Calder Park Thunder Dome just outside of Melbourne saw some of Australia’s best driver’s come from all around Australia to compete in Round 2 of the Australian Drifting Grand Prix.
Most drivers turn up on the Friday the day before all the action starts, several South Australian drivers have made the trip to both of the rounds so far. Anthony Cece is one of those drivers, he showed up in his freshly built Cefiro with a rb25/30 combo and believe it or not a full interior even including carpet!
Ender’s always freshly turned out s13 got settled in for the night ready for the weekend’s action ahead. This car is one hell of a crowd favorite and is quickly making a name for it’s self not just nationally but internationally as well.
Saturdays action consisted of practice for the drivers as well as later in the day qualifying for Sundays action full of battles! Several Tasmania drivers made the trip across the ocean and showing plenty of speed out on track.
Ryan “Slide” Cummings and his team treked the 20 plus hours all the way from QLD, if that’s not dedication to the sport of drifting then I don’t know what is!
Rob Whyte will be a force to reckoned with throughout the year I think, after looking great out on track in 2 out of 2 ADGP events. Could we see a new champion for 2012?
Rob taking out the number 1 spot in qualifying tied with none other then the 2011 champion Luke Fink.
Luke had the longest trip of them all flying all the way in from Europe after competing in the European Drift Championship. Luke never holds back out on track but the great thing is he is still out having fun each run he takes.
Ender really stepped up his game this event along with many other drivers. With Chris Dejager a new judge on board brought in a new aspect and style that I have thought Australia has needed for years! It looks like it payed off with the action being closer then ever and showing everyone just how good Australian drivers are.
Making the trek around the thunder dome at Calder park is like stepping back in time. To think that this facility has basically laid abandoned for over 10 years until ADGP showed up, NASCAR racing fans used to fill the grandstands that now sit broken and weathered.
Lunch time break saw the spectators check out the cars and converse with the drivers.
One of Melbourne’s most well known drifter Nigel Petrie made it out to throw his iconic Engineered To Slide 180sx around and lay down some rubber on the tarmac. The backing Nigel has with all of his cars and projects is amazing and good to see many people rolling in there ETS apparel.
Registered drivers signing sessions saw big lines as fans waited to get posters from their favorite drivers.
Matt Hambridge in his big Hit-tec oils R33 didn’t seem quite as strong as last year but still battled hard. He currently has a new build taking place which we will hopefully get to see next round of ADGP.
Nigel was always a home town favorite and looked good right from the get go! Qualifying in a very respectable 7th position and later on progressing after a close battle with Simon Michelmore.
Luke and the boys from Holfords motors had some issue’s with the car most of the weekend, going threw 2 gearboxes and a rear knuckle.
Although when the car was running Luke looked as strong as ever.
Ryan managed to freshen up his Dope S13.5 and manage to blaze the tires with his Slide Industries turbo letting the motor make some good power!
The Insane Drifters also put on a good show for the crowd as always!
Agess met Luke Fink in the top 16 battle which without doubt was a wicked battle to watch! Luke narrowly taking the win.
Hayden’s VE Ute was not the only one out there for a change, although you can never get used to the sound of big V8′s bouncing off the Dome walls just as they would have in the past.
Nic Coulson aka the Drift Kid at the age of only 18 was running in the other VE Ute. Seeing a big VE going up against a car like Leigh Pidwell’s Silvia is a strange site but that didn’t stop the Drift Kid from taking the win and progressing on all the way too the top 4.
Brett Reid’s well known S14 that goes by the name REAPER was tearing the walls up with consistent scrapes most of the weekend. As you may be aware V8′s are becoming ever so popular in drifting as well as Australia. Reaper has a nice L98 6.0L sitting under the bonnet.
Sights like this are a common when ADGP hits Calder Park, with run after run smoke fills the dome. As a photographer you often find plenty of rubber in places you didn’t even think were possible.
Little Kyja decided to give Ryan Cummings and his team a hand in diagnosing the Coolant leak problem.
Big thanks to Ryan for also Reppin’ Jacked It one of a very limited run of tee’s for the people that have helped me out and hopefully some more apparel coming soon.
Rob was killing it run after run making very few mistake all weekend if any! Baking the tires as hard as a baker bakes yeast!
Michael Prosenik and the boys at Supreme Caravans worked hard build a new car from scratch after write off there 180sx at Drift Supercup. I’m sure once they have dialed this car in they are going to be one to watch with the car already showing impressive amounts of grip.
Michael battled hard against Rob Whyte in the top 32 but unfortunately got knocked out leaving the expression sessions to have some fun for the rest of the day. Here you see him mid 360 which a few of the drivers were having some fun with.
The street class boys also had fun in the expression sessions none other then Stirling Wright laying down some high speed one handed door open action! This R33 Drift Patrol car has had quite some attention and I’m sure it will continue to do so.
The track layout changed slightly from last year as the leg of the track was extended forcing the drivers to carry more speed into the outside clipping point. Cece pushed a little too hard and decided to re arrange the cone to a preferred distance.
If you had read Jacked It’s post from either Drift Supercup or the Gk tech Vic drift championship then you would have heard me talk about Jarrad Klingberg’s impressive ke70 wagon. Its not a common car you see as a comp car but let me tell you it doesn’t lack grip as it tripods lifting the front inner wheel from corner to corner.
Drifting in Australia is quickly catching up to other well known nations with the level of driving lifting each event with more and more car setup being thrown in to find more speed, angle and grip.
Late into the battles saw the sky’s falling down with rain. It made things interesting for the final battles even if they couldn’t get any better then the final match up.
It came down to the top 2 qualifiers Luke Fink and Rob Whyte, the level of car control from these two drivers was nothing but impressive as run after run just centimeters away from each other causing them to battle One More Time.
Rob Whyte taking out number 1 position knocking Luke off his winning streak in Australia, Danny Williamson taking out 3rd and the Nic Coulson in 4th.
Updated:
Qualifying Results
Pro Class Results
Another wrap up from another ADGP event, with other events quickly approaching, this years schedule is packed!
