Mixed debut for new Whiter Tectaloy slider

3 time D1NZ Drift Champ Gaz Whiter got his 2012/3 season off to a mixed start this weekend just passed at Manfield in the heart of the Manawatu. We are still working through all our video and photos but wanted to give you all an update as soon as possible.

With both Gaz and crew chief and Father Tony Whiter living on minimal sleep in the weeks leading up to the event, it was a somewhat hectic lead into the season opener. Tony mentioning that he thought he’d had my 15 hours sleep in the past 7 days in trying to perfect what has been dubbed the LS14 and has been seen by hundreds of thousands of eyes since breaking ground last week.

The team got the car finished and loaded up to head for a testing session at Hampton Downs en route to Fielding and the testing session proved to be invaluable when a faulty fitting broke dumping oil out of the engine, a failure that would have likely proved terminal if it happened on the long Manfield drift section.

After successfully shaking the car down the team headed for a much needed rest before towing down to Fridays practice day.

Gaz you can tell is like a kid in a candy store with the new found response in the torque based LS engine package, throttle response being so smooth and removing the need for constant clutch kicks. He pronounced himself happy after the Friday sessions and was looking forward to Saturdays qualifying.

Heading in to the reverse finish order sessions, Gaz would run 4th to last based on his last seasons result and laid down a solid but safe first run, before coming out and pushing harder on the second run. The 3rd run saw an unusual spin and Whiter would qualify in position number #9 , giving him a first up battle against South Island competitor Jonny Latham in his V8 Rx7.

Whiter would turn in a strong and dominating performance to gain an easy victory over Latham before coming up against fellow top echelon driver Cole Armstrong. A small mistake and correction in the his chase run was all that it took and the new cars debut was over, Armstrong clever and concise in his chase and taking the win.

Whiter sits in position 12, but knows there is a long season ahead and a home round at Whangarei up next so is confident and happy with the new package.

As always, the team wish to thank all of our dedicated supporters, and hope that you are all able to make it out to a round this season.

Gaz Whiter Drift is proudly supported by

Tectaloy Performance Coolants, Toyo Tires, NAC Insurance, Puklowski Milling, Xtreme Drift Clutch, GDS Motorsport, DVS Clothing, BNT Motorsport, Tein, Sony, MGNinc and Big Brown Industries