CHONGLAND
"... live separately from the rest of the people in the city"
Urban Dictionary

RADelaide 2025

• 5 min read •

DIARY

This years trip over to RADelaide ended up being an extended trip. Adelaide Motorsport Festival took place on the 8th & 9th of March, and the Drift Collective Round 01 & Drifting SA State Series Round 01 double header on the 15th & 16th of March. When the dates first dropped, I was looking at doing a FIFO + FIFO, but then the grand idea of flying in for the festival, then working the week in the Kyocera SA Branch offices before the drifting double header and flying home on the Monday came to mind.

The major savings were time and leave, but financially it was a little dearer with the additional costs of hotels, airport parking, hire-cars and food.

I flew into RADelaide early on Friday morning, and it was straight to the track to try and catch the drifters for their one and only practice session for the day. Sadly I missed them by about 10 minutes, then it was on to explore spots around the track for shots throughout the weekend and to see some of the amazing vehicles hit the track. Each group only had 1 official session during practice day, before some passenger laps and media requirements took place through the afternoon, so with that it was time to check into my hotel, grab some groceries for the weekend and a quick bite before the Gouger Street Party.

The Gouger Street Party is a really cool part of the Adelaide Motorsport Festival, which sees a bunch of the hero cars drive from Victoria Park, through the streets of the Adelaide CBD, under police escort, to park up on Gouger Street for a couple hours, allowing the public to peruse the cars amidst a party atmosphere before they drive back to Victoria Park. We managed to grab some really cool images, including cars with churches in the background, and some patrons sitting in the Bennetton B190, thanks to owner John Reaks. Whilst I was snapping away, I saw a familiar face amongst the crowds; it was none other than legendary SpeedHunter Blake Jones who mentioned that he was watching an artist at work. It was a good chance to have a quick chat and catch up on life, shooting and a few other bits and pieces before going back and searching for shots.

The remainder of the Adelaide Motorsport Festival was really warm. This year I spent alot of it focused on shooting the drift demos and pushing out select content from those, which the team from Drifting SA went on to share on socials, and then catching other bits and pieces before retreating to the air conditioned media centre.

From Monday 10th to Friday 14th I was back to work, just a little more remote than usual. Monday 10th was a public holiday in Adelaide, so I spent the morning working in my hotel room before a quick brunch break at Peter Rabbit Cafe, then back to work to round out the afternoon. Each morning after was spent #BeanHunting in RADelaide CBD, then walking the across the whole CBD to reach the Kyocera office just south of the city on Greenhill Road. Tuesdays coffee came from Peter Rabbit Cafe, and then Wednesday through to Friday was from Homeboy Cafe, after a recommendation from Dan Karjadi.

The SA Branch of Kyocera was very welcoming. It was great to meet and chat with the experienced team there, and to get a bit of an understanding of what they do, how they do, and plenty of the challanges they face. I'd be interested to see if this is something we as a company could do more of. None of this trip was paid for by work; it was a matter of convenience.

Each evening was spent exploring some of RADelaide CBD's culinary spots. Here's a few spots we got to, and what we ate/drank:

  • Vic Park Grandstand - B.L.T. Sandwich
  • Borsa Pasta Cucina - Spaghetti Chitarra alla Carbornara + Nonna's Iced Tea
  • Strathmore Hotel - James Squire Battered Fish
  • Ryumon Ramen Izakaya - Gyoza + White rice
  • Peter Rabbit Cafe - Smashed Avo + Flat White
  • Flow Espresso Specialty Coffee - B.L.A.T. + Espresso
  • Bread & Bone - Steak Frites + Booze & Juice (Fresh Apple Juice, Lime, Cracked Pepper, Gospel Straight Rye Whiskey)
  • Flow Espresso Specialty Coffee - Roast Chicken & Avo Toastie + Espresso
  • The Little Hunter - Hunter Chargrilled Whole Squid + Meet Me On East 8 (Vodka, Aperol, Sugar, Lime & Pineapple)
  • Ela Bar at Hotel Alba - Mushroom & Taleggio Panini, add Chicken

After rounding out the work week, I drove my hire car up to Shell V-Power Motorsport Park at The Bend for a few nights at Rydges Pit Lane and a couple of jam packed days of drifting!!! Drift Collective Round 01 saw just shy of 50 drivers, and Drifting SA State Series Round 01 had just shy of 80 drivers. The Minowa family from Japan were there to drive the weekend, with young Hiro winning L1 of the state series, and plenty of interstaters taking advantage of the double header and competing in both. Sadly, we only picked up a couple of clients for Drift Collective, so the trip ran at a loss, but there's plenty of images captured across both weekends that I'm really happy with, and more people are aware of what's on offer. Hoping that I can grab at least a few more clients for the next 2 rounds in Tasmania and Melbourne.