PHIL SUTHERLAND MAKES A HASTY RETURN

It was only a few months ago that Phil Sutherland wrote off his Nissan Cefiro when he rolled it after hitting the concrete walls of Mt Smart Stadium at round two of the Demon Energy D1NZ National Drifting Championship. Thankfully Phil walked away from the crash uninjured, but the damage to the Cefiro proved too great to easily fix, as it included a bent firewall and shifted roll cage. Phil, who is first to admit he has the bug for drifting, wasted no time hunting for a replacement shell, as he explained to NZPC. “I bought Simon Hunter’s 180SX shell, which he had pulled out of the SR20. It has a chromoly 10-point cage, it’s tubbed, with Tein coilovers, and Driftworks hubs. But I knew I was running out of time for round three, so I picked up the R34.” Unlike the 180SX, the R34 was a complete runner with an RB25 and gearbox, tube-framed front and rear and a basic suspension set-up. Phil collected the car a week and a half out from round three of Demon Energy D1NZ. “We did all the basic stuff, swapped over the brakes, hydro handbrake, hubs, steering, and lock stops. The engine was retuned on E85, and we added an Accusump. It was tuned on Saturday, panel and paint on Monday/Tuesday, and Wednesday we were on the road to round three.” The new R34 performed well on its debut, although Phil admitted he wasn’t pushing the car to its absolute limit. “It’s too late in the season to make a difference, so I held back a little. It really went well, it’s the first car I have ever driven with a new wheel alignment and left it. The chassis feels brilliant. We put some Keto Knuckles in, it just gets mental lock and feels like you’re driving a forklift.”

As for the 180, Phil plans to continue that build as the ‘Mothership’, and it will either receive the Cefiro’s fully-built 745kW-capable 2JZ, along with a four-speed dog box and Winters rear end, or possibly a Ford V8 similar to that found in Curt Whittaker’s R34. In that case the 2JZ will find its way into the Skyline to replace the RB, which Phil says has seen better days. Phil would like to thank: Doug Smith Panel and Paint, these dudes love my organisation, Chris Belcher, Mitch Gibbs, Jordan Sutherland and Rue Ben York for the quick patch up and tune to get us to round 3 as this motor is on borrowed time. He would also like to thank his partner Anna who is a lady that keeps it all together and puts up with his