The International Drift Challenge at Easter Creek Raceway World Time Attack 2012

We're here at Easter Creek Raceway, and I'm Michael from New Zealand, here to give you an update on what's happening in the international drift challenge. This year, we've got six Kiwis strong competing, and we're looking to keep the title in New Zealand hands. Last year, Kur wher took out the podium number one spot, so we're feeling confident about our chances this time around.

Our car is a fresh rebuild of an RX8, which looks cosmetically identical to what we ran in 2010 for Formula Drift. However, the whole car is brand new from the engine to every last bar and everything for the suspension geometry. We've also got a Winters Quick Change rear end, which helps to keep the power down due to the rotary producing less torque but more power at high RPMs. This allowed us to get the gear ratio just right, so we can keep the speed and agility of the car.

We've had a few hours of testing with all the guys out there, and the car feels real good. I was actually quite nervous about making this change, as we're not running any sway bars anymore due to the extra steering lock. However, people said that running sway bars would be too awkward and unresponsive, so we decided to take a different approach. But it's worked out well for us - the car is responsive and everything seems to be in order.

One of the things I like about drifting is getting to different tracks and learning the sections. It's not just about driving fast, but also about mastering the art of drifting and having fun with it. We've got an awesome selection of drivers from Australia competing this year, as well as some team orange guys from Japan who are always a pleasure to compete against.

Competition is always fierce at World Time Attack, but we're looking forward to giving it our all and seeing how the weekend goes. There's no big walls to hit on this track, so you can commit to your lines and push yourself to the limit. The most challenging part of the track for us will be the first gear change when getting back up the hill - we need to do a couple of gear changes through the Section, but it's still a cool track that we're excited to tackle.

Overall, we're feeling good about our chances this year, and we can't wait to get started. It's going to be an adrenaline-packed weekend with some of the best drivers in the world competing against each other. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best - but either way, it's going to be a lot of fun!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI'm Michael from New Zealand here we are Easter Creek Raceway World Time attack 2012 uh well again we're running an international drift challenge so uh we've got six kiwis strong over here this year and um you know we had some good results last year Kur wher took out the podium number one spot so uh you know we're looking to keep the title in New Zealand hands we've got the RX8 here which is just full fresh rebuild uh cosmetically it looks the same as what we ran in 2010 for Formula Drift uh but the whole car is brand new right from the engine to every last bar and everything for the suspension geometry we've got a winters Quick Change reare end which you know the rotary helps it you know keep the obviously they produce a lot less torque good power but the power is all in the high RPM so a quick change rear end it enabled us to be able to keep a get the gear ratio just perfect so we can keep the sing um and then yeah like I the Cosmetics looks the same but it's got a bit of character yep so we've had uh a few hours of testing with all the guys out there and the car feels real good I was actually quite nervous for because we've just changed the car so drastically like doesn't run any sway bars now the extra steering lock there was no room for the sway bars the rear end with the Winter's Quick Change we couldn't fit sway bars in the rear so I was kind of a bit nervous on that with uh just you know you know some people saying that running those sway bars was going to be quite awkward and quite washy but it actually feels real good it's real responsive and uh everything's been running good in the car we just htic have come on board have just put a brand new computer in it so um yeah setting that up today we've got more power out of it and um yeah really looking forward to it so the track itself is I mean you can commit because there's no big walls to hit and you know it's not a super challenging track the most challenging bit is really the first switch to the gear change to get back up the hill um with this car obviously need to do a couple of gear changes through the Section but um it's a cool track you know that's what I like about drifting is just getting to different tracks and and learning the section you know and just hanging out in the socializing with you know and we've got all all the best uh Drifters from Australia and we've also got team orange guys from Japan so it's awesome to have you know the best level competition oh I think kumako definitely be uh you know he's definitely oh I've looked up to him since day one you know but uh yeah those guys we compete with them up in Japan as well and man it's just it gets me on my toes even just watching those guys you know so the adrenaline is going to be uh flowing this weekend that's for sureI'm Michael from New Zealand here we are Easter Creek Raceway World Time attack 2012 uh well again we're running an international drift challenge so uh we've got six kiwis strong over here this year and um you know we had some good results last year Kur wher took out the podium number one spot so uh you know we're looking to keep the title in New Zealand hands we've got the RX8 here which is just full fresh rebuild uh cosmetically it looks the same as what we ran in 2010 for Formula Drift uh but the whole car is brand new right from the engine to every last bar and everything for the suspension geometry we've got a winters Quick Change reare end which you know the rotary helps it you know keep the obviously they produce a lot less torque good power but the power is all in the high RPM so a quick change rear end it enabled us to be able to keep a get the gear ratio just perfect so we can keep the sing um and then yeah like I the Cosmetics looks the same but it's got a bit of character yep so we've had uh a few hours of testing with all the guys out there and the car feels real good I was actually quite nervous for because we've just changed the car so drastically like doesn't run any sway bars now the extra steering lock there was no room for the sway bars the rear end with the Winter's Quick Change we couldn't fit sway bars in the rear so I was kind of a bit nervous on that with uh just you know you know some people saying that running those sway bars was going to be quite awkward and quite washy but it actually feels real good it's real responsive and uh everything's been running good in the car we just htic have come on board have just put a brand new computer in it so um yeah setting that up today we've got more power out of it and um yeah really looking forward to it so the track itself is I mean you can commit because there's no big walls to hit and you know it's not a super challenging track the most challenging bit is really the first switch to the gear change to get back up the hill um with this car obviously need to do a couple of gear changes through the Section but um it's a cool track you know that's what I like about drifting is just getting to different tracks and and learning the section you know and just hanging out in the socializing with you know and we've got all all the best uh Drifters from Australia and we've also got team orange guys from Japan so it's awesome to have you know the best level competition oh I think kumako definitely be uh you know he's definitely oh I've looked up to him since day one you know but uh yeah those guys we compete with them up in Japan as well and man it's just it gets me on my toes even just watching those guys you know so the adrenaline is going to be uh flowing this weekend that's for sureI'm Michael from New Zealand here we are Easter Creek Raceway World Time attack 2012 uh well again we're running an international drift challenge so uh we've got six kiwis strong over here this year and um you know we had some good results last year Kur wher took out the podium number one spot so uh you know we're looking to keep the title in New Zealand hands we've got the RX8 here which is just full fresh rebuild uh cosmetically it looks the same as what we ran in 2010 for Formula Drift uh but the whole car is brand new right from the engine to every last bar and everything for the suspension geometry we've got a winters Quick Change reare end which you know the rotary helps it you know keep the obviously they produce a lot less torque good power but the power is all in the high RPM so a quick change rear end it enabled us to be able to keep a get the gear ratio just perfect so we can keep the sing um and then yeah like I the Cosmetics looks the same but it's got a bit of character yep so we've had uh a few hours of testing with all the guys out there and the car feels real good I was actually quite nervous for because we've just changed the car so drastically like doesn't run any sway bars now the extra steering lock there was no room for the sway bars the rear end with the Winter's Quick Change we couldn't fit sway bars in the rear so I was kind of a bit nervous on that with uh just you know you know some people saying that running those sway bars was going to be quite awkward and quite washy but it actually feels real good it's real responsive and uh everything's been running good in the car we just htic have come on board have just put a brand new computer in it so um yeah setting that up today we've got more power out of it and um yeah really looking forward to it so the track itself is I mean you can commit because there's no big walls to hit and you know it's not a super challenging track the most challenging bit is really the first switch to the gear change to get back up the hill um with this car obviously need to do a couple of gear changes through the Section but um it's a cool track you know that's what I like about drifting is just getting to different tracks and and learning the section you know and just hanging out in the socializing with you know and we've got all all the best uh Drifters from Australia and we've also got team orange guys from Japan so it's awesome to have you know the best level competition oh I think kumako definitely be uh you know he's definitely oh I've looked up to him since day one you know but uh yeah those guys we compete with them up in Japan as well and man it's just it gets me on my toes even just watching those guys you know so the adrenaline is going to be uh flowing this weekend that's for sure\n"