AUTOTRADER SUPADRIFT ROUND 3 - GRAND WEST CASINO
Event date: 12 April 2014 | Words: RaceMasteR J | Photos: RaceMasteR J, Nishaam Ebrahim & Chevan Davids | Location: Grand West Casino

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Being a Capetonian, we find ourselves being very spoilt with a lot of things compared to our upcountry brothers. We have one of the wonders of the world, Table Mountain, right on our doorstep. We have beautiful oceans, our airport is around the corner, and everything is 10 minutes away, unlike Joberg’s “15”.


But there’s one thing that I absolutely envy the Gauteng boys for having, and that’s SupaDrift. Now for those that don’t know, SupaDrift is South Africa’s premier national drifting championship. Yeah there are a few other drift competitions out there but this is the real deal. It’s been going strongly on an uphill road to success over the last few years, but Cape Town has never ever seen one. Until now!


I know I don’t speak only for myself here, but for every other local petrol head we were absolutely chuffed that we would get to experience this event in our own back yard. I for one know just how awesome these events are as I was lucky enough to attend one round at Dezzi Raceway last year.


Now usually when there’s anything motorsport coming to town you naturally assume it would be held at Killarney. But not this time. This was a bold move on the organizers part which evidently paid off in spades. Not only was a change of scenery much welcomed, but it created a whole new atmosphere that we are not usually used to. It was amazing.


Being at Grand West, a casino, security was naturally bumped up to 11. Combine that with the City of Cape Town’s rules and regulations things were close to military standards. Now add on top of that the SupaDrift team came to run the show. A well oiled machine who knows exactly how to do their job. It was just like in the movies, when the FBI rolls in and tells the locals to bugger off because it’s their jurisdiction.


Being a Cape Town based leg of the national event, SupaDrift collaborated with local drift outfit, D1S who titled it the Wheels of Fury Expo which saw an interesting collection of 4 wheeled metal inside the Grand Arena.


Raceweb and Be Driven TV was there showing some upcoming teaser clips from the show.


The Friday prior to the main event saw some free practice for the entrants as well as some demo runs like this crazy boy going sideways on his drift bike.


There could not have been a hotter weekend in Cape Town. With temperatures reaching the high 30’s and getting even hotter in the pits amongst all the super hot drift machinery, it was set to be hell on track.


The locals would not take this one sitting down and the likes of Faheem Salie, Jacques Lemmer, Sean February, Shane Green and Jason Webb, to name a few, were ready for door to door battles against the visitors.


With reports stating that over 5000 fans and spectators were in attendance, it wasn’t the kind of numbers we saw at Killarney’s GoodHope FM Rev Life event last year, but it was a strong enough crowd none the less. I think the heat eventually drained one and all as every little piece of shade became occupied.


With about 40 drivers ready and willing to shred their rubber, Cape Town was set to have history in the making.


The first lady in motorsport, Clare Vale, was also in attendance with her big muscle, loud and proud V8 Gatorback/Ram Ford Mustang. One of the softest people in the sport with one of the meanest rides. It was a pleasure meeting you Clare!


Clare was talented enough to make it to the top 8 where she fought tooth and valve cap against KZN based drifter, Shane Gutzeit. She was victorious in that round until local hero Shane Green in his Dent Expert turbocharged E30 BMW managed to politely knock her out in the quarter finals.


Green moved on to battle against the 2012 champion, Mr. “no Gopro” Wade van Zummeren in his Speed and Sound Sponsored R33 Nissan Skyline. From the get go Wade was on the ball(bearing) with massive amounts of angle, speed and smoke, not to mention the awesome back fire soundtrack.


Green was good enough to get the crowds screaming for a one more time, but in the end it was the 2012 champion that had the judge’s favour. Shane Green came in a very respectable third place making all of Cape Town proud! Well done!


Undoubtedly Jason Webb had very strong support throughout the day as always. His Monster Energy/Cool Banana’s/Malcolms Auto sponsored S13 Nissan 200SX with crazy angle and smoke is always a sight to behold. Being last year’s champion, Jason is still one of the youngest competitors in the SupaDrift Series.


It was set to be an epic final between the 2012 and 2013 champions Wade and Jason respectively. On the first run it was Jason who led followed very closely by Wade. Points were scored and both drivers headed out once more. But in the end Wade managed to pull a bit of a gap on Jason combining it with an absolutely flawless run which saw Wade van Zummeren come out winner of SupaDrift Round 3.


Not a bad days worth of drifting, sorry, it was an epic days worth of drifting. If you weren’t brave enough to face the heat, take it from me, you missed out. But, fortunately we were there to bring you as much of the action as we could. We have a massive gallery of images for you, our loyal readers, to go through and enjoy.


Also, Be Driven TV – Powered by Raceweb.co.za was there catching all the action. Be sure to check out our coverage on channel 152 on OpenView HD and channel 355 on StarSat, coming soon!


PS: Please come back to Cape Town SupaDrift!!! We want more!!!

RaceMasteR J