The 4th and final round of the European Drift Championship took place at North Weald airfield this weekend.
We’ve had an incredibly unlucky season with the R32 Skyline with blowing engines, but finally, after many hours work by ourselves, and friends building an engine, fault-tracing a misfire, and a fantastic job of mapping done by Greg from Weston Performance, It was finally running perfectly at 1.2bar boost pressure as apposed to the normal misfiring 0.9bar we’ve had up until now.
It made 380bhp and 400ft/lbs torque on the Weston Performance Dyno with a broad powerband and great midrange power,
The North Weald course was a really large right hander, constantly slowing to a tighter radius, then switching sharply into a left hander that returned up the inside of the same corner that you start the course on (just the opposite way round). It was a really technical track, which really only had one line to carry enough speed and angle around the entire track.
The first goes I had were absolutely awesome. I finally had no problems with the car, and went out there to prove to myself that I can actually still drive :D. I got two runs in, then popped a boost hose off, as we were now running much more boost pressure than ever before.
This was no great problem, and I was very happy with how my couple of practice runs had gone.
Bonbon in the Driftworks Chaser had struggled a little initially with the size of the car and the width of the track layout, but had got to grips a little better with it towards the end of practice.
Leading up to qualification, I had been trying to get the R32 out for the second practice session, only to have it blow hoses off again, so the intake system was stripped down, brake cleaner’d, hoses and pipes were sanded to give a rough surface, and the car was back together just in time to be the last one out for practice. Luckily it held together this time, as I was first out for qualification immediately after the end of Practice.
I started qualification in the rain with a slightly misted screen, that wouldn’t seem to go away as my race suit was saturated from sorting out the hose problem in the rain. It slowly got worse, and I ended up counting the blocks of changing tarmac colour to know where I was on the course, and where to initiate the drift into the first corner.
Unfortunately on the second run, I mis-counted these blocks of tarmac, and initiated about 20metres too late, sending me flying off onto the grass into a controlled stop about 5metres in front of the barriers. Well, I say controlled, but actually I was just a blind passenger.
A quick visit back to the startline, and a quick wipe of the inside of the screen with one of the marshal's spare socks, and I managed to get my final run in without issue.
Bon, had adjusted tyre pressures, and looked a lot happier in the big Chaser. The car seems to have amazing traction for something that is 450bhp and 1500kg’s, and he put in three really good runs.
I qualified in 1st place with 96 points, and Bon qualified in 4th place.
The main event on the Sunday saw very impressive crowds despite the poor weather.
The top 16 was on, and I had drawn Kieran Cameron, who once again had made the trip all the way from Scotland.
I hadn’t really seen him drive over the weekend, so didn’t know what I was up against. But when we set off with him following me, he seemed to be quite close at times, so when we swapped to me following him for the second run, I upped my speed a little to stay really close behind him.
I initiated at the top of 3rd gear just behind him, he was fast, a little too fast though, and flew off onto the grass towards the spectators, throwing a massive lump of mud onto my screen, then continuing and hitting the barriers. Meaning I went through to the top 8.
Bon drew an extremely short straw in the top 16, he was up against Maciej Polody who travels from Poland for each round of the EDC. He’s an extremely talented driver that finished 1st at Round 2, and is extremely fast in Tsuisou (battle drift).
At the first corner with Bon leading, Maciej followed his line, but understeered catastrophically into the first corner flying off towards the forest, and taking out a signpost or two on the way.
Again Bon, just had to keep his head straight for the second run. They pulled off from the startline, and Bons chaser blew a boost hose off. Maciej took off, and the judges decided on a re-run, as there was too much space in between the cars at the marker cone on the straight. They ran again.
Bon still with his blown hose, held it together nicely going through to the top 8.
In the top 8, it was Pete Barber I was to go up against, in his FC Mazda RX7.
He had been looking really good out there, and was one of the fastest around the track in the morning practice. I had actually drawn Pete in the top 16 at Knockhill round 3, and I’d spun out, sending him through to the top 8.
I really didn’t want that to happen again here, so I was quite focussed. We had two fantastic runs, but I had more angle and was closer into slower section right in front of the judges.
Now I was through to the top 4, and who was I to go up against? Only bloody Bonbon!
He’d beaten newly licensed Paul Smith who had really impressed everyone that weekend. So the crowd were now in for a real show.
We’re very good friends as well as co-workers, but have just the right amount of competitiveness to give nothing less than 100% commitment to beating one another. I lead first, and could hear Bons external wastegate over the sound of my own car, so in the 2nd run I returned the favour by nearly crashing into him twice on the first corner, but adjusting my speed with a bit of left foot braking, and staying sideways within a couple of feet of him the whole way around the course.
The crowd loved the show, and the judges needed to see more, to be able to make a decision, so we went for 2 more runs. We both upped our speed, and left it until the last millisecond to initiate into the first corner. Again I could feel him breathing down the back of my neck (I could practically smell his stankbreath), right up until the last metre of track..
This time when I followed, I was really close again, but on a slightly tighter line waiting for the tiniest slip-up from Bon, that I could take advantage off. He did slip up, but only because his brakes failed. This made him take a very weird line into the tighter section on the handbrake only, and I had to straighten to avoid T-boning him, meaning Bon goes through to the final. It was an epic bit of driving, and I had a mahoosive grin on my face when returning to the startline, so I decided not to sack him.
Tim Marshall had got to the Top 4, and drawn Brett Castle. Unfortunately in a fit of over excitement after getting through, he’d snapped both drive shafts when returning to the startline. We had a spare pair with us in the van, so gave them to him, and Greg from Weston Performance helped them fit them both in less than 10 minutes. Unfortunately this meant he hadn’t made it up against Brett in time as there is a 5minute rule given to fix a car or not run, but he was able to go up against me in the battle for 3rd place.
Man, this was a battle and a half. I wasn’t expecting to drive again after loosing to Bon, so had a massive hit of adrenalin on the startline. I think Tim was the same, as he was happy to be back in the car in such a short amount of time.
I can’t really describe much in particular about the 4 battles that we had, as I was so focussed on what was going on inside the car. All I know is that it’s some of the closest driving I’ve ever done, and I think the two cars swapped paint on more than one occasion in those 4 runs.
It was absolutely awesome, and I think made both of our days, and ranks as one of the top three battles I’ve had this year..
Bon was now up against Brett Castle in the final.. Brett had really been on form this weekend, and looked really comfortable shifting the sequential HKS gearbox through the gears mid corner.
He really seemed to step it up a notch or 7 for this battle though, as he knew that Bon was a formidable competitor.
Both were really fast, close and commited, and the first battle was undecided in my eyes at 5/5.
The second part of the battle was equally impressive, but when slowing into the tight section, Bon straightened a little, giving Brett the win, and Driftworks a 2nd and 3rd place finish.
After my luck this year, I was more than happy with that.
Congratulations to Mr Brett Castle on winning this round, and winning the championship. I’ll have my first place back off you next year dude :D.
Phil x
Pictures by Ross and Laura from www.doristars.com
