Where is the RS13, you may be asking? What ever happened to Professor Clutchplate? All of this and more will be answered over the upcoming months in a heartfelt, soul pouring session… unless of course you don’t care, in which case we will probably still do it.

Onto more pressing matters.

This weekend sees the start of the South African Drift Championship at the Rock Raceway in Brakpan, Gauteng. Be sure not to miss this season opener!

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The first round of the Supadrift series kicked of this past weekend at Carnival City , east of Johannesburg. Attracting a field of 23 drivers from all corners of the country and the competitors were chomping at the bit to hit the tar for the 2018 season.

The series opener would claim its share of drama with a number of drivers suffering from mechanical issues before the event even got under way. Mechanical gremlins were discovered by some and repaired, while drivers like Mikey Skelton and David Rae would see their rides pitted after total engine failure.

Kicking off in style

This season the competitors were placed into two separate fields, Pro 1 and Pro, essentially gold and silver cups, but would qualify for these spots as they had entered each competition field. 4 drivers would compete in Pro 1 that would see Jonothan van Essyen take top honours with new comer Sebastian Rich in second and Trevor Puren, in a new S14 chassis, taking 3rd.

The Top 16 was hotly contested seeing Jason Webb take top qualifier.It would also see its fair share of breakages and driver errors that would see drivers advancing with by runs and others going home to lick their wounds. Shane Gutzeit who had been on excellent form the entire weekend retired with a broken gearbox and Zein Hussein ceasing a motor mid-run, handed the win to Adam Shefer but cost Shefer the front end of his car.

Our run of the day goes to Gavin Puren and Mathys Naude. From the minute they left the starting blocks they were in each other’s doors and stayed that way during both runs. Puren would advance,making fewer mistakes and would meet with Jason Webb but would fall to the might of the Roush Mustang.

We have a winnah

Chris Long from Cape Town put on an excellent display of driving during the Top 16, relegating his opponents to the pits and would eventually end up on the 3rd step of the podium. Jim Mcfarlane came back from near disaster after fitting a fresh engine the night before competition and could be visibly seen to be struggling with his Achilles Tyres 350z, he would face off with Jason Webb in the final and would have to settle for 2nd place as Jason took the win and staked his claim for the 2018 Supadrift Championship.

The Supadrift Series is proudly sponsored by Achilles Tyres, Motul, ST Suspensions, Dragon Energy, Jonnesway Tools, Greensky, Turtle Wax, F1-X Exhausts and Rockford Fosgate

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Rapid Garage has kept me updated with the progress of the build and they have tackled the front end, creating a mounting solution for the headlights. These OEM units come off of a car that was built for drifting and are in great condition. As I’m building this car for the street, the best time for a lairy rear-wheel drive car is the night and I want to be able to see where I’m going – or at least illuminate the side of the road as a negotiate a corner.

Along with the mountings for the headlights, the fenders have been test fitted and modified accordingly. This will always be the case with fibreglass and some shaping, trimming and filling is necessary. However, with the lights in place, the bonnet and fenders can now all be aligned to ensure that there is a suitable fit and finish.

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The reason for this was simple. My original fenders were a little worse for wear and while they were salvageable, it would have required too much work and in the end there is a better style for the look that I’m aiming to achieve.

Hitting up the local Whatsapp and Facebook groups, I asked around about a set of these vented fenders I had seen and was directed to one of the guys that used to compete in the local SupaDrift series. Two problems here: 1. I had to pay for them up front and because of 2. the guy being in another provice, I had to trust the judgement and buy sight unseen.

I am not a smart man.

Paying for these fenders and the additional cost of shipping up front, I patiently waited for my goods to arrive. I trusted that this guy, who I believed I had a good relationship with, was selling a quality item. I was wrong. The fenders that arrived were merely over fenders, intended to supplement the existing fenders and not repalace them. The quality was sub-par and it was only when Rapid pulled the wraps off of the packaging (as I had them sent directly to Rapid, cutting out the middle man that paid for this whole ordeal) that we saw what I had bought.

Fast-forward and I had to order and purchase a second set of fenders, the more expensive set, from Big Boss Auto. Justin gave me a good deal here though and I really should have believed that my long-lasting relationship with BBA was better than that of the guy I originally purchased from. So we learn.

On a side note – there’s a spare set of S13 overfenders available – going sorta cheap, never fitted.

Rubbish

Better

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I will be going with a set of original RS13 pop-up headlights with this build and while many others that have done similar tubular conversions locally have done away with the pop-up headlights, opting for low-profile LED strips and squared off bonnets, it’s not a look that I like.

These runners will also provide support for the fenders with tabs branching off for the fender supports to latch onto.

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In my vlogs on the build, I pointed out that the car had been in an accident previously. I hadn’t spotted this before and frankly, for the price I paid, I doubt it would have changed my mind. I knew it was rough, I knew it needed work, it’s the extent of the work that I was blissfully unaware of.

Jonathan and Des stripped back some of the unnecessary bodywork and checked over what I had already done. While they were satisfied with how we had cut the front end off and pleased that we had leaft some meat on the seams, they discovered that the chassis legs were still well out of line.

Rather than proceeding with the work and making a plan down the road to get everything to line up, they dug out the hydraulic jacks and set about straightening the chassis legs to rectify this problem, getting it to within a few millimenters of original. It’s this commitment to the cause that gives me the peace of mind needed to proceed with them as my choice of builder.

They first build a crossmember according to spec, building in a jacking point and mounting solution for the intercooler and radiator. Unfortunately, it’s problems like this that stall a project.

The end of the fender rails were blanked off with steel plates in preparation for the tubular front end.

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The reason for the delays are that both Lawrence and I (the only two contributors to SA Drift.co.za) have become swamped with our 9 to 5 jobs. We both work at the same company now, and things have gotten crazy. Side projects and STAs have to take a back seat in the name of making a living.

With this compromise in my spare time, I decided to do the one thing that I didn’t want to do with this project – I handed the car over to someone with more time, tools and expertise on their hands. I loaded up the stricken RS13 and towed it off to Rapid Garage.

I have known the owner, Jonathan Rudman, for many years – 11 to be precise. He’s one of the OGs of drifting in South Africa, having started out at Wesbank Raceway before it closed in 2007. His work, with that of his father, Des, is top-notch. His welding is of a great quality and his approach to builds is unlike anyone else I’ve met in all my years of aftermarket malarkey.

Let’s get down to it though. I tasked Rapid with the following:

• Build the tubular front end
• Fit the body kit
• Wire the management system

and finally

• Supply and fit a notchtop SR20DET with VTC

Less waffle, more pictures: Once again, more images can be found on the Project_RS13 Instagram account.

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Over 2000 petrol heads were treated to 2 days of world class competitive drifting as 25 professional drivers completed for the top spot and the championship title. Drivers coming from as far as Cape Town and Mozambique fired up their fully customized, high powered drift machines on Friday morning for official practice. Drivers had till Saturday morning to perfect the SD 06 track before having to put down qualification runs in front of the judges to make it to the top 16 and final tandem eliminations.

The lunchtime break saw something a little different with the addition of the Drum Dash. A time trial autocross race around a custom course took place whereas local drivers had the opportunity to qualify for the illustrious Gymkhana GRiD event, happening in November 18th-19th. Gymkhana GRiD is a Ken Block spectacular event, hosted at Carnival City; twenty-two international drivers will take on the local contingent to see who rules the GRiD. SupaDrift competitors JP van der Spuy and Riaan Stokes, driving for Dragon Energy, each qualified with Golden Tickets; as well as Mathys Naude, and Stuart Gregory. Clare Vale, the only woman competitor, happened to pick up a wildcard place in her campaign to topple the boys.

The weekend’s racing continued after lunch, where drivers went into qualifying rounds to see who would be the best and be top of the ladder going into tandem battles. Jim McFarlane, a local driver, in his Achilles Tyres 350Z Nissan pulled out the stops to become the top contender for the day followed closely by Eric ‘the Viking’ van Eyssen.

Drivers who impressed with new found skill and an unrelenting pushy driving style like DeWit Oosthuizen, a young gun hailing from Pretoria, made a name for himself and certainly brought his full blown talent to the table, however losing narrowly to Morne Venter in the Top 16. Mikey Skelton driving his 350Z Rockford Fosgate machine beat Jason Webb, who was struggling in his ‘Monstang’ which seemed to bear some gremlins and subsequent clutch problems. Eric van Eyssen taking charge against a fired up Stuart Gregory who forced the OMT (One More Time) and whose efforts have been earmarked as a up and comer for the 2018 season, and similarly Riaan Stokes driving for Dragon Energy S13 Nissan beating Carl Werner from the Western Cape. Gavin Puren took on Armand Bronkhorst and even under the brave attempt of Bronkhorst, Puren came out tops. Gouveia fought hard against Vic Pardal, who seemingly drifted wide in the battle on the last corner and who was passed by Gouveia; taking the judges to the replay, and eventually affording the Natalian the win. Mathys Naude back in drift action eliminating Joey Govender, up from KZN.

Top 8’s flew by and all drivers seemed to impress. One knew as a spectator that the semi finals and finals were going to be a close contested event. Jim McFarlane was definitely on top of his game and handed his second round opponent, Venter a clean sweep. Gouveia – not so easy had to go OMT against Skelton but came out tops and moved into the semi finals, as did Puren, and van Eyssen finding some great form in the latter part of the day.

A semi final run between Gouveia and McFarlane to decide the Championship saw a contentious protest come from Gouveia but after significant reviews of the battle, judges deemed McFarlane the winner, who also at that stage walked away with the Championship.
Puren and van Eyssen rivaled and competed hard in the battle against one another in the Top 4’s; which could have gone either way; van Eyssen eventually eliminated by Puren and setting up the Finals and 3rd/4th run off.

Van Eyssen and Gouveia’s 3rd/4th was tight but saw the on form Gouveia walk onto the podium in 3rd place.
The final battle between Puren and McFarlane went off ablaze but Puren left a gap on the chase, which saw McFarlane take a clean sweep for the days racing…
McFarlane stated “A big thank you to my sponsors especially Achilles Tyres and all the other drivers – I had to throw down some rubber and work for it. The level of driving this weekend was up a notch again and makes the win feel that extra bit special. I enjoyed each and every tandem and the guys that pushed me to drive as hard as I could”

All images by Darren Townsley

Results

SD06 Main Event eliminations
1st – Jim McFarlane
2nd – Gavin Puren
3rd – Paolo Gouveia

Driver of the Day – Stuart Gregory

Golden Ticket winners – Gymkhana GRiD
RWD – JP van der Spuy, Riaan Stokes, Mathys Naude, Stuart Gregory and Clare Vale

Championship Results
1st – Jim McFarlane
2nd – Paolo Gouveia
3rd – Gavin Puren
4th – Eric van Eyssen

Story supplied by XS Promotions.

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This coming weekend the Supadrift National drift series returns to Dezzi SouthCoast Raceway for round 5 of the series.

The event will be a special version as we have an international driver attending and going out to compete against the best in South Africa.

Luke Woodham who is in SA doing a promotional tour for the upcoming Gymkhana GRiD will be donning a helmet for this event and see how our drifters stack up to international competition.

This event will also be the ultimate battleground for the top drivers who are currently fighting tooth and nail for the national championship, with barely a few points separating the top 3 drivers this is sure to be nail biter.

The presence of an international driver is also sure to bring a few drivers out of the woodwork as they will want to test themselves against the one of the best in the world.

The corkscrew is a formidable section of track that has claimed more than one driver and their car over the last few seasons and this event is sure to be a repeat.

This event is also going to be a qualifier for entry into the Gymkhana Grid event in November.

You definitely do not want to miss this event so make sure you get down to Dezzi South Coast Raceway for edge of your seat moto-tainment.

Round 5 takes place on Saturday 26 August with practice on Friday 25 and a drift workshop with Monster Energy Athletes on Sunday 27 August.

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