EDC Round 1 Official Report - Drifting forum

EDC Admin · 11-04-2007, 12:10

Dear all,

Round 1 of the European Drift Championship at Donington kicked off the 2007 season and what a fantastic weekend it proved to be with record crowds and heartstopping performances from the drivers.

Blessed with fantastic weather throughout the weekend, the action had started on the Friday well before the show had begun. All drivers who had scored championship points in the 2006 national series were granted 2007 licenses. However with a sport growing at an exponential rate, many new comers wanted to challenge the established professionals. A licensing day was held on Good Friday to determine which drivers would earn EDC driver status and compete for the title of European Drift Champion 2007.

A field of 20 drivers stepped up and gave it their all in an effort to secure EDC licenses. The level of drivers is continuously improving and this was apparent in the standard which was shown by all drivers. Many of the drivers would have probably gained Licenses if they had challenged in 2006 with their current skill, but as the standard continues to increase, the bar must be raised to maintain the highest standard of drifting throughout Europe. After an intense licensing session 4 drivers where granted EDC licenses with a further 2 gaining provisional licenses. Provisional license holders must achieve a top 16 qualification position within 2 rounds to upgrade their license or they will have to undergo licensing procedures once again.

The successful drivers were:

Dean Kearney: Xtreme Autos PS13 Silvia (Ireland)
Alan McCord: Hi Octane Jap Performance Parts S15 Silvia (N. Ireland)
Chris Parry: Team Nightspirit AE86 Corolla (England)
Peter Barber: WGT Auto Developments FC3S RX7 (England)

Provisional Licenses:
John Power: Xtreme Autos RPS13 180SX (Ireland)
Bruno Esperanca: Drift Garage PS13 Silvia (Portugal)

EDC Round 1:

Due to the ISTS Donny show being a two day show, the competition was also split into two days. The Saturday would see the drivers practice sessions and qualification, Sunday would host the Top 16 Showdown.

The Saturday saw a few surprise performances. 2006 Champion Phil Morrison changed from his 2006 championship winning S14 200SX to an HCR32 Skyline. The horse and rider combination was clearly not working to the standard that everyone is used to seeing from the champ and Phil’s fortune did not return in time for his qualification runs resulting in him not making the final 16 cut shocking all involved. Team Driftworks’ bad luck did not end there; with 2006 final round winner Ben Broke-Smith also struggling with his new car, a JZX81 Toyota Chaser. Ben put in, by his standards a sub par performance which saw him qualify in 17th position. Things were about to get better for Ben however when during the results announcement, 14th place qualifier Ian Harrison revealed that he had blown the engine and clutch in his RS13 200SX. This meant that Ben Broke Smith moved up to claim the 16th spot and subsequently into the finals on Sunday.
The struggles of the “usual suspects” meant there was space for some of the new comers to make their mark on the championship right from the beginning. All drivers who gained licenses on Friday qualified into the top 16 except Bruno Esperanca who due to a last minute issue was unable to compete in round 1. John Power’s qualification into the top16 meant that his license was upgraded to a full license.

Top qualifier of the day went to James Hudson in the Driftmoto/SRB Power HCR32 Skyline. James was close to flawless all day and looked very confident for the finals on the following day. Chris Parry in the Nightspirit AE86 used his fresh license to its full extent and stunned many by qualifying 4th overall. Many of the top drivers where all present in the top 16 including Brett Castle, Mark Luney, Tim Marshall, Ralph Crampton and Mark Johnston.

Sunday Finals:

A morning practice session was held to enable the drivers to learn the changing conditions of the track on a new day. All drivers looked even better than in qualification but the drivers who particularly stood out were Ralph Crampton in the D2/SVA PS13 Silvia and Peter Barber in the WGT FC3S RX7. Peter’s performance surprised the judges due to his continued improvement through out the weekend.

The finals started with a very eventful battle between James Hudson and Ben Broke-Smith. With nothing to call between the two drivers after two runs, the judge called for a sudden death “One More Time”. A machine problem from Ben Broke-Smith meant a massive 8-2 Advantage went to Hudson. Ben Broke-Smith had to fix the car to return for his final run within the allocated time. A tense 5 minutes passed and Ben was able to return in the nick of time. Meanwhile, a communications problem meant that Hudson’s pit crew were unable to let him know of the situation and his huge advantage. Unaware of the position he was in, Hudson continued to push for the win and made an uncharacteristic mistake and spun, handing the win to Ben Broke-Smith, being lucky on two occasions in this competition.

The XTreme Autos team had drawn each other in the top 16s having qualified 8th and 9th. The experience of John Power paid off in a close battle putting him through to the top 8. Everybody was very impressed by Kearney’s performance and expect great things from the young 18 year old in the near future.

A near spin by Declan Hicks knocked him out of contention as Chris Parry continued to drive flawlessly. Tim Marshall kept his cool against Mark Coyne and booked his place in the Top 8.

The battle between Ralph Crampton and Niall Gunn became very eventful. The first mistake made all day by Crampton saw him run wide on corner 2. Gunn saw the opportunity to pass and made his move but then closed off all space for Crampton to continue his run. This resulted in some rubbed doors and both drivers off the track. The judge determining that both drivers were equally bad in this situation awarded the first run a tie. Ralph Crampton, unable to recover mentally from the first run makes another mistake on the second run and spins out putting Gunn into the top 8.

Mark Johnston was gradually finding form and confidently took down Alan McCord, whilst Brett Castle controlled his car beautifully to avoid a collision with Mark Buckle who was struggling in the Distinctive Cars of York Skyline.

A big surprise was rookie Pete Barber who held his own against Mark Luney in the SVA Imports 350Z, the pressure finally getting to Pete who spun in the second run handing the win to Mark Luney.

cont....

EDC Admin · 11-04-2007, 12:10

cont....

Top 8:

Ben Broke-Smith again managed to recover a 7-3 deficit and managed to pull John Power into sudden death. Ben’s Chaser still giving him some problems meant that he was still unable to perform to the level that he is capable of knocking the second Driftworks driver out of the competition, whilst newly licensed Power found himself in the Semi Finals.

In the next battle, a big mistake by Niall Gunn knocked him out of the competition which meant that Chris Parry, another of the newly licensed made it through to the Semi finals.

Mark Johnston pulled a controversial manoeuvre against Tim Marshall causing Marshall to spin out, but the move was judged as bad, but not as critical as a spin giving an advantage to Johnston in the Weston Performance Silvia. Marshall managed to pull back an advantage in run 2 but not by enough to put the Apex Performance Skyline into the top 4.

Brett Castle looked very composed through out the competition and didn’t put a wheel wrong against Mark Luney. The SVA 350Z managed a 5-5 run in run 2 but the advantage gained by Castle in the first run saw the Autoglym/Abbey Motorsport 200SX in the last 4.

Semi Final:

An all newcomer semi final went to sudden death but Chris Parry making a critical error in the 3rd run meant that John Power would be in the finals at his first ever EDC competition.

The second semi final also going sudden death showed just how close the competition was. Johnston had upped his game even further and managed to hold off the veteran Brett Castle to book his place in the final.

Final:

The finals turned out to be a clear cut decision with John Power making a big mistake on run 1 giving an 8-2 advantage to Johnston. Power was well aware of the situation and made a daring move to try and turn the match around. This however did not pay off resulting in further mistakes by Power and crowning Mark Johnston of Weston Performance the winner of Round 1 of the European Drift Championship.

The HKS Hard Charger award was awarded to Chris “Paz” Parry in the Team Nightspirit AE86 Corolla for his aggressive yet controlled driving and his alarming achievement over the course of the last three days.

An exciting few days of competition with many unexpected results gave everybody the impression that the 2007 European Drift Championship is something to keep an eye on, each and every round. Next round SILVERSTONE 3rd JUNE 2007.

Shadowness · 11-04-2007, 12:16

Excellent write-up

Plus, congrats to all the Irish drivers who came for this, you all put on an awesome show!

Congrats to Johnny for the second place!

docwra · 11-04-2007, 12:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDC

An all newcomer semi final went to sudden death but Chris Parry making a critical error in the 3rd run meant that John Power

ROFL @ Paz and Power being "newcomers"

EDC Admin · 11-04-2007, 12:43

Forgot to add,

The EDC has its own Blog section on MotorAddicts which is here :

European Drift Championship | Motor Addicts

Feel free to join in with the officials and drivers in our special section.

Excellent site, worldwide coverage.

EDC Admin

**Bon Bon** · 11-04-2007, 12:53

Good write up

But that's not what happened to me, the only machine trouble I had was against Johnny P when my boost hose kept blowing off, the rest was genuine mistakes by myself, getting used to a new car, falling asleep, and being rubbish. lol Also as far as I'm aware I beat Hudson by outdriving him, forcing him to go as fast as possible then try and slow down more than he could behind me, which made him spin.... not by luck

TwinturboCH · 11-04-2007, 13:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bon Bon

Good write up

But that's not what happened to me, the only machine trouble I had was against Johnny P when my boost hose kept blowing off, the rest was genuine mistakes by myself, getting used to a new car, falling asleep, and being rubbish. lol Also as far as I'm aware I beat Hudson by outdriving him, forcing him to go as fast as possible then try and slow down more than he could behind me, which made him spin.... not by luck

Yep, indeed not luck, was my mistake.

I thought you were spinning when actually you were just winding on insane angle LOL You won 'cause I cracked and you were the better driver on the day

**Bon Bon** · 11-04-2007, 13:34

Thanks James

Took some serious effort though and I did make a lot of mistakes up to that point, if I hadn't been able to push you into a spin it would have been the other way around. For consistency you had me beat.

hashiriya · 11-04-2007, 14:21

That report was written by an idiot who has no journalistic experience whatsoever...

ok so it was me... sorry for any inacuracies, but i stand by the fact that if Hudson had known that he was 8-2 ahead, he wouldn't have been so close to Bon Bon and he wouldn't have gone in so fast and he wouldn't have spun... thus James' problem was communications

TwinturboCH · 11-04-2007, 14:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by hashiriya

That report was written by an idiot who has no journalistic experience whatsoever...

ok so it was me... sorry for any inacuracies, but i stand by the fact that if Hudson had known that he was 8-2 ahead, he wouldn't have been so close to Bon Bon and he wouldn't have gone in so fast and he wouldn't have spun... thus James' problem was communications

That I also agree with

Had I known I was 8-2 up I'd have sat 5 car lengths back and just done my own thing.

EDC Admin · 11-04-2007, 14:37

Maybe in future pit-car radios would be a good idea to install so people can tell you where you stand before each run.

Shadowness · 11-04-2007, 14:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDC Admin

Maybe in future pit-car radios would be a good idea to install so people can tell you where you stand before each run.

or couldnt the marshall at the start tell the drivers before they're 'released' for their run?

Nelo · 11-04-2007, 14:59

Yep, 16 radios for the Top 16 cars involved would be a great idea.

Albert · 11-04-2007, 15:00

Nooo...they'll take even less notice of me on the start line as they try to understand what's being said while recieving the nearest baby alarm through their headsets.

Captain Muppet · 11-04-2007, 15:05

Declan was holding his fingers up to show the drivers what the score was, but it may have looked a bit like he was flipping you off.

How about the judges hold up score cards?

Albert · 11-04-2007, 15:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadowness

or couldnt the marshall at the start tell the drivers before they're 'released' for their run?

Not really, they're so full of adrenalin that as soon as they are in place they're flagged away.
I really wouldn't like to have a chat with them in that state, they mostly have wide eyed stares and are concentrating pretty hard ( apart from Bladey of course who you have to wake up).

EDC Admin · 11-04-2007, 15:07

The operations team and judges have enough to do, the onus is on drivers/teams to have spotters to relay information how they see fit/working.

Regards

MC2 · 11-04-2007, 15:08

Very nice writeup. I had a awesome day.

Matt_S · 11-04-2007, 15:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDC Admin

The operations team and judges have enough to do, the onus is on drivers/teams to have spotters to relay information how they see fit/working.

Regards

As was discussed in the briefing room after qualifying

EDC Admin · 11-04-2007, 18:11

Couple of pix from the day which are relevant to the thread :

The Podium winners - L-R John Power, Mark Johnson, Brett Castle with Paz ( hard charger winner ) and Tsubaki :

The Drivers for a group shot - professional drivers, doing a professional job at an International level event and enjoying the moment:

Well done to all, fantastic effort

11-04-2007, 12:10	#1 (permalink)
EDC Admin spl dori master Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 295	EDC Round 1 Official Report Dear all, Round 1 of the European Drift Championship at Donington kicked off the 2007 season and what a fantastic weekend it proved to be with record crowds and heartstopping performances from the drivers. Blessed with fantastic weather throughout the weekend, the action had started on the Friday well before the show had begun. All drivers who had scored championship points in the 2006 national series were granted 2007 licenses. However with a sport growing at an exponential rate, many new comers wanted to challenge the established professionals. A licensing day was held on Good Friday to determine which drivers would earn EDC driver status and compete for the title of European Drift Champion 2007. A field of 20 drivers stepped up and gave it their all in an effort to secure EDC licenses. The level of drivers is continuously improving and this was apparent in the standard which was shown by all drivers. Many of the drivers would have probably gained Licenses if they had challenged in 2006 with their current skill, but as the standard continues to increase, the bar must be raised to maintain the highest standard of drifting throughout Europe. After an intense licensing session 4 drivers where granted EDC licenses with a further 2 gaining provisional licenses. Provisional license holders must achieve a top 16 qualification position within 2 rounds to upgrade their license or they will have to undergo licensing procedures once again. The successful drivers were: Dean Kearney: Xtreme Autos PS13 Silvia (Ireland) Alan McCord: Hi Octane Jap Performance Parts S15 Silvia (N. Ireland) Chris Parry: Team Nightspirit AE86 Corolla (England) Peter Barber: WGT Auto Developments FC3S RX7 (England) Provisional Licenses: John Power: Xtreme Autos RPS13 180SX (Ireland) Bruno Esperanca: Drift Garage PS13 Silvia (Portugal) EDC Round 1: Due to the ISTS Donny show being a two day show, the competition was also split into two days. The Saturday would see the drivers practice sessions and qualification, Sunday would host the Top 16 Showdown. The Saturday saw a few surprise performances. 2006 Champion Phil Morrison changed from his 2006 championship winning S14 200SX to an HCR32 Skyline. The horse and rider combination was clearly not working to the standard that everyone is used to seeing from the champ and Phil’s fortune did not return in time for his qualification runs resulting in him not making the final 16 cut shocking all involved. Team Driftworks’ bad luck did not end there; with 2006 final round winner Ben Broke-Smith also struggling with his new car, a JZX81 Toyota Chaser. Ben put in, by his standards a sub par performance which saw him qualify in 17th position. Things were about to get better for Ben however when during the results announcement, 14th place qualifier Ian Harrison revealed that he had blown the engine and clutch in his RS13 200SX. This meant that Ben Broke Smith moved up to claim the 16th spot and subsequently into the finals on Sunday. The struggles of the “usual suspects” meant there was space for some of the new comers to make their mark on the championship right from the beginning. All drivers who gained licenses on Friday qualified into the top 16 except Bruno Esperanca who due to a last minute issue was unable to compete in round 1. John Power’s qualification into the top16 meant that his license was upgraded to a full license. Top qualifier of the day went to James Hudson in the Driftmoto/SRB Power HCR32 Skyline. James was close to flawless all day and looked very confident for the finals on the following day. Chris Parry in the Nightspirit AE86 used his fresh license to its full extent and stunned many by qualifying 4th overall. Many of the top drivers where all present in the top 16 including Brett Castle, Mark Luney, Tim Marshall, Ralph Crampton and Mark Johnston. Sunday Finals: A morning practice session was held to enable the drivers to learn the changing conditions of the track on a new day. All drivers looked even better than in qualification but the drivers who particularly stood out were Ralph Crampton in the D2/SVA PS13 Silvia and Peter Barber in the WGT FC3S RX7. Peter’s performance surprised the judges due to his continued improvement through out the weekend. The finals started with a very eventful battle between James Hudson and Ben Broke-Smith. With nothing to call between the two drivers after two runs, the judge called for a sudden death “One More Time”. A machine problem from Ben Broke-Smith meant a massive 8-2 Advantage went to Hudson. Ben Broke-Smith had to fix the car to return for his final run within the allocated time. A tense 5 minutes passed and Ben was able to return in the nick of time. Meanwhile, a communications problem meant that Hudson’s pit crew were unable to let him know of the situation and his huge advantage. Unaware of the position he was in, Hudson continued to push for the win and made an uncharacteristic mistake and spun, handing the win to Ben Broke-Smith, being lucky on two occasions in this competition. The XTreme Autos team had drawn each other in the top 16s having qualified 8th and 9th. The experience of John Power paid off in a close battle putting him through to the top 8. Everybody was very impressed by Kearney’s performance and expect great things from the young 18 year old in the near future. A near spin by Declan Hicks knocked him out of contention as Chris Parry continued to drive flawlessly. Tim Marshall kept his cool against Mark Coyne and booked his place in the Top 8. The battle between Ralph Crampton and Niall Gunn became very eventful. The first mistake made all day by Crampton saw him run wide on corner 2. Gunn saw the opportunity to pass and made his move but then closed off all space for Crampton to continue his run. This resulted in some rubbed doors and both drivers off the track. The judge determining that both drivers were equally bad in this situation awarded the first run a tie. Ralph Crampton, unable to recover mentally from the first run makes another mistake on the second run and spins out putting Gunn into the top 8. Mark Johnston was gradually finding form and confidently took down Alan McCord, whilst Brett Castle controlled his car beautifully to avoid a collision with Mark Buckle who was struggling in the Distinctive Cars of York Skyline. A big surprise was rookie Pete Barber who held his own against Mark Luney in the SVA Imports 350Z, the pressure finally getting to Pete who spun in the second run handing the win to Mark Luney. cont....

11-04-2007, 12:10	#2 (permalink)
EDC Admin spl dori master Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 295	Report Continued cont.... Top 8: Ben Broke-Smith again managed to recover a 7-3 deficit and managed to pull John Power into sudden death. Ben’s Chaser still giving him some problems meant that he was still unable to perform to the level that he is capable of knocking the second Driftworks driver out of the competition, whilst newly licensed Power found himself in the Semi Finals. In the next battle, a big mistake by Niall Gunn knocked him out of the competition which meant that Chris Parry, another of the newly licensed made it through to the Semi finals. Mark Johnston pulled a controversial manoeuvre against Tim Marshall causing Marshall to spin out, but the move was judged as bad, but not as critical as a spin giving an advantage to Johnston in the Weston Performance Silvia. Marshall managed to pull back an advantage in run 2 but not by enough to put the Apex Performance Skyline into the top 4. Brett Castle looked very composed through out the competition and didn’t put a wheel wrong against Mark Luney. The SVA 350Z managed a 5-5 run in run 2 but the advantage gained by Castle in the first run saw the Autoglym/Abbey Motorsport 200SX in the last 4. Semi Final: An all newcomer semi final went to sudden death but Chris Parry making a critical error in the 3rd run meant that John Power would be in the finals at his first ever EDC competition. The second semi final also going sudden death showed just how close the competition was. Johnston had upped his game even further and managed to hold off the veteran Brett Castle to book his place in the final. Final: The finals turned out to be a clear cut decision with John Power making a big mistake on run 1 giving an 8-2 advantage to Johnston. Power was well aware of the situation and made a daring move to try and turn the match around. This however did not pay off resulting in further mistakes by Power and crowning Mark Johnston of Weston Performance the winner of Round 1 of the European Drift Championship. The HKS Hard Charger award was awarded to Chris “Paz” Parry in the Team Nightspirit AE86 Corolla for his aggressive yet controlled driving and his alarming achievement over the course of the last three days. An exciting few days of competition with many unexpected results gave everybody the impression that the 2007 European Drift Championship is something to keep an eye on, each and every round. Next round SILVERSTONE 3rd JUNE 2007.

11-04-2007, 12:43	#5 (permalink)
EDC Admin spl dori master Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 295	EDC Blog Site Forgot to add, The EDC has its own Blog section on MotorAddicts which is here : European Drift Championship \| Motor Addicts Feel free to join in with the officials and drivers in our special section. Excellent site, worldwide coverage. EDC Admin

11-04-2007, 14:37	#11 (permalink)
EDC Admin spl dori master Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 295	Comms Maybe in future pit-car radios would be a good idea to install so people can tell you where you stand before each run.

11-04-2007, 18:11	#20 (permalink)
EDC Admin spl dori master Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 295	Couple of Pix Couple of pix from the day which are relevant to the thread : The Podium winners - L-R John Power, Mark Johnson, Brett Castle with Paz ( hard charger winner ) and Tsubaki : The Drivers for a group shot - professional drivers, doing a professional job at an International level event and enjoying the moment: Well done to all, fantastic effort

11-04-2007, 12:16	#3 (permalink)
Shadowness aka Dan! Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Tewkesbury Posts: 420	Excellent write-up Plus, congrats to all the Irish drivers who came for this, you all put on an awesome show! Congrats to Johnny for the second place!

11-04-2007, 12:53	#6 (permalink)
Bon Bon What Pizza? Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Moseley, Birmingham Posts: 5,286	Good write up But that's not what happened to me, the only machine trouble I had was against Johnny P when my boost hose kept blowing off, the rest was genuine mistakes by myself, getting used to a new car, falling asleep, and being rubbish. lol Also as far as I'm aware I beat Hudson by outdriving him, forcing him to go as fast as possible then try and slow down more than he could behind me, which made him spin.... not by luck

11-04-2007, 13:34	#8 (permalink)
Bon Bon What Pizza? Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Moseley, Birmingham Posts: 5,286	Thanks James Took some serious effort though and I did make a lot of mistakes up to that point, if I hadn't been able to push you into a spin it would have been the other way around. For consistency you had me beat.

11-04-2007, 14:21	#9 (permalink)
hashiriya EDC実況 Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Mildenhall, Suffolk Posts: 2,477	That report was written by an idiot who has no journalistic experience whatsoever... ok so it was me... sorry for any inacuracies, but i stand by the fact that if Hudson had known that he was 8-2 ahead, he wouldn't have been so close to Bon Bon and he wouldn't have gone in so fast and he wouldn't have spun... thus James' problem was communications

11-04-2007, 14:59	#13 (permalink)
Nelo Resident Alco Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Alcoville, Ireland Posts: 1,862	Yep, 16 radios for the Top 16 cars involved would be a great idea.

11-04-2007, 15:00	#14 (permalink)
Albert touge runner Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 180	Nooo...they'll take even less notice of me on the start line as they try to understand what's being said while recieving the nearest baby alarm through their headsets.

11-04-2007, 15:05	#15 (permalink)
Captain Muppet EuroDrift's slowest loser Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: three feet away from a tiny little turbo Posts: 1,608	Declan was holding his fingers up to show the drivers what the score was, but it may have looked a bit like he was flipping you off. How about the judges hold up score cards?

11-04-2007, 15:07	#17 (permalink)
EDC Admin spl dori master Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 295	The operations team and judges have enough to do, the onus is on drivers/teams to have spotters to relay information how they see fit/working. Regards

11-04-2007, 15:08	#18 (permalink)
MC2 dorifto kingu! Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Aldershot, Hampshire Posts: 1,331	Very nice writeup. I had a awesome day.

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