'It's fast, high adrenaline': South Island drifting champ's burning ambition

Otago Daily Times

26-05-2025

Drifter Sheldon Kneale at the recent Drift South Pro Series championship. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
South Island drifting champion Sheldon Kneale has his sights on national success.
The 30-year-old Ashburton driver won the recent Drift South Pro Series championship and is lining up for the New Zealand pro-sport series next year.
He has come a long way from when he first started drifting more than 10 years ago.
Thrill-seeking Kneale, a keen mountain biker and BMX rider in his youth, attended a drift school run via the Christchurch Car Club in his late teens.
He ''loved it'', and likened drift battles, at speeds of up to 170km/h, to the thrill of downhill mountain biking, with the same adrenaline rush.
''You are constantly on the verge of crashing into other people but so in control that you don't crash,'' he said.
''It's fast, high adrenaline. There's heaps I like about it.''
After his first training session he attended every track event he could.
There were competitions every three to four weeks, he said.
Sheldon Kneale in the winner's circle. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Drivers get points for line, angle and style during drift events. The highest score out of 100 wins.
'It's the fastest growing motorsport in the world,'' he said.
Kneale has been with the South Island-based Drift South Pro Series for the past seven seasons.
During that time, he has won the championship twice - most recently at Easter and has multiple podium finishes.
He said there was plenty of camaraderie in the drifting community, with drivers from all walks of life taking to the motorsport.
''Everyone is in the same mindset … I've got friends who do it as well,'' he said.
They remained friends, even in battle.
Kneale said he could not do what he did without the support of wife Emily, mother Donna and dad Jason who he described as ''his right-hand man'' at drift competitions.
The young drifter, a carpenter by day, works alongside his dad, Jason, in the family business, Southern Traverse Homes.
''We're working together and playing together,'' Kneale said with a grin.
He also has the support of many in the building industry who were backing his motorsport ability with sponsorship from Aotea Electrical, Welshy Contracting, Placemakers Ashburton, Roddick Plumbing, Mike Greer Homes Mid and South Canterbury and Johnson's Panel and Paint.
Brother-in-law Nathan Lodwidge from Full Spectrum Fabrication was also on his side.
He kitted out Kneale's Nissan Silvia S13 for competition, including fitting the roll cage, gearbox, suspension and engine mount.
Kneale said he has had two vehicles since taking up the sport: A 180SX Nissan Silvia, which was written off after a collision during an event – which still irked him – and his currrent 1990s Nissan Silvia, which is older than him.
He considered his current car better than the first, and used a standard 235mm road radial tyre, not the wider tyre such as a 265mm, as it benefited him long-term for the D1NZ Pro-Sport Series, limited to the narrower tyre.
Kneale said every venue had their own track layout but events could include up to 30 laps with solo practice runs, then qualifying ranking battles between two drivers, followed by elimination battles.
He could replace anywhere from 14 to 20 tyres per event, at a cost of about $100 each.
He said he got a good deal on tyres from Tyre Owl in Christchurch.
His favourite track was the A-track version 2, at Ruapuna Motorsport Park, but he was impressed by Highlands MotorSport Park in Cromwell which he recently visited.