One subject I find quite interesting, is to observe how an eastern based culture, like Japanese drifting, is digested and reinterpreted in westernized countries. I've been lucky enough to have attended Drift events in the UK, Germany, USA and Japan in the past year and enjoy chatting with event organizers, drivers and magazine writers about this very subject. So I was quite intrigued to see a small slice of NZ drift culture at the 4&Rotory Nationals this past weekend.

Of course there is only so much I can get from a car show; it's not the same as going to proper drift event to smell the smoke, but still, let's see what we can see….

I'll start off this blog post with a theory I'd like to run past you…. I think that countries which are RHD based tend to digest Japanese drift cars and styles in a different fashion from LHD based countries. My theory is that a lot of this has to do with the common availability of a full range of Japanese Import machines, not just the ones which were sold as Left Hand Drive models.

This fact alone means that you'll see more unusual drift cars in RHD based countries like New Zealand, Australia, the UK and Ireland.

Mad Mike's crazy wide body RX7 is now a familiar sight to me, having seen this car compete at the Red Bull Drifting World Championship event last November…. Mad Mike and his FD are great ambassadors for NZ drifting… no doubt.

Notice the RC Drift replica on display with the car.

Same goes for Gaz Whiter's S15…. I was impressed with the amount of dish and stretch this car ran at the Red Bull event and thought it looked even better up close and personal at this weekend's show…. Check out that wheel fitment!… It's great to see that two of the top drift cars in NZ pay this type of attention to style. Sets a good example for the children… :>

Sitting pretty, just behind Gaz's Sylvia, was this great looking street style S13.4… Is there a slang name for this type of face conversion I don't know about?

This car is proper…. Very impressed.

What it's all about….

Keeping on the street car thread I quite liked this Silvia… there wasn't anything crazy flash about it…

…. it's just a clean and well conceived build. Great stance too.

You know I have a real weakness for big four door drift cars… I'm going to have to hunt down this Laurel with my video camera at some point later this year…. It has great presence.

This other Laurel appears to be sister car…. I don't think the livery is working quite as well though….

But still, it's cool to see these big four door Nissans being used for slideways action

I find it quite amusing that Fanga Dan's RB powered Holden used to be a cop car in its previous life… How many modded cars did it ticket before being pulled over to the dark side?

This photo gives a good sense of just how large the car is.

The car was entered in a few drift events at the end of last year but will be used for demo purposes only in 2009…

… instead Fanga Dan will be returning to his trusty S15 for the 2009 season…

This FD is the winner of the 2008 NZ Performance Car of the year award as voted by readers of NZPC. Daynom Templeman is a relative newcomer to drifting, having only competed in a handful of events towards the end of 2008. However he is an experienced race and rally driver and has quickly raised some eyebrows in the NZ scene with his car control skills.

He is definitely one to watch for the future….

I met up with NZ based American drifter Andrew R after he left a message in this thread for me to drop off some Speedhunters stickers at his booth…

Thanks for representing us Andrew!… BTW I am getting a LOT of email requests for these stickers now… If you guys just hold on a bit we'll sort out how to get you all some stickers for your cars…

This is New Zealand so there is no way that Andrew's S14 could be powered by something so "common" as an SR20 right? That would be FAR too obvious…. I do believe there are 6 RB cylinders in his turboed mill…..

Where there are drift cars making smoke, there are usually the scale equivalents whirring around a parking lot close by…..

So seeing these cars has wet my appetite to see more of NZ drift culture… I'll definitely be coming back soon to hit up an event with my video camera…

Ok next: Classic cars….

:R