The 2008 series of Drift Australia has begun, with the first round being held at Symmons Plains in Tasmania - a great spectator track with a blind, high-speed entry and multiple direction changes that make for exciting drifting.
Here's how the weekend unfolded for Chris DeJager, in his new GFB/Turtle Wax S14:
"The first round of any series is always the hardest, especially when preparing a new car, and in this case, 2 cars! From Tuesday until Thursday, our Team Mechanic, Luke Shields and I literally had 3 hours sleep before getting onto the boat. The previous 2 months to that had been much the same.
With about 20 minutes to spare, the car is finished and loaded onto the boat bound for Tasmania. It usually takes 12 months to get a car sorted and have it handling the way you want, but without any practice or set up time we were on our way to the first round anxious and excited to see what the new car could do.
During testing on Friday the car was very hard to handle and there were a bunch of changes that needed to be made to the suspension. After stiffening everything and increasing the tire pressures the handling was 10 times better and just as I was starting to get a handle on it another driver hit us from behind. The damage was extensive and a real blow to the team who had worked so hard; but we pulled together and worked tirelessly to fix the snapped and bent suspension, replace the broken wheels and patch up the body work. By lunchtime the next day, she was ready for action again.
I went straight out for qualifying and finished 9th which was a great result, considering we'd lost our previous day's suspension settings, and started from scratch again. On Saturday night we put more camber in the rear for better control and eagerly awaited the following day.
In drifting, if you make a single mistake you go home, it's as simple as that - even if it's your first battle. Thankfully, I progressed through my first and then second battle taking out the number 1 qualifier. By this stage, I was into the Top 8, I then won my next battle against Tom Monkhouse advancing me to Top 4. I battled Luke Fink for Top 2; the first battle was a rerun which meant the judges couldn't separate us; however I lost the rerun by 1 point. In my final battle I was defeated by Christian Pickering placing me 4th overall for the weekend.
A top 4 result was an amazing effort for a brand new car. There is a lot of development left in the car and we expect great things in the future. The Team and I are eagerly looking forward to heading to Queensland in April for Round 2 of the Drift Australia Series".
Chris DeJager