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