With the world of drifting becoming more popular worldwide – As a business, Driftworks are pioneers and instrumental to drifting past, present and future. Engineering and selling parts they provide to a worldwide audience via their website and so the 2014 season held particular importance for exposing their skills on all levels.

2014 represented a big year for the Driftworks team, the biggest news of all had to be the unveiling of their immense build of the Toyota Corolla AE86, appropriately dubbed the DW86. And quite rightly so, as they stripped this Japanese classic down to the bare shell and prepared to build the ultimate drift car in their own unique way….and boy, did they do this in style!

A signal of intent was immediately laid down as preparation of their new car started to take place…

For Phi & James – Co-directors and the DW86, the year has seen some ups and downs, including some incredible drifting performances, an awful lot of smoke and a huge article in our favourite Japanese Performance Magazine, Banzai.

But before looking at this in a little more detail, it would be foolish of me to focus solely on the escapades of Phil and the DW86 as the rest of the Driftworks team have been busy and in their own right very successful this year too!

2014 saw two new members to the Driftworks team, Richard Grinrod had a spectacular season in the Driftworks E36 M3 with a supercharged LS V8 engine – Winning the Pro Class of the Maxxis British Drift Competition by just one point from championship hopeful, Oli Silcock.

Chris ‘Smiffy’ Smith, driving a fully forged, Nissan 200sx s14a running 370hp on the SR20DET engine – pictured above.

The Driftworks team finished 5th in the team standings which, taking into consideration all the changes is a great result and something I have no doubts will be improved upon in 2015.

 

 

Back to the AE86..

We all knew the car would be a beast (to put it midly) and I have had the pleasure of seeing its debut season develop as Phil Morrison was tasked with taming the car and bringing the best out of it in this years Maxxis British Drift Competition, The Irish Drift Competition and a quick stint in  The Drift Allstars events.

After the build (thread here) the year begun with the unveiling of the car:

 

Phil Finished 11th overall in the British Drift Competition with varying results. Some mechanical issues saw early retirements as the team worked tirelessly to learn the car and adapt its parts to handle the awesome power it produces. But with this in mind, I think the goal for 2014 was always to get the car out there, fine tune it and see how it performed with title hopes resting on 2015 and beyond. From what I have seen, this seems to have been a success as progress has been evident each time the car was out on track.

The full spec for the car:

Driftworks V8 Toyota Corolla AE86

Performance figures: 646hp/640ft/lb at wheels (mapped by Protuner on pump fuel), 1243kg wet weight, 50.4% front weight

Engine: GM 454ci LSx V8, custom grind camshaft, Manley springs/titanium retainer kit, Jenvey independent throttle bodies, A.R.E dry sump kit and air/oil separator, ATI underdrive crank pulley, Driftworks 350Z alloy radiator, Davies Craig inline water pump, Samco hoses, Dynotorque custom 2-inch primary header and twin 3-inch stainless exhaust system with Magnaflow low profile boxes, optional additional rear silenced sections for low dB days, Driftworks engine oil and power steering coolers, Motul 300V oil, Evans Powercool waterless coolant, ATE fuel tank with custom swirl pot and Bosch Motorsport 044 pumps, Emerald ECU

Drivetrain: Jerico 4-speed dog box, Superclutch 7.25-inch triple-plate clutch, custom 14kg flywheel, Wilwood adjustable clutch damper valve, Winters Performance quick-change axle with 10-inch spool diff, custom Dave Mack 108 prop shaft

Chassis: By Dyno Torque: stitch-welded and heavily reinforced throughout, enlarged front and rear wheel tubs, fabricated transmission tunnel, engine and gearbox mounts, airjack mounts, all custom brackets and fittings. By Nickson Motorsport: T45 roll cage, NASCAR-style door bars, additional turret reinforcement and lower A-pillar leg protection

Suspension/Brakes: Driftworks CS2 coilover suspension – Nissan S14 front and AE86 rear, Dyno Torque modified front crossmember for Nissan S14 steering rack, Driftworks Geomaster front hub knuckles, Driftworks S14 adjustable lower arms, Driftworks S14/AE86 Geomaster tension rods, Howe Racing rear 4-link alignment arms with adjustable pan, Dyno Torque lower dropped links, Ultra Racing AE86 front anti-roll bar, NASCAR high mount rear adjustable anti-roll bar, NASCAR AP Racing 6-pot front and 4-pot rear discs and calipers, custom front bells, Driftworks Masterbrite brake pads, Wilwood pedal box, Driftworks hydraulic handbrake with Knuckleduster handle, Driftworks brake lines

Wheels/Tyres: CCW Classic – 17×9-inch -15 (front), 18×10.5-inch -15 (rear), Achilles 123S tyres – 255/35R17 (front), 265/35R18 (rear)

Exterior: Magic Aero Driftworks custom wide arch front and rear Kevlar overfenders, Magic Aero custom fibreglass bonnet, custom front bumper and stock rear, fibreglass doors, fibreglass boot lid with integrated TRD N2-style spoiler, Plastics4Performance polycarbonate windows and NACA ducts

Interior: Cobra Sebring Pro Driftworks Edition seats with custom embroidery, Nardi Driftworks special edition steering wheel, custom steering wheel spacer, TRS Pro 5-point harness, SPA electronic plumbed fire extinguisher, handheld fire extinguisher, filtered air to feed drivers helmet, complete custom car body loom by Dyno Torque, Race Technologies Dash2 dashboard display, Cartek wireless steering wheel controls, Dyno Torque fabricated rear firewall made from alloy and Perspex

Post by Driftworks. The DW86 on the rollers for its dyno test – Speakers up!

As a business, they are world renowned. Engineering and supplying specialist drift parts to professionals and amateurs alike all over the globe. Their race team, whilst going through some big changes are clearly going to be challenging for more silverware and will compliment the business perfectly. They will continue to engineer the cutting edge technology that has taken them to the forefront of the industry and I for one am looking forward to their progress in the future.

I’ve been lucky enough to grab a few words from Phil too!

Chris – What’s been the favourite moment of 2014 so far?

Phil – Global Warfare, which was round 3 of the Irish Drift Championship. It was the first event for the car with the new 750bhp LSX engine, and it surpassed all expectation. Japanese pro drifters Daigo Saito, and Robbie Nishida told us it’s the coolest 86 they had ever seen, and the car even won a battle against D-Mac in his own mental AE86

Chris – After a season on the track – getting to know the Hachi, will you be gunning for titles in 2015?

Phil – We’ll definitely be pushing hard. The car does still require some work to make it a winner though. It’s just so snappy and on a knife-edge we need to find a way to stop it from trying to kill me 2 out of 5 runs.

Chris – International recognition seems to be in the bag, will you travel to the states (or anywhere else internationally) next year to compete

Phil – We are contemplating doing some more far-reaching events, but until a schedule is released, and budgets realised we won’t know the exact plan. I hope all the championships can get their dates out as soon as possible to help make the decision.

Chris – Who’s your favourite drifter?

Phil – Fredric Aasbo is someone who I respect a lot. He competes at a top level, but still ‘gets’ that drifting is about flare as much as it’s about speed and proximity.

Chris – Lastly and more for my own curiosity, Favourite (private) car you’ve owned/would like to own?

Phil – My riviera blue 997.2 GT3 is the best car I’ve owned. There have been more mental cars like my V10 E46 M3, but this thing is just such a lot of fun on track. So much so I have a 2015 991 GT3RS on order, which will probably end up being Riviera blue too.

Thanks & Best wishes to Phil and the Driftworks team!

Most recently, Speedhunters ran an article on the DW86 & Driftworks and well worth a read if you haven’t seen it yet! Click here to see it

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