Under the Hood: Christina Vithoulkas and the Road Back to Adrenaline
Published on 17 April 2026
Christina Vithoulkas doesn’t describe herself as a car enthusiast, at least not in the traditional sense. While she might look the part, she is quick to clarify that, unlike most people in motorsport, her passion for drifting didn’t begin with the car but rather the feeling and thrill that the sport gives her.
“I don’t call myself a car person,” she says with a laugh. “I’m a fun person. I’m an adrenaline person.”
It’s a distinction that becomes increasingly clear as her story unfolds, because for Christina, it’s always been about the pursuit of something visceral, something fast, and something that makes her feel alive. It’s this pursuit of adrenaline that has brought the 31-year-old para drift driver all the way from Melbourne for Rare Spares and Repco Rockynats 06, where she will be joining the Drift World Exhibition demos at Little Tokyo across the weekend.
Drawn to the event after seeing fellow female driver Mercury Lien share her experiences, and fresh off her first visit to Summernats earlier this year, Christina saw Rockynats as an opportunity not just to attend, but to truly be part of the action and meet new people.
“Any big event like this with cars and the car culture is so much fun because a lot of the public are involved as well,” she says. “It’s more fun than just a standalone drift event because even though I am a driver this weekend, I feel like I’m a spectator too.”
“The thing I’m looking forward to the most is just meeting new people, seeing all of the different cars and getting amongst a new crowd,” she says. “I get a big buzz out of doing something different.”
Motorsport, however, was not always part of the plan. Growing up, Christina was not particularly interested in traditional sports, despite spending time riding quad bikes as a child. It wasn’t until she turned 18 and discovered dirt bikes that something clicked.
“I realised that my passions were never in traditional team sports,” she says. “I needed something fast, something with power between the legs.”
That realisation led her into freestyle riding, where she became one of Australia’s first female freestyle motorbike riders, fully immersed in the adrenaline-fuelled world she had found.
“I very quickly fell in love with dirt bikes and that became my passion,” she says.
A mistimed motocross jump, however, would change the trajectory of her life in an instant. The crash left Christina with a broken spine, fractured skull, lacerated spleen, fractured ribs and fluid in her lungs, resulting in paralysis from the chest down and complete loss of movement and feeling below her T5 vertebra. In the aftermath, she was faced with the reality of rebuilding her life, navigating not only the physical challenges of her injuries, but also the emotional weight of losing the sport that had defined her. Yet even as she adapted to her new normal, her focus remained firmly on what came next.
“The injury itself, fine—I couldn’t care less,” she says candidly. “But I was always thinking in the back of my mind, how am I going to replace jumping the dirt bike?”
The answer, as it turned out, found her. Around a year after her accident, Christina made a spontaneous decision to attend a drift event in regional New South Wales, driving ten hours overnight on her birthday to get there. At the time, her understanding of drifting was minimal.
“My only understanding was from Tokyo Drift,” she admits. “I didn’t even realise drifting was like constant loss of traction the whole lap.”
That changed the moment she stepped into the car as a passenger.
“The first lap, I just fell in love,” she recalls. “I realised I got the same sensation and fire that lit my soul like the dirt bike did.” From that point on, there was no hesitation. “It wasn’t even a question. I just knew drifting was what I was going to do.”
Within two weeks, she had purchased a car, beginning what would become a three-and-a-half-year build process that demanded patience, resilience and a willingness to figure things out along the way. Working alongside engine builder Dean Rossiter, Christina quickly realised that the project was far more complex than she had initially anticipated.
“The car rocked up and he said, ‘Christina, this is like one percent done,’” she recalls. “It was just a rolling shell—you need driveline, exhaust, wiring, the whole set.”
What followed was a meticulous build, with every element designed not only for performance, but to suit her specific needs as a driver. The result is a highly customised drift car that allows Christina to drive entirely by hand. Using Bluetooth satellite hand controls that wrap around her hand, she controls the throttle through a sensitive drop-by-wire system.
“It doesn’t give you as much,” she explains. “You’ve only got like two centimetres of play as opposed to a full pedal.”
The car runs a three-speed automatic transmission, allowing her to shift gears without a clutch while braking is managed through a forward push mechanism in place of a traditional handbrake. Additional features, including a fire suppression system, have been incorporated to provide extra safety.
“It gives me that extra time and security of getting out,” she explains.
Two years in and she still admits that mastering the sport is an ongoing process, openly admitting that she ‘still feels like she’s winging it’. Yet it is precisely that challenge that continues to drive her.
“I think it’s easier to learn something when you have no choice but to do it,” she adds, reflecting the mindset that has carried her through every stage of her journey.
Despite the complexities, her experience within the motorsport community has been overwhelmingly positive.
“In the drift scene, I’ve actually never had to think about my disability,” she says. “It’s the only thing I can go out and do without feeling like I’m at a disadvantage.”
Without the need for separate categories or adjustments, she is able to compete alongside other drivers on equal terms, something she deeply values, giving her the rare opportunity to feel like she’s back to the ‘old Christina’. The support of the car community has only reinforced that sense of belonging.
“Everyone’s been so welcoming… people I don’t even know are always offering a hand at every event I go to.”
As Australia’s first female para drift driver, Christina is aware of the significance of her position, but she approaches it with a sense of purpose rather than pressure.
“I just hope I’m the start of a movement,” she says. “I needed a version of myself to see… if I’d seen me online while I was in rehab, I would’ve thought, yeah, my life will turn out fine.”
Now, she has become that version for others, using her platform to educate, inspire and, as she puts it, “give people FOMO and show them how fun it is.”
Now, as she prepares to take to the drift track at Rockynats, Christina is focused solely on making the most of the event and the challenges that come with driving on a tighter track.
“I’m so keen,” she says of the Drift World Exhibition demos that will take place across Saturday and Sunday at the event. “It’s tighter, I’m going to be driving very closely with other drivers… I don’t really do it that way typically.”
It’s a new challenge, a new environment, and exactly the kind of experience she thrives on. Christina will be part of the Drift World Exhibition team that will be performing regular drift demos at Little Tokyo across Saturday and Sunday. For times, check out the full Rockynats program: https://www.rockynats.com.au/Program