Drift Resident: Steve Pembrey

I’ve always been into anything that involves speed and blatant stupidity – so naturally I have always had a soft spot for drifting. Sure, circuit work and drags are fun, but nothing really matches the feeling of throwing a car sideways at stupid speeds when most people are normally hard on the brakes.

I’ve been drifting for roughly eight years now with my trusty AE86 showing me the ropes. Originally, I was pretty much into my big V8s, rocking a 351 XD as my first car.

I came across my 86 hiding under a tree and figured it’d be the perfect daily while I added more fasts to the Falcon.

It didn’t take long for me to realise that the 86 was a far better car and that for very little effort, there was a lot of gain to be had from it. So the big old Falcon was sold on to fund the new project.

 The little Toyota was bog standard when I first bought it and there were many long afternoons spent trashing around the fire trails of outer Canberra, learning the fine art of car control. As parts slowly began to wear out, they were upgraded to bigger and better things.

Before I knew it, the asthmatic carby engine was replaced by a supercharged twin-cam and things really started to get serious.

I started out in the old Drift Australia series in the Super Drift class and it was a massive learning curve. The Hachi had the cornering speed but not the outright power – I needed more!

A turbo found its way under the bonnet, but the car was plagued with mechanical gremlins; I would often qualify well then DNF. It was heartbreaking.

However, I still managed to take out the ’08 BBM cup with a blown headgasket.

So the Sprinter was taken off the road for a couple of years and I tried my hand at sliding a few different cars. I borrowed an R31 for Calder Park ADGP and came 16^th outright, but the old box just wasn’t for me.

I bought an EB XR6 with a mate and kitted that out for drifting and it wasn’t a bad thing, but none of the cars I drove were as good as the original drift 86.

After going back to the drawing board and two long years off the road, the 86 is back and better than ever. I found an engine that made the power I needed without having to be modified – the Aurion 2GR-FE 3.5L V6.

With over 200kW at the wheels and less than 900kg to haul around, the Sprinter can now fully live up to its name.

It’s already qualified and finished first in its debut competition at Raleigh Raceway so I’m 100% stoked with the way it drives.

But it’s not stopping there (it never does). After spinning a bearing due to oil surge (and punting the wall at Eastern Creek), the 2GR is now in line for a few bolt-ons. Think dry-sump, cams, individuals throttles and you’ll start to get the idea.

While my role here is mainly as a Production Editor for Zoom, Extreme and Powercruise, I couldn’t forget about drifting. So one of my main goals since I started working here was to try and revive Drift Battle magazine, the very magazine that made me get into this industry in the first place.

One of the best things about drifters, they’re a tight-knit bunch. Every event you go to, you meet new people and make new mates. So through all these years of networking, I was able to put together another issue of Drift Battle with all new features.

Now, all this work was done gratis, pro-bono – no one was paid for the work that went into this magazine. The photos were taken and submitted by photographers who wanted to see the scene grow and the magazine return. The writers put together the text, purely for the love of drifting and to see the sport they all support grow and thrive. It’s really quite humbling to see the enthusiasm for this magazine and an absolute honour to be a part of making it happen.

So make sure you grab a copy in the first week of June and show your support for this awesome sport.