Mount Gambier’s Huston Sakkers can say he is South Australia’s latest drift king after winning the most recent round of the Drifting SA State Series at the Bend Motorsport Park.
In the space of just three events, Sakkers has progressed from being a rookie to a round winner and is still coming to terms with thesharp rise.
“I feel lucky and surprised because my car took two and a half years to build,” he said.
“It is not all about going around corners sideways, you need do it quickly and make sure it looks good.
“Trying to be consistent is the hard part because it is a sport dictated by judges.
“I would love to drive a different style to what they want, but you have to do it.
“In my first event I got top 16 before making the top eight in the next one before winning it, so I seem to be doing what they want.”
Sakkers and three other L2 drivers managed to overcome the more highly rated L1 drivers in the team event and this unexpected success was just the tip of the iceberg.
The 22-year-old managed to not only qualify third, but progress through the individual top-eight knockouts and reach heights he had never scaled before.
He overcame his opponents in the top four and top two battles to win the round.
Sakkers said it was not easy to get his Nissan Skyline armed with a Commodore V8 engine on the track, but paid credit to his team.
“I was lucky enough to build it with all my mates in mum’s driveway because it was a pretty hard target to get,” he said.
“The biggest challenge was cash because it cost a lot of money and takes a lot of time.
“We had a few clutch issues, but now have got it dialled down, so having a good crew around helps.”
Across the three events, Sakkers said he had to make a lot of changes to find the right balance.
“It took heaps of time trying to get comfortable and changing wheel alignments,” he said.
“All these little stuff adds up to how you perform and the first run did not feel good at all, so I just threw it all on the table and hoped to get around the corner.”
Sakkers got involved in drifting after buying a Ford Falcon and taking it to some local events.
He had previously got his hands on a Skyline, but wrote it off in an incident.
However, Sakkers bounced back and is ready for bigger things as he revamps his Skyline ahead of the new season around February.
“The car is getting a full refresh with heaps of new parts to look like a show car, but I am going to drive it like it is not,” he said.
“I am going to try and jump in with the big boys in the L1 and compete in Victoria to see how far I can go.”
