MATTY HILL - THE AUSSIE RETURNS IN 2019!

Matty Hill is a Sydney-based drifter who has been competing in D1NZ for 3 years. It's safe to say he's a fan favourite as well as an epic driver - only a few points off making the Championship podium come the end of the season in 2018. 

Matty tells us his love for drifting dates back to when he was around 12 years old, and his old man gifted him a 1979 decommissioned VB commodore race car with a 308 V8 and pretty much everything you could expect from a race car. He classes himself very fortunate to have grown up on a large property and he made good use of that with this car, essentially starting drifting in grass paddocks - a very “grass-roots” beginning for the now top-tier driver.

Once he got his license, Matty bought a Supra and started to further develop his skills on private roads with his mates. At the age of 19 he started to build his first track car, a 180SX which he debuted 2 years later - then once he hit the track for the first time there was no turning back. For the next 4 years he entered countless track days and drift events to improve his skills and have fun. Things turned serious in 2014 when Matty began a project he’d always dreamt of building, a Nissan S15. Building and driving that car whilst improving his skills has given him the awesome opportunity to now compete on an international level, backed by 4mance Automotive.

Matty's D1NZ highlight was taking both P1 Qualifier followed by the overall win of the first round of the 2018 D1NZ season in Wellington. Being the first international driver to take those positions in the same event was a massive achievement - especially given that the car was finished moments before it left Australia in a shipping container, leaving his team with little time to prepare it once landed in New Zealand. He says that once he inspected the car afer the event, he discovered there were a number of minor issues that each could have resulted in a lost battle, however the car pulled through and he was stoked to get the win.

He also wants to credit his team with their amazing repair efforts that round -  there were crashes and carnage through-out that event resulting in every panel being damaged, bent tie rods and control arms, but the 4mance Automotive team kept the car in the game, Matty couldn’t have done it without them.

As for the 2019 D1NZ season, Matty is super excited to come back to New Zealand with the 4mance team. Some of his favourite battles ever have taken place at D1 and after finishing only a few points behind the winners on the podium in last year, he really feels that this year could be a big one for him. Matty Hill will be back to give it his absolute everything this season and make sure that he's on the podium - along with his boys from Team Jenkins - he can’t wait to see everyone next month and be back with his favourite kiwis!

Don't forget to grab your tickets to the second ever Wellington D1NZ round - being held 15-16th February 2019 at Max Motors Family Speedway. Click here!