Bugger! As I popped the bonnet of my Skyline to prove to another interested punter that, no, the engine is NOT turbocharged and yes this is indeed the famous (in Nissan engine circles anyway) RB30E powerplant that my particular R31 model shared with Holden’s VL Commodore ‘back-in-the-day’ I saw it – a sharp little scrap of a stone embedded (literally at top-dead centre) in the cambelt.
Unfortunately, I had suspected as much, when – giving the engine bay its morning once-over four or five hours before in the pits at this year’s big Two Rooks Cola/326Power/Cartel Clothing-supported ‘Summer’ NZ Drift Matsuri 2021 event at Hampton Downs this Saturday just passed – I had noticed a blur of cream and blue the size of a matchhead flicker round every revolution of the belt.
However, both times I walked back around to the driver’s door and reached in thru the open window to turn the engine off, then walked back around the car and poked my nose under the bonnet again the belt looked and felt in rude good health so – as you do – I decided to ignore the issue and lined up for my first drift session of the day.
Which – bar my usual issue with the Meihan-like high-speed right-left-right feint-flick into the Turn 1 hairpin on the ‘Club circuit I was on – was going reasonably well, until the discovery of ‘the stone.’
“Well, that’s the end of my day,” I said to the guy who – like a lot of similarly-minded people of a certain age I’m meeting at events like the various Matsuris (Spring, Winter, Summer etc etc), Chrome ‘Expression Sessions’, CARnival and/or Auto Atsumaru meetings these days – had a story of his own about R31s from his youth, and seemed to appreciate the fact that I bring mine along……and despite its generally tidy body and mechanical condition, fast-appreciating value and general ‘old-skool coolness…… ‘beat down on it like a Boss!’
I have a similar thing with Honda trail bikes from the early 1970s (think the XL175s, 2 & a half of which I already own, and the SL125 and XL250 Motorsports which I have owned and now really regret selling) in the past. So, I know what it is like to see a particular model you no longer regularly see being used on the road, ‘in the flesh’ at an event.
And though the early on-set Parkinson’s Disease I now suffer from is slowly but surely robbing me of my voice (a subject which I will slip in here but write a fuller column on at some stage later in the year) I am always happy to share my own car’s story with others who appear to have the same weakness for the R31 I have.
Despite here and around the world it still being considered the ‘ugly duckling’ very much or odd one out, of the R30 to R34 Skyline range.
And so back onto the trailer the ‘old R31 went, and I headed up to the main circuit area to see what those who had signed up for the ‘main event’ (drifting the ‘National circuit) as well as those who were just doing the Skidpan sessions, and the midday-ish track ‘cruise,’ were up to.
This, as I was to discover, is the real beauty of what even just a year ago I would have called a ‘grass roots’ event.
So big and so damn well sophisticated they have become – so quickly as well – that really, they need another name.
I well remember some of organiser Chris Howard’s first attempts at the ‘Drift Matsuri’ concept at Taupo’s Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park. Then Chris was typical of the sort of fellow and/or fellow-esse who turned up at pretty much any ‘drift day’ that popped up in my Facebook ‘Events’ Feed.
I knew for instance that he had (some sort of) drift car, but I cannot remember ever seeing him driving it…. because he always seemed to have other ‘irons in the fire.’
Obviously one of the major ones was to keep building on his own unique mix of drifting-based non-competitive action events or ‘day’s out at a track.’ That mix which is now synonymous with the Matsuri ‘brand’ includes DJs creating an event soundtrack in the pits, a Saturday night after party (at his Taupo events) and at his most ambitious event to date, the weekend one at Hampton Downs, simultaneous drifting across all three tracks (club, national + on the skid pan) and a separate promotion plan for spectators.
Speaking strictly personally here I’ve always thought the clubby, ‘just-me-and-the-odd-mate’ vibe of the original Driftopia and Drift Motorsport NZ ‘grass roots’ days (at Taupo and Hampton Downs) were the best – mainly because they were organised by drivers for drivers with strict limits on the number of spectators.
In saying that the number that at least half filled the Hampton Downs car park (Gate 3) at the weekend certainly added to the whole vibe of the Summer Matsuri meeting, and by their very number obviously helped Chris cover the (I would imagine) much higher costs involved in hiring Hampton Downs for two days (Friday & Sat) over Taupo’s Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park.
As one of them (a spectator myself thanks to that sharp little stone) I certainly enjoyed my wander around, though why amidst the food vendors there was not someone doing coffees I don’t know.
Because I had nothing better to do, I didn’t mind the quick drive over to the official Hampton Downs’ café (Aoraki Coffee Roasters) for my afternoon flat white…but I certainly missed the chance to buy one (or two) in the main pit area.
Like most ‘car guys’ I found myself drawn to the trickest, coolest competition cars, many of them familiar from Matsuri’s past, but as always there was also a smattering of ‘new builds.’
Mine, as it turned out, was the only R31 in the place, hence I would imagine the number of people I observed, seeing it parked up on it trailer and wandering over for a closer look.
The Saturday before at Mad Mike’s Drift Force day on the same (club) track, I took the opportunity to stay out on track – literally – until the bitter end, only finally stopping when I debeaded one rear tyre and flattened the other.
This time I ended up hitting the ‘long and winding road’ back to my West Auckland lair (aka R31 House!!) at 3.35pm.
Packing down after an event like a Drift Matsuri always takes an age. Yet later that night I was on Facebook checking out who had done what from the day.
I was also buoyed to see that now he has run events at Taupo and Hampton Downs, Chris Howard is planning on taking his Drift Matsuri concept south this winter, to Mike Pero Motorsport Park in Christchurch for a two-day meeting over Queens Birthday weekend (Jun 05-06).
While primarily for local drivers a meeting like this one gives a bloke like me a chance to spread my wings and either truck or trailer the ‘old R31 down to Mike Pero Motorsport Park for a serious change of scenery.
Which, I’ve been seriously thinking of doing for several years – and now I have a reason… or rather, an excuse!
First things first though, I need to replace the cam belt and get a new clutch…….
Oh, and if you can come up with a better name for these flash new hybrid-styled drift-based events, feel free to share it in the Comments section.
Matsuri remains the best single word if you know – just – enough about the car scene to get by. Calling a major spectacle like the NZ one at Hampton Downs last Friday and Saturday a ‘grass roots’ event is doing it and the level of car builds and driver ability in evidence at it is, in my humble opinion, a major disservice.
Comments