Przygody Paula Vlasblom'a czesc 2
Dla wszystkich ktorzy sa w stanie przeczytac to po angielsku
First Report DriftKing goes DownUnder.
As you might know Paul was invited by Robbie Bolger to attend one of the rounds of the DriftAustralia championship when they met each other at the D1-World Match in Irwindale.
Robbie Bolger is the 2007-winner of the DriftAustralia championship, one of the most professional driftseries in the world (they are FIA-approved and every round is fully covered on national television) and is a former stuntman and thus a celebrity in Australia.
Ofcourse an invitation to drift a V8-powered Holden Monaro at the other end of the world is something really special,so Paul booked a flight and now he’s enjoying the nice weather in sunny Brisbane.
After judging the IDC driver-search in Hockenheim he got home Saturday night at 3am.Sunday he got up early to pack his suitcase and headed for Amsterdam airport,where the plane left at 11.55hr.After a 3 hr stop-over at Singapore he arrived Monday-evening at 19.30 local time at the airport of Brisbane where Robbie was waiting to pick them up (Pauls brother joins him at this trip)
When they arrived at Robbies house he first showed them the Holden Monaro he drives in the series and the all-new Holden HSV Ute he recently got from the Holden-organisation.Robbie is the factory-driver for Holden (a part of General Motors, Holden is the Australian Opel).HSV is the special vehicle-department of Holden (like BMW-motorsport) and most of the Holden HSV-models are fitted with the Corvette V8-engine.
Here’s the first report of this adventure;
After a long flight in which I mostly slept I got at the airport of Brisbane where Robbie picked me up.
I’m staying at the McNeville motel and during the first couple of days I’ve been helping Robbie with the build of the all-new HSV Ute as you can see in the pictures.They started with a bare shell, and a full chrom-moly rollcage was welded in.Note also that the front wheel-arches are completely changed to make more steering-lock possible.
A brand-new engine is built (730 hp on the test-bench) and together with a sequential 7-speed gearbox this will guarantee a monstrous performance.The same engines are used in the V8-series (a bit likewise the DTM in Europe) and so are many other parts of the Holden driftcars such as the central-lock wheel-hubs and the big brakes.
At Robbies house everybody’s welcome and so it’s a busy spot the whole day long. Robbie himself spends his days working on his condition and building the new car.His transport-company is so big he never has to work for the rest of his life and during the past years he’s been performing the craziest stunts and got involved in drifting in 2006.The Ozzies are very open and friendly, but also very straightforward...Robbie wont speak one sentence without the words ‘fucking’ and ‘cunt’.....The weather is also nice out here; 27 degrees and sunny and that’s during the winter-season! Sun gets up at 5.30 and sundown is around 18.00 hrs.It’s about 8 hrs later here than in Europe.
I’m driving the all-new Holden HSV Ute (with a 6.0 litre 420hp all-alloy V8 and a 6-speed manual gearbox) as a daily drive, and this car surely attrackts a lot of attention (whether it is due to the bright green colour or by the fact it’s the latest model is not sure yet). Must be said I like the car very much; it’s fast, the engine is torque and the stiff suspension with the 19” wheels makes the handling superb...ow and don’t forget about the standard LSD....makes drifting easy! See also the bulky wings and the four exhausts with the real V8-sound and you know why I think we should get this kind of cars in Europe too.The driving in Australia is a mix of the USA and Great-Britain, right-hand drive and the keep-your-lane-principle.Road-signs also are a mixture of these countries.Thursday we visited Cragnes, Robbies engine-builder and we machined the rear-discbrakes there to fit them on the central-lock-hubs.I also got myself a mobile-phone, so you can text or call me at +61413098077 , but keep the time-diffence in mind please! The Australian dollar is at the same level as the US Dollar, so approximately 1,5 dollar is one euro.Fuel is around 80 cents per litre, where diesel is around one euro per litre.After we did some shopping we went for dinner in the city.Is also quite funny; you place your order and receive some kind of remote-control and get to your table.When the remote-control starts blinking your order is ready and you can pick-up your meal at the counter!
Friday we went to Surfers Paradise which is well know for the beautiful ‘Meter-maids’ but apparently they got a day-off, because I haven’t seen any... Weather was nice though and I got some rest at the beach.
The distances are really huge here; don’t forget Australia is bigger than whole Europe and next week I want to get a bit north to go scuba-diving at the Great Barrier Reef ,but thats another 1000 km!
Keep you guys updated about the drifting Down-Under!!!
Best regards,
Paul
przez Bartdrift » 9 kwi 2008, o 21:43 
