XDC Remix Drift Show, 7/3/11

XDC - Xtreme Drift Circuit - is a nationwide drifting competition with stops at some of the most well-known race tracks in the US - Irwindale, VIR, Summit Point, Texas Motor Speedway, etc.  It's a high-level exhibitionist drifting competition, mixed with a car show, mixed with some racing.  If it comes near you, you oughtta go - the closest XDC event to me was held on July 3rd at the Charlotte Motor Speedway - which is primarily a NAPCAR track - and the 2.5hr drive down there was totally worth it.  Some of the most insane cars I've ever seen showed up, both competitive drifters and perfect show cars.

The car in the intro image is Sikky Manufacturing's 350Z drift car.  How do you get such a huge volume of tire smoke out of a little Nissan V6?  I mean, that's a lot of tire smoke!

Well, the answer is: not a Nissan V6.  Or a Nissan motor at all.

Here it is in all it's tire-smoking glory.  I apologize for the recording quality.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eytqZNRNJ30

That's a GM LS2, currently hovering somewhere around 7.4L of displacement, and oh god it sounds amazing.  But that's just the tame setup, something controllable for the lightweight drift car.  There was another Sikky 350Z with an LS2 swapped into it, the same stroker setup, right across from it in the pits.  This blue street car has a few secrets, though.  Obviously, it's an LS-swapped 350Z.  But check out these fender vents on the sides behind the doors...

That's unusual, why would you need rear fender vents in a front-engined car?  Hmm.

Oh!  Wait, what?

Twin rear-mounted turbos, that's why!  So let's see, huge GM LS2 in the front, twin turbos under the rear, twin intercoolers in the trunk, I'd say this qualifies for "really serious" status.

An S13 getting good and sideways on the drift track.

Even when you get it wrong, it still looks cool!

You don't even have to walk through the pits or the carshow to find cool stuff, like this clean MKIV GTI.  I think those are Mercedes-Benz SLK350 wheels?

I'm a Saab guy primarily, but even I can appreciate the menacing 300bhp Volvo S60R AWD.  I'm not sure what else he could've blacked out on this car.

There's still some work to be done on this 350Z (which was a mixture of red, black, and carbon fibre), but I like where this is going.  Except for the mesh grille.

What do you think cost more; the "bugeye" WRX itself, or this engine build?  Oh my lord!

Besides the fact that this is a super-clean E36 slammed on BBS's, if you look really close you can see the blacked-out intercooler core behind the front bumper.  Stealthy!

A Skyline RB25DET, under the hood of an S14 240SX.  Surely fast as hell, and also an unquestionably beautiful show car.

That would be a Mercedes 190E with a monstrous great V8 in it.  Unusual, for sure.

An Audi 5000 Quattro Turbo always looks good painted flat black, with a hood vent.  This was in OMP Racing's spot in the pits.

OMP's Audi S3 Quattro track car.  This generation of Audi A3/S3 (based on the MKIV Golf) was never sold in the 'states, so it's a little unusual to see one here.

An Evo X, filled with AMS goodies, looking track-ready.  The racing helmet on the roof is a nice touch.

This Infiniti G35 looked mean from the outside... but under the hood was even more impressive.

A big single turbo forcing air into an (undoubtedly expensive) Cosworth intake manifold.

A Heineken beer tap makes for a cool, if not exactly useful, shift lever.  This is in Trev Chavis's Nissan 240SX.

The VIP Lexus parking isle.  The interior on the tan GS in the foreground must be seen to be believed...

Tea tray, Sake bottle, cigar holders, alcantara everywhere... this is how you win awards if you're going for VIP.  Just don't get pulled over with a Sake bottle on your dashboard, I suppose.  Extremely well done.

Nothing special on the outside, just looks like an EG sedan.  It is, however, right hand drive and has been converted to four-wheel-drive (presumably with CR-V parts) - and yes I looked, there's a rear differential under there!

A beautiful SW20 MR2 Turbo targa-roof.  The green lips on the wheels are a bit much, but otherwise it's hard to hate.  Especially when looking into the engine bay.

Big turbo, big intercooler, custom charge pipes and strut brace, aftermarket wastegate and dump valves, all good!

You're doing something right, if I can fit my entire fist into the inlet on your turbocharger.  Another funky sidewinder exhaust manifold on a Honda K20A2; I'd imagine this RSX can really book!

This is how it's done: Supra Turbo in Royal Sapphire Pearl on CCW classics.  Perfect.

And finally, this is a 300ZX Twin-Turbo.  Very well done track/show car (mildly built VG30DETT under the hood.)  Notice anything unusual here?  (Hint: the Toyota MR2 94-95 tail lights.)

In between drifting competitions, there were actual race cars on the track - these two were far and away the fastest in their class, and were duking it out for the whole session, swapping places repeatedly and racing bumper to bumper.

I'm beginning to wonder if there are more running road-going E30's, or track E30's left in the world.

This track rat, losely based on a last-generation Toyota MR2 Spyder, had some sort of V8 under all that body work.  It probably would've been righteously fast, but it seemed to be having serious ignition issues in the heat.

After a break, the driting came back to the infield, this time the Final 16 running in pairs.  It's quite impressive to see two cars drifting so close to each other.  Besides the Sikky 350Z, my two favorite cars were these monsters: a G35 Coupe with a 5.6L Nissan Titan V8 stuffed into it, with a very loud supercharger sticking out the hood, and an (E36) BMW 3-series running a large amount of boost.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkOCdSmODPs

The scream of the G35's blower was even more incredible in person - you could hear it whine all the way across the track.  Of course, a BMW straight six with a big turbo bouncing off the rev-limiter isn't bad either.

Sometimes even really good drifters go around backwards!

This was an interesting face-off: the black FC RX7 in the front had turbo Rotary power, the blue one in the back had GM LSx V8 power.  And boy, listen to that turbo rotary roar!

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Upl2p72cs

Turbo BMW running against Sikky's other drift car, the LS-swapped 240SX - both top notch.

S14 vs S13 240SX's; check out the amount of steering angle on the 240SX in the front!  That's just nuts.

As the sun began to set, the drifting competition came to a close, and I snapped this last picture while the sun was starting to set.  I love the way low light makes some cars (even as simple as an S14 with nice wheels) look.

That's it!  Hope I didn't kill your router loading all these pictures and videos.  Any questions or comments, leave 'em in the box below!