When the sun goes down, the stars come out.

The sun was soon setting at Grange, and at night, the course is a different animal; it’s dusty and dark. The track surface is cold, and it’s hard to read a car’s behavior in such an environment. This presented an exciting challenge for the drivers, who nevertheless,  drifted through the sunset and long into the night.

Small details really are everything; just one look at this car isn’t enough to take it all in, so here are a couple more photos.

All smiles as the sun sets on Grange.

And The Beat Goes On.

The sun setting had it’s drawbacks; the track was cold, dusty, and dark. Spot lights were put in place, but this was still an unfamiliar setting for most drivers. Yet in droves, drivers went on track, often as a full team, to drift together. For hours the track was alive with lights, smoke, and exhaust. It almost felt unreal, like I had stepped into a time warp to a night drifting session in Japan… albeit a bit more dusty.

Teddy of Autofactory Realize had better luck with his R32 in the evening, having fixed his axle issue in time to enjoy some night time drifting. As always, the car looked fantastic doing so.

Brandon and Julian continued putting on a great performance throughout the night.

Of course, drifting is nothing without comradery.

Ryan debuted his AE86, prepped just in time for Super D. Known for his S13 hatchback with Animal Style, it was quite a surprise to see him out with a completely new chassis, and it was one of the best sounding cars there!

Aaron from Wolfreign had been driving hard all weekend, and it showed. His S13 was battered, but he was determined to drive the car to its limits. As anyone tuned in to Super D that weekend knows, he went so far as to put it through a wall later that evening! Thankfully Aaron came out of the crash unscathed, and surprisingly the car made it through okay, save for being more banged up.

Palmer of Animal Style had been having issues with low boost all weekend, and even had a fuel pump go out on him at one point. Nevertheless, he drove through the issues, and though the car was slower than normal he put on some solid runs.

 

“Drifting is a marathon, not a race.”

As anyone who often pulls all-nighters would tell you, there comes a point when you hit a wall of fatigue, when you just want to lay down and sleep. Yet you have too much going on, too much to do, that even if you did lay down to sleep, you would toss and turn all night trying to fight it, your mind racing knowing there’s still much to do.

Weather the second day was much more forgiving, with overcast skies helping people cope with the sunburns from the previous day. Cars were beaten, smashed, scraped, and bruised. However, most driver’s made it through the night, and were now prepping for Day 2.

Brandon made the trip out in his RHD S13. Normally he’d be drifting, but this time could only spectate. His car is my personal favorite itasha in the United States, and though it may not be for everyone, it is undeniably cool. It helps that Kouki 180SX aero is my aero of choice. However, Brandon has plans to leave this kit behind and switch it up in the future with a new kit to better match his aggressive overs, which I’m sure will look even better! 

Driving remained consistent throughout the second day, with the usual suspects putting on fantastic displays of car control.

Things were beginning to wind down, however, as many drivers were beginning to prep for their long trip home.

 

There was even time for an impromptu photo shoot of Derek’s beautiful S13, which we briefly covered in Part 1.

 

There’s just something so poetic about cool cars on trailers…

…Also, burnouts on trailers.

No better end to the drifting event of the year.

Super D was every bit as good as we thought it would be, if not better. Having missed the opportunity to see Final Bout, and with the last Final Bout being the end of the series, Super D has come in and picked up the slack. They are doing something for the community that we need now more than ever: keeping real drifting alive and well in the states.

With that, from all of us at Exciting Hero, we thank you for reading!