V8 Drifting Invasion Continues
The return of Ford representation to the Toyo Drift Australia Series will add another element to the continuing V8 Drifting invasion, when the series takes to Mallala Motorsport Park this weekend, April 14-15.
While four and six cylinder Japanese cars have dominated the sport, true to its origins in Japan, V8 muscle has made strong inroads.
In the Toyo Drift Australia Series, Holden V8s arrived in 2005, with Jeremy Lake taking out the final round of the season aboard a Monaro.
That car tasted additional success last year, with Robbie Bolger (VIP Petfoods / CAPA Holden Monaro) taking a round win and just missing out on the title.
“The V8s have been going great guns,” Bolger, who is aiming to debut a VE Commodore in round three, said.
“We’ve had a couple of wins and almost won the championship last year which exceeded a lot of expectations.
“The Nissan teams are running scared and we’ll only get better from here.”
This weekend, Bolger will have some additional V8 support, although from an unlikely source.
Providing a rare intra-team Ford vs. Holden rivalry, team-mate Christian D’Agostin will step into a supercharged, CAPA Ford XR8 Ute.
The circuit racer - who raced in the Bathurst 12 Hour last weekend - had a trying Drifting debut at Barbagallo in February, knocked out in the first round aboard an under-powered Subaru Liberty.
“I think it’s great to have a big Ford V8 in the field, CAPA’s Holden Monaro has already shown that a big V8 is capable of winning,” D’Agostin enthused.
“Barbagallo was tough with so little power, but in the Ford I’ll have plenty of power under my right foot.
“Drifting really is very different to other forms of racing, it requires a totally different technique.
“One of the toughest things at Barbagallo was trying to de-tune my brain from the circuit racing mentality of correcting a slide, to the Drifting mentality of holding the slide, but I’m looking forward to more of it.”
A new trend has emerged in the V8 invasion in 2007, with a number of cars combining the grunt of a V8 engine with a Japanese chassis.
Khudar Elhaouli (JDS Auto Imports) added a 5.7litre V8 Chev LS1 engine in his Nissan Silvia over the off-season, while Adelaide’s Team DLS have transplanted a twin-turbo LS1 into a Nissan Skyline R34.
With George Spartalis behind the wheel, the head-turning car had a troubled debut in round one.
“We had pondered putting a V8 into a Japanese car for a while, and we actually bought the Skyline engineless before building it up from there,”
Spartalis explained.
“The actual physical build took about three months, and almost as soon as it was finished, it went on the truck to Western Australia, so there wasn’t any time to test.
“The more you modify a car, the more problems you have and the more time you need to get it right and unfortunately we had some cooling problems in Perth.
“We’ve made some changes and the car seems better from some testing we’ve done - hopefully we can get out there and have a good weekend.”
Round one victor Adam Trewhella (Miluc Civil / Japanese Wholesale Spares Nissan Cefiro) currently leads the series standings, over South Australian pilot Christian Pickering (Commercial Truck Sales Nissan 200SX).
In addition to Toyo Drift Australia Series competition, the weekend will feature round two the Super Drift feeder class, team Drifting, expression sessions, and off-track entertainment including the Auto Salon Show ‘n’
Shine, fun rides and DJs.
Tickets are available for $15 on Saturday and $25 on Sunday, with a $35 weekend pass available, while kids under 14 are free. For more information about the Toyo Drift Australia Series, head to www.driftaustralia.com.au
