D1NZ final date set
The team behind the Cody’s D1NZ National Drifting Championship have finally been able to set a date for the sixth and final round of the season, although it’s not at the preferred Pukekohe Park Raceway, as D1NZ organizer Brendon White explains: “We aren’t dealing with a case for just our situation with the smoke issue, we are dealing with a select few residents who are on the warpath with lawyers in tow to get a set structure of days allocated; it looks like they are asking the racetrack for different category days and imposing strict conditions on the facility, from what we gather.”
While this so-called noise management forum works through the issue D1NZ remains positive that drifting will happen once a year at Pukekohe, and is working with the venue on the overall long-term goals, while understanding that D1NZ is only part of the bigger picture of what is going on with the noise management forum. Brendon White continues: “The last thing D1NZ wants to do is to put extra pressure on the Park while they go through a very delicate process that potentially could jeopardise the long-term goal of retaining D1NZ at the track and then blow up into a fiasco similar to that experienced by Western Springs. We started 10 years ago at Pukekohe and it’s our iconic home of New Zealand drifting, it’s been a very long, frustrating fight for us and it’s still not over, but we are in a better position than before, but drifting won’t return to Pukekohe this year.” The new venue for the final is Taupo’s Ricoh Motorsport Park, another favourite amongst drivers, who voted for this venue over Hamptons should the Puke option not eventuate. The round will take place on June 22–23, and the D1NZ team tell us they have some big plans in the works that will be announced over the coming months.
Kyle Jackways is a name that has been around the New Zealand drifting scene for a long time now. Having first competed in a D1NZ event way back in 2004, Kyle has had his feet firmly planted in the pits for many years — firstly as a competitor for five seasons, and then as a D1 judge for the last two.
Kyle had always campaigned his trusty A31 Nissan Cefiro in D1, and by 2009 it was one of the most seasoned cars in the pits, having seen more competition than pretty much any other vehicle out there. The very tired Cefiro had been a faithful companion, but Jackways knew as well as anyone else, the time had come to move on. “At the end of the 2009 season I decided it was time to sell the old faithful Cefiro and step into Read the full story »
When you think about the world’s fastest import drag cars, they usually come from countries like Australia, Puerto Rico, America and even New Zealand, but one team is putting Bahrain on the map. Follow the story of the E.Kandoo Race Team on their quest to set a new world record for import drag cars , running a 6.23@366 to beat GAS Motorsports old record of 6.26@230 mph Read the full story »
For Lester Ee the seeds of his love of modifying cars were planted firmly in the late 1990s and early 2000s during his high-school days in his native Malaysia, when friends started to build and modify cars. It would be a long wait for Lester’s own first project that came many years later after moving to New Zealand to study and eventually work in IT. Lester had always dreamed of modifying a Read the full story »
If there is one thing the staff here at NZPC love more than anything, it’s knowing what projects are currently underway in peoples sheds, workshops and garages. This is why we are expanding the Under Construction section within the magazine from NZPC199 Read the full story »
Another month brings a brand spanking new edition of NZPC, and like always we have traveled the length of the county to bring you the best of the best that New Zealand has to offer. On the cover we have the worlds first ever four seater drift ute, built by the crazy team behind the Cody’s D1NZ National Drifting Championship so they can offer a hotlaps experience like never before. Some will remember last year when they handed us the keys to their FC drift car, well this time they have definitely stepped it up a notch. Imagine you and two mates all strapped in at the same time blasting around your favorite track Read the full story »
Age: 22
Occupation: Territory manager
Location: West Auckland
Loves: Motocross, McDonalds, and travelling
Hates: Early mornings, silk boxers and trends — don’t be a follower, be yourself!
All-time favourite car: My KE20
Most hated car: Anything with a Honda badge
Where might readers have seen you before? Most recently, on the cover of Truth after winning Miss Bikini World Cup NZ
This article is from NZ Performance Car 195. Click here to check it out.
Photos: Adam Croy
