Declan Hicks

The owner, builder & driver of the Toyota Soarer
Someone very involved & passionate about the sport of drifting

Experienced Drift Judge
safety marshall, third party event organsiser
& of course a very competetive drift driver 

Professional Race Circuit Instructor
 Working for Palmersport at Bedford Autodrome as a race circuit instructor. 
Specialist in race car "on limit" handling training.
One to One cicuit & trackday training.


Professional Driver
Working for various mainstyream manufacturers for new car launches & demo's
Ice & winter driving training & instruction
Expert witness for court cases involving loss of car control
20 Years practicing Roadcraft & other high performance road driving techniques

Heavily involved in the marketing activities of related industries,
from writing feature articles, to media work with sponsors & related business.

Declan is also very experienced in product developement with 20 years
in engineering & manufacturing.

Drift Competition

An EDC Licenced Driver
Currently 8th place in the 2008 Series
 

A D1 Licenced Driver

A Prodrift Europe Licenced Driver
Currently 14th place in the series

A JDM Allstars Licenced Driver
Currently 4th place in the series

2007 Season
Successfully privateered his Soarer to several quarter final positions ahead of many a professional drift teams

2006 Season
April 2006 Entered the D1 GB Driver Search in his Privateer Car, beating several drivers in works cars
& gaining a D1 National Licence to enable him to compete in the D1 GB Series

Declan Hicks is featured in the Option DVD of the series & here's a little outtake on youtube
helping fellow Soarer driver Mr Tokita sort his D1 car out over the weekend

2005 Season
Entered the European D1GP Driver Search at Silverstone scoring some of the highest scores on the day
One more point would have seen a full 2005 D1 Licence
Seen in 2005 driving his colourful Turbocharged MX-5
at Europes top Championship rounds

Other Interests

Author of a Haynes Book On Drifting
Declan has started the writing of a Book on drifting in association with Haynes Publishing
The book is a technical insight into drifting its history & techniques

Two project cars being built for the book:
Declan's Professional Spec Drift Car: Toyota Soarer GZ20 Twin Turbo
Clubman Spec Drift car: Nissan 200SX S13 Entry level DIY budget build

Experience
An experienced Drift Instructor from entry level to advanced, 
A safety marshall, event organiser & event principal.
Authorised to Licence drivers for the UK's National Autoglym Championship Series
Promoter of safety & professionalism within the sport
Senior Drift Instructor with 3 years experience
Experienced Competition Judge, having judged at the 2005 Autoglym Rounds & 2006 Eurodrift Series

Involvement
Declan is heavily involved with Drift Demonstrations at various venues
Supplying drivers & cars for headline promotions & for media material
Seen in the Times Sunday editions, The Guardian & the Irish Times

TV & Media
Declan's no stranger to TV work:
2005 Teaching Channel 4's Jane Omerogbie to Drift at Silverstone for the Series "Hell For Leather"
2006 Seen on Anglia TV for the Trackdays Show
2006 Seen in the Sun Newspaper for a feature on
2006 BBC Northants came along for an in car interview for the Trackdays Show

A competitor in Discovery Channels "Thunder Races" Building & Driving a Pykes Peak Rally Car



Frequently seen in BBC & ITV documentaries on speed camera's & laser Guns,
an area of Declan's expertise, supplying equipment for testing

Plymouth-Dakar Rally
2005
Originally entered the 4500 Mile Challenge to the Gambia with team mate Ed Parke
Driving a minter of a Volvo 240 estate which made it in one piece, despite medical emergencies,
repairs to mashed sumps, rebuilding 2 radiators in the Sahara, timing chains in Dakhla, clutches in Mauritania
& 8 punctures in the Volvo. Towing a 1970's vintage caravan across the Sahara
it was full of beer so we could'nt leave it behind :)
Finally towing broken cars to Banjul on appalling roads but only the last 1500km!
The Volvo managed to raise a whopping £1400 for charity.

Soon to be featured in a TV documentary due out 2006

Sponsored by TrakM8.com, Travis Perkins, Pistonhead, Surrey Rolling Road, Falcon Signs & Peacemarsh Garage