News Archive

Date:

September 19th 2007
SLIDE-FX RACING READY FOR CHAMPIONSHIP STOUCH

SLIDE-FX Racing’s Adam Trewhella is sitting in the box seat for a championship win at the final round of Toyo Drift Australia on the 22-23 September 2007.

The 2007 season has been somewhat of a watershed year for SFX Racing and Adam Trewhella after taking a second place at Round 4 Tasmania 2006. Adam has refined his already consistent driving to take a win in Perth at Round 1 and then backed it all up with high place finishes at all the other rounds during the season, having his worst finish with an 11th at round 2.

Adam Trewhella “ I’m just going to take it one battle at a time, there are far to many great drivers in Toyo Drift Australia and any number of people have the potential to make life difficult. If I concentrate on getting into the top 8 I’ll then push for the win, I’m going to need a bit of help from Keithy and Clint to take out a few of the others as well. The “Old Girl” hasn’t missed a beat so far this year, we’ve developed it far beyond what we should have done, we’ll be sorting out a few of the minor problems we had in Qld like bending the shifter, fitting a few more sensors to help out with the telemetry package, and getting the maximum out of the suspension and tyre package will be essential. We’ll probably be retiring the Ceffie next year so it would be a fitting send off to win the Championship but we’ll have to see, its that close.”

Adam now sits in third position trailing VIP Pet foods/ CAPA Racing Robbie Bolger by 59 points and CTS Racing Christian Pickering by a slim 11 point margin leading into the final round.

Keith Rance will be called upon by the team to play his part during the event after his 7th place finish at Rd 4 in Qld, Keith has been gradually coming to terms with the Toyo Drift Australia series and the level of competition and has started to get it all together at the right end of the season.

Keith Rance “My primary concern for Rd 5 is to get another good result for SFX Racing, its important to keep the consistency going into 2008. I also feel confident I can play a part in helping out Adam going for the championship, I know it means a lot to him and the team so without putting any pressure on myself. I haven’t been to Oran Park before but I have been told it’s a little like Barbs with the undulations, blind corners and the speed. I’m pretty excited coming into it, so fingers crossed it turns out well. I guess we’ll know by Sunday arvo hey!”

Clinton Brown will play a crucial role with the team, using 2007 as a learning year he has been fine tuning his R32 Skyline “PANIK” and getting used to the Toyo Tyres. Clint has struggled with the new tracks to a degree but has always found form after taking advantage of extra practice. Oran Park should be a good event as its similarities with Barbagallo are obvious, Rd 5 will be a good chance for Clint to learn another track in preparation for the 2008 season.

Clinton Brown “I have to be the first to admit I haven’t been on top of my game quite like the other two this season. I probably moved into DA a year earlier than I should. I’m looking forward to Oran, I have seen some vision of the layout and it looks awesome. Hopefully I can get it together and make at least the top 16 this round. It has been difficult learning all the tracks this year and there never seems to be enough practice time to get my head around it. I have had a few mechanical issues and Borneo stole the car to take his win in the opening round so I have taken the odd one for the team.

With SFX Racing sitting in a strong championship position team manager Glenn Campbell is extremely happy with the outcome this year. At the start of season 07 SFX was going to be a single car operation and now it’s the real deal having the biggest presence in the paddock.

Glenn Campbell “The Toyo Drift Australia series has proven to be the pinnacle of the category again this season and we’re happy as the proverbial pigs in mud, we have a great team of drivers, support staff and sponsors that are really making the whole operation kick along in the right direction. Adam is looking the goods for at least a podium finish in the championship, Keithy is starting to show the form we know he is capable of and Clint is coming along nicely learning the in’s and out’s of Drift Australia, so things couldn’t be any better. I have just announced we are searching for a new driver to add to the line up next year making us a four car operation which will complete the package quite nicely, so SFX Racing will be a team to look out for in 2008.”

Get down to Oran Park for Round 5 Toyo Tyres Drift Australia on 22-23 September 2007 for the championship showdown it will be the best event of the season and something not to miss. Gates open at 7:30am DA Qualifying kicks of on Sunday at 9:00am don’t miss a second of all the action, come check out the SFX Racing operation and meet the drivers it will be a great day out for the whole family.

SFX Racing now has a Youtube presence with regular updates. You can check out the youtube page at www.youtbe.com/slidefxdrift The teams sponsors are taking the time to get together some prize packs for future prize draws, to enter you will need to be a subscriber to the page.

Along the same lines of youtube SFX now has their own Myspace page to keep in touch with the fans and help spread the word of Drift. You can check out the Slide-FX myspace page at www.myspace.com/slidefx

Date:

September 11th 2007
SLIDE-FX RACING TO EXPAND IN 2008

Slide-FX Pty Ltd CEO Glenn Campbell will be expanding operations in 2008 with the introduction of a fourth team car to compete in the Drift Australia series.

“With the success of the team during 2007, SFX Racing is in a position now to move forward with our expansion plans, we have been considering for a while that it would complete the team having a fourth car and our current sponsors are happy with the expansion, so everything is in place now to make it happen.” Commented an enthusiastic Glenn Campbell.

With what is already a big operation in the Drift Australia paddock SFX Racing will be seeking expressions of interest from the current driver ranks to fill the fourth drivers position in the team.

SFX Racing is seeking the services of a motivated individual with good industry contacts, and who is a team orientated player especially within the current framework of Slide-FX Pty Ltd. If you already have a vehicle and sponsors they will have to be interested/able in integrating with the SFX Racing structure. All applicants will have to prove previous success with sponsors and the relationships fostered, be happy to go above and beyond to keep the SFX Racing brand/sponsors in media focus and satisfied at all times. A complete turn-key vehicle package is on offer to the right applicant with the right budget. Previous top level DA experience is not essential.

The applicant will have to provide a proposal in writing to SFX Racing CEO Glenn Campbell no later than 22 September 2007 for immediate consideration.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a driver to have the backing of a major team and all its resources to compete in the 2008 season. SFX Racing will transport the successful applicants vehicle, spares to all events SFX Racing is involved with and provide mechanical support and development through out the year in a fantastic, cohesive team environment.

All applications will be treated as confidential and are to be sent to Glenn Campbell glenn@slide-fx.com or 5 Excellence Drive, Wangara, WA 6065.

Date:

August 15th 2007
Queensland DA #4 2007

The Slide-FX team arrived in Brisbane early for this round, giving the crew a chance to go over the cars prior to the weekends battles, not having seen them since the last round a month ago. Team owner Glenn Campbell reports that there were no major issues to deal with, and that the cars were simply rolled off the transporter, given a quick mechanical once-over and a clean bill of health, ready for the event.

“We had planned some upgrades to various systems in the cars, so we took the opportunity of being onsite early to get these in the cars and sorted before the pressure of the weekend was on.” Stated Glenn.

“The Autronic 500R CDI ignition units were all upgraded to a higher output option, this gives even greater burn from the Sunoco 260GT MAX race fuel – with custom wound torroids, up spec resistors and larger capacitors now gives us 570v of primary ignition power. We also took the opportunity to upgrade Adam’s coil packs to “Mercury Outboard CDI” units with custom coil-to-plug mounts, and fitted his obsolete Splitfire coils to Clint’s RB25 mill in “PANIK”. With the current power levels we are reaching with the RB engined cars we have been running into ignition issues, the Mercury coils have proven themselves to be an ideal upgrade worthy of further investigation.”

Keith Rance’s S14.5 was given a boost upgrade, and is now running just over 2 bar of boost, which on a standard engine, is proving to be a testament to the overall package.

A Motec GPS system has been installed in Adam Trewhella’s A31 Cefiro. This now gives us more accurate speed and positioning information that can be referenced to just about any other engine, driver or vehicle characteristic, and enables us to export track maps to Google earth for added realism as well as collect data for future set-up options for the team.

The team settled in and were able to adapt to the track quickly. Both Keith and Clint adapted well to another new track for the year. Adam and his engineer concentrated on suspension set-up and were able to dial in some additional grip through spring rate changes. Once Adam was happy with the handling he quickly set about mastering the technical layout with his trademark smoke show.

The team qualified well, Keith Rance up to his best for the year in 12th, and Adam Trewhella inside the top-10 again at 9th

Top 32 battles were Clint Brown against Adam May, with Clint taking an early shower. Keith Rance against Dan Mackie, sending Dan off early, Adam Trewhella met Jack Monkhouse, similarly sending the challenger off convincingly.

Top 16 found Adam against Beau Yates, with a hard fought physical battle going Adam’s way in the end. Keith wound up with Tom Monkhouse, a result in favour of Team Slide-FX.

Top 8 would see Keith progressing further than ever before in the series, he met Adam May for a hard fought battle, Keith drove two brilliant runs but Adam May was to prove to strong. Adam Trewhella lined up against Fernando Wheirl for what would be a battle royale. Borneo showed good speed, angle and line whilst trailing Wheirl in the first battle, he was in the box seat to deliver the coup de gras (that’s fatal blow to those that missed French), on the last corner Borneo made a super-rare mistake and spun, handing the win to Fernando. Borneo was disappointed with what happened, and was confident that he would have been on the podium this weekend.

Overall results for the weekend were Clint 26th, Keith 7th and Adam 6th, and series results see Clint up to 25th on 849 points, Keith in 23rd with 969 points and Adam still on the podium in 3rd with 1559 points.

Team Manager Glenn Campbell wrapped up the weekend simply “Congrats to all my boys for a job well done.”

Round 4 of Drift Australia saw the Team Slide-FX merchandising program kick off, with goods from Toyo and Ignition DVD magazine available for purchase from the team area. Ignition DVD have appointed Slide-FX as their official Motorsport Events Reseller, so keep an eye out for us at future events and displays. We’ve got two 40inch LCD monitors running flat out so you can check out the latest DVD’s in person and pick up any titles you don’t already have.

On a final note, subscribe to our Youtube TV site at www.youtube.com/profile?user=slidefxdriftto catch our latest video releases, hit the subscribe button to automatically go into the draw for future prize give away’s. Stay tuned also for the Slide-FX Myspace page in the coming weeks.

Date:

July 24th 2007
Eastern Creek DA#3 2007
Pre Event Release

Ahead of Round 3 this weekend, the Slide-FX team will hit Eastern Creek hard with fresh cars, new graphics, a paint job and more power.

Clint's beast; PANIK has undergone a retune with Sunoco 260GT Plus Race Fuel, which has seen power increase to 462 at the wheels, which is really starting to push the envelope for a standard RB25.

Borneo's car has been fitted with some new performance parts including a Garrett TO4Z twin scroll turbocharger on top of yet another customized/modified 6-Boost manifold. We have also upped the ante with a new Turbosmart Pro-gate. While power on this car is growing higher and higher, we have actually made an improvement in midrange transients with a reduction in boost threshold of 500rpm thanks to the new turbo combo and improved anti-lag strategy in the Autronic ECU.

We've also improved the cooling system and while all this was underway, the remains of the original wiring harness was removed and the car completely rewired, saving an additional 10kg's of weight. The new shift mechanism is also in and working well.

Keithy's S14.5 couldn't go untouched either, so we fitted up a new design exhaust manifold and turbosmart 50mm wastegate to replace the old combo.

Between battles, all cars have been filled up with the best from Royal Purple, including: Racing 41 Engine oil, Max Gear Transmission Fluid in both the Gearbox and Diff, Max-EZ Power Steering Fluid and Purple-Ice coolant.

We will have a good range of Royal Purple products on display this round and carry sufficient stocks to sell to fellow racers if required. Anyone with specific requirements can contact me over the weekend and I will arrange to have it for them.

Even the transporter hasn't gone untouched, with it now wearing some graphics to match the cars.

What a weekend!

After the lead-up event in Darwin, we were confident that the cars would come off the transporter and be ready to battle. This was pretty much the case. We nailed the car set-up early and this enabled the drivers to concentrate on learning the track. We also fine tuned the alignment and tyre settings over the practice sessions ready for a strong qualifying session.

Qualifying:

Clint qualified 26th after a nervous start, Keith 15th, his best qualifying result so far, and Adam laid down 2 solid runs early in his session to settle into 9th.

Battles:

Confident with our set-up and knowing that all cars were absolutely staunch and running sweet, the boys were keen to get out on the track and battle hard.

Rd#1

Borneo vs May - Borneo dispatched of May easily.

Keith vs Young - Keithy for the Win!!

Clint vs Wierhl - Unfortunately due to start-line confusion, Clint took off thinking he was on a warm-up lap, which for some reason was offered to some competitors in the first rounds and not others, and subsequently was defeated. A massive spin by Wierhl in the second lap indicated that the round would have gone to Clint if it were not for the earlier issue.

Rd#2

Borneo vs Weissel - Borneo wins!!

Keith vs Keihy - battled hard, yet after a close run was eliminated.

Rd#3

Borneo vs Yates - well, after it had just rained hard for an hour, this was going to be anyones race. Although a high horsepower turbocharged car is very difficult to drive in the rain, Borneo managed to equal Yates, last years series winner on his home track and tie their battle. A re-run saw Yates victorious, yet with the weather, could have gone either way and was just unfortunate that it was not ours. It's the first time I've ever heard him ask for less power!

Team Drift - with the adverse weather and only 2 other entrants, we chose not to compete in the team drift battle to avoid vehicle damage.

Summary

Overall, we were happy with our performances and the outcome from the weekend. Clint was disappointed with his result as it did not reflect his performance. It was unfortunate that he was hamstrung by someone else's mistake. Keith was ecstatic, making it into the 2nd round of battles and qualifying mid field. Borneo, as usual was right on it from the get-go and showed his skill behind the wheel and the awesome performance of the worlds most highly developed Cefiro.

With the comprehensive data acquisition systems running in the car now, we have gathered another wealth of information from the cars which we will analyse over the next week.

Ahead of the next round, we will be looking at some minor cosmetic changes to all cars and an upgrade to a larger tyre on the Cefiro for more grip.

Autronic are supplying us with a new higher output/faster rise time version of their 500R CDI ignition systems for more spark.

Huge thanks to all of our sponsors, without which we wouldn't be able to compete, and our cars wouldn't run as well or be as reliable.

Date:

June 29th 2007

Transporter New Look

With a huge thanks to Peter & Ryan at Bowra Signs & Graffix, the Slide-FX tranporter is now wearing some awesome new signwriting.

Although we were unable to get the job finished before we hit the road to Darwin, the basic theme was laid on and is starting to look impressive. The design compliments the new car graphics package.

In amongst all that, Clinty went and painted his car yellow so we'll have to get the digital prints updated later when back home!

Hi Octane Racing Joins Slide Fx

Hi Octane Racing is proud to announce the supply of fuels and lubricants to Slide Fx drift team. As a distributor for both Royal Purple Synthetic Oils and Sunoco Race fuels we were able to put together a deal for the Perth based drift team. Having worked closely with Glenn Campbell for a number of years we are confident this will be a mutually beneficial relationship for all involved. Both Royal Purple and Sunoco are industry leaders in their respective fields and we hope to give Slide Fx the competitive edge to finish on the podium in 2007

PANIK gets a facelift

Clint's beast, PANIK has undergone a birthday with a fresh coat of Nissan Yellow, thanks to our mates Jared Nash & Shane West at Custom Coachworks.

The car is also sporting our new graphics and sign package that will be shared by all cars and will be seen for the first time next week at the Hidden Valley round of the V8 Supercars.

More Grunt for Adam's Cefiro

Last week we have fitted up a new Garrett TO4Z twin scroll turbocharger (thanks to Sonic Performance/MTQ Engine Systems) on top of yet another customised/modified 6-Boost manfiold. We have also upped the ante with the wastegate discharge on that car to a huge 3 inch trumpet!

While all this was underway, the remains of the already cut-down original wiring harness was removed and the car rewired entirely, saving an additional 10kg's of weight.

Date:

June 17th 2007

Purple Inside!

All cars have been filled up with the best from Royal Purple, including:
  • Racing 41 Engine oil
  • Max Gear Tranmission Fluid in both the Gearbox and Diff
  • Max-EZ Power Steering Fluid
  • urple-Ice coolant.

Wilkinson Suspension combines with K-Sport to support Slide-FX

Wilkinson Suspension Centre and K-Sport Performance Products are proud to announce the support, setup and fit out of the newly built K-Sport Drift coilovers for the Slide-FX Drift team.

Wilkinson's being Perth based have already been helping with the setups for the three cars for a number of years and now wanted to back them with something that they believe in. As a distributor of the K-Sport product they were able to put together a deal for the team and hopefully help give them the competitive edge in the following rounds for the 2007 Drift Australia series.

Date:

May 26th 2007

Slide-FX drivers shine at WA Drift Battle 2 26th May 07

Despite the weather not looking good, we hit the track hard. The boys qualified well with Adam taking out top spot, Keith 5th. Clint went out with a set-up for wet conditions and unluckily the track dried out during his session, but still managed top spot in Div B.

Clint battled hard all day and went on to 2nd in his class, spending valuable time getting used to the new suspension set-up in his car chasing more grip and speed.

Adam again showed his class and displayed the awesome potential of the Cefiro that was fitted with the latest gearbox offerings from PPG during the week. He went on to finish 3rd after some dubious judging saw him eliminated early.

Keith was really the star of the day showing his natural talent behind the wheel and demonstrated the speed and agility of the S14.5 by making it all the way through to the finals for the first time ever, and fiishing 2nd.

Although a local competition round, we used the event as a test and tune, gathering more set-up data and an opportunity for the drivers to spend time getting used to their improved set-ups before our next trip.


Adam's Cefiro gets new Gearbox

After destroying yet another 'low-k' RB25 box last DA round in SA, we decided to look into more suitable and reliable gearbox options for the car. We settled on the latest offerings from PPG, ordering one of their full dog straight cut gearsets along with billet selector forks, billet countershaft and billet input shaft with Hollinger splines. The box has some nice close ratios and will lend itself to clutchless shifting, plus it will sound fantastic. The box has been meticulously assembled by Glenn & Steve with all new support parts going in as well. While the box was apart, provision has been made for a remote oil pump and external oil cooler system to go on. This weekend's local round will be the first chance Adam will have had to test the box and run it in. Over the next week, a programmable strain guage shifting system will be installed allowing practically instantaneous flat clutchless shifts.

Too Much Information?

Since returning from the last DA round, Adam's Cefiro has undergone installation of a Motec 'Sport' Dash Logger System. "With the teams strong interest in data aquisition and analysis, it seems only natural to have the equipment in the race cars, plus all the benefits of such equipment will help us further improve the dynamics and systems in all of our cars", Slide-FX's Glenn Campbell said. "We have an awesome selection of data coming out of that car now, between the Autronic engine management system and now the dash logger, there is nothing we cant analyse and study"

Chainsaw gets a grip with more speed

Clint's R32 'Chainsaw' has undergone yet another transformation with the fitment of an entirely new range of adjustable suspension components. Clints car can now have a few inherrant Skyline alignment issues dialled out and will allow for more suitable settings and more grip to be produced. To get the rear tyres to clear, the original guards have been flared substantially and an adjustable rear wing has been fitted for more downforce. All in all we should see a dramatic improvement in grip in all conditions making the car faster in both the transitions and corner exits.