After what was a sensational season opener, I had every intention of making it to the second round of the rejuvenated and revitalised British Drift Championship. In the end, I was only able to attend day two of the event at Teesside Autodrome but this meant that I would at least be able to catch the Pro class and Drift Games mini-event in person.
In the run up to the round, the most prominent concern I had was that Round 2 wouldn’t be able to build upon (or at least maintain) the huge in-roads that Round 1 made with regards pushing the championship to a whole new level. While the custom built circuit in Rockingham’s Outer Paddock was a newcomer to the calendar, Teesside Autodrome once played host to the first ever British Drift Championship event nine years ago and, as such, it has a much larger drift event repertoire at which to look back on when comparing the events of today. Call it nostalgia if you will but, there were many drivers on the grid who will remember the less competitive and more relaxed nature of past events held here.
In hindsight though, I needn’t have worried about anything
Arriving in time to watch qualifying in its entirety, I had a glance over the track layout that the drivers would be contending with. While it consisted of the same big sweeper and two hairpins that are almost always used for Teesside’s competition drift events, the clipping points had been laid out so as to make a course that many drivers were familiar with that little bit harder, forcing them out of their comfort zone.
Clip 1 was located on the outside of the main straight, shortly after where the drivers would be initiating. It’s so great to see that flick entries are not only allowed but actually encouraged in this year of the championship, so long as no more than half the width of the track is used.
Clip 2 was situated on the very edge of the bank, halfway around the main sweeper, while clips three and four were located on the outer edges of the first hairpin. These would be the clips that proved most critical when it came to judging, as the line between the outer edge of the sweeper, the wall on the outside of the run up to the hairpin and then the outside edge of the latter half of the hairpin was not one that you would naturally take.
Now that the drivers only get two qualifying runs to prove themselves there’s no such thing as playing it safe, especially when considering that the scores from both runs are now added together in order to sort the qualifying order. Even if you put in a blinder of a first run, it was all for nothing if you can’t put in a solid second run afterwards.
Once the qualifying dust had settled it was the usual suspects that could be found at the top, although there were some notable absentees from the Top 8 that would have to fight their way through the Top 24 in order to progress further.
A year or so back I remember reading an interview with IDC (and now BDC) bossman David Egan, whereby he compared competition drifting to professional wrestling and how he planned to push the sport to boast the same key traits, such as rivalries or feuds between drivers to entice the crowd showing more passion for their favourite competitors.
If chance would have it, there were one or two battles at Teesside that would be re-runs of Rockingham duels, which I felt really helped to build upon this idea of rivalry. Add to that the old guard vs young guns style battles between some of the championship’s elder statesmen and the considerably younger Shanahan brothers and I could sense different segments of the crowd around me getting behind their favourites. In previous years you would normally find the more vocal supporters would either be team mates or family members but, it’s almost a relief to be able to say that those days are now long gone.
The meet and greet/pit walk section of any drift event is usually quite a lacklustre affair, as the die-hard spectators who are more than likely friends with the drivers involved would rather just see them get on with driving. However, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the demographic of spectators is now shifting to primarily be made up of newcomers to the sport and the series, and so interactions such as the meet and greet are a great opportunity for them to take a closer look at the cars and put names to faces with the drifters that they’ve spent most of the day cheering on.
On a side note, while he may not be having the best season behind the wheel of his Japspeed 370Z, Shane Lynch is still a big attraction to the spectators, as was made apparent by the queue of people waiting their turn to have Shane sign whatever they put in front of him. While it would be nice to see people queueing up for a selfie or autograph with other drivers based on their skills behind the wheel and not their other careers, I think we have to be realistic and admit that we still have a few more years to go until top level UK drifters are on the receiving end of the same levels of admiration and are idolised in the same way that their US and Japanese peers are.
The Drift Games segment featured once again at this round, with the challenge this time being to successfully perform a 360 degree entry into the first corner. Given the high grip nature of the cars taking part and considering that fact that most of the drivers involved had never performed an intentional 360 degree entry before, the results were mixed to say the least! Most importantly though, it was a lot of fun, the judges brought some additional comedy value and, crucially, it was entertaining.
After the Top 16 Parade it was down to business; the Pro Top 16 battles. This was the headline event and what everyone was waiting to see…they were not to be disappointed.
Whereas in previous years there might have been one or maybe two battles per event that would be noteworthy, Round 1 on its own had too many incredible duels to remember. Teesside was no exception, with almost every single battle being an all-encompassing display of skill, technique, aggression and showmanship.
Of the battles that immediately spring to mind, Paul Smith and Martin Richards’ pairing was incredible to watch, while the rematch of Jack Shanahan versus the newcomer Oliver Evans was simply inspiring as Jack got his revenge and took the win this time round. Remember what I said a few paragraphs ago about rivalries and entertainment value? This was the perfect example and, I hope for both the spectator’s and championship’s respective interests, that we see these two do battle again and again.
The only disappointment of the day was that Conor Shanahan was forced to admit defeat during the final as his car sprung an oil leak that could not be repaired during a five minute call. It was a bit of an anti-climatic end to what had been a thrilling afternoon but, if anything, I’m sure it’ll mean that Connor will go into Round 3 even more determined than usual.
Speaking of Round 3 and it’s the secret, soon-to-be-announced street event that is up next on the calendar. Details are scarce at the time of writing but, from what I’ve heard on the rumour mill, it’s one not to be missed. Once again I’ll be there to see how things unfold although, this time round, you’ll probably find me manning an STL gazebo, as selling stickers out the back of my car to those who’ve requested them during previous events hasn’t really been the best way of going about business!
BDC, I’ll see you next time.