Drifting
Watch the incredible Conquer the Crown film and catch the second part of our interview.
Watching you drift your Mazda RX7 in the film is pretty incredible. How do you set up a car to do something like this?
For competition we are judged on line, speed, angle and style. The perfect drift car is the perfect balance between power and traction. As much as it looks like drift cars are built with the most crazy engine conversions to get as much power as possible and have as little grip as possible so it slides easy, this is a wrong perception of a drift car.
As a professional drift racer, we first are hunting out as much grip as we can through the suspension setup, the highest performance tyres, aero downforce, and the custom arms on each wheel to get the most aggressive alignment.
The next must-have is maximum steering lock with modified hubs, knuckles, tie-rods and steering racks to enable maximum drifting angle. We then fine-tune the engine horsepower and torque to be just enough to overcome all this grip and be able to drift.
I hunt for all this grip so I can push the boundaries
I hunt for all this grip so I can push the boundaries and also to keep the fear and adrenalin in my body wanting to initiate and drift faster, with more angle and closer to the concrete clipping zones lap after lap.
Is New Zealand a bit of a driver’s paradise?
New Zealand is paradise! Being able to shut down a main road in the CBD of Auckland city for a HUGE drift event [Driftshifters], being able to close off main roads all day to make an epic three minute video clip are only a couple of examples of how awesome our councils are. But as for driver's paradise, you will commonly hear even the WRC drivers compliment and rate New Zealand as their personal favourite of the world series. Our roads wind through rolling lush green hills, twist over snow peaked and forested mountains, stretch long fields together and have a very unique off camber flow.
Had you ever driven the road before you filmed ‘Conquer the Crown’?
The first time I drove over the road was earlier this year with the New Zealand Red Bull team and athletes whilst doing the Red Bull Athlete Summit.
Brendan, my Sports and Athlete manager asked what I thought of this stretch of road to do an activation on and I said, "Drifting on such an amazing piece of road would only ever be a dream." I mean, it’s near the most beautiful city our country has to offer. It’s the main highway from Queenstown to Wanaka; thousands of tourists and public use this road every day. The entire road is fresh seal and paint – not that drifting would damage the seal, but it sure could make things confusing for tourists wondering if they should follow the white, the yellow or all the black lines the burnt rubber would leave from the base to the summit! The consent from the local council and Mayor would be impossible. Well that’s what I thought anyway.
To test all my elements through skill, confidence and fear, this was the ultimate road and before I knew it, Brendan had the green light on the project. I was so pumped!
