Tasmanian Drifting Devil

Four months of solid work has paid huge dividends for Mark Rogers, who has been building his 3S-GTE powered AE86 in preparation for Saturday’s second round of the Specialised Performance  Garage Tasmanian Drift Series. It was the car’s debut event and what a debut it was!

Mark’s first practice run of the day was watched by many, spectators, officials, sponsors and other drivers alike.  Many curious to see what the car was capable of.

During the run, those that had been around the drift scene for some time would reminisce of early 2008 also at Symmons Plains Raceway, where Beau Yates had wowed the crowd and drivers alike in his own 3sgte AE86 in similar fashion to what Mark had just pulled off.

Clutch kicking before the start of the judged section smashing limiter at the top of 3rd, Scandinavian flick over the part of the track known as ‘the hump’, before washing off speed just in time to make the corner known as the kink and making the transition through the motorbike section of the track nice and clean.

Qualifying 4th, Mark was quite nicely placed come the competition and making it through to the top 4, where he was out-driven by a much more experienced driver in ex-Drift Australia veteran Michael Truscott piloting the Federal Tyres backed Nissan S13.

Michael ultimately went onto defeat Leigh Pidwell in the final. Meanwhile, Mark battled local driver Damien Roach for 3rd, but was narrowly defeated after a slight straighten clearing ‘the kink’.

Despite the fourth place result, this is only the beginning of what we all imagine will become a very capable car/driver combo with further development!  Mark would like to thank the following for making it all possible:

Tasmanian Engine Reconditioning
Azcustom Performance Fabrication
Bob Jane T-Marts Moonah
Castrol Lubricants
Wells Bodyworks
Davidson Autobody Performance
Jim Berry Race Clutch
Koolstik Signs
Mintex Performance Brake Pads
Autronic Engineering

Big thanks to Delazy for this article, straight from the pits of the Specialised Performance Garage Tasmanian Drift event!

PHOTO: antdragonist