Autosalon, 2010 was when I re-discovered RC Drift. Meredyth had agreed to come with me to Autosalon, to check things out, and over in a corner we found a bunch of people with remote control drift cars.

Fascinated, we both watched for a while, and something inside me told me that this was the difference in RC Cars that I had been waiting for.

I’ve had RC cars on and off during my childhood, but there was never really a goal.. Driving them in the cul-de-sac out the front was fairly boring, I drove in circles, mainly. My cars were almost always electric on-road cars, so there weren’t many places I could go, and when I did drive them somewhere, I pretty-much just ended up driving around in circles. It bored me.

When I got to Queensland around a month ago, I stopped to hang out with Rohan, as I always do, and while looking through his room of toys, I spotted a neglected Tamiya TT-01D. He’s run the car a couple of times over two or three years, and got bored of it pretty quickly. We agreed that I could borrow the car, try some drifting, and if I enjoyed it, I could have the car for $100. Car, charger, battery, radio gear and all.

Another mate in Brizvegas, Chris, was already in to RC cars, so when he found out about what I had bought, he invited me along to drift at Wynnum. I took Rick along, and we met up with Brenden, Chris and a bunch of other people.

My car didn’t drift real well, compared to the others, but when Brenden lent me a set of drift tyres, it made all the difference. I was hooked.

Brenden, Rick and I then headed over to Driftmas at Cannon Hill where there was an entirely different class of drifter, the skill level that I want to reach oneday.

It was at Driftmas that we met Marty. Marty showed off some donuts for us in his drift car, and after some chatting offered me an alloy drive-shaft for my TT-01D.

Couple of days later, Rick and I dropped in to Marty’s place to pick up the shaft, and what he had waiting for us was a close to complete Tamiya TT-01, which I gave to Rick, to help him get started.

Getting Rick started was easier than I thought, because Marty also gave me a brushless motor and speed controller, as well as some shells (some of which went Rick’s way also).

New kit in hand, we dis-assembled both cars, and started the build processes.

I’m sure there were more Ice breaks on the table before the photo, and certainly by the end of the night.

By the time the night was over, my car looked like this –>

Unfortunately Rick and I never got the chance to drift together, as I was leaving for the Gold Coast.

On the Gold Coast there are two drift nights a week (Wednesday and Friday nights) at a place in Upper Coomera, called The Compound.

The Compound is a warehouse set up with bike and skateboard ramps. It was here that I met Ridwan and Neale, both of whom run CS (counter-steer) cars, and let me have a drive of them.

It was a great evening drifting with these guys, I learned a lot from Ridwan in particular.