Tom Marshall & Joe Marshall
Age:Tom-26 Joe-24
Hometown: Cornwall, England
Moved to Nz in 2007
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Tom: I don’t actually know haha
Joe: I always liked bikes, our next door neighbours was a motorbike mechanic and we were always mucking around with him, so it was sort of mechanics stuff in theory.
What is your daily driver?
Tom: Nissan R35 GTR Joe: Toyota Supra
Dream car?
Tom: R34 Nissan Skyline GTR, I had the chance to buy a super cheap one at turners one time, should’ve just borrowed some money and bought the thing.
What is your daily driver?
Tom: Nissan R35 GTR Joe: Toyota Supra
Dream car?
Tom: R34 Nissan Skyline GTR, I had the chance to buy a super cheap one at turners one time, should’ve just borrowed some money and bought the thing.
Joe: Thats a hard one, I guess everyone wants a supercar, Lamborghini’s are nice I suppose but every supercar is nice, I wouldn’t be fussy put it that way.
How long have you been drifting for now?
4 Years, Thats right from the start with toms dirty old laurel.
Most memomorable moment in your drfiting career?
Tom: Coming first at Baypark this year!
Joe: I did come 3rd a few times and a 4th at Puke one year so that was cool. I’ve had a few epic battles with Dave Steedman, he’s a good driver.
Joe: I did come 3rd a few times and a 4th at Puke one year so that was cool. I’ve had a few epic battles with Dave Steedman, he’s a good driver. The worst moment was losing to Tom by breaking an axle. (laughs)
Have you considered moving to the world stage?
Tom: If the oppurunity arose and I had the backing from sponsors yeah I would, too much money otherwise, no point going broke tryna do it.
What have been some of the challenges you have faced when it’s come to drifiting?
Tom: Money and time are some, but breakages has been a real challenge!
Joe: Mainy practice because all the tracks are so far away, if you actually added up the seat time me and Tom have compared to other drivers it’s actually not that much. We only done a handful of track days before we entered D1NZ and then in between rounds we only did a few track days like chrome expression sessions and stuff like that.
Fastest speed you have driven?
Tom: 260km
Joe: Somewhere between 240-260km
Fastest speed you have driven sideways?
Tom: 185km, fastest speed at Pukekohe
Joe: 190km around abouts at Pukekohe
Favourite Driver?
Tom: Hayden Paddon, he’s the man and I like the rally.
Joe: Probably Shane Van Gisbergen, he can hop in anything and peddle it ae, circuit cars, drifting, he’s an all round talented driver.
Whats the best part been of your drifting career?
Tom: I reckon atmosphere of it all! Being in a competition really, thats what I like, the driftings cool like being at a track day and whatever but the adrenaline of being in a compettion makes it that much better.
Joe: It’s fun, drifting is mean, it’s adrenaline rush and also pretty much everyone around you is algood aswell.
When your on the grid what do you do to syke myself out?
Tom: Haha everyone cracks up at me because I look like im focusing or something everytime the camera comes up to me, im just on my own buzz ae just concentrating to win really.
Joe: You just sorter try and focus, think of the run before and see if you can better it or copy it and try not to stuff it, thats the trouble with drifting one little mistake your out and its just gone, you don’t have the next lap to fix it, maybe not all the time you don’t wanna go as hard as you can cause you might bin it.
Do you have any plans from here for drifiting?
Tom: No not at the moment, maybe in a couple years, its a lot of time commitment, the amount of all nighters we’ve done in the shed, it’s just all the hours you put in after the event that makes it hard and stops us.
Joe: Not at the moment, maybe in a few years, if I do build another drift car I’ll probably put a barra motor in it!
What would you say to someone wanting to get into drifting?
Tom: I hope you got deep pockets haha If you want to compete in D1NZ don’t go straight to pro, start off in pro sport. You can compete with 250kw or whatever and still be in the top 5, theres a couple that are up there power wise, but the rest have low powered cars and still do really well and as soon as you go up in your power everything else breaks, you have to upgrade everything else aswell in your driveline.
Joe: Grab an old streetcar find a track day and some old second hand tyres, just go to a couple track days and get the seat time, don’t do it on the streets. Don’t play with everything too, get used to your car the way it is!
Scariest moment drifitng?
Tom: Probably when the bonnet flew up, just gave me a fright haha That was at Taupo, just pulled out of pit lane and hit 70km or something and the bonnet just flew up, yeah just gave me a fright cause your not expecting it. I don’t think I’ve really had any other frights but when I nearly hit the wall at Puke this year it kind of gave me little bit of a scare because it wasn’t my car, I was a little bit worried, only just pulled it off.
Joe: I had a spin pretty close to the outer wall at Pukekohe in the wet one year, it’s a very scary track anyway without the wet. So yeah I nearly binned it pretty quick! I actually did a track day in a SR20 SSS Sentra at Pukekohe and spun out by the pit lane went through the grass and nearly hit the wall too haha
Tom: Was it scary driving someone elses car? did it make you hold back?
It did at first, cause I was struggling a bit but once I got used to it I started just acting like it was my own. Changaing gears and clutching and everthing, I’ve got a thing about knowing the limit, you have to know the limt, I think thats why me and Joe didn’t break our cars that often because we both know that limit, like someone will limit drop it at 50kms in 3rd gear well thats just going to break something where as me and Joe will shift back to 2nd and ease into it. We’re still pretty hard on our cars but we know that limit.
You never really broke much gear did you?
Nah, not really, went through a few RB’s but that was more bad engine builds rather than being too rough on it. Joe from the beginning spent a bit of money and built a good engine we’re as i didn’t have the money and took shortcuts, cost me in the long run. I should’ve gone with a 2j from the start, cause there just that much more reliable and got heaps of torque.
Who have been your biggest supporters?
Probably Emma, my sponsors and all my crew!
Probably Teresa. And also Chas, Blair, Cam, Toby and everyone that’s helped out on the car.
Engine of choice?
Tom: 2JZGTE, with unlimited budget I would build an insane 2J. Like not just a normal one but an insane one.
Joe: VR38 fully worked!
Who does your engine work?
Tom: Mikes engines build them and then me and my mates Charlie & Blair basically do all the rest.
Joe: What was it like being in the competition with your brother?
Yeah it was good, you could compare your runs, like we’d say I keep stuffing that corner up, what are you doing there, are you dropping back a gear or are you dabbing the break, so it was good in that way. We would ask each other what we had done if we did a sick run. We only battled a few times in competition, one was Tauranga in pro am and he beat me, and the other was when I broke an axle at Manfield and he beat me again. We know each others driving styles which is good, it was a pain in the bum at manfield because it was a rerun so it was just all or nothing really doesnt matter if i hit his car or spin out cause one of us was going through no matter what but on the entry it broke so I was gutted haha. We battled a lot together during practice but we found that we probably shouldn’t have because we got used to each other but everyone else drives completely different.
Who are your Sponsors?
Evergreen Tyres
The Bling Company
All-Torque Media
NZFD
Kill-It-Daily
Fenix radiators
Mikes Engines
ATJ Hire
FleetPin
MSE Turbos-Steve Murch
Signosaur
Motul oil
Matt Clifford Panel Beaters
Henderson Automotive
Tom and Joe Marshall are two brothers that entered the drifting world only 4 years ago and have done awesome things in this short period of time! Starting with just a few track days and a simple car, they have now competed with NZ's best drifters in the D1NZ Championships.
They have had both had their fair share of achievements and have made Northland and especially Waipapa people proud. As brothers they worked together and drifted together. Day to day they work in their family business, ATJ Hire, alongside the rest of the family.
Originally from England they were not expecting to become NZ championship drifters. With the support of their partners and family, along with sponsors and friends, they had a blast and came out with some awesome times to talk about and memories to share.
Check out their interview over the next couple pages and see the inside scene of these guys drifting career!-------->
Tom's Nissan S15 Silvia Specs
Engine: 2JZ-GTE
Power: 540KW
Boost: 25psi Boost
Intake; BNR Manifold; Sinco FFP
Driveline: G-Force dog box,
Quarter master Twin-plate clutch
Tyres: Zestino 265 semi-slicks
Rims: TBC DK's
Aspiration: Holset HX40; Turbosmart Wastegate; Tial BOV
Cooling: Fenix radiator + intercooler
Suspension: Tein super drift TDP steering set up
Brakes: Wilwood