Young Drift Prodigy sees his Christmas Wish Come True

Young Drift Prodigy sees his Christmas Wish Come True

Yesterday afternoon 4-year-old’s Reegan Garner from Hamilton Christmas wish came true when Tauranga based professional drifter Cole Armstrong took time out of the teams preparation schedule for Round 3 of the national drifting championship (D1NZ) to shake hands with the young drift fanatic, and grant him one more special surprise.

After coming face to face with his larger than life hero and New Zealand Drift superstar, with the permission of Regan’s Mum, Cole safely strapped Reegan into his internationally campaigned Drift Skyline and calmly drove Cole’s young prodigy around the confined and controlled skidpan at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park in an experience Cole could only wish he had been given at the same age.

Reegan had written a letter to Santa outlining his Christmas wish of “going for a ride in my Skyline with Cole.”

The youngster loves Cole’s car so much that he has adopted it as his own and refers to it as “my Skyline.”

Reegan’s mother, Jasmine Barry, said his love affair with the Skyline started two years ago during Whitianga’s Festival of Speed in 2010.

“As soon as he saw Cole’s car, he climbed up my face to watch it. He was only two [years old] but instantly loved the car and told me it was his,” Jasmine explained.

Since then Reegan has collected masses of memorabilia and watches all of the competitive drifting aired on television.

“I learnt the hard way not to touch the remote when he’s watching the drifting,” laughed Jasmine.

Meanwhile, Cole was honoured to fulfil Reegan’s Christmas wish and says when he found out about the letter, he just had to do something.

“It felt pretty special to put a massive smile on the young boy’s face, and it’s great to know we can introduce our sport as professional drivers to fans who clearly love the sport at such a young age. I wish I hd someone who could have done the same for me when I first started to take notice of the sport. Drifting has only recently become accepted and promoted as a serious, professional form of motorsport in more recent years and it’s our job as ambassadors of the sport to keep it heading in the right direction with new talent coming through.”

Cole is totally committed about starting fans in the sport off on the ‘right foot’, constantly showing his fans how important it is to become skilled in all aspects of competitive driving, participate professionally and most importantly, in the right environment with the right training.

While Reegan’s wish was out of the ordinary and isn’t an everyday occurrence, Cole is passionate about inspiring his fans to step up to the professional level of drifting, with big goals like competition on the international stage; something to constantly strive for.

While Reegan is too young to have his own race car Cole would love to see Reegan inspired by his afternoon yesterday and hopes to see Reegan competing professionally on race tracks around New Zealand in the future.

ENDS

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