While the Northern Hemisphere slips slowly into winter, here in New Zealand summer is heating up! Round 3 of the Cody's D1NZ National Drifting Championship was held at Taupo Motorsport Park in the middle of the North Island. And because of it's location, a lot of drivers call this track home. In the days leading up to this round, New Zealand suffered a pretty nasty storm with torrential rain and flooding in some areas. Drivers, staff and us media guys all crossed our fingers and toes in the hope it would pass before the round kicked off on Friday.
And it did! We arrived at the track bright and early to the spectacular sight of sunshine and clear skies, something we haven't seen much of so far this season.
The teams and drivers made their way up to the briefing. Chris Howard showed excitement early on by mimicking his t-shirt.
The drivers packed out the room and we were all surprised at how many had registered to drift over the following days. This was the biggest field seen so far this season and it showed that this track really is a favourite with the drivers.
Head Judge Justin Rood outlined the drift section and what he wanted to see from the drivers. Similar to last year, D1NZ ran the circuit in reverse which made the judged section very fast and technical.
Little time was wasted before the cars were let out on track and the D1 Pro shakedown session began. Defending Champion Gaz Whiter in his Nissan S14 Silvia seemed to have ironed out all of his motor troubles from last season and began climbing up the ranks again after a slow start during Round 1.
Daynom Templeman knows this track very well and laid down some impressive runs in his NAC Insurance/Zennith Motorsport Mazda FD RX7. He would definitely be one to watch over the weekend.
After being plagued with mechanical issues in the last round, Andrew Redward was aggressive right out of the box. His S14 Silvia seems to have endless amounts of steering lock. Unfortunately, the car suffered from a warped engine head later in the day. Andrew was able to borrow Pro-Am driver Chris Howard's S13 to get some more practice in.
Large wings are becoming more popular on NZ drift cars.
Jason Sellers has been having some bad luck in his 2JZ-powered Nissan C33 Laurel recently but his team had seemed to have sorted the issues from Round 2 and Jase drove very well all morning.
Bruck Tannock's Silvia had plenty of squat; the side skirts almost touching the ground whenever he put his foot down.
Thanks to Garden City Helicopters I had the opportunity to join D1NZ cameraman Benny Mack in ne of their helicopters for a few low-flying passes of the track. Brendon White and the D1NZ team arranged to have all of the pro drivers GO out on track so we could get some great footage. Check out all the traffic in pit lane!
Team Need For Speed's Mad Mike and Catrol Edge's Fanga Dan led the pack with some insanely close runs. Shooting from the sky was amazing!
Steve Sole laid down a massive smoke trail in his 2JZ-powered Toyota JZX90/100 Chaser right in front of the helicopter.
It's difficult to explain what it's like to hang out of a holicopter's door with your camera around your neck. A big thanks to Garden City Helicopters, Brendon andthe D1NZ team for the great experience.
Back on the ground and Mad Mike was gearing up to go for a ride in Leon Scott's Evo VIII, which he races in the Time Attack series.
This round saw a huge number of D1NZ Pro-Am entries. One of the new faces was Adrian Rivers in this street Nissan S13 Silvia.
Jodie Verhulst is the only female competing in the D1NZ series and drove very well in her Toyota Supra.
Fresh from his 3rd place finish at Round 2 Pro-Am driver Joe Kyle laid down some great runs in his Nissan C33 Laurel. I just love seeing big 4-doors sliding!
Troy Jenkins' beautiful S15 was back in action after needing repairs to a few bad panels, thanks to some off-track excursion in Round 2.
Cameron Vernon drove the E&H Nissan R32 Skyline in Pro-Am and has been finishing near the top at each round so far.
I definitely have a soft spot for an old Corolla! William Foster keeps improving from round to round and looks to be a real contender in the Pro-Am series this year.
Many have picked Shane Poulton to be the one to watch out for, especially after coming first in Round 2.
The Pro-Am final came down to a tight battle between Vincent Hopkins and Cameron Vernon with Cam taking the win!
After the Pro-Am guys had finished, the D1 Pro drivers lined up for some practice.
Former D1NZ Champion Fanga Dan Woolhouse tamed the big four door V8 Holden Commodore with ease on the fast and winding track.
Mad Mike told us that he was only getting two laps per set of tyres.
Carlos Walters in his Nissan R33 Skyline made the step up to D1 Pro from Pro-Am this season and certainly showed everyone why he belonged there.
Another car that that's been experiencing some mechanical gremlins is Hugo Maclean's Toyota AE86 Corolla.
As I wasn't able to attend, day two's report will coming from Chris Smith and Simon Anderson. Stay tuned!
- Words by Roo Wills. Photos by Roo Wills, Chris Smith and Simon Anderson
Video from the helicopter
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