2nd Place for Nick "DriftKid" Coulson at the Hi-Tec Oils Pty Ltd Figure 8 Drift Competition on Friday Night at Sydney MotorSport Park.
Qualifying in 9th place meant that Nick would have to battle hard to get to the podium.
First battle was with Sydney Driver Alex Sciacca in the mental J powered RX8. Nick put on a great chase lap getting nice & close to the RX8 & on the switch around Alex knew he had to put down a good lap but had a spin trying to match the proximity & the win was awarded to Nick.
Top 8 battle was against top qualifier Camo Mote Drift. These two guys put on such a close set of battles it was amazing. Both Nick & Camo put on a show that the crowd loved, door to door action all the way. They couldn't pick a winner & a re-run was called & even then the judges couldn't split them & called for another re-run. Unfortunately for Camo his car suffered mechanical issues on the way back to the pits for a tyre change & had to forfeit the last run meaning Nick was through to the Top 4.
Top 4 was against Steven Prembry in the little AE86. Little car maybe but powered by a V6 Aurion Motor meant this car had some serious power to weight ratio.
Nick lead first with a great run & left Steve struggling to gain proximity. On the switch around Nick got on Steven's door almost pushing the car around the track & didn't let go handing the win to Nick & now through to the Finals.
The Final was against Fernando Wiehrl. Fernando lead first & Nick stuck to his Door putting on a great show of car control & outstanding proximity. The switch around saw Nick do exactly what the judges wanted from the lead car & he threw it in big on the first corner getting the clipping point exactly where he should have & gaining massive angle while doing so (as pictured above). Fernando seemed to struggle to match Nicks entry with a shallow line & then a slight straighten before getting on the door of Nick for a great last section proximity chase.
Unfortunately the judges didn't see it the way we did & called for a re-run. We went to go change tyres as they were spent & we were advised that we couldn't change tyres after only 1 set of battles & had to do the re-run on what we had on the car. The regulations for this event don't state this in their race "regs" & we pointed that out but were told it was a unwritten rule that we had to adhere to. So out we went on tyres that were bald & had virtually no grip at all.
Certainly not the best runs in this last battle but Nick still put on a great show & only missed the number 1 spot by 1/2 a point.
The Hi-Tec Oils Figure 8 Drift Series is shaping up to be a fierce competition with some great coverage for everyone that cant make it to Sydney with the live stream proving very popular on www.Motorsportstv.com.au
