Hearing Triple: Axel Hildebrand and His Three-Rotor Corvette

From Gatebil to Goodwood and Nissans to Volvos, Axel Pedro Hildebrand has been around the block when it comes to drifting, but it’s his three-rotor Chevrolet Corvette that you’ve probably seen online.

If you haven’t, here’s a quick build summary for you: LS out, three-rotor in, lots of noise, lots of smoke, lots of drift angle. Simple.

But the story of the man who’s dedicated his drift career to screaming engines and – let’s be real here – mechanical pain is a bit less simple to explain.

Alen Haseta caught up with Axel after Gatebil Mantorp, and thought what better way to understand Axel’s story than to hear it in his own words?

APH: “I was born in Linkoping, Sweden, and my dad has always been crazy about cars. He always bought and sold cool old cars, and he raced replica GT40s – so I did a lot of my growing up at the racetrack.”

“I moved to England in 1997, and my dad continued to work with sports cars; eventually getting into racing before starting our family business in motorsport. We’re best known as the European distributor of Sunoco Race Fuels”

“We sponsored a lot of drifters before I started doing it, and I got to know Darren McNamara and Steve ‘Baggsy’ Biagioni pretty well. They really pushed me to give it a go and I haven’t looked back since. Baggsy had told me about the crazy Gatebil events for years, but it wasn’t until I started building the Volvo – when I met Kevin Brunberg – that it made sense for me to take part.”

“It felt like everyone attending had watched my YouTube series, which was quite a humbling experience, coming back to my home country and already being well known.”

“Nothing that we have in UK can compare with Gatebil. The closest is Drift Matsuri, which is 2 days of driving with a bit of partying. but it doesn’t come close to Gatebil’s scale.”

“The UK drift scene peaked around COVID time and the cost of living has really had a hard impact. There are lots of pro-level cars locked up in garages with drivers waiting to be able to afford to drive again, or waiting for the right event to pop up to make it worth the expense.”

Though Axel isn’t shy about taking his cars out, and his Corvette has gained a global notoriety for its outrageous looks and engine swap.

“We wanted to build something special for the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2022 and it was around the same time that the C6 Corvette was gaining popularity in America…I really wanted to build a rotary engine after hearing Mad Mike tear up the hill.”

“I figured we would try to restore the engine-swap balance! Whilst the LS makes for a much easier drive, you can’t beat the sound of a rotary.”

Combined with is HGK carbon-kevlar body panels, bold colours with Sunoco branding and a set of aggressive Blitz Type-03 wheels tucked under the arches, Axel’s Chevrolet is as memorable to look at as it is to listen to.

But Axel’s favourite thing about it is immaterial. “I love the way it looks and I love the noise of the 20B engine, but most of all I love this car because it scares me every time I drive it.”