Eric O Sullivan – ProDrift
Hometown – Dublin, Ireland
Car – Toyota Corolla Vtec-86

Im Eric O Sullivan, 28 years old from Dublin, Ireland.I’ve been riding a BMX as long as I can remember and progressed to motorcycles winning an Irish National Trials Championship at 17.I learned to drive the same year and began modifying and tuning street and show cars before becoming involved in race and rally car preparation.

I discovered drifting in 2004 when I watched a dvd about the street drifting scene in Osaka Japan.Soon after, I bought a cheap AE86 corolla, my first ever rear wheel drive car that I leaned to drift in the industrial areas of south Dublin during the winter.I changed this car for a 20 valve corolla in 2005 and began to compete in the Irish national championship.After failing to qualify at my first two events I finished 2nd in the following two rounds and also qualified to compete against the D1 drivers in the Silverstone exhibition match.

I decided to build a more competitive car after the D1 event and spent most of 2006 building my Vtec powered AE86.I ran the car late in the 06 season and developed a set up with the 2007 Prodrift series in mind.I won 5 of the 6 rounds in the ’07 series and finished 3rd in the other, an amazing season that made all the hard work the previous year worthwhile.

2008 began with a new sponsor, Rockstar Energy Drink, who had just launched their product in Europe.I could now afford to travel abroad and compete in the Prodrift European Series and the UK based JDM Allstars triple crown series.I suffered with a lack of power on some of the larger European tracks but managed to win round 3 in Sweden and finish 3rd overall in the Prodrift championship.

The JDM Allstars series would provide the highlight of the year for me, winning round 2 of the series at Wembley stadium in London.This was the biggest event to ever happen to drifting in Europe, bringing our sport to an iconic location in a major city for the first time.Im very proud to be the first winner of this series that is run by drivers for drivers, giving us some of the best publicity and exposure in the European scene.

Away from drifting, I work 5 days as a mechanic in a Volvo dealership and I’d usually spend 3 nights a week in my own workshop. My friends and myself are all Honda drivers so I’ll work on their cars as well as preparing my corolla for any upcoming events. Whenever I do get away from the tools I’ll be down the local concrete park on my bike with the lads or hanging out with my girlfriend Amy G.

I’m honoured to represent Prodrift and all the Irish drivers at the Red Bull World Drifting World Championship in Long Beach. I’ll approach this as I do every other event, drift as fast as possible with crazy angle to entertain the US fans .

Gary Whiter – D1NZ
Hometown – Dargaville, New Zealand
Car – 1997 Nissan Silvia S14.5

Growing up in a predominant farming area called Dargaville which is situated in the upper north of the north island in New Zealand, Garry known as Gaz was initially more of a dirt bike guy, he had a good friend that belonged to the dominating New Zealand drift team called Driftcorp that initially introduced him to the sport of drifting in 2004, after seeing how it works Garry set out to obtain his first car being a 1989 Nissan Cefiro which around that time was a typical choice for any person starting off drifting, NZ had an abundant supply of Skylines and Cefiro’s they were cheap to buy and easy to setup to skid.

Although he was still a rookie to the sport and was competing against the best in the NZ business, with the Cefiro he was nearly always a fixture in top 16, He spent some time in his Cefiro. Looking back now it was basically a stepping stone for research and driver development, it didn’t take long to outgrow his full potential due to the smaller power and setup of his car.

It was then that he and his Father purchased his first Nissan Silvia S14 and set out to build it to compete with the higher level drifters. This in turn paid off as he was getting podium finish after podium finish, with this set up he achieved two very close D1NZ series overall runner ups and finally the long awaiting crowning of the overall D1NZ Driftking for 2008.

In the short downtime of 3 months His father Tony and Garry built yet another S14.5 completely from scratch with new and improved ideas and setups, this vehicle now is faster and more reliable running a PPG gearbox, it looks set to be at a world wide competitive grade. Garry himself has an appetite for improvement and is highly competitive he is also an extremely reliable and consistent competitor much to the delight of his sponsors. He thanks most of his success to his very supportive father Tony Whiter who motivates him and is there with him every step of the way..

In the NZ Drift scene Gaz is regarding as one of the most laid back happy go lucky drivers, he knows how to have a good time but come race day is 100% focused on the task at hand and always aims to win. He’s always easily approachable and ready to talk to his fans and sponsors.
For his future career he plans to be more involved with competing in international Level, with the support of his father and his dependable team mates in DriftCorp he will be sure to achieve his dream.