Drift Demo

 
 
Event Report From the Autoglym Historic F1 Festival
 
 
Brands Hatch Race Circuit England
 
 
Another great weekend of action from the one of UK's most famous race circuits & one of biggest annual circuit events events of the year. I was invited to join the Autoglym Drift Team to support them as headline sponsor for the event. With "Stiggy" Steve Evans in his Pinto powered Starlet, Mark "Buff" Luney in the SVA 350Z & myself in my Soarer now suitably stickered up in Autoglym livery. We would be out on track for two lunchtime Demo's in between some of the most famous cars to race ever - wow. Also our cars were on static display right at the main entrance so everyone would get to see them over the weekend, when we were'nt driving we were chatting to fans about the cars & drifting of course.
 
 
 
To give you some idea of the this events kudos, there were grids full of F1 cars from the lates 50's, 60's, 70's & 80's previously driven by the likes of Fangio, Hill, Moss, Brabham, Fitpaldi, Senna the list went on & on, with cars from the JPS's, Marlboro Mclarens, Lotus & Ferrari to name a few, the air was full of the sound of Judd's & Cosworth DFV's. Full grid support races from the monstrous 8L V8 Can'ams through to tiny 500cc 1930's racers added to the Castrol R atmosphere. This event is a petrolheads dream come true & your unlikely to see such a mix of expensive & rare machinery being raced properly anywhere else in the world.
 
 
So we were on strict intructions not to bin it!!! & to put on a spectacular show to the many who'd never seen or heard of Drifting before, all very well but Stiggy & myself had never driven the undulating off camber & high speed narrow Brands Hatch, Buff had only driven it the weekend before!! There was no practice as such, just get out on track do what needs to be done from the word go. I took some advice from Old skool hand Barry "Whizzo" Williams on lines & circuit no-no's, it was a bit of a tall order but I'm sure we could do the biz, all be it like the blind leading the blind.... We would be on the on Indy circuit which is the smaller infield circuit where most of the spectators were.
 
 
 
The Brands Indy Circuit
 
Circuit Map (were at the bottom section)
 
 
The circuit is simply awesome!!!! starting on the Brabham pit straight, over the hugely downhill offcamber right handed paddock hill bend, through a severe compression up the Hailwood hill into Druids hairpin, downhill to the double apex off camber left handers of Graham Hill bends, onto the Cooper Straight into the off camber Surtees chicane & uphill on the first part of Clearway where is again goes off camber before Clarke Curve onto the undulating Brabham Straight.
 
 
Saturday
The weekend was also the same one where half of the UK was several feet under water, heavy downpours mixed with plenty of old skool race cars = oil slicks adding to the fun value. Saturday am; Stiggy & I decided we were'nt going first so Buff led the way for our first display, I'd decided to at least do one sighting lap to get an idea which way the track went, probably a safe option, though the odd squirt of 500bhp was made use of before the end of lap one. We managed about 10 laps before our session was up - wow great fun & can't wait for Sundays session. Stiggy came back with his gearstick in hand which was rather amusing, I must confess to a full 360deg spin after clipping the wet curbing exiting from Druids sending me into a rather rapid spin but i kept it going & came back out on track in the right direction just one gear lower than I started, I'm sure the crowds thought I was supposed to do it, it was that well executed - he laughs
 
Saturday & very wet, wet race tyres worked a treat though
 
 
Sunday
On Sunday it was thankfully dry & we smoked the circuit properly, though dodging another full circuit oil slick was fun, after about 6 or 7 laps all of a sudden I had no power, eeek, I quickly sussed it was a popped boost hose, so I pulled into the pits for a passenger change & quick bit of spanner'ing & some rather hot hands all to keep the show going. Back out within a min & only a 100 yards before it'd popped again. Oh well only one thing for it "Dont Brake for The Corners" just go in way too fast & it worked, carry loads of speed & pray, not quite the big smoke effect but as a temporary measure it worked well.
 
Sunday dry & smoky
 
Till I popped the boost hose that was, fast as possible in still works well though
 
 
By the end of the weekend, it was 4th Gear downhill through paddock, straighten up at the compression, skandi flick into a 3rd gear Druids, sinle linked to the Graham Hill twin apexes. Mangi (flicking L-R) the Cooper Straight waving to the pit crews, 3rd gear through Surtees into 4th gear halway through Surtees back onto the straight.
Wow what a circuit, can't wait to go back. 
 
 
 
Other than the leak from the go faster wind department, the car worked a treat all weekend, running its new Emanage engine management system, I've been data logging the AFR's so I can see where I can make some adjustments to the fuelling & remapping.  I cruised the Soarer the 160 miles back home effortlessly even with the 8 wheels & tyres stuffed in (yes they do all fit) A few jobs to do like check the boost hoses, an oil & filters change, find & fit some more tyres yet again, a bit of engine mapping & she'll be ready for the long drive to Ingleston in Scotland for the FastandModified show, Scotlands biggest Car show, that drew some 16,000 spectators last year & was a great event.
 
 
Video clips already up on youtube from the weekend at Brands
 
If anyone would like some high res images just ask...
 
 
A special thanks to Autoglym for inviting me along on the weekend
 
 
Next event:

Jet Powered Madness - for TV
 
 
 
 
Slightly different this one........ myself & a couple of friends are doing the Silverline Power Tool Drag Racing event & to top it all the Discovery Channel are coming along to film us building our racer this weekend coming. We have 13hp of a mad huge "Little Wonder" leaf blower to propel us along & no doubt I'll keep you all posted on news of its progress or not as the case may be. It will be raced on August the 5th at the Haynes Motor Musuem & the whole event will be broadcast & repeated worldwide on the Dicovery channel (and repeated lots over the coming years no doubt too if my last TV event is anything to go by) Of course we'll be adding some suitable race graphics to the vehicle ;)
 
Regular updates & info on the Drift-Demo website coming...
 
 
Other News:
 
Would you like to drive our cars sir....?
 
 
 
TVR have asked if I'd like to demostrate their latest models handling attributes for the companies 60th Birthday celebrations at Rockingham in August, which I have currently agreed to. It'll involve giving passenger & press rides on a special handling course (sideways please was what they said) in the newest versions of their cars, can't really say no to that one! 400bhp & six cylinders in some of the wildest designed cars ever, was enough to convince me to say yes.
 
 
 
 
 
News From Round one of the 2007 European Drift Championship
European Drift Championship Round 2 Silverstone
3rd June 2007 
 
 
 
 
  
Having spent the best part of the week getting the car prepped & sorted for the upcoming event, the beast has had a misfiring issue for the past couple of weeks. After going through every sensor on the car it appears to be an ignition, crank angle sensor or ECU feed fault. But hey I was still going regardless, the misfire was intermittent & I could live with it if need be. I had plans to upgrade the standard coilpacks to a Driftworks wasted spark system (even more pops & bangs) it'd also allow me to run very high boost levels without blowing the standard sparks out. I also had some new armoury which consisted of a dozen Yokohama AO48r tyres, super duper sticky ones that would give my car the grip it needed & ultimately higher entry & corner speeds, also being soft they should smoke a fair bit too!.
 
So Friday was qualifying, Silverstone was sunny & bright the imminent heavy rain appeared to be not happening, so a dry Silverstone & slightly less magnetic gravel traps, all good then. I went out for the first practice session, with a limited quantity tyres & could'nt really warrant doing both practice sessions. With the boost cranked up it all appeared to be working rather well indeed, my entries were fast & early, lines were great & it felt like I'd only last been on the circuit yesterday instead of last year. I managed about 8 runs on tyre set one, with only an occasional misfire, the grip & speed from the Yokohama AO48r's was amazing.
 
4th gear & about 80mph on the entry to the 2nd corner "Luffield" handling really sweet & looking good
 
 
I was more than happy not running the 2nd practice session, so pulled the car into the pits & went to watch my compeitors smoking it up & pick up some tactical ideas for Sunday.
 
Silverstones magnetic gravel traps claim another victim
 
 
Check out the competion, entry into turn one, Mraceij Polody from Poland, 90 degrees to the direction of travel !!!!
 
 
Onto Friday Qualifying
 
They were 28 drivers & only 16 places for Sunday, so a few were going lose out. I was out in the 2nd group & quite relaxed as I came up for my first run of 4 which is just a warm up run. Off I went 1st gear, 2nd gear & Barp- wap - barp -bang!!!! noooo the misfire was back with avengence, I crawled round trying to get the thing to run, it was coughing & spluttering. So I lined up on the grid for my first qualifying run thinking thats it I'm out, no chance of fixing it now - sod it I'll give it my best & see what happens.
 
No word of lie I decided sod it its full throttle or bust I'm not lifting off even for the gear changes, if it blows up so what I'll just chuck another engine in for next round (as you do in situations like that) so off I went, I manged to get it into 3rd gear early at which point what I can only describe the misfire as the LOUDEST wastegate shotgun cannon fire repetitions as the unburnt fuel caught alight as it exited the wastegate right in front of my feet, it that did'nt blow the manifold off in this run nothing would. It somehow sounded cool & as I went full throttle into turn one everyone & I mean everyone came out to see what the noise was!. If the judges were'nt paying attention they sure were now!.
 
By the sheer luck of my right foot remaining buried in the footwell & not lifting at all as I de-clutched & pulled the handbrake at what is 90 odd mph, the engine hits the rev limiter for the briefest of seconds as I pitch the car in sideways on the entry straight, the rev limiter is in fact a fuel cut and guess what as I lifted the clutch back up just as I need the power to into turn one I have all of a sudden ALL SIX CYLINDERS ------ WOOOHHHOOOOOOO theres me thinking fook me better replan whats happening here & get on with plan B, errrr no my left foot just remained planted as previously instructed to do, I just steered - as you do :)
 
 
All six cylinders for my first qualifying run wooohoooo
 
Now literally as I pass the exit line back comes the misfire & all hell brakes loose, down go at least 2 cylinders & I limp off the track with no hope of finishing my remaining two qualifying runs. However I was convinced my one single run was enough to convince the judges that I should go through, it was bang on line, I clipped the clipping points & everything seemed to work. I am also now deaf, I think they probably are too & no doubt I'm about to be arrested for breaking Silverstone's sound monitoring equipment lol.
 
I watched the remainder of the qualifying runs & waited for the session to finish befeore we were all taken to the briefing room for news of who had gone through for the big event on Sunday.
 
Do I make it???
 
 
"Sleepy" our Japenese judge gave various comments about our driving, he also mentioned a noise complaint from Silverstone to which I only coughed, & the it was announced who would go through.
Official notes from the EDC Crew
Below are the drivers from Friday that are going through to the top 16 Final on Sunday:

Maciej Polody v Brett Castle
James Hudson v Tony Green
Stephen Evans v Alan Mc.Cord
Ben Broke Smith v Mark Buckle
Mark Luney v Declan Hicks
Chris Parry v Niall Gunn
James Grimsey v Ian Harrison
Phil Morrisson v Peter Barber

Yesterday saw a few casualities due to the hot weather and Silverstones demanding layout, specifically Mark Johnston in the Weston Performance Silvia who is leading the Championship from Round 1 and unfortunately did not qualify even after giving it his all in the car that ended up basically running without the use of the turbo. Phil Morrisson went home to change his engine after having to qualify in Steve Ushers car and James Hudson is currently hunting down turbos for his Skyline.

Brett Castle managed the highest entry speed at 97mph - 157kph and we are sure this speed be broken on Sunday.

A well done to Steve Carter, Paul Conlan (Steer From The Rear) and Steve Usher all achieved Licences yesterday with Steve Carter and Paul Conlan going through to Sundays main event as reserves 1 and 2.

EDC had a Eurosport film crew at Silverstone yesterday and has another suprise film crew for the main event on Sunday, watch this space.

Regards
 
The EDC Crew,
 
Flippin eck!!! with only one single run I'd manage to not qualify but also not qualify last, I did'nt have the slowest entry speed on only 5 cylinders. To top it all I would also be paired up for battle against long standing friend & co Drift-Demo driver Mark Luney, Aka "Buff" in the SVA 350Z. In all our competitions we have never been paired & never met each other in battle, so Sunday was to be a big day. The two of us are always chatting about tactics, we both act as each others spotters when in battle with others & actually drive a very similar style so it is no doubt going to be one to watch!!.
 
We had the Saturday off & as you do we went out partying on Friday night, got up late saturday & headed back to the pits for some car fettling & diagnosis. A large team of other drivers were all helping me out trying to diagnose my misfire, after a good six hours, a rewired ignition system it was still there - hmmm not good but I'd still be up for it if need be. A big thanks to all the guys who helped out, talk about spirit of competition.
 
Saturday at about 9pm just before we all pack up I thought I'd take the beast out for a test run on the road to check the misfire sutation, down the A43 I went got to the roundabout changed gear & bang!!!!!!!! NO CLUTCH!!!!!!!!! Something had fallen off or broke, my clutch was solid & I ended cruising back to Silverstone in 3rd gear. A quick inspection revealed my newly HKS twin plate had pulled the puller part of the mechanism through the spring plates, probably due to a C clip coming off. Apparently a few of the others had suffered a similar demise in the past & its was/is a common fault. Its repairable but at 9pm on a Saturday night when I have to drop my engine & gearbox to get to it let alone find a suitable clip meant no chance. So there was no way my car would be running in 12 hours time.
 
The week after I found the cause!
 
There was a possibility of me driving the Weston Performance car which was back in the workshops as Mark Johnston had not qualified in it when the turbo blew, though it would'nt be mapped , so it was a maybe "we'll see"
 
Sadly it never materialized & I had to mope along to the organisers office & declare myself out of action come Sunday morning, however I asked if my 1 point for qualifying would still count & apparently it would, so my place was taken up by newcomer & 17th qaulifyer Steve Carter. The championship is still completely open so there is hope yet. So a sad end to the weekend for me.
 
The event was won by Marceij Polody from Poland, 2nd was Brett Castle & 3rd my mate Buff (It could have been me!!!! doh)
 
 
 
Engine & gearbox will be wipped out this week, crank angle disk will be checked for wobble & play, some re-wiring & obviously a clutch investigation before more action in the coming weeks....
 
 
Lots of pictures of the event here
 
 
I'll be uploading my report to my Cardomain blog site for my American & worldwide friends to see too, & I'll be updating it throughout the Season as the events progress.
 
 
 
Round 1's TV output can now be found on Youtube, click away as the championship develops, plus the superise TV crew are yet to be announced, I'll keep you posted....
 
 
 
 
 
News
 
24th June
The car & myself will be heading to Southern Norway for a demo at the World Touring Cars, details will follow shortly
 
 
 
30th June
I've been invited to join Team Autoglym for a demo at Brands Hatch in a few weeks time, it a huge classic racing event with an annual 100k spectators & we'll be the lunchtime highlight with six professional drift cars, should be great fun!!!
 
  
 
Cheers
Dec
 
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Event report from the Swedish Touring Car Championships
 At Sturup Raceway in Malmo
 
Myself & 3 other drivers as part of www.DriftInternational.com were invited out to Sweden to put on a lunchtime display at the STCC to keep the crowds occupied & offer passenger rides to VIP guests. We were also there as ambassadors of the sport as the Sturup Raceway owners are keen to get involved with organising a Swedish/Northern Drift Championship for 2008, so we did our best to show them how it should be done, by bringing some of the best cars from the Europe & putting on a professional display.
 
The Swedish Touring Car Championships
- Like the BTCC but better supported
 
 
The STCC is the premiere series in Sweden, attracting all the top teams running Porsche GT2/GT3, World Touring Cars & Junior Touring Cars, there was also a Radical Racing support event that we kept our eyes on, after spotting a rather lovely 17 year old Swedish lass called Emma driving one, she only went & beat the outright circuit lap record by 1.2 seconds & went on to win the race by miles, a future F1 star in the making???
 
The cars were shipped out to Sweden in a rather flash truck, so we flew in on the Friday morning, were collected from the airport & taken to the circuit to meet our hosts for the weekend. Elton & Mel Goonan who run the circuit side of things & Flemming the circuit manager, we had a huge pit garage with full workshop facilities (which came in handy!!)
 
 
 
 
 
Despite only having a few laps to learn the circuit, with its two blind crests, banked oval curve, 4th gear corners, 2nd gear uphill switchback, we soon got into the swing of things & between us worked out which bits were the most spectatular for the crowds to see from the viewing stands. To say the track is awesome to drive is an understatement!
 
The Weekends Crowds - 12k Spectators - Most had never seen drifting live before....
 
The Motley Crew of drivers & mechanics
 
Mark Luney in the 350Z 600 bhp - & Raef boss of SVA Imports
Mark Johnston in the yellow Silvia 380bhp - & Greg of Western Performance
Ralph Cramton White/Orange Silvia 400bhp - & Spannerman Lewis of SVA
Declan Hicks Toyota Soarer 520bhp - & Dave of Drift International
  
 
We the drivers were interviewed on Sunday in front of the VIP guests,
with a question & answer session, putting our best accents of course
(All dressed in our race suits looking the part I might add)
 
Onto the action side of things
 
My car ran faultlessly all weekend, I did have a clutch issue the week before
so had brought with me an HKS Twin plate unit should the worst happen (Thanks RHDJapan)
A slight issue with carrying it on the plane as hand baggage!!! but we got round that one :)
Just as I put the car on the trailer to go home I noticed 2nd gear did'nt work - eek,
A replacement box has been found & will be fitted alongside the new clutch this week
 
The 350Z suffered a truly melted clutch on the friday in practice,
so a new one was flown out on the Saturday morning,
(the workshop came in handy) duly fitted in time for the Saturday/Sunday event.
Some overheating issues too did'nt help either, though we kept it going for the passenger rides.
 
Ralph in the Silvia suffered PAS failure, & after two days now has arms like Popeye
 
Mark Johnstons car suffered some heavy oil blow by,
which actually resulted in the dipstick blowing out and small inferno
& the use of my handheld fire extinguisher!!
 
However, we managed to keep all the cars going for the crowds
 
 

Media

 I took the event commentator out for a 4 lap run, complete with his huge walk about radio antenna strapped in, this was broadcast live on Swedish national radio complete with a few expletives of "Oh my god were going to crash" in Danish, well thats what it sounded like to me... I was commentating on the various techniques, showing the crowd the lines & just how much smoke this thing makes nailed in 4th gear - we could hear the crowd from inside the car!
 
Our Sunday demo was broadcast live on Swedish National TV filmed from a chase helicopter, can't wait to see the footage any Swedish people in the audience record it?
 
 
 
A wee Video of one lap I did, I was on race tyres warming them up, they only lasted the one lap haha
- we need some hardcore tyres for the demo's especially
 
Video Link - Gone in 50 Seconds (tyres that is)
 
 
 
 The event went down exteremely well, we've already been invited back to Sweden
for Round 3 & 5 of the STCC at Sturup in May & September,
 
We are in dicussion to come to the Danish DTCC as well & support their events.
 
 
Cheers
Dec
 
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News From Round one of the 2007 European Drift Championship
 
 
With some last min late nights to get some technical issues sorted, I cruised the Soarer up early on Friday morning to Donnington, the 30k punters for the combined Donny show appeared to be all driving the same way as me such was the weekend holiday traffic, all was running well though, bar a spongy clucth pedal something to do with a rather large turbo sitting next to the master cylinder hmmm. The sun was out for the weekend & it looked to be a good one for the Motors TV guys. My car now has a complete new livery courtesy of graphic master Simon at SJS Design, to go with my new all pearl white paintjob, new engine, new turbo & new suspension just about new everything except me, this would be the first time I'd get to drift the car in anger since last year so fingers crossed.
 
Showing Off The New Livery on the parade lap
 
 
Looking good eh?
 
The Crowds awaiting the action for the first corner & this is just am practice
 
Saturday Practice
 
I can confirm the beast works all rather well, you have to hear the noise though its mad, really mad. My only issues were a suspension arm moving around causing some strange handling at full lock, that was soon sorted though, then there was a whisper of clutch slip as I was soon pulling 4th gear out of the last two bends, hmmm how much power has this thing got!!!! when most others were in 2nd or 3rd!  Oh yes tyres, with this much horsepower it appears I need some bigger grippier ones to get the power down not having had time to practice with the car I stuck with last years sizes to be on the safe side. The fastest cars of the day according to the speed gun were on trackday cut slicks, with first corner speeds of 85 mph, I was on regular road tyres, all be it the Marangoni super smokers.
 
Working like a dream
  
 
 
Sunday Qualifying
 
The top 16 drivers would go through to the Sunday PM main event, 34 drivers in total so mora than half of the field would be out. We had 4 runs, one warm up & three qualifying, best scrore goes through.
 
I put in an excellent first two qaulifying runs, sticking close to the clipping points & neat tidy. Knowing I'd put in a a couple of good'ns, I thought I'd up the anti with the Marangoni super smokers, a 3rd gear entry with 4th gear for last two corners onto the main straight to outsmoke the opposition to make it known I meant business.
 
Smoke Machine 4th gear on the limiter through the chicane onto the pit straight - absolutely awesome :) the crowd loved it
 
 
First round I qualify for the top 16 yay!!!!!!!!
 
The scoring was so close for the top 16 it meant that many drivers had matched scrores, my qualiftying position would be 13th place with a score of 86 points (which means some championship points) which would put me up against the 3rd qualify driver Paz in a Corolla AE86.......... eeeek thats going to be a tough first battle, half the weight of my lardass beast means he'll be quicker through the corners but I can initiate way earlier with the cars weight & pull the angles through the whole corner, it'll be a tough one. Still it gaurantees I'll be on TV with camera's mounted on the cars for the battles - should be great. 
 
Sunday the big event
We get another practice session on Sunday & I'm practicing my tactics for the upcoming Coralla lightweight battle, sticking close to the inside line for blocking tactics & reducing my entry speed a bit so I've more speed through the corner, faster cars are not allowed to out drag the slower cars into the first corner so I shant be copying my quaifying style. All goes to plan & I've the boost is down to 0.6 bar for better traction.
 
My opponent for the battle - 200bhp & only 800kg
 
 
First run
 
Paz leads, I chase, pretty evens 5-5 but a close call (note camera mount on Paz's car)
 
Second Run
 
I lead Paz chases - 2nd corner I'm sat waiting for the traction I have'nt got he catches me through the off camber turn 6-4 to paz so Paz goes through to the top 8 aaaggghh
 
 
Paz actually pulled 4th place in the end, so congrats to him
 
  
So overall I'm pretty pleased, some more work do on the car notably tyres!!! need loads more traction to match the power & weight. Clutch master cylinder to protect from heat, some more suspension set up & she's ready to rock for Silverstone R2 which is a monster power citcuit.
  
 
Keep your eyes peeled for the Action on Motors TV in the next two weeks www.motorstv.com
 
More pictures here:
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
Next Event - Swedish Tour Car Championships Demo event 20th April & I'm using the Soarer
 
 
 
Media News
 
Redline Magazine - will be featuring my car alongside BonBon's mad Chaser in the coming month
Autotrader Magazine - Will be featuring my car end of April
 
Plus of course news from the event on masse.
 
 
Thanks to all who've helped me get this far with the car, I'm really pleased with her & some minor fettling will have here ready for Round 2
 
 
Cheers
Dec
 
 
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News from the Soarer's First Outing of 2007
 
 
Well the Soarer had it's first outing over the weekend just gone, a demo event at the www.scottishmotorsportshow.co.uk where myself & co Drift-Demo driver Buff starred alongside some rallying greats such as Colin McRae & shared the demo arena with Russ Swift and some truly insane motorbike stunt riders. The event attracted some 10-15k people with a packed arena for all of the 8 shows, with at least 2k spectators for each show, for an inaugral event it went down rather well & I'm glad to say we've already been invited back for 2008. The live action arena was only small so it was mostly figure of 8's but the commentator made some great points about us being at the main Scottish Knockhill circuit & the speeds were normally used to, but it gave the crowd something to chew when it was mentioned our cars were more powerful than most of the GroupB monsters on the rally circuit.
 
Dec's Soarer out in front of the crowds drifting round the lovely FastAndModified ladies
 
The Soarer was suffering some teething troubles & with a last min attempt to get it all running involving a 20 hour day working on the car on the car before I left, there is a slight misfire on No6 cylinder currently undiagnosed, so decided we'd use it anyway as under load it seemed to be fine. To say the engine sounds awesome is a bit of an understament, its definately loud!! I was only running 6psi of boost, which it happily makes from 3k rpm, so this thing is super torquey compared to my old 1G engine. All was going well until sat pm when there a sudden loss power steering (not good inside a concrete barriered arena) & a rather large poole of oil appearing under the car, turns out the power steering had overheated in a rather dramatic fashion & actually melted the plastic oil resevoir!. We fixed it up by using my oil catch can but without a decent breather system it just lost more oil, knowing just how flammable PAS fluid is we decided best not too continue. So we decided to go to plan B, except at this point we didn'nt have one - eeek
 
So Eddie Odonnell from Fast and Modified magazine stepped in & said he knew of a car I could use for the Sunday shows. So Sunday looms & I have the G-Tech Skyline RB20DET R32 to play with, which ran fine all day Sunday & meant we kept the crowd the pleased. G-Tech a local tuning & ICE company were dead pleased with the response & their trade stand was busy for the rest of the weekend asking all about their drift car & this bloke from dooon soooth driving it - lol
 
We had a running commentary throughout the show, telling everyone all about us & our cars, at the end of each live action show we were all invited down to the crowd line to sign autographs & the cars were on display for all to see. As usual lots of questions about my car usually starting with "What the eck is that thing" followed by "Jesus thats a big turbo" :) as I lift the bonnet. The event attracted huge media attention all over Scotland, Ireland & the North of England, its definately going to be a big one for the future.
 
Dec gets interviewed for crowds
 
The event & several pictures of our cars featured in the main Scottish Newspaper the Daily Record, the Northern based tuning Magazine Fast and Modified where I'm somehow pictured alongside rallying god Colin Mcrae, it was on virtually every main car website across the UK, the marketing people did a really fantastic job of it. There will be follow up reports & pictures in several magazines to follow.
 
Now I'm home I've a few jobs to do like sort the misfire, current assumtion is a manifold gasket or worse a valve leak, fit a wopping great oil cooler to the power steering and fit a metal resevoir bottle. Then I've to peel off all the stickers (a huge job) and get the thing up in it's new colour scheme which we have'nt quite yet decided what it's to be.
 
I've also a busy schedule as I'm going to be guest judge for the UK Drift Championship Series (I'll compete at a few of these too) , the Norther Ireland Drift Series & the EuroDrift Series to be televised on Sky TV, I'll be using the Soarer as the demo run car for the TV boys to show how it should be done compared the competitors. As well as competing in the main drift series the EDC (was D1)
 
Cheers
Dec
 
 
 
2006 D1 GB Drift Championship
 

D1 Round 3 Knockhill July 1st

First off was getting there! 450 miles away, but still I drove the GZ20 all the way there, compteted & drove all the way back too. Fridays practice was torrential rain, a sliperry track & more than my fair share of gravel for a change. Got towed out twice no damage to the car, just my pride, still the marshalls quite liked someone to chat to :) Quite a few of us found the gravel & it's very deep

Saturday looms with a BIG crowd of 3000 odd with the event running through till late in the evening past dusk, it was going to a good one.

Almost 30degC in Scotland unheard of weather this far up north, still we made the most of it & the crowd loved the weather too.

The course consisted of a start line down the pit straight, heading for the blind crest of Duffus, at about 90mph through an opening right hander, transition on the downhill before the compression & left kink, onto a short downhill straight & then a 90 right through the bombhole, A really cool course.

Over the top we go blind at 90mph

I qualified in 9th place for the Tsusio, meaning I had a good chance to get into the top 8 & some more points.

I was against Tim in the Sumo Power works 350Z & it was a close run match, he won through though & he went on to come 6th overall. I came 10th.

The winner was Damien Mulvey 1st, Stiggy 2nd & Phil Morrison 3rd

Some nice pics of may car on the day

 

 
 
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Round 2 Silverstone
 
 
Here's a not so quick report from round 2 of the D1 GB Drift champs at Silverstone
Plus some news of the D1 GP event the following day.
 
I was once again in My GZ20 Soarer
 
A hot day loomed 30+ degC & the 40 odd drivers of the championship took the grid for their morning practice runs & my Soarer was sporting the number 8 showing my position in the championship. This year the Silverstone gravel appeared to have gained a new magnetic quality that was attracting cars like bees to a honey pot, I'm pretty sure no-one was immune to it, me included, some even managed to find it four of five times. The judges were also suffering from the huge dust clowd the engulfed them everytime someone fell off corner 1 much to the amusement of the crowds
 
 
 
The entry to corner 1 was 4th gear down the national straight, into turn one, up against the tyre wall, across the track onto the F1 circuit, so traction went from nothing, to heaps then not a lot again as our lines took a different course to the F1 boys of the weekend before.
  

My second practice run was aborted when I spotted a huge oil slick, just a a driver in front spun & the guy behind did too. A quick diversion across the grass to the marshalls post to tell them saw the action curtailled for 20 odd mins as the slick was mopped up.
 
 
I was managing the entries no problem, but the straight from corner 1 - 2 I was really struggling with a lack of power to keep the rear tyres lit up for the entire section making my runs a little inconsistent. Still I was doing OK just not great. My car could do with more traction on the rear under deceleration at turn 1 to give a little more adjustably but with only 260bhp I would struggle with excess traction under power, so I had to compromise. Still I'm not complaining these things are sent to test us.
 
 
 
Silverstone is fast, it's so open & vast, on turn 2 you have time to read the Sunday papers & wave at the crowd in between lining the car up on the clipping points, it takes ages to make the 180deg 3rd or 4th gear corner the car is so nicely balanced its amazing. My clutch received some serious abuse to maintain the drift throughout with a clutch kick every couple of seconds to keep the wheels spun up & angle on, as the heat definately sapped the power on my car. The more powerful cars were pulling 4th gear through this huge corner.
 

On I think my 5th or 6th practice run I managed to find the gravel on corner one ooops. I was not the first & definately not the last!!! A quick tug from the Silverstone tractor had me out in no time & the car continues to drop gravel from strange places today, two days after the event.
 
 
At about this time the Japanese D1 GP guys had their practice session for Sunday's D1 GP event & I bumped into Mr Tokita in the pit lane with his "new" car (Goodyear Sponsored), now until recently he had an earlier Soarer similar to mine just a more angular vintage version. Turns out his new car is a GZ20 too!!, just like mine. A quick exchange of handshakes, comparisons & general delight at the rarity of our cars in a combination of sign language, smiling & nodding set up what was to be an interesting weekend, but not the way it was planned!.
 
On only his 3rd lap he managed to blow a piston on his 7M-GTE engine, after having the car shipped all the way to the UK from Chiba in Japan, he was gutted when I met him in the pits again. Now at this point, many of us would simply give up there & then but good old CptFixit (me) was on hand, by which time the D1 TV crew had arrived to see what was going on. Me being me & having done two [url]www.plymouth-dakar.co.uk[/url] rallies nothing is impossible !!!. So some quick thinking was required...... A phone call to one of the MK3 Supra Owners Club members, see's a post go up on the website forum, for a 3.0L Turbo engine or complete car whatever anything will do. Now much to my amazement & the other Japanese drivers & pit crews all now gathered round for a look at the drama, 5 mins later I receive a phone call. "Hiya, saw a post on forum, I've got a complete wrecker car if you want & I live 20 mins from Silverstone" total awe as this is translated into Japanese amid bouts of laughter, surprise & jubilation. I then ran to other end of the pitlane to find Buff's (Mark Luney - Skyline) pit crew who I knew had a tow car & trailer & some spare hands. Within 20 mins they were on their way to collect the "wrecker" MK3 Supra Turbo 3.0L
 
 
knowing I was struggling with a lack of horsepower I tried but I knew it was'nt going to be good. Three clean but struggling runs, If I'd scraped into the top 16 I would have been lucky. Driver briefing reveals as thought, I'd not made the top 16 into the Tsusio battles & no chance of further points today. So I'd be taking the sidelines for the rest of the day. So I parked the car up on the edge of the pits so the public could see it (still dropping gravel) as most of the cars were tucked away in the pit garages.
 

So Back to assist Mr Tokita I went, to find the car had been dropped around to WRC Technoligies workshops round the corner & his engine was already out. 
At this point the Supra arrived on the trailer with the donor engine in & the other Japanese guys took great delight in making fun at Tokita not having a JDM engine for his Soarer (JDM = Japapenese Domestic Market it's a cool term for Japanese made tuning parts) He'd recruited a couple of spanner hands in the form of two of the Driftworks forum members & a few of the other Japanese drivers pitcrew how many other sports can you get so much help from competitors??. Looks like they had their work cut out to have the car ready for 10am the next day. The D1 TV crew were on hand filming the drama & the Smile on Mr Tokita's face assured me they'd sort it.
 
I headed back to the pits to catch the action of the Tsusio battles to keep all you guys up to date with news of the battles. The crowds are hotting up in the stands as it reaches 32deg C in the UK!!
 
 
Some fantastic battles saw the top 4 drawn down to Phil Morrison, Brett Castle, James Hudson & Marceij Polody of Poland (who I beat in battle last round)
 
 
Phil Morrison came top of class & won Round 2 of the D1 GB, a well deserved win, Brett came 2nd & James Hudson 3rd place.
 

I popped back to the workshop where Tokita was busy swapping engine bits over & assisted where I could, we had to fabricate a special tool to remove the spigot bearing from his old engine, as the "new engine" was an auto without one. This took at least two hours & I did'nt leave till 9pm when I realised I had'nt eaten all day. I left the guys to carry on working & awaited the news the following day.
Tokita & friends swapping engines bits over
 

Sadly after all that effort it turns out the engine had a blown head gasket - noooo. Mr Tokita was still very happy though & he got to assist the Judges for the match, it'll be featured on one of the [url]www.v-option.co.uk[/url] D1 Video's & no doubt we'll all be famous. I'm being sent an honoury Samurai headscarf by Mr Tokita for helping him out & I appeared to have gained a mr fix-it status amongst the Japanese drivers that warranted some additional VIP tickets for Sundays GP event.
 I'll make sure I bring my toolkit next time I meet the Japanese then
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Great news from the first round of the D1 Drift Championship
at Rockingham held on the 28th of May 2006
 
With 42 of Europe's top drivers entered including 5th Gears Tiff Needell, it would be a tough battle. A high speed course on the banking of Rockingham, similar to the Irwindale layout. To qualify drivers had to drift their cars within a foot of the three apex clipping points, the first two at approximately 90mph, one of which was the wall !! Yes it was close & no Declan did'nt hit the wall all weekend though one spin right next to it was really close. The fastest & most sideways driver who was closest to these three clipping points scored the highest points & the top 16 would go through to the Tsusio or twin drift battle's, on hand to Judge was none other than D1 Japan's Ken Nomura.
 
This was how close drivers had to get to score maximum points,
at speeds faster than the motorway speed limit
 
 
Tiff Needell was there in a borrowed Toyota Soarer with "only" 590bhp on tap, that's more than twice the power of Declan's Soarer!, usually seen sideways on TV Tiff really struggled with the concept of getting sideways whilst aiming for a target point, getting the car drifting before the corner & getting used to the cars huge power. Being the owner of the only other Soarer in the championship Tiff asked me for some tips & throughout the day his progress improved & he was putting in some impressive runs. That was until his qualifying round when he too found the wall but impressively kept it going & completed the course. Sadly the knock damaged the fuel pump which knocked him out of the qualifying. Still he did very well considering & it'll be shown on next weekends Fifth Gear on Channel 5.
 
Tiff Needell, impressive driving in his borrowed Toyota
 
 
 
 
 
 
Declan Qualifies in 6th place
The 16 highest scores of the day qualified for the Tsusio "Twin Drift Drift Battle" The usual suspects at the top of the list, Darren McNamara, Phil Morrison, Damien Mulvey, Brett Castle, Paul Vlasblom, Declan Hicks, Mark Looney. Yes Declan scored the 6th highest score of the day in his privateer car scoring higher than many works cars drivers & those with big budget big bhp cars.
 
90mph & a few feet from the wall helps Declan score 6th highest points to go through to the top 16
New graphics make the soarer faster too!
 
Top 16 go onto the Tsusio "Drift Battle"
Driving this course at 90mph is one thing, but twin drifting on it is another league & would sure set the crowd alight. At this point we get to see who's carrying the most speed & angle so it soon became apparent who would be going through to the top 8. Declan was first pitted against Polish driver Marciej Polody who Declan had previously been chatting to (Dec Speaks some Czech & Polish) & funnily enough had been giving him some tips on carrying maximum speed through the course. So the two of them were evenly matched & the battle had to go 4 times to decide a the winner. Marciej lost out after a spin into the softer tyre wall that removed his rear bumper.
 
Polish driver Marciej Polody makes the top 16 & Declan goes through to the top 8 by winning the battle 
 
 
 
Declan is now into the top 8 & is up against Ralph in the works 540bhp 350Z of SVA Imports, Declan wins the first battle by almost overtaking on the fast bit!, the second battle's an even match so they go again & it's an even match once more. Third run & Mr Nomura still could'nt decide!!!, The fourth run is the decider with Declan making a mistake on the last corner & spinning out, Ralph goes through to the top 4 & Declan places 8th overall.
 
260bhp Privateer v 540bhp Works 350Z, I very nearly had him!!
 
 
 
The winner is Brett Castle with an impressive display of very unsual aggressive driving, its only when we realise he has a new bodywork sponsor that we put two & two together, his car kissed the wall nearly every run & his driving was faultless throughout. An impressive win.
 
Brett Castle V BonBon (Ben Broke-Smith) the only other top 8 qualifying Privateer & part of the Drift-Demo display Team
 
 
Maz commentating & Japanse D1 Driver Mr Ken Nomura the judge keeping us all amused as usual
 
 
The boys giving Tiff some tips at the end of the day
 
 
Tiff's mishap
 
 
Declan's Toyota Soarer ran almost faultlessly throughout the event showing some excellent high speed control & making the most of its power on Tesco 99ron fuel. The car remarkably only got through one pair of rear tyres all day quite how we'll never know. The Federal 535's have been Declan's choice for some time now as they can take the heat remarkably well whilst offering excellent levels of traction & control, all while keeping the cost down for his privateer entry. Next round the car will be running on Castrol Edge the all new fully synthetic oil that's been supplied to all the drivers & no doubt it'll be polished too courtesy of Autoglym & their new valet packs, so expect some shiny cars for round 2.
 
 
You may have noticed some new graphics on Declan's car couteusy of Custom Graphics,
the bonnet flames have been added to give the car more colour depth so it comes out better in photographs,
seems to have worked a treat. (despite Dec sticking them on wrong!!)
 
Queu'ing in the pits looking good
 
The Soarer will be wearing the number 8 for the next event showing Dec's position in the championship
 
The D1 people had a professional film crew on hand & followed four or five cars throughout the day for a press release mini film, Declan's car was chosen as one of these so expect to see this in the next few weeks. A big thanks to the D1 crew who did an excellent job, the event ran really smoothly & we now all can't wait till Silverstone in a few weeks time.
 
Results After Round 1 

D1GB Qualifying drivers were:


Brett Castle 95 Points
Phil Morrison 95 Points
Darren McNamara 94 Points
Tim Marshall 90 Points
Damien Mulvey 89 Points
Declan Hicks 89 Points
Mark Luney 89 Points
James Hudson 88 Points
Ben Broke Smith 88 Points
Mike Deane 87 Points
Maciej Polody 87 Points
Mat Steele 87 Points
Paul Vlasblom 87 Points
Ralph Crampton 85 Points
Stephen Evans 83 Points
Ian Coyne 82 Points
Steven Shine 82 Points
Niall Gunn 82 Points
Mike Murphy 80 Points
John Chambers 80 Points
Garry Kennedy 80 Points
Mark Coyne 79 Points
Wilco Van Esch 79 Points
James Grimsy 70 Points
Tiff Needell 0 Points DNF ( Crash/Retired)
Ian Harrison 0 Points DNF ( Crash/Retired)
Glen Mayer 0 Points DNF ( Retired)


D1GB Round 1 Race Result

Brett Castle 20 Points
Mark Luney 18 Points
Ralph Crampton 16 Points
Tim Marshall 14 Points
Damien Mulvey 12 Points
Ben Broke Smith 10 Points
Phil Morrison 8 Points
Declan Hicks 6 Points
Maciej Polody 4 Points
Mat Steele 2 Points

D1GB National Championship Scoreboard after Round 1

Brett Castle 20 Points Nissan 200SX S14
Mark Luney 18 Points Nissan Skyline R32 GTR ( RWD )
Ralph Crampton 16 Points Nissan 350Z – Works SVA Imports car
Tim Marshall 14 Points Nissan 350Z – Works Sumo Power car
Damien Mulvey 12 Points Nissan 200SX Silvia
Ben Broke Smith 10 Points Nissan Skyline R32 GTS
Phil Morrison 8 Points Nissan 200SX S14 – Works Driftworks car
Declan Hicks 6 Points Toyota Soarer
Maciej Polody 4 Points Nissan 200SX S14
Mat Steele 2 Points Nissan 200SX S14

No driver scored a perfect 100 points ( normally an extra point is gained for this )


Round 2 Kicks off at Silverstone on June 17th (Saturday) and eligible drivers from Round 2 will be forwarded to compete against the Japanese in the D1GP on Sunday 18th June at Silverstone – the drivers which go through will be based on the Round 2 result and judging – exact number of drivers TBC by D1GP Japan although there are 15 places available to D1GB competitors. Only 12 Japanese drivers will compete in the D1GP giving a level playing field ( or tilted in favour of D1GB boys if we get 15 spots filled ) for the D1GB boys to show who’s best. Tickets and entry forms are available NOW from www.d1gb.co.uk

The Japanese drivers will also be practicing on Saturday at the D1GB event in preparation for Sunday.

See you at Silverstone, hope you enjoyed Rockingham as much as we did.
 
Cheers
Dec
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