D1NZ Drift Finals

25 Apr 2016

Yesterday marked round 6 of D1NZ marking the end of the drift season for 2016, and as such I went along to see not only the sport of drifting, but the variety of highly modified drift missiles in the competition.
While Cole Armstrong (in the bright green G35) took home the victory in round 6 after battling it out in the last round against Dylan Woolhouse, the overall winner of the 2016 season was Curt Whittaker with his R34 Skyline.

Now let’s get into the interesting stuff; the cars.

I don't know who this guy is, but he knows there's more to this GT86.

At first glance, you might think this is a GT86, a BRZ, or even an FRS. It’s neither - it’s a Toyota Supra powered by a 2JZ.

Did someone say LS swap?
Luckily for all of us, this was one of only 3 LS swaps I saw all day - there were many RB30DET swaps out there. This Nissan S15 Silvia belongs to Drew Donovan and puts out 340Kw (455HP).

This is Vincent Langhorn’s C33 Laurel packing an RB30DET. There were a few RB30DET’s out there - more than LS’s - and even an RB32DET.

Despite having only 100HP, this MX5 Miata was one of the competitors out there.

Darren Kelly was last year’s national champion and in round 6 today he came 4th, but won the trans-Tasman series for 2016.

Curt Whitakker ready to get back out there

Curt Whittaker battled against Darren Kelly for a place in the top 8 but was taken out by the larger R34 sedan. Despite this, he won the D1NZ National Drifting Championship for 2016.

In the final gallery of images, we have the cars in competition battling it out on the raceway.

Cole Armstrong in the V Energy 250GT Skyline powered by an RB30DET battling against Benjamin Wilkinson in his RB32DET powered S15.

Darren Kelly in his RB30DET R34 sedan vs Michael Prosenik is his S13 Silvia powered by an LS2 battling for a place in the top 4. Michael Prosenik spun out onto the grass; Darren Kelly went on to fight for 3rd place.

Fanga Dan Woolhouse in his backup car - the Holden VZ Commodore against Drew Donovan in his LS powered S15.
Daniel Woolhouse made it through to battle his cousin, Dylan Woolhouse, who defeated him with his C34 Laurel.

Darren Kelly in his R34 against Gaz Grove’s S15 fighting for 3rd place.

Cole Armstrong in the final against Dylan Woolhouse’s C34 Laurel.
I believe Dylan Woolhouse lost a few points when one of his wheels touched the grass.

Cars that I wanted to get photos of:
Dylan Woolhouse’s Nissan C34 Laurel.
Nico Reid’s S15 (I got one photo of the motor).
Daynom Templeman’s E46.

Comments

Great post bro!

Thanks. I’ll get another one up tomorrow of the cars I saw in the parking lots.

i wish i went

Awesome post, that RB32DET must sound epic!

Trust me they are unreal!!!

Just a quick note. Cole hasn’t been running the Dodge v8 in his skyline since last year. He busted that engine and has replaced it with an rb30det until he can get the v8 fixed.

I thought he had an RB, but I looked on the D1NZ site and it only had the driver profiles from last year when he had the V8. I’ll fix this post.

Can’t wait for May 21st and 22nd… I’m trying to go to Ebisu circuit for Formula drift Japan round 2! Then like the week after that they are having a D1GP event for the Okinawa division.

The D1NZ is seriously underrated! Definitely worth a look.

The ausie that owns the orange s13( mike prosnik) is cool ad I had a talk to him in Tauranga good guy

To be fair, Kieran can pedal the absolute hell out of that Miata though. He’s put a damn lot of development into the suspension and steering of that thing. He takes out pretty much every Hampton Downs gymkhana event that gets held there. Finished in 4th place in the Pro-Sport class I heard….