The first day of Tierp Drifting Challenge, which is also Swedish Powerdrift Series #4 has passed by half; and I must say its been a juicy bite into the future of the Swedish Drift scene!
Lets face, it the ultra-modern venue and professional organization of TIERP ARENA already make other Swedish Drifting events look very bad; but lets take a quick look on different cars & teams my simple mobile phone camera snapped here wandering about a bit.
First things first: Surprise surprise… Is that a quartermile dragstrip you see…?
Yes indeed, this is actually a venue ranked as high as one of the worlds five best when it comes to this radically different motorsport from drifting- but again we´re speaking strict drifting here where the point is to not going straight.
The sport is still very young here in Sweden while the common courage of drivers to ”dare to take the first steps” is borderline cowardice- so you have to focus on the top dogs in order to find little glimmers of gold (above Johan Halvarsson of Team J-spec definately being one of them).
Johan will once again have to bear the pressure of being both a crowd and competition winner favourite. He slipped up on Gatebil Mantorp but made up for it winning the last Powerdrift event. Repeat now?
Another team I cant wait to see finally in action is Pelle Erikssons Swedish Drift Force. They have struggled to get both 454cc V8 Camaros running, but are from around here and will want to leave their mark here.
Its a double-edgded sword when you invest a lot into a really professional look of a team, but I really wish people would totally support anyone getting into drifting as dedicatedly as Pelle and his teammate Mattias have.
From the grassroots we have a prime example of The Skogsby brothers Nissan 200SX powered by a RB25 Skyline engine.
This time its Johan driving the previous events runner-up, and we shall see if he can upset once again.
Someone we cannot omit is the leader of the pack: ”Tokan” driving for Team Raidopower Motorsport. He has been consistent all season long, and kept his car running- so surely again someone to bet on to reach far into the mix.
He complained about issues with his clutch, but we feel its strategic excusing at early stage… 😉
Always room to mention what class-acts Team Raidopower are, always helpful too. So lets hope we can crush them in defeat as a big thank you! 😉
So what about the boys in vintage teal & orange? Well, they dont look too bothered about doing their debut against the rest of the Swedish elite. Do they?
We will see, so far they are struggling in the slippery grip. Thompas S15 needs more speed, while Daniel might need some more torque.
Excuses for us as well! Alas, I must find better things to write about… Back with another part tonight and more of the drivers/teams here!