As our old magazines get thin on the shelves, we’ll start to upload a few throwbacks to keep the memory alive. This week, we take a look at the Taranaki Drift event, which took place in 2009 on Centennial Drive. A 300m straight, coned to test drivers’ switching abilities, was followed by a tight S-bend and a 180-degree turn-around area further down the road. Each driver had to attack the section in both directions, while doing their best to impress the judges, sitting high up on the adjacent bank. There were no two-car battles, just single balls-to-the-bank passes.
With the first rubber lighting up at 10am, a mix of local and top-tier drivers began to come to grips with the street course and its pitfalls throughout the morning. Happily, very few came to real grief.
Top ranked drivers Cole Armstrong, Adam Richards and Steve Sole led the way in their RB-powered machines, while a host of others in very cool street rides followed one by one.
Sitting on the bank looking over the track, it was great to see the ‘Naki folk really getting behind it. Crowd numbers were impressive, and everyone seemed genuinely stoked to be at their own event in their own city. Although there is sure to have been a few unexpected sunglass marks and red shoulders among the crowd, the masses rolled away from the event a very happy bunch, especially after witnessing a no-holds-barred Adam Richards signature burnout to signal the end of the day.
Brad Kidney was one of the first to master the short track in his 1JZ-powered Skyline.
Adam Richards OG Cefiro seems to get more and more colourful each time it came out. Driver and car alike impressed, getting the crowd on its feet with a huge smoky skid at the end of the day.
Marcus Davies-King did Hamilton proud with big smoke and angles in his ex-NZPC cover car Silvia S14.
Cole Armstrong showed the locals just why he’s at the top end of the Kiwi drift game in his V Energy R34 Skyline.
Photos: Arie Stokes
