Currently the number one drifter in the nation, twenty-three year old Leighton Fine has managed to achieve some of his outstanding goals, in a so far, relatively short career all the while remaining level-headed and grounded.

Originally born in New Zealand, Leighton and his family moved to Australia in 1986 were they soon called a little place named Adelaide home.

Not long after graduating school Leighton soon found an interest in cars and in turn lead him to a relatively new Australia motorsport drifting. By 2003 Leighton bought his first drift car, a faded yellow, very stock AE86 Sprinter Corolla for the mere price of $2000AUD. Leighton owned the car for three months before any modifications were undertaken. Modifications included an engine conversion, diff and suspension upgrades.

Leighton entered his first drift competition in December 2004 at Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne, Victoria. This was financed by competing in a video game competition ‘Need For Speed’, unlike his success in this video game, it was not matched in his drift competition, however this left him wanting to achieve more.

In 2005 Leighton participated in the Full Lock Motorsport Street Class National Series, which he won four out of five rounds, achieving Series Champion, in his second year of competing. He also gained wild card entries to three of the Drift Australia series events, where he managed to place first and third amongst the best professional drifters in the country.

At this point in time Leighton was discovering the difficulty between the balance of time for drifting, working and funding the competitive driving, even with help from various people including the support of mechanic Steve Grant.

In 2006, another drift competitor, Josh Young, was unable to fill his duties with his major sponsor due to other commitments, which was offered to Leighton and he happily stepped up to accept the deal and forfill its duties, enabling him to persevere towards his goals with drifting, by continuing to compete in Drift Australia. This turn in luck saw his AE86 made over to its current black livery.

This placed Leighton in with the top professional drifters in Australia, battling with his much discussed ‘underpowered’ AE86 which was barely pushing 150rwkw, Leighton didn’t find this much of a challenge for his skill, finding himself placed the 2006 Drift Australia Runner Up, due to engine failure eliminating him from his final round.

2007 arrived full of promise as Leighton become part of Team PEER. During his time with Team PEER Leighton was exposed to a different side of the drift, besides competition battles. He realised the importance of publicity of new upcoming motorsports, such as drift, through several drift demonstrations at various events. Darren Appleton from team PEER, also known as ‘Afro Man’, took the role of Mentor for Leighton building memories that would last forever, described as “a mate for life”.

This year- 2008, has shaped up to be one of Leighton’s most achievable years. Driving under what is described as the benchmark drift team in Australia, The Toyo Tires/ Commercial Truck Sales Team. With the support of this team, he won three of the five Drift Australia rounds, being crowned National Champion, and is leading the South Australia state series, with two out of two wins.

Leighton has now been offered the chance to head to USA and compete on an international level, in the Red Bull World Championship. He feels this is an honour to represent his country, Australia on the world stage. Leighton is also looking forward to the opportunities that the 2009 season of Drift Australia may present.