Defending D1NZ champion Gaz Whiter The winner will literally take all when the country's top drifters meet at Feilding's Manfeild motor racing circuit on October 28 and 29 to vie for a $5,000 cash first prize at the opening round of the 2011/12 D1NZ Drifting Championship.
'That's right, " says series organizer Brendon White. "At each round this season the winner will earn a one-off cash prize or package pool of $5,000. At Manfeild the money is coming from Shred Motorsport in Lower Hutt and it's got everybody talking."
White has received 55 entries for the opening round with the list topped by defending - and now three time - champion Gaz Whiter (Nissan S14) from Dargaville, and including former series champion Daniel Woolhouse from Whangarei (Holden Commodore), high-profile international Mike Whiddett (Mazda RX7) from Auckland, and the winner and runner-up respectively of the recent Tectaloy International Drift Challenge in Sydney, Aucklanders Carl Whittaker (Toyota 2JZ-engined Nissan Skyline R34) and Daynom Templeman (Mazda RX7).
Leading the local lineup, meanwhile, are Palmerston North drivers Will Cook (Toyota Supra) and Shane Rutland (Nissan S14), and Wellingtonians Carlos Walters Rangitihi (Nissan Skyline R33) and Dimitri Amos (Nissan SR20-engined Toyota Corolla).
Hawke's Bay driver Mac Kwok will also be a crowd-pleaser behind the wheel of his twin-turbocharged V8-engined Nissan S13, one of the most spectacular drift combinations in the country at the moment.
Few sports - let alone motorised ones - are as spectacular as Drifting, hence the growing interest in it here and around the world.
"We're a show sport " explains White. "We're entertainers. We do it for the fans - the people who pay good money to come and see us - as much as we do it for ourselves."
Drifting differs from traditional 'first-past-the-post' motorsport categories in that it is judged. At each venue a course is marked out with specific start, finish and 'clipping points,' the driver's job to slide (oversteer) through each corner as quickly and spectacularly as possibly.
After single car qualifying runs through the course to establish a Top 32, competitors then battle each other through two tandem runs (each driver getting a chance to lead and follow) with the judges marking them on line, angle (of drift), speed, how close they were able to stay to the other driver, and - arguably the most popular criteria for the fans - the amount of smoke produced by their car's spinning tyres.
Once the Top 32 has been whittled down to a Top 16, those 16 go back into battle to establish a Top 8, then a Top 4, a Top 2 then there is a final battle to decide who is the overall winner.
With it's infield combination of a tight, banked left-hander, open right kink then sharp banked left-hand hairpin, plus the large outfield spectator embankments, Fielding's Manfeild circuit could have been purpose-built for Drifting.
It has certainly offered up some spectacular rounds of the D1NZ series in the past and White says that with the bonus Cup prize money this year the stakes will be even higher.
"All the drivers will be pushing so much harder, it's going to be mega."
Each round of this season's D1NZ series will run over two days with a new ProAm feeder series - which has attracted over 20 entries in its own right - run on the Friday and the Pro series run on the Saturday.
A local driver to watch out for in the ProAm ranks is Wanganui man Ricki Lee who drives a Mazda RX7.
New Zealand was one of the first country's outside Japan to set up a dedicated drift series and since 2003 the local scene has developed into one of the best - and definitely one of the closest and most competitive - in the world.
It was this early take-up then willingness to travel and take on all-comers which has made New Zealand's series what it is, something Brendon White is justifiably proud of.
"Though there are now something like 40 drifting championships in the world ours is consistently recognised as one of the top five elite ones, "he says.
That recognition is set to continue this season with a dedicated fortnightly DINZ online web show http://www.facebook.com/D1NZOFFICIAL on Facebook set to join existing TV coverage here on TV3 and Sky's Fujitsu Motorsport programme, in Australia on Motorworld TV, around the world (to over 40 countries) via satellite, as well as on dedicated drift and/or motorsport websites and in motorsport and youth culture magazines here and around the world.
2011/12 D1NZ National Drifting Championship
Calendar
Rnd 1: Oct 28-29 2011 Manfeild Feilding
Rnd 2: Nov 25-26 2011 Pukekohe Park Raceway
Rnd 3: Dec 16-17 2011 Taupo Motorsport Park Taupo
Rnd 4: Feb 10-11 2012 Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
Rnd 5 March 09-10 2012 Whangarei Street Course, Whangarei
Rnd 6: April 06-07 Grand Final, Hampton Downs, northern Waikato
