2015 NSW Time Attack

Winter.  Its a tough time.
Especially if you ask the folks guarding the wall. But we're not.

We're asking the brave souls who ventured from their warm beds and sunny temps to stomp around the Wakefield park in Goulburn to shave a few seconds from their most likely already impressive laptimes.

It was 13 degrees in the morning, the fogs of war had rolled in off the countryside and one could barely make out the other side of the track, despite the safety tyres painted high-vis.

Things did not look at all good for the mornings proceedings, Lucky for the drivers, the SS owners club had come out for a show and shine and to make the most of an empty carpark to show off their wares.

The track officials had a quick chat to them and it was decided that the land yachts - I mean, Commodores, would head out on the track in an attempt to disperse the heavy fog. Behind a safety car, less a driver get a little overzealous.

It was a good thing too, as after a few laps, the fog began to clear and the hopes of all and sundry looked to the heavens for an indication of clear weather and blue sky.

Despite our arrival time of 9 am, the track didn't clear until around 10.30 - 11, when the first competitors braved their cold tyres on an equaly cold track.  Does this mean i could've stayed in bed for a few more hours?

Forget that, I'd much rather be trackside listening to k-swapped and turbo b16a Honda's attack time.  Adrian, in the above EG Civic bested the day with a 1.07.4 putting him in 2nd place for Clubsprint FWD.  We managed to catch up with him in the pits and discovered that he had driven all the way from Sydney to race, then after the day, he'd pack it all up and drive home.  Not bad for a streeter!

As it turned out, all the guys with BYP prepped Hondas, made the 3 hour drive down from Sydney.  Talk about reliability!  Daniel in the silver EK impressed everyone, completing 93 laps around Wakefield over the course of the weekend before driving it home to Sydney.  Not only did he do the most laps but his best time was 1.07.1 fast enough for the quickest FWD in the Clubsprint class.

With these plucky little Honda's all coming down as a crew, the shop BYP Racing looked after their swaps, tuning and builds.  BYP are certainly looking to be one of the more prominent Honda shops in Sydney, so if you're looking at a K swap or to shave some precious tenths of your times, hit them up!

Amongst the hot hatches was this FD 4 door Civic, which didn't look out of place at all.  I have to admit it's been a while since I've seen a Honda sedan around a track.  This didn't stop Steve though, posting a best of 108.6.  It sure looked the goods with red wheels and the aero additions.

Not to be outdone by their customer cars, the flagship for BYP Racing, their budget time attack EG dubbed 'Emma' sported what was essentially a stock K series swap.  Add to that, the time-tested recipe of decent aero and sticky tyres which resulted in a personal best for the team of 1.04.3.

It wasn't all about the Hondas however, the dark horse of the day was this 944 Porsche by Patrick Garvan and Paul McKinnon which dominated the second day of proceedings.  Eventually taking out the competition in Open Class with a best of 60.2070.

It didn't come easy however as gearbox issues on the first day saw the team drag the car all the way back to Sydney, finish repairs at midnight and tow the car back to Wakefield to snatch first place from Nik Kalis in his Evo.

Not to go down without a fight, John Boston battled hard all day in the MC Towing / CXC / Microtech Rx7 finishing with a best of 61.2390.  Enough to snatch 3rd place in the Open class.

It didn't come without it's perils though as the car caught fire along the back of the track.  John did a decent enough job extinguishing the flames from the engine bay, however a tow back to the pits proved their weekend was over.

The lone Subaru of the day, driven by Ben McLaren ended up taking home first place in Clubsprint class with a best of 65.1480, fast enough to snatch the trophy from the few Evo's that came out.  Now you don't see that much anymore do you?

Hot on Ben's heels was John Richardson's R33 Gtst, pushing the big girl around Wakefield with a best of 65.2890 over the course of the weekend.  I loved the effort these boys put in, taping every little nook and cranny on the front bar.

Extensive home-made louvers adorned the bonnet to ensure all the hot air didn't get trapped.  This was probably my favorite part, essentially a cheap mod which brought decent improvements.

Even an ex-V8 Supercar made the trek out, the CMS Plant hire BA Falcon did a decent job screaming around the track, reminds of the old days.

5th outright in the Clubsprint class was John Healy in the Roh Wheels / V Sport Toyota FT 86.  With a turbo, stroked out to 2.1 litres and working behind the scenes as the V-Sports workshop manager must have put John in good stead as he managed to pull a 1.05.8 from the little Hachi.

Either Nick Strange wanted to stand out with this livery on his Mitsubishi Evo, or he wanted to blend in using camo.  Which ever way he intended to go, his Evo definitely stood out.

It was a good weekend for the crews and drivers alike, with no major incidents (besides rotors catching fire). Despite the relatively late start due to fog, thanks to the SS owners club it was short lived.  I guess that's what you get when you put a racetrack in Goulburn.

Shout out to all the guys we had a chat to, everyone was super friendly and welcoming, hope to see you guys at the next track day, possibly WTAC?

See you at the track
-Willie

Stadium Drift - Wakefield Drift Matsuri

It’s a funny thing drifting.  The immortal words of Bow Wow come to mind, “If you ain't out of control, you ain't in control".

I suppose that's the whole enigmatic appeal of it, I mean who doesn’t want to slide out of control towards a concrete barrier before slightly adjusting the steering wheel, narrowly escaping the clutches of a faceless fate and be spared the tow home with a crippled car only to pull out the panels and do it all again?

 

I love the blatant disregard the Japanese have, they tape a balloon to the concrete barrier on a straight and whoever drift's close enough to burst it, wins.  

  Wins what I hear you ask? Well the admiration of your peers of course.

Because that’s what grass roots drifting is about. It's about more than the car you're driving, the sum of it's parts, or the lack thereof, it's about more that your gravel scrapping ride height or the ear splitting cackle of your external wastegate.

They don’t do it for the girls, the money or the TV coverage. They do it because it’s fun.  One of the winners from the recent Wakefield Stadium Drift event stated "This cars owes me $3500 all up, get out there and have a go”.

That’s what it’s all about, having fun. The ‘run what you brung’ mentality is strong with this crowd, every time I head out to an event there is always a car I thought would never grace the blacktop in a drift event.  As long as it’s rear wheel driven, it’s good to go.

In saying that, however, the Nissan crowd is quite well represented, with such a well-rounded and relatively inexpensive buy in price you can clearly see why.  All you really need is some stiff suspension, extra tyres and a hunger for the need to drive sideways towards a concrete barrier.

This past Mother’s Day weekend was the time and the Wakefield Motorsport complex was the destination for the combined effort of the Wakefield Drift Matsuri and the second round of the Stadium Drift Australia Nulon pro tour.

Despite the blustery condition, the drivers were well prepped and ready for the weekend to unfold. Due to unforseen scheduling conflicts, I was only able to make it out for the final few rounds of the pro comp, enough time to see Barry Clark in the V8 powered R32 Skyline take on Gavin Edwards and his grass roots Silvia.

Unfortunately for Gavin Edwards, as far as story tales go, the little Silvia that could was overpowered by the might and rumble of the V8.  In the end it was incredibly tough for the judges to decide but the win was eventually handed to Barry Clark for his impeccable chase laps.

Once the trophies were handed out it was back to the matsuri action, even some of the pro drivers headed out to sacrifice tyres to the gods of drift. 

Let me tell you, there was a lot of sacrificing going on.  Lucky the sponsors - AAA Tyres were on hand to provide an exorbitant amount of rubber to the 79 drivers that were signed up for the weekend of matsuri action.

 

Brad Tuohy looked impressive in his new rocket bunny ridden FT86, however in competition he fell by the hands of the eventual winner Barry and his R32.

I loved the sound of this thing, when I was out of sight from the starting line, I could always tell when it was headed down the straight. There's something about a Rocket Bunny kitted FT86 sliding sideways through a corner that gets me right in the feels.

One of the other things I love about drifting is the lack of polish on most of the cars.  Don't get me wrong, I love a well put together drift car with all of its body panels still on.  But there is something to be said about the criss cross of zip ties on fiberglass.

 

Or the scraps of another car's paint left over from a tandem battle.  I guess you could say the more a drift car is beaten up, the more stories it could tell.  It shows it's soul.

Like I said earlier, a car is more than the sum of it's parts, its a means to have fun, express yourself and enjoy the easy going camaraderie that accompanies this sport.

At the end of the day however, we must away and return to the daily rat race that allows us to enjoy this passion.  After all, no-one else is going to buy your tyres-cage-turbo etc for you. Unless you're Anthony Bilic, give him a like on Facebook.

That's a wrap for the Stadium Drift / Wakefield Drift Matsuri for a while. Shout out to all the drivers that came out and braved the conditions to put on a show for the punters.  Now it's time to pack up, head home and assess the damage.

See you at the track.

- Willie