Catherine ‘Drift Cat’ Coleiro is the only female car drifter in the Drift Australia Series and is preparing to take on the United States’ best.
By Marc McGowan
CATHERINE ‘Drift Cat’ Coleiro is preparing to take the United States by storm with Australia’s latest craze – car drifting.
The Keysborough local, 27, took up the sport three years ago and has been a major attraction in the Drift Australia Series, which has been running for two years, as the only elite female drifter in Australia.
“I used to ride motorcross when I was younger, and when I turned 18 I got a car and got into drag racing – illegal drag racing,” Coleiro said and laughed.
“The police kept shutting it down and I got bored with it and a few friends were drifting, so I gave it a go.”
Coleiro’s association with the sport has skyrocketed since, culminating in a fourth-place finish in the inaugural Drift Australia Series season last year.
It has been tougher going this season, with Coleiro 20th in the overall standings.
“I’ve had the worst luck with my car (Nissan Onevia). Drifting puts so much strain on everything,” she said.
“We were okay last year but I guess we’ve worn everything out.”
Car drifting has been around for “30 or 40 years”, according to Coleiro, but its Australian origins can be marked back to Adelaide five years ago – the spiritual ground of drifting in this country.
But what is car drifting?
“Going around the track sideways, with heaps of speed and angle,” Coleiro said.
“You are judged on style, speed and angle and whoever has the biggest entry point (where the car starts going sideways).”
The sport has taken Coleiro all over Australia and, hopefully, come February, she will be tearing it up in the US.
“It is huge in the States,” she said. “The girls up there get $200,000 from sponsors.”
This is a far cry from the money on offer in Australia.
The entry fee is $1700 for each event in the Drift Australia Series and there is no prizemoney on offer for single events.
“There is money offered at the end of the series but there isn’t for each event,” Coleiro said.
Legendary car drifter Rhys Millen described Coleiro as the best female drifter he had seen, and she is hoping to join him on the prestigious US circuit.
“They got me to send a proposal over there – they call it a reel – of my drifting,” Coleiro said.
“I would love to make a career just out of drifting.”
Coleiro had a tough initiation into the male-dominated sport but her impressive results have made her “just another competitor”.
“At the start they thought I was just a chick, but when I got sponsored and started getting up there (in the results) they started turning their back on me,” she said. “Now they are fine with me.”
If Coleiro’s explanation of the sport still leaves you scratching your head, she has one last bit of advice.
“You know the movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift? Well that’s all about drifting – I always tell people just to watch that.”
