Durban -
If you like plenty of smoke, burning rubber, shredded tyres and cars going sideways, then get to Durban’s Greyville Race Course this weekend.
The organisers of Sportex have lined up some of KwaZulu-Natal’s top drifting teams and have promised to “mix performance and power with mind-blowing and jaw-dropping antics” in a hybrid motorsport that combines gymkhana – racing through a course against the clock – with drifting.
Reece Williamson, a drifter and event organiser, explains the appeal of the sport and how it’s done.
“There is something very exciting about negotiating a track with the car completely sideways, quickly counter steering in the direction of the slide, while delicately modulating pressure on the throttle to balance the car.”
Then you need the right kind of car, in Williamson’s case a BMW E36 fitted with an RB25n turbo engine, which makes about 450 HP at the wheels.
A roll cage for strength and safety and coil over suspension completes the package.
Visitors to Sportex, from Friday until Sunday, can expect “driftkhana at its best, with a track set that includes a figure eight, a powerside drift”, said Williamson.
Also on the bill are 15-year-old Kyle Amod, “doing out of this universe spinstunting” and Durban’s own Letitia Munnery, who has been lighting up the track since last year, inspired by her drift racer husband, Royce Munnery.
“When I showed interest in the sport, Royce built me the most splendid car any drifter could ever want,” said the energetic mother of three.
Munnery’s ride is a Nissan 200 SX, a popular car with drifters because of its handling.
“We removed the original 2 litre turbo engine and replaced it with a Ford 5.7 litre V8.”
The interiors of drift cars were usually stripped bare, a roll cage installed and the suspension altered, “but I did not have this done on my car as I enjoy driving it on the road”, she said.
“Drifting it is the ultimate in car control, and it takes a lot of skill to hold a car on its limit. You get a massive adrenalin rush when you get it right,” said Munnery.