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Thread: Drift (in) Australia; What now?

  1. #1
    Senior Member PuGZoR's Avatar
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    Default Drift (in) Australia; What now?

    Hey sportsfans,

    After asking Mr Young about what his future conquests consist of, just thought I'd make a more dedicated thread on what the hell is going on in terms of national competition in Australia.

    So, after going strong in 2006, and not really expanding at all after that in 2007 and 2008, 2009 bought Drift Australia to a pretty big halt. Instead of the multi-round series a national competition should have, instead a single round is being run in Sydney. I'm not going to go on about the incompetence of the organizers to have a contingency plan for sponsorship, etc, but more concerning is simply, what happens now?

    According to the DA website, they've been bought out by the organizers of DriftFest, which was successful from the reports I've heard. More entertainment based with DJ's, girls, etc. They hope to rebuild it into a national competition again with a multi-round series in 2010, according to their press release.

    Let's face it, no one has really been happy with DA. But, there are quite a few questions to be asked regarding the future of the sport in the country.

    Will Ninety Degree Entertainment (the new owners of DA) keep with the DA name, rules, etc? Or will they actually adapt it to what the growing sport needs at the moment, instead of an idealistic competition suited more to where the sport is established? Has anyone else heard of another national drift event that could possibly fill the void currently left by the stagnant DA brand?

    So many questions, so few answers. So, any rumours going around? Eh eh eh?

  2. #2
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    i know greg personally and have spoken to him in regards to this...

    i think the plan is still to have DA as the national competition with a few minor changes, but DA will also be getting behind the grass roots competitions and supporting them on a much bigger basis than Drift Australia did previously...

    in his words "without grass roots we have no DA"

    i personally look forward to seeing wat he does, guarenteeed to be 100 times better than previously...

    in the meantime state levels are getting more competitive and professional than ever... as seen here in tasmania, but i also know QLD and SA is boom like never before, WA is picking up there game, victoria seem to be heading towards a good thing now with a few organisation postition changes...

    im fairly sure the one round of DA is soley being ran to pick the 2 Australian representatives for the Redbull Worlds assuming thats being ran again this year...


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    Veteran ae86hachiroku's Avatar
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    I see DA as a massive plague to drift in Australia, it should go to the bin. There's no need for this bullshit franchise and such a constricting hold on it's competitors, absolute rubbish and isn't welcome to the nature of drift.

    My local rounds here are suffering as well, with many consistent entrants beginning to pull out, our state round coming up this Saturday has only 16 entrants. . Unless something is done to promote a more Japanese styled approach to drifting (I don't care what you say, they got it right), drift in Australia is and always will fail.

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    Veteran johl's Avatar
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    i think they should stop trying to compete with the supercars and trying to run this massive competition and what not, rather they should use the v8 supercar market.

    it is only an idea and i know it would be a logistical nightmare but here goes.

    they should run d.a at a few v8 supercar rounds such as bathurst, indy etc. the crowd are always going to be there, the sponsors are there, the money is there. have qualifying on the friday, top 32 on saturday before the long race, top 16 after, and then the finals on sunday between races.

    do this for maybe 2 seasons and i think they will build up a massive fan base and alot more sponsors as they can see it is a real sport and the fans soon see ads for D.A and say to felow bogans "oh sick davo, those dorifta's have their own series now, should go check it out aye? it'l be fuggin sick aye"

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    Senior Member AE86 Spoontah's Avatar
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    It's actually pretty bleak for drifting over here in W.A. We get plenty of drivers attending practice nights but when competiton time come's around all those drivers sit on the side lines. This has now forced the sponsors to pull out if $5800 min profit isn't met, and as a consequence, the top drivers are pulling out and plan on selling their cars.

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    Senior Member PuGZoR's Avatar
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    I don't actually think it's going that well here in QLD. Maybe on the street, but in terms of official track based competition it's pretty ordinarily.

    QR no longer are organising DriftState, meaning QR is not used for any drift competition this year at all, unless someone brings something up. They're doing Friday night practices, and that's it. It's pretty bad, and I think that what really made me want to find out what's happening elsewhere, because it's looking pretty bleak.

    Option1Garage are still running Archerfield, and very regularly. This is fricken great. My only gripe is that it's a very short and tight course (it was a go-kart track!), so it's more like a gymkhana than drifting. I've never actually slid it, and I know it's not an easy track for the drivers by any means because I've rode shotgun, but it's just a little too slow for what I'd like to be seeing I guess. I've seen some fkn great driving there though, I must say that.

    Then there's Stadium Drift run by Raceline. Once again, done on a go-kart track (still actively used as that too) so is a very short track with not a lot of speed to it. Further more, it's just a big W shape really, but the geography does change elevation a bit so it's got that going for it. Once again, some absolutely great drifting there, but it has speeds closer to that you'd see in a gymkhana.

    From what I've heard they won't be having drifting at Lakeside for a few reasons as well, which is very disappointing but understandable given the location.

    So essentially we don't really have any major form of competition on our major track, as far as I know... I'm hoping Raceline or Option1Garage do some kind of deal with QR to get parts of their series run there, even a final or something would be good. The talent's here like in other parts, just no one's letting them shine...

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    Veteran ae8zn6's Avatar
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    Thats lame about the comps in WA, I used to really enjoy them, who is considering selling up?

    I can see that the comps aren't particularly enticing though, you'll always have the same 4-5 drivers in the final, so its not like anyone else can really win... But I always just went in them for the fun, get a couple battles in and then you still get a decent amount of track time in the expression sessions

    Former Cars: 1992 300zxTT ***SOLD*** ----------------1984 Daily 20v AE86 ***PARTED OUT*** =(
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cerby86 View Post
    I said it cos it is possibly one of the stupidest things I have ever read on this forum. And I remember when Klutch was on here so that is saying something!!

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    Senior Member AE86 Spoontah's Avatar
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    A mate of mine is good friends with Borneo and said he's selling up as is Banger. Clint has already sold his car and it's street rego'd coz i've seen it at a servo

  9. #9
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    I'd rather that we didn't have big comps. I'd like drifting not to be mainstream(or less). It's already a pain in the ass, especially with people who don't know what the fuck they are on about. Little comps are the go.

    Same with bosozoku.. Shit's starting to come up and people are talking about it, but not knowing what they are actually talking about.

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    Veteran ae8zn6's Avatar
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    wow, its sad to hear that one of the best steerers in the country is selling up... I have videos of him easily drifting the entire circuit at barbs that are about 5 or so years old, and its not like he would have just started then either cause he was doing it with ease... there's no way he'll recoupe anywhere near what he's spent on that ceffy either, Furthermore without guys that are that standard it'll be harder to draw crowds which means it'll be harder to make comps (even with a full field) and easier for the track to make excuses to not run drift


    Stupid non prime lenders

    Former Cars: 1992 300zxTT ***SOLD*** ----------------1984 Daily 20v AE86 ***PARTED OUT*** =(
    1983 Daily GZE86 **No Longer**sniff**-------------------------1984 JDM Daily ***SOLD***
    2001 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7 GSR--------------------------'Sonic' 2012 Blue Toyota 86 GTS ***SOLD***
    Current Cars:
    Project Ugly Duckling - 1984 AE86 SR drift car ------------------Daily JDM Trueno GT-APEX hatch
    Quote Originally Posted by Cerby86 View Post
    I said it cos it is possibly one of the stupidest things I have ever read on this forum. And I remember when Klutch was on here so that is saying something!!

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