#crankthis
Tite mix by Alison Wonderland - goddess of beat matching.
Diplomacy
Mini Madness 2014 – Making the trek.
Would I drive 2372km to go to a 1 day minitruck & customs show? No.
Would I drive 2372km to go to a family reunion? Hell yeah.
I was planning not to attend due to project car financial commitments, then I was informed of a vacancy in a penthouse in Port Macquarie for the weekend. Turns out not even the best laid plans can survive contact with the enemy.
Two 4am starts, some ridiculous trap playlists and copious amounts of smack-talk with my co-pilot James got us there before we killed each other.
Antics began in as soon as we arrived at the room. Friday night at truck shows is generally a meet n’ greet, go about 50% as hard as you can type thing.
Show day was upon us and the weather was bright, hot and a definite improvement over the sleet and cold of 2011 – the last time I went to this show.
The vibe of the show was extremely relaxed, a smallish turnout, around 70 vehicles through the gate, but there was still far too much quality, individuality and attention to detail for one guy with a camera to take in.
This drift-ready Mazda is SR20 powered and built to the high standard that Mex’s Garage is known for. Can’t wait to see it in action.
Always had a soft-spot for Steve’s turbo 4ZE1 shorty, for such a small truck, it has serious road-presence.
1UZ conversions are pretty common in the scene, tube arms and air struts – not so much.
Coilover’d 100 Series Landcruiser is as gangster as it gets.
Kane’s 1JZ Hilux was my pick of the show. I got taken for a quick strap around the streets in it that night and man, it’s rougher than my daily but so quick. It pulls up good too, as I discovered when we came round a corner into a Police roadblock, we got away with little more than an RBT and a few raised eyebrows, they were probably looking for the hot import that caused all that noise.
Steve’s (most people are called Steve) bodydropped rodeo was a close second for me. Bodydropped doesn’t quite say it though, doored is a more accurate description. Look at those sills, or lack thereof. That’s a commitment to low.
Club games happened towards the end, with plenty of mouth-running and friendly club competition.
Then it was back to the hotel for a powernap before the presentation dinner. What followed was an awesome night, although I’m glad I didn’t take my camera out (and I’m sure a number of people involved in shenanigans are also grateful for this).
There’s nothing like going out for a night on the town and knowing pretty much everyone you run into, even though almost none of you call that place home.
The next day we had a leisurely breakfast then hit the road.
It was a long drive back, but again I was grateful to share the drive and have someone to talk to. My little red truck got us home in one piece, as always, props to that guy.
Skate or Die
Did you know I can make you a skateboard?
Basically I do them made to order. I will put any of my shirt designs onto a deck for you, and consult with you on colour/layout etc. to tailor your deck to your personal tastes.
It might take a few weeks to get to you (they come from the USA) but from the few I’ve done so far, they’re worth the wait.
They’re good decks too, 100% hard rock Canadian Maple.
I’m selling them for $120AUD each, including grip tape and postage to your door.
Email me on [email protected] if you’re keen for one (or just use the Contact Us form http://www.diplomatthreads.com.au/contact-us/)
Here’s the form I use to design your deck:
…and here are some I prepared earlier:
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QR Matrsuri – one weekend to rule them all.
This time 2 weeks ago, I was driving home to Rockhampton from Brisbane in my underpowered, under-air conditioned, and seriously under-suspension’d daily. I was tired, sunburnt and being fed a constant supply of hardstyle and V by my passenger. It was the final scene in a weekend-long epic of mechanical debauchery, tire-smoke and questionable food.
Having previously only been to short-track events in Proserpine (a small town about 450km north of Rockhampton), QR Matsuri was a drift event the scale of which I have never seen. The feeling of finally being physically present at the kind of event that usually only fills my news feeds and favourite blogs was pretty surreal for the first hour or so.
The first morning was filled with anticipation. Engines were revved, wheels attached, last-minute repairs were made and the trackside office bustled with the ebb and flow of drivers, eagerly sitting through the briefing to get their wristbands.
Despite the oppressive heat and humidity of the previous afternoon (coming off the motorway into Ipswich was like descending into a sauna), the atmosphere was amazing. No promo girls, no show ‘n’ shine event, no dj’s, no food vendors and a minimal “official” presence. All this added up to give the impression of a grass-roots event organised by drifters, for drifters, with the sole purpose of giving everyone as much track time as possible.
As the track opened up, I was greeted with the sight of some pretty unique vehicles firing up and making their first runs.
The sense of camaraderie was palpable throughout the weekend, everyone was just walking around smiling and soaking it up. Friends and strangers alike could be seen helping each other out both physically and mentally through the emotional roller coaster of mechanical failures, which are inevitable when cars are driven as hard as possible, for as long as possible, often on the tightest budget possible.
I got to go for a few passenger runs with a couple of mates. Again, this highlighted the difference between short-track and more open track drifting. After I realised my death was not imminent, I began to thoroughly enjoy myself. Cling on to whatever you can hold onto in the cabin and just keep telling yourself that even though you’re coming into a hairpin corner sideways at 140km/h, everything is going to be okay.
It was great to watch my Rockhampton friends grow in confidence and ability over the course of the weekend. Seeing Siggy push his S15 as close as he could to the wall, to wild applause from the crowd was a definite highlight.
As the sun went down, the floodlights came on and the drifting picked up pace, with the cooler air giving both cars and drivers a new lease on life. The track was open late into the night and once it closed, the sheds came alive with people making repairs for the next day’s action. I saw at least one car receiving an engine transplant right there in the battlefield. I camped in the back of my truck under the stars, and woke up each morning to the sound of high-powered vehicles struggling to maintain a constant idle in the cool morning air.
That’s about it. Just looking at these photos again is bringing back the feels with a vengeance. This will definitely become a yearly event for me.Maybe one year I’ll have something of my own to break 
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All Green at this end.
We are pretty much ready to roll. The site still has a few kinks to be ironed out (I am working on the slowness part), but hopefully the shopping cart and everything works smoothly.
Send me an email or whatever if you have any questions or comments. I’m pretty new to this stuff.
Shoutouts to my buddy Kurtis at WhoNetIT for slaving over the technical stuff and hosting my site. He’s got skills and is a pretty top person, like his page:
https://www.facebook.com/whonetit
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Kingpin
New shirt design coming soon.
Pretty excited to see how this turns out on a shirt, it’ll be available in both a mens and ladies tee.
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L’Amour
Have a listen to this:
Keeping me sane while I struggle to set this site up the way I want it.
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Hookups