This Aussie Ute is Back and Ready to Haul in a Win at Sick Powerfest
Although the world of drifting has a lot of different styles and approaches, it’s not unusual to see “common cars” employed for battle.
But every now and then, something unique will make an appearance, and one of those at this year’s Summit Sick Powerfest Presented by M1 Concourse is Aaron Speegle’s Holden Ute.
Aaron can trace his start in the drifting world to Woodward Avenue and the Roadkill Nights event. “A few years ago, Roadkill Nights was one of the first events I attended,” he said. “It got me interested in drifting, as the Dodge guys were doing drift demos with the Challengers and Chargers. It is what got me into searching for more.”
Summit Racing Equipment Sick Powerfest Presented by M1 Concourse comes to Pontiac, Michigan this Friday - August 11, 2023! For more information, click HERE!
Armed with a desire to jump into the world of drifting, Aaron’s first car would be the half car – half truck Holden Ute that was never available for sale in the US.
Lucky for him, Formula Drift driver Josh Robinson brought it over from Australia. “When I bought the car, it was running on the stock ECU,” he said. “With everything being built in Australia and shipped to the US as it was, this made is somewhat difficult to source parts.”
The small issues became much bigger in a competition event not long after purchasing the car. “As things normally happen with me, we took the car to our first event, and I was convinced to do some extra burnouts at the end of one of my runs,” said Aaron.
That led to a few minute burnout, promptly followed by the Ute catching on fire. “After that, we totally broke down the car and replaced all of the wiring and ECU with a Holley Terminator X, along with new fuel cell and power management.”
Despite 2023 being his second season in drifting, and the extra work he’s put in, Aaron is convinced wheeling the revamped Ute is the most fun motorsports activity he’s ever done.
“Coming from stunt bikes and other motorsports in my past, this is my favorite at the moment,” he said. “We love drifting, and almost every car I get now we convert or build for this purpose. At one point, we had broken or being built 13 personal drift cars at the same time, so this is what we love to do now.”
The Summit Sick Powerfest Presented by M1 Concourse is a huge 1-day event coming to Pontiac, Michigan TOMORROW, Friday, August 11th, 2023!
Massive amounts of smoke will come from the burnout competition, as well as the style and engine-screaming sounds of the drifting competition, with $5000 on the line for each!
PLUS, a super-sized Car Corral, nitro-breathing cackle cars, and RC Drag Racing, it’s a full day of fun you won’t want to miss!
Want to participate, or come out to watch all the action? All the information on Summit Sick Powerfest is AVAILABLE HERE!
Spectators: you can get special $10 general admission tickets thanks to Summit Racing! Use the discount code summitracing when you pre-purchase TICKETS HERE!
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Aaron Speegle.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com