Saturday saw the 2011/2012 D1NZ National Drifting championship come to a close with a nail biting finale at Hampton Downs raceway. With Mad Mike Whiddett in the Redbull/Speedhunters RX-7 MADBUL leading on the scoreboard, Curt Whittaker in his R34 Skyline and three time Drift King Gaz Whiter in the Tectaloy S14 close behind, it was going to be a tough battle for the top podium spot. During the day I watched qualifying from the edge of my seat and between runs spent the day checking out some of the cars on display in the hard parking area.

This clean Mazda 3 was sitting low and flush on BBS LMs and really stood out in the crowd.

The car that stood out the most to me was this awesome 200SX on Work Meisters.

Very nice!

This neat little ’79 Corolla on Equip 02 wheels had a lot of character.

Over in the pits all eyes were on BADBUL, Mad Mike’s RX-8 which had just returned from overseas.

Drift stance at its baddest, that’s for sure. Although Mikey wasn’t competing in this car he arranged to have it brought along for back-up on the day.

Even the Easter bunny made an appearance!

The twin turbo VH41 V8 in Mac Kwok’s S13 certainly looks imposing and sounds even more impressive.

You guys will remember the Audi A6 recently featured on here, well here is the owner Dayle’s weekend warrior RX-7 looking very staunch despite being on its ‘skid wheels’. The FC’s new Weds kicks have just arrived and will be getting put on very soon.

At most D1 rounds they open up the pits to the public at some stage to let people check out the cars and give them the opportunity to meet their favourite drivers.

Promo babe of the moment Merissa Gilmour working for Mag & Turbo.

Finally it came down to the top battles!

The competition between Gaz and Curt was close but not close enough for the former Drift King.

Mike hit Fanga Dan Woolhouse on the first run causing him to spin out.

Unfortunately this meant Mike was out, with Fanga heading through.

Bradley Lauder in his bright blue S14 fought back against Jason Sellers in his C33 Laurel and took out the third spot.

In the end it came down to an intense battle between Fanga Dan and Curt Whittaker, but Fanga wasn’t quick enough and Curt took out the top podium spot for round 6.

The overall points were added up and Curt Whitaker was announced as the 2011/2012 Drift King, followed closely by Mad Mike and Fanga Dan!

Victory skids for the win!

You guys have seen how crazy Mad Mike gets when the time comes for skids, well he went hard… until his car caught fire (I believe the diff exploded again?!) triggering his in-built extinguisher system.

Congratulations to all the boys for putting on an amazing D1NZ season, can’t wait ’til next time!

 

T x