After a few hours of rest, I arrived back at the Queensland Raceway track bright and early…

…Perhaps a little too early as some of the drivers were still asleep! But some were already up and working on their cars for another full day of limiter bashing.

The paddock was full of cars, support vehicles, trailers and tents. Often the weather at Willowbank is much like the desert: extremely hot during the day and very cold at night. From what I heard the people who camped at the track didn’t get too much sleep. Fortunately I was able to drive home late Saturday night, download my images and refuel in order to last all day Sunday.

Here’s Morgan on the skidpan. He lined up nice and early to beat the queues.

Lachlan Gassman did likewise. also had the same idea in his RPS13. Last year Lachlan was involved in a drift train crash, which wrote off his car. It was great to see him out enjoying his new shell.

One great thing about the whole weekend was the relaxed atmosphere. With so much track time available, no one was in a particular rush. This is the reason for this event’s awesome vibe.

In the pits you could find plenty of people lending a helping hand, like Nathan Domrow who was assisting people with his welding skills.

Here he is fixing a handbrake button.

By midday the sun was out and the mercury climbed to the high twenties (Celsius).

This particular car, driven by Cameron McLeod, looked like it had come straight from Ebisu.

The front head lamps were added by Cameron…

…and the roof ones too!

This black s-chassis was driving well all weekend.

Over on the short track were two very young drivers, Robert Tilbury in the white Levin Coupe and Daniel Rasell in the black Onevia. The two were doing some very clean and consistent battles all afternoon which kept the spectators on their feet.

On one of the runs Dan managed to lose his side skirt but that didn’t stop him.

Over on the main track the dipper track seemed to be very popular, here is JJ sliding his re-shelled RPS13…

…and Danny in his 1JZ-powered PS13.

There were plenty of tandem battles all day, and at one stage there were 11 car trains.

Unfortunately the R31 Skyline’s run ended early, after its third gear gave up the ghost.

As the light started to fade the cars snuck in their last laps of the weekend…

…over a gorgeous sunset.

Andrew Hawkins eventually brought out his S15-face S14 from his stand.

Braden Mace’s Zenki soaking up the last few minutes of light.

The driving may have finished, but the work in the pits certainly didn’t. For those who were drifting their daily drivers, there were some problems that needed to be solved.

It was an unfortunate ending for Nick Russel as he was T-boned on the crossover by an oncoming vehicle. Let’s hope Nick and the car get back on their feet as soon as possible.

This R31 Skyline managed to find the wall on the Short Track too.

With everything loaded up by 7:00pm, the biggest weekend of drifting at Queensland Raceway finally came to an end. What a weekend it was; I really hope this is the start of an annual event.

-Casey

Speedhunters coverage of the QLD Drift Matsuri