick tires stacked next to many cars.

Due to no less than 64 drivers having signed up for the event, KoE had to pack a lot of drifting into a very tight schedule. In the end, 49 cars actually took part, which were divided into two groups that got about two hours of practice each. This relatively small amount of time for practice would have to be utilized as thoroughly as possible, especially as all of the drivers, except for two local austrian guys, had never been to this track before.

The layout selected turned out to be very challenging and technical. The drivers were to come through the Motul arch (see picture above) entering a seemingly endless, non constant radius left turn (going all the way around the outside on the right of the picture). They then were to slow down for an almost hairpin-tight left turn followed by a slower section in the infield, ending with a double-left through the Dotz branded arch. Saturday morning’s briefing included a walk around the track to look at it in detail.

Mike Procureur, the director of operations of KoE, personally explained everything the drivers needed to know. Judging at KoE isn’t only done by human judges but mainly by a telemetry system, that precisely logs each car’s course, speed and angle. These parameters can therefore be judged very accurately, which is why getting the right line becomes even more important.

Phil looked very confident and eager to attack the challenging layout.

Uwe Sener from Sport Auto had some questions.

Eli of the Hountondji Driftbrothers apparently wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. In the end though, of course, they all couldn’t wait to go out and drift.

One car that caught my attention immediately was Adam Frank’s Cartu Drifting BMW E46, mostly because it didn’t sound like a BMW at all. The fact that it sounded distinctly like a certain 6-cylinder engine made by Toyota wasn’t too unusual either, as there are quite a few BMW’s with those in Europe nowadays. No, the unique part of its sound was caused by the car clearly running an Anti-Lag System (ALS), which I’ve never seen (or heard) before in a drift car. I’ll be bringing you more info about this particular car in a special feature. The driving by Adam did the incredible sound justice too, getting second place in qualifying.

Another car that didn’t sound like your everyday drift car was the S14 of Ciortan Calin. It clearly had twice the cylinder count that an S-Chassis originally has, but it sounded distinctly angrier than LS- or BMW-driven examples. Further investigation revealed that this was in fact the car running a 5.5L AMG V8 that I had heard rumors about. Ciortan wasn’t yet quite up to the level of driving that he displayed in his mad E30 last year, but nevertheless qualified 18th.

Continuing the uncommon car theme, we arrive at the Hountondji Driftbrothers. They have recently swapped an LS2 V8 into Joe Hountondji’s Gallant-faced S13 pickup (yes, you read that correctly) which finally gives the car the power it needs. Joe got 15th place in qualifying with his brother Eli doing his very best in the 193hp E30, but on this track with that many competitors that simply wasn’t enough for the Top 32.

Sorin Ene qualified 24th in his S14.

Charles Ng did a few very impressive runs in the morning but unfortunately, his S15′s gearbox soon gave up.

Roman Kolesár in his supercharged E46 was smoky as usual, he got 20th place in qualifying.

Pignanelli looked really good in his scooby, getting 16th in qualifying. I might be slightly biased here, as I drive a scooby myself and just love to seen one being drifted properly.

Arpad Enekes in the Sidewayz Crew Mustang that sounded almost as angry as the AMG-engined car.

Michal Rzoska just got into the Top 32 in 31st place.

As I was told, KoE rules say that as long as one wheel is on the tarmac, you don’t get any points deducted. Which meant that drivers, such as Florian Zimmermann in his Audi (above), sometimes displayed very precise driving but it’s not that much of a problem if you go slightly wider. Except for the track’s gardener, I guess.

Vitor Mota made use of that rule once in turn one, but otherwise drove strongly, getting 14th in qualifying.

Vladymyr Marchenko in his S14.5 neatly put one wheel just on the outside of the track on this run, he finished a very strong 6th in qualifying.

It even happened to the very consistent Francesco Conti, who nevertheless won qualifying with a score of 94.2.

Whenever I have some spare time during a drift event, I like to go for walks through the paddock to check out how the teams are doing. As always at drift events, several cars had minor issues that had to be taken care of.

The Hountondji Driftbrothers were installing an R33 diff I had actually brought them from Speed Industries in Switzerland, which turned out to have slightly different mounting points to the one they had run previously, necessitating some adjustments.

Florian Zimmermann in his V8 compressor Audi had slightly gone of track, ripping off his crank angle sensor (if I remember correctly). This he quickly fixed with the help of some super secret weapons grade binding agent (also known as “completely normal glue”).

Patrick Gafner’s E36 328 turbo, which had also gotten ready just in time for the event, actually caught on fire after only its third lap. But Patrick and his mate Manuel didn’t seem too bummed about it.

I don’t actually know what happened to the Precision Racing Corvette of Erik Pederson, but unfortunately it only did a few very impressive and smoky laps during practice and was then retired.

After another night in my 1-star hotel (it might have been only one, but at least it was a very big and German one), Sunday dawned even sunnier and hotter. There were once more a few training sessions during the morning, with the Top 32 battles commencing in the afternoon. Phil had qualified his completely new car in a very good 9th place with Florian also making the Top 32 in 26th place, so we were quite a happy team.

Even though they were all very busy getting their lines and setups right, many drifters still had time to give the occasional taxi ride. This is one of the things I really like about drift events. It’s not a sport that’s become too professional for all the people involved to become unapproachable. Yet.

Phil won his first battle against Sorin Ene but then lost to last year’s KoE champion Adam Kerenyi because he went, as he said himself, “too much all in” and had a slight off.

Due to the very fast and demanding first corner, the battles weren’t as close as they normally are on other tracks. Adam Kerenyi, chasing the Sidewayz Crew Mustang in the above pic, was looking strong but unfortunately crashed later on.

Dmitriy Illyuk was having turbocharger problems and therefore couldn’t attack quite as madly as he usually does, he lost out in the top 8 against Adam Frank in the Cartu Drifting E46. Nevertheless, his no-compromise S13 SR20VET (VET stands for variable valve timing) was still one of the coolest cars at the event.

Adam looked very strong all the way through, for example beating the Hountondji Driftbrothers car in a close battle in the Top 16. Unfortunately, the Cartu E46′s cooler later got hit by a piece of debris during one of the battles. The crew tried everything to fix the leaking cooler, but in the end they had to retire after they tied against the V8 E36 of Benjamin Boulbes in one of the semifinals, leaving them with an unfortunate 4th place finish.

In the other semifinal, Francesco Conti won against Péter Lakatos in his E30 pickup.

Finally it came down to a hard fought battle between the BMW’s of Francesco Conti and Sebastien Boulbes. After a couple of very close first runs, Sebastien in the Boulbi Propuls car was able to win the “one more time”-run and was therefore declared the winner of KoE round 1!

After all it was definitely a very good drift event (except for the occasional fire). The very demanding track layout didn’t make for the most smoky drifts and also presented a great challenge for us photographers, because there wasn’t a turn where the cars just came through with steady angle and tons of smoke for you to take awesome pictures. But it was very interesting to see how the drifters approached a very tricky track that was completely new to almost all of them.

I’m definitely trying to make it to the KoE rounds 2 and 3 (France and Spain) in March to report from there again, also I have a few car features from Greinbach coming up, so please stay tuned!

Words & Photos: Martin Aeppli

It’s finally that time of year, the 2013 MAXXIS British Drift Championship is upon us.

We’ve been waiting anxiously for this event since the journey home from Knockhill in October 2012.…

Although we’d been looking forward to it, we don’t think anything could have prepared us for the events that unfolded this weekend…

A new season brings new drivers, new cars, new liveries and that awkward rustiness that sets in during the off-season.

It wasn’t long before it showed. Unfortunately Joe Birkett got it a little wrong in his R32 Skyline taking a pretty hard knock on the first entry wall, putting his car out of commission, we have no doubt he will be back though.

The other unforgiving thing about Lydden Hill are the gravel traps. Skim them and you might lose some paint, a bumper, skirt or overfender…

Go in harder and you face the embarrassment of awaiting the recovery crew.

After a short while out there it was obvious that some of the guys had not lost their touch over the winter, the likes of Matt Campling, Martin Ffrench and Kevin Corsius were killing the first entries getting backwards pretty much on every initiation.

It was only practice and drivers usually drive abit more conservative during qualifying but hopefully this was a sign of good things to come.

The attraction of drifting for many is the variety of machinery used. Driver skill is still the dominant factor, so run what you brung is very much the order of the day. Mike Marshall’s E36 touring is now 2JZ-powered, turning it from family dog carrier into full competitive drift machine.

Paul Cheshire’s Falken G35 Skyline returns for another season, with more power and a tickled livery. Looking good!

Our buddy Hugo Fernandes also returns to the BDC for 2013, flying over for each round from his native Portugal. His Toyota Soarer now part of the L2D team, and undergoing a change from its mean and moody black paint-job to possibly the brightest thing under the sun.

2012 British Drift Champion Paul Smith made the most of the off season, with subtle changes to his 1JZ S15. Most importantly he used the downtime to get in some seat-time, consistency is the name of the game and Paul has become one of the most consistent drivers in the championship.

Nathan Chiver’s S13 is one of the most menacing-looking cars on the grid. It takes the right look to pull off the sil-80 conversion but this car does it with style. It’s also packing an LS2 under the bonnet so, you know, it goes well too!

We’d seen Matt’s S13 at Teesside Autodrome a few weeks earlier hitting some serious angle. It looks like he may have finally cured the setup issues he was having last year.

When the Super Pro class hit the track for practice the different in skill level was apparent.

Moreso than ever the Super Pro class really stood out as the pinnacle of European drifting. From the go everyone was absolutely on it.

Teams stepped up the mark in terms of presentation too. The Lassa Tyres team were looking fully professional in the paddock…

…and out on track too.

Also worthy of a mention is Marc Huxley, for the last few years he had been in an car that was a personal favourite of ours, his awesome little SR20-powered Toyota Corolla KE70, and this year he has failed to disappoint on the cool factor rocking a V8 Volvo 240 estate like no other.

The fabrication that has gone into this car is insane, almost everyone we spoke to during the whole weekend were talking about it and we never heard a single bad word against it, people have mad-love for this extremely well presented classic.

The weather was no where near as bad as we was expecting, on the journey down we were checking all the usual weather apps and getting reports from the guys already at the track about what it was like, whether we’d be needing waterproofs or not and it actually looked quite promising, cloudy, but dry.

That was until the rain came of course, we’re sure this sport is cursed…

There are quite a few new cars and liveries this year, it was almost hard to keep up with who is who, but the level of standard far exceeds every year we’ve ever seen here with some of the finest cars to date, Wesley Keating of Team WKD now in a Rocket Bunny’d S13 which are always nice to see, we especially liked the centre-lock wheels.

The rain played havoc with the schedule causing slow runs and gravel trap offs during the Semi Pro and Pro qualifying taking us up to pretty much the end of the first day as there just wasn’t enough time to run the Super Pro qualifying on the Saturday, therefore they would run first on Sunday but only having two runs each instead of the usual three.

It’s a shame that we didn’t get to see some of the Semi- and Pro guys run in the dry. Paul Cheshire’s Team Falken G35 certainly could have made more use of its 720bhp has it not been quite so slippery!

Mark Lappage  was enjoying the rain by the looks of things, after shooting this we decided to call it a day as we were completely soaked, so were our cameras.

Sunday morning was an early start, up at 6am to do some pit wandering while everyone was asleep and no spectators were around, the weather was at least looking like it could be a nice day, which was a huge improvement over how it was when we went to bed.

We had a good look around Team Falken’s Super Pro Driver Matt Carter’s fresh R32 build and have to say we like it, the quality is top notch and the wing is insane, we were unsure of the arches when we first saw the car being built but in the flesh, it’s cool, almost an old DTM look and seriously wide.

Did we mention the wing?

Slide Motorsport were here in force, running 3 cars which we’re pretty sure are all V8 powered, Adam Simmons Had a little knock on the rear end the day before, damaging the rear bumper/quarter of his R33 Skyline but other than that, they were all very clean cars.

Gary Hughes R32 is looking just as clean as last year, with a livery that doesn’t seem to get old, there were a few people up and about but we could count them on one hand…

Another great livery this year and a major sponsorship deal scored for Ashley ‘Wand’ Willis and his Toyota Supra sporting the international Rockstar Energy Drink livery, very bright and hard to miss.

We’re very pleased to see the Low Brains Drifters PS13 competing in the BDC this year in the hands of Martin Ffrench. Everything about it is OTT, with the Wisefab lock kit it can perform some very backwards entries, it has a Mosler V8 Le Mans engine with throttle bodies, it’s an awesome car.

They were experiencing some power steering issues this weekend but Ffrenchy was still putting on a great show regardless. We expect great things from this car this year.

We finally got a chance to get up close to Hux’s V8 Volvo 240, It’s epic, the fact that Marc got this car built from a bare shell to a Super Pro class competition car in only 7 weeks is spectacular and it even stands up to close scrutiny. What a guy.

As time went by, more people started to surface, the sun started peeking out from behind the clouds and it looked like we were finally going to get some sun.

Before long it was time to make our way back to the track, it was dry, Super Pro qualifying time and they had some tyres to kill.

Super Pro qualifying. The drivers weren’t pushing as hard as Saturday, but the level of skill was still very good, Phil Morrison in the Driftworks R32 getting plenty of angle.

Wesley Keating had some unfortunate clutch issues and dropped out during his qualifying runs, a real shame with the preparation that has gone into his car…

As far as drift events are concerned, we expect abit of carnage, it comes with the territory. Cars loose bumpers and tap walls/each other all the time, but sometimes things are a little more serious than that as Steve ‘Baggsy’ Biagioni found out while breaking in his new car for the season.

Alot of people are familiar with Baggsy and his world famous Japspeed Impreza, this season however he is no longer with Japspeed and is driving for Team Acorn in a freshly built S13. We’re not sure of the cause, Baggsy seemed to initiate to flick the car the opposite way, but didn’t seem to pull it back and the car hurtled towards the tyre wall…

The crash was very hard to watch, not just because we know the guy, but because we never like to see things like this, torn between taking pictures and getting over to the car to help him out.

The Lydden Hill paramedics and emergency responce were on the top of their game arriving with Baggsy within seconds, the tyre wall seemed to take the majority of the impact, but was the main cause of the roll over as when the front wheels hit the wall, they ran up the lower tyres sending him over. Undoubtedly though the crash would have been alot more severe without the tyres there.

In a historic event, Baggsy had accomplished a first as far as the UK drift scene is concerned, a roll over. Thankfully Team Acorn had done a fantastic job putting this car together, all safety items stood up to the punishment and Baggsy emerged from the car, only to be greeted by a medical team and a stretcher, which was purely procedure. Once Baggsy was taken for further checks, the track was cleared and the action continued – Baggsy was fine, a little shaken and a little sore but he will be back.

After the crash you’d think the level of commitment to the first entry would not be as dedicated as before, but they seemed to be doing just fine.

The Lucas Oil Supra formally known as the SATS Cosworth Supra was having a few issues this weekend, blowing a bit of a hole in the cylinder head, but with a little bit of liquid metal and perseverance they were back on form. Good to see the BGW back too after running de-spoilered last year.

Moving on to the battles, there was a great standard of driving from all classes, some of the best we’ve seen. First up is the Semi Pro class results…

1st place – Matt Samuel in the Carloan4u Nissan 300zx.

2nd place – Matt Hitchcock in the Auto-Glym BMW E46.

3rd place – Nick Statham in his White Nissan R33 Skyline at his first BDC event.

Pro Class now and again there was some great driving across the board…

1st place – Jay Green in his green Nissan S13.

2nd place – Jay White in the Team MnM Nissan S14a.

3rd place – Chris Hawkins in his seriously clean S13.

Super Pro Class brought some superb mad skills to the table with most of the drivers at the top of their game…

Simon Perry made light work of Mark Sinnott in the Top 16.

Whilst Driftworks’ Phil Morrison and Wayne Keeber did the dance, Morrison progressing through.

Super Pro newcomer Christian Lewis took on seasoned veteran Steve Moore…

…and came out on top, before being dismissed by David Waterworth’s Viper-powered S15.

And Mark Luney in the Lucas Oil Supra sent Jamie Kenyon packing.

In the top 8 current champion Paul Smith chased down Ciaron Sinnott and, true to form, Smith progressed.

Hux headed off against Martin Ffrench in the Low Brain Mosler-engined PS13. Ffrench failed to leave room for Hux’s huge wagon to transition, making contact and putting Hux through – an important consideration when chasing a car this big is the acres of room that it takes to swing its tail about!

Mark Luney then took on Hux in the Volvo and the Supra left the wagon in a cloud of smoke.

Before heading off against Japspeed’s Paul Smith in the Semi Finals.

Smith taking the edge and booking himself a place on the podium.

In the other Semi Final Simon Perry took on David Waterworth’s Viper-powered S15.

It was a closely-contested battle…

…but Waterworth conceded to face Luney in the battle for third place.

Which Waterworth won, bagging the lowest podium spot.

Final time – Simon Perry vs Paul Smith.

Two long-standing BDC competitors and both know for their consistency and aggression in battles.

A solid first run from both put it all down to the final battle.

Perry led well but Smith chased better. The judges’ minds were made up.

David Waterworth takes third with Simon Perry bagging second.

2012 British Drift Champion Paul Smith picks up where he left off and takes the win at round one!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the first round of the British Drift Championship 2013 at Lydden Hill.

The second round of the 2013 championship sees a new venue throw into the array – Pembrey Circuit in South Wales on 8-9 June. For more information and to book tickets visit www.thebritishdriftchampionship.com

Photos: Ste Trackslide, Jordan Butters & Ian Gratton
Words: Ste Trackslide & Jordan Butters

As some of you may know, our little corner of the world known as New Zealand, is comprised of two islands. Appropriately named the North & South Islands. The Cody’s D1NZ National Drifting Championship spends most of its time in the North Island but every couple of years it heads south. To Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island.

It’s a big stretch for teams & drivers as they either have to tow their car up to 1,300km (including a ferry journey between the two islands) or pack the car and associated gear into a container which then travels down by boat. Luckily I don’t have to worry about a car so I boarded a one-hour flight from Auckland to Christchurch eager to get back down south.

I chose to spend a few days in Christchurch, knowing that area was home to a few friends plus some newly finished cars I was keen to take a closer look at. I urge anyone who hasn’t already, to head away on a weekend like this. Combing good people with top quality drifting and a lot of socializing made for an amazing weekend in a beautiful part of our country.

Once we landed I jumped straight on my phone to organize some cars to shoot. The first car I had the pleasure of capturing was Jono’s JZZ30 Soarer, this thing is perfect. You don’t see many Soarers in New Zealand so it was great to see one done so well.

Jono is panel beater so is a perfectionist by default. This is evident throughout the whole car – bright red, TE37′s, Vertex and a soon to be tuned 2JZ. What more would you want?

During our shoot Jono’s friend Michael arrived in his Soarer, featuring chrome CR Kai’s up front and timeless Veilside Andrew-D’s on the back. It’s super low too.

Two of New Zealand’s coolest street cars? I think so.

The next stop on our cool car tour of Christchurch lead us to Jonny Martin’s R32 Skyline. After competing in a couple of Drift South Street Legal rounds Jonny decided to pull the car apart for a makeover and add a cage so he can compete with the big boys.

Unfortunately the car wasn’t quite ready for D1NZ but Jonny was still able to take it for a small drive so I could get some photos. Expect to see this out on track soon!

After getting up at 5am for our flight we were pretty run down by this point in the day but we had just enough time and energy for one more car. Enter Mark O’Hara and his black 180sx. Mark is a long term Drift South competitor and his car oozes Japan street car styling with an array of ’90s 3 piece Japanese wheels and subtle URAS/Type X aero combo.

The other Christchurch boys informed me that Mark is the George Clooney of South Island drifting – cool, calm and collected.

Ruapuna Raceway, on the outskirts of Christchurch, is a glorious racetrack with an interesting mix of corners, elevation changes and great viewing for spectators. A lot of the North Island drivers really enjoying competing down here.

Mad Mike Whiddett was sitting in 3rd place leading into this round and wanted to dominate. So he came he prepared. And dominate he did, taking out first place in spectacular flame-spitting fashion.

He also debuted his new pit trolly/tool chest/wheel holder/thing that moves things. Yes, it is pretty damn cool.

The S13 Silvia platform is still popular and competitive (as outlined by Dai Yoshihara once again) and Bruce’s Achilles Radial sponsored S-chassis is super tidy. It is nice to take photos of well presented drift cars.

This track is fast. And is suited to fast cars. Gary Tenana’s C33 Laurel is fast -  and generates more smoke than an ’80s coal train.

Three time D1NZ Champion Gaz Whiter has had an unlucky season so far with breakages, an engine failure and a big crash at round 3. Unfortunately even with a brand new LS7 from the States, Gaz’s luck continued to run low as it imploded part way round the circuit leaving pieces of aluminum everywhere.

Christchurch local Paul Tomlin put his car back together especially for the event and drove well all weekend. Another example of a good looking S13.

The range of cars and engine setups competing in this series is quite diverse. At this round we saw three different FD RX7′s – one running an LS-series V8 owned by Johnny Latham…

… another powered by a huge horsepower 2JZ…

… and of course Mike Whiddett’s screaming quad-rotor that sounds more like a symphony orchestra in full song than a rotary.

Cody Collis is also from Christchurch but has been competing in the entire D1NZ series so far, that’s a lot of traveling considering 5 out 6 rounds are no where near his home city. And not even on the same island.

Fanga Dan Woolhouse was the man to beat. The former champ has shown real form so far this is season and is sitting in first place after 5 rounds.

Turn 2 of the judged section at Ruapuna is one of my favorite corners to shoot in the entire country. It’s dead flat and you can see them coming form ages away, pan and then fire when the time is right. I apologize for any repetition you may encounter in this article – I did take a lot of photos from this angle.

One of the things I love about NZ drifting is the vast mix of drivers and how they fund their passion. From the top guys with tyre, bodykit & oil sponsors to people like Guy Graham-Bagrie who pour all of their own money in week after week.

Angle king Andrew Redward had another solid weekend except for unfortunate gearbox failure which meant to he couldn’t battle past the top 8. He is still sitting in third leading into the final round and will be looking to clinch his first championship.

I couldn’t get over the number of fans and spectators that filled the stands over the weekend. During the lunchtime pit walk & driver signing is it was absolute chaos with queues of people waiting to meet their favorite driver.

During one of the only breaks in an action packed weekend it must be difficult for drivers to remain lively and upbeat for fans when all the really want to do is find some shade and relax before the battles ahead.

But no such slice of paradise is ever on the cards as fan after fan arrive in front of the drivers for their signature and a quick chat.

D1NZ also has a fast growing and popular Pro-Am feeder series. They run in conjuction with the big boys over the day thanks to an alternating and carefully worked schedule that keeps both drivers and spectators happy.

Australasian V8 Supercar star Shane van Gisbergen turned his hand to drifting this year and has been very successful in his debut season. Always qualifying higher and finishing above his previous round’s placing. Unfortunately the Ford Falcon named ‘Rattla’ that he usually drives suffered form a cracked crankshaft. In true drifting spirit a flurry of offers from Pro-Am competitors came flying in. It astounds me that these guys offer their pride & joy – full of blood, sweat & tears – so freely to other competitors. Hat tip to Darren Kelly for lending Shane his R32 Skyline!

Another strong performer over the weekend was the father of South Island drifting – Troy ‘Family Guy’ Forsythe – he drives like a maniac and is definitely a crowd favorite.

Aforementioned repetition. Sorry.

How good does Bruce’s car look on track?

The battle combination of Mike Whiddett and Zak Pole is one we have seen a lot so far this season. And is always close. Mike is without a doubt the best chaser in the business, but Zak is learning fast. They have gone OMT on more than one occasion – I’d hate to be a judge when the level of driving is this good.

The top 3 for the weekend – Mad Mike in first, Cody Collis in second and Drew Donovan in third. There are now only 30 points separating the top 3 in the championship after round 5 – Dan Woolhouse, Mad Mike and Andrew Redward – and all three have the skill to take out the top spot at the Grand Final in a few weeks. Who will it be?

Although the drifting was over, my weekend wasn’t quite finished until I had met some Christchurch folk that have a penchant for nostalgic Japanese cars and a more modern 180sx – all super low with appropriate wheels. This is Callum’s rad little KP Starlet…

… and this is his brother’s 180sx. Those massive front wheels and associated demon camber remind me of the REVIEW 180sx from Japan.

The trio was complete when James reversed his GX71 Mark II out onto the road.

I know what you are probably thinking right now – what a groovy selection of cars. I thought the same.

Thanks for your time guys, it was great to meet you!

Our time in Christchurch had to end eventually, but on route to the airport we made one last stop. Meet John’s Nissan Cedric 330. This is one of the most amazing cars I have ever seen. The VH41 powered, airbagged and completely restored Japanese classic exudes style & grace. It was a fitting way to end our 4 day weekend down south, big thanks to all the guys who pulled their cars out of the garage for me and especially the Boyce family for your lovely hospitality. Until next time!

::Roo Wills