21/08/2011 01:31
As some of may know, Shutterspeed photographer, Fredrik Sørlie is no stranger to the track. Back in 2003 he was one of the first norwegian drivers to buy an japanese rwd car (a Gr. A rally spec AE86) and start drifting. However, as drifting wasn’t a sanctioned sport in Norway, Fredrik sold the car to focus on organizing events and gain recognition for the sport. Since 2005, Fredrik has not owned his own driftcar, but that’s about to change!
After a couple of test runs in borrowed cars this summer (see videos on Fredrik’s YouTube channel), Fredrik decided it was time to get back in the drivers seat. Buying a track ready car was not an option.
- I’m on a limited budget, so buying a high end car is not an option. Neither is buying something cheap and dull. I thought about it for a while, and figured that no one in Norway has ever buildt a classic JDM drift car. About time I do it then, says Fredrik.
In just a couple of weeks, Fredrik sourced a perfect base for the first ever Norwegian shakotan drifter, a 1977 Toyota Cressida. The car only has one previous owner since new, and has been serviced at a Toyota Garage every 20 thousand km. The bodywork is a bit rough, but look underneath the car, and it’s a different story!
The car had been sitting in the garage for 8 years when purchased, but still drove like new. With promises of taking good care of it and only drive on the weekends (partly true, as trackdays are mostly on the weekends), Fredrik drove the car home and went to work. Future plans include coilovers, custom steering geometry, full roll cage and an engine swap in favor of a turbocharged 1JZ! But for now, it was all about making it look decent enough to use as a daily driver while gathering parts. Rota Alecia’s were purchased from Driftworks, and springs were cut to suit Fredrik’s fear of heights.
Looks so much better without the trim on the side.
The tow hook is staying, as Fredrik actually has a 1977 caravan trailer for accomodation at events.
Authentic JDM style interior featuring a 22cm shifter and a Nardi steering wheel.
Almost perfect stance. Coilovers will allow for another inch of lowering.
Poor kitty…
There’s just no way you can go wrong with a classic Nardi wheel!
Wheels are 15×9″ ET-15 wrapped in 195/50-15 rubber. Nice stretch without being all out boso…
17/07/2011 15:52
Gatebil is always an exciting event, and this year even more so than usual. First of all the Rudskogen track has gotten a major overhaul over the winter, and is now a lot longer and looking great. On top of that, Shutterspeed photographer and webdesigner, Fredrik Sørlie, was lucky enough to borrow an awesome V8 + turbo powered Mazda RX7 FC for the event. Aleksander was armed with a camera as usual, and for once Shutterspeed was not only going to document the action, but be a part of it as well.
Fredrik’s weapon of choice for the Gatebil event.
Benjamin making sure the RX7 is ready to go.
Fredrik went out for a shakedown run early friday morning. Unfortunately, that was it. After only seven laps, the engine started to misfire, and after hours of searching for faults, the car was parked for the weekend.
A shame for Fredrik, as he really wanted to put on a good show with the event being covered by famous photographers such as speed hunters, Rod Chong and Larry Chen!
Nothing else to do then, besides grabbing the camera and head out to the track to forget about the disappointment and enjoy the action together with Aleks.
Gatebil is no longer street cars only. For the last couple of years, the Gatebil Extreme race has grown to become a big part of the event.
A nice view of the track and the crowd. Even though there was a record number of spectators, the event didn’t feel as crowded as earlier years, thanks to the new track being almost twice as big as the old one.
Ruud’s Skyline spitting flames!
This Porsche was flying – literally…
After the race it was back to basics with street cars in all shapes and sizes tearing up the track. Gatebil is all about fun, and what’s more fun than drifting cars that are not meant to be drifted?
This Volvo 360 came all the way from Holland to burn some rubber.
The new track layout is both photogenic and fun.
The Aasbø effect is evident. Supra’s are immensely popular drift cars in Norway.
Team Drift Monkey is one of the more visible teams at Gatebil. Tor-Anders Ringnes in the Supra is a local hero at Rudskogen.
The Rockstar team also stood out with their bright yellow and black cars. I especially love this Hachi driven by Fredrik Gustavsen.
With so many cars drifting at the same time, it was really hard to get a clear shot!
Flemming Alm was very much to blame for the local fog, as he drove like a maniac in his 4WD Audi!
4WD drifting is just sick to watch!
The crowds went wild as national drifting hero, Fredric Aasbø finally appeared on the track after some engine problems that nearly ruined his weekend.
The Team Need for Speed driver made up for everything with his insane entries and massive smoke!
These “Gatebil babes” also got a fair bit of cheers when they suddenly appeared in the back of a Nissan Figaro in between the drifting cars.
Fredrik gave the signal and they obeyed. Shame about the undergarments…
This gorgeous 4-rotor RX7 didn’t have to drift to put on a show. The sound was enough to make you cream your pants.
In between the track madness, it was time to enjoy these beauties.
Irish Speedhunters photographer, Paddy had never before seen a F40 in the flesh, thus risking his limbs to capture the moment.
After a long day in the sun it was nice to get back to the paddock for some bird watching, bbq and deep conversations over a glass of Chardonnay…
As the sun set, the music got louder.
Always working the camera!
After a good nights sleep, it was time for the final day of the event. The highlight of the day being the “breisladd” competition. Basically a very simplified drifting competition that takes place in a long right hander.
Thanks to female drifter, May-Helen Dahl, Fredrik was given the opportunity to enter in her car. Having never driven the car before, he spun on the entry and failed to qualify.
Fredric Aasbø finally won…
…with UK driver Walton Smith finishing second.
Previous winner and Formula Drift driver, Kenneth Moen, struggled with a lack of boost.
Local hero, Tor-Anders Ringnes didn’t quite make it, but was a crowd favorite.
So was this awesome BMW 1602 from Finland!
In the final hour of the event, Fredrik traded the camera for May-Helen’s S13 and closed the show by practising some seriously aggressive reverse entries.
All in all, the first Gatebil event at the new Rudskogen track was pretty awesome. We are already looking forward to the next one!
08/08/2010 08:30
Today we went out to shoot the awesome, satin black BMW 630 of our mate, Thomas. To add some color, he also brought his bright orange KTM race bike. We didn’t have the greatest location or lighting eqipment available today, so we had to make do with what we had. The strobe images from the grafitti location was a pain though. Let’s just say that the old Nikon D40 isn’t really cut out for shooting in the pitch dark.
The solution was to go for a heavily edited look to cover up the fact that the lighting was really hard to get right. The end result is ok, allthough I would like to have another go in slightly brighter conditions. Here are the shots that turned out ok:
05/08/2010 03:37
Today I went out for a quick photoshoot as my friend just got his Range Rover covered in satin black vinyl and needed pics for his ad. The car looks awsome sitting on those huge wheels and I was looking forward to shoot it. We were hoping for a clear sunset, as I didn’t have any lighting equipment at hand. That didn’t happen, but the satin black car still looked awsome, as there are no ugly reflections in the paint to worry about. We took a few pics for his ad and headed back home.
Here are the exterior images that were chosen for the ad:
At the end of the shoot I shot a blind shot from the ground just for fun. It was not supposed to be in the ad, just a random snap really. When I got home I realised that the angle was pretty cool, but that the car had a lot of ugly trucks and buildings in the background when facing that way. Some of it is allready removed in this version.
After finishing all the images for the ad I went back to this picture and did the only thing I could think of -replacing the background with an awsome sky from my collection og stock photos. One thing led to another, and after an hour or so, this was the end result.
Here’s a comparison between the original image and the fully edited version:
Hope you guys like the pics :)
// Fredrik
17/07/2010 23:51
Today, the annual “Japsetreff” took place at Rudskogen Motorpark. “Japsetreff” is a trackday exlusively for japanese cars, and features both grip and drift driving. Usually this event is pretty huge, but the weather might be to blame today, as the turnout was less than half of the previous years. As Aleksander Istad, our photographer, had to work, I only brought my old Nikon D40 with no real plans to cover the event. However, it was pretty boring in the pits, so I put on the vest and got my camera out. The old Nikon kept struggelig to focus properly, but I got a couple of sharp pics and a bunch of semi-sharp ones. Semi hi-res pictures are available for purchase at a cheap price in our store, but you may download low res and watermarked images for free from the gallery below.
Enjoy :)
// Webmaster Fredrik
15:53
Yup, we launched a blog. Why? Well, every once in a while we have something to tell you or maybe even to show you. When we do, this is were you’ll find it. For instance, we have quite a few images that doesn’t really belong in the gallery, but that we still want to share. Those images will be posted in our blog. If you have opinions on our posts, do not hesitate to comment.
