Winter Plans!

It's that quiet time of year, competition cars are being stripped down and rebuilt ready for the 2012 season, people are on the search for cheap missile streeto cars and new competitors like me are using this quiet time to get new competition cars up to spec!!

Even though there's not been much drifting happening lately, me and Sid have been busy treating our cars to some nice new parts!

I just recently picked up a 6 point 'Fabricage' roll cage and started stripping the interior down to fit all the required safety equipment for the BDC, I'm also picking up Z32 rear brakes to convert mine in the hope of a better handbrake.

Lots to do over the coming weeks, i usually try not to put deadlines on things but there was a practice day that particularly caught my eye on Driftworks recently..... Lydden Hill... full track... open pit lane!! Yes please! So now I'm aiming to fit everything ready for that on 7th January.

Sid bought some nice new shiny wheels for the JZX90 Cresta, thanks to Dan at SRB Power it is now sat on some 18 x 9.75j et20 XXR 527 wheels in black chrome!

Sorry about the dark pictures, winter is definitely here!

The Cresta is already running very good power and pulls like a train but Sid plans to get it on the rollers as soon as possible to see if anymore power can be squeezed out of it before upgrading more parts! The car also really needs new paint, we're thinking colours at the moment.... Brown????

Other drivers and teams currently beginning massive car overhauls include Paul Cheshire of Team Falken who just seems to be cutting stuff off!!!

Team TKS Worx also seem to be losing some weight off of Ian Waddingtons S13 although keeping their plans fully under wraps!

More to come on these projects over the coming weeks!!!

The British Drift Championship 2011 Dinner Dance and Awards Ceremony.

This weekend myself and 177 other drivers, pit crew, partners and BDC staff headed to a hotel in Coventry for the annual end of season Dinner Dance and Awards Ceremony to celebrate yet another fantastic year of competition!!

We started the evening off with a drivers meeting to discuss new plans for 2012, i was extremely happy to hear what tracks were planning to be used as it includes a track that i never managed to drive at!

Then a magical thing happened..... we shed our dirty oil stained 'drifters clothing' and who knew, underneath we all scrubbed up pretty damn well!

Of course as soon as everyone had sat down Team Green managed to cover everyone and everything in silly string, party poppers and various other things in record time!!

Then it was time for the awards!!!

Malx and Minnie were recognised for their continued dedication to drifting, running around the pit lanes, organising the start line and always doing it with a smile on their faces!

Mr Mint himself received a very well deserved award for dedication to drifting, continuously sacrificing his own drifting to ensure not only BDC events but also most UK practice days have speedy tyre changing.

Julie Robinson received an award for just generally being awesome!

Darren Matthews received an award for his continued dedication to the BDC.

Justin Clarke received the award for most improved driver of the year.

Sam Holt received an award for being the most annoying person in the BDC.... sorry, i meant entertaining ;)

Jody Fletcher won Rookie of the year.

and Team Japspeed won the team trophy for the 2011 season.

On to the driver awards for the Semi Pro category.

3rd place was awarded to my fellow Mint Tyres team mate, Belinda Challis.

2nd place was awarded to Marc Huxley.

and 1st place was awarded to BDC newcomer, Matt Campling.

In the Pro category, 3rd place went to Grant Laker.

2nd place went to Ian Phillips (John Glaister received the trophy on his behalf)

The 1st place trophy went to Mike Marshall of M'n'M Engineering.

Now onto the Super Pro category and i start with my Mint Tyres team mate, Wayne Keeber who received the impressively large trophy for 3rd place.

2nd place went to Mark Luney and the SATS Cosworth team.

And a very well deserved 1st place trophy was awarded to Matt Carter of Team Falken.

Mark 'Sweeps' Buckle, BDC organiser then went on to announce some items that were to be auctioned off for the 'Movember' Mens health charity. Unluckily for Japspeed driver, Steve 'Baggsy' Biagioni one of the things auctioned off was his hair and eyebrows!!!!!

Fair play to Baggsy for going through with it and raising approximately £2500 for charity, the overall figure raised through the auctions and donations came to approximately £5000!!!

It has become tradition that the unveiling of Brooksie's end of season movie always happens at the Dinner Dance and therefore we all waited with anticipation for it to start! My god!!!! That guy can make good films!
I will let you see for yourself, here is a link to his channel on Vimeo.....

http://vimeo.com/32437536

Finally, here are some more pictures from the night! Bring on BDC 2012!!!!

Images courtesy of Ammo Photography and Ross Ianson of Doristars

The Female Drift Invasion!!!

In a very male dominated motorsport, women who enjoy drifting are few and far between! However, over the last couple of years the interest in drifting from women all over the world has grown and grown and therefore i thought a blog dedicated to female drifters was a great idea!

Below are details of just some of the women across Europe, Australia and the US who are doing what they love the most, drifting!!

Kelly Wong - Australia

Kelly has been drifting since March 2011, she competes in the National series and drifts at Mallala, Tailem Bend and Calder Park. She drives a heavily modified Nissan Cefiro A31 with a cage, coilovers, 2 way diff, Full URAS kit, adjustable arms and a lot of engine modifications amongst many other things.

Kirsty Widdrington - UK.

Kirsty has been drifting for almost 3 years and currently competes in the Semi Pro league of the BDC, she practices at Santa Pod, Norfolk Arena and Mallory Park in her Nissan PS13 called Syril!!!

Anne-Marie Campling - UK

Anne-Marie has recently started learning to drift and has done 2 drift days at Norfolk arena in her old BMW 325, she is currently working to build her next drift car, a Nissan R32.

Louise Ridley

Louise started drifting about 6 years ago and in 2007 she entered her first competition, EuroDrift. Back then she drove a Nissan R33, she went on to drive the Skylineparts.com PS13 in the BDC, now she has an RB25 powered S13.

Cornelia Krausz - Ireland

Cornelia has been drifting for around 5 months and attending practice days at Watergrasshill, her Nissan S14 currently has coilovers, a 2 way diff and basic power modifications.

Julie Robinson - UK.
Julie has been drifting just over 6 years now, her first competition being the Option UKD1 Championship at Silverstone where she finished 4th, Julie now competes in the BDC SuperPro class in her Nissan R32.

Lisa Branch - UK.
Lisa regularly practices at Santa Pod and Mallory Park, she also gives Drift Taxi rides at Oulton Park, Brands Hatch and Snetterton. She has been drifting for about 4 years in her Nissan R33, next year she is planning to compete in her new heavily modified, 2jz converted R34 in the European Drift Championship.

Hilary Collins - UK.

Hilary aka 'Minnie' has been drifting for 2-3 years, she is part of the Norfolk Arena drift team and staff but has also practiced at Santa Pod and Mallory Park in her SR20 N/A powered S14.

Catherine May - Australia.

Catherine has been practicing at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria for the last 4 years and hopes to enter some competitions in 2012. Her Nissan Sil-80 is powered by a RB25DET engine running approximately 250KW.

Kim Walker - UK

Kim has been drifting for 1 year and practices at Norfolk Arena and Mallory Park, this year she has competed in the ODC in preperation to compete in the BDC in 2012. She drives a SR20 powered Nissan S13 with coilovers, adjustable arms and a cage.

Nadia Outar - UK.

Nadia has started learning to drift and attended the ladies only practice day that i organised later last year. She drives a Nissan S14a with basic mods.

Ana Rodrigues - Portugal.

Ana has been drifting for 2 years, she lives in Portugal and there she competes in the CPD although she regularly travels to the UK where she keeps her missile SR20 powered Nissan S13, in the UK she practices at Santa Pod, Norfolk and Mallory Park. Next year i hope she returns regularly to practice more twinning with me :)

Laura Hinks (Me!) - UK
I have been drifting for just over 4 years, i practice at Santa Pod, Norfolk Arena, Mallory Park and where ever else i can get to! I hope that 2012 will be my first year competing in the BDC in the Semi-Pro class after gaining my license at Donnington earlier this year. I drift a Nissan S14 with basic power upgrades, coilovers and welded diff.

Sara Vollhaase Hagemann - Denmark.

Sara has been drifting for 1 year and competes in the IDS in Denmark, Norway and Germany.
She owns a Toyota Supra powered by 2jz single turbo at 570KH.

Hayley Bonwick - UK.
Hayley has been drifting on and off for just over 1 year, originally she had a Nissan S13 with a CA18, she now has a MX5. She practices mostly at Norfolk Arena but has also visited Santa Pod.

Danni Murphy - Ireland.

Danni has been drifting for 4 years and has competed in BDC, ProDrift, Drift Allstars and KD in Portugal. She owns a Nissan S14 (The Green Monster) running an SR20 with Owen Developments 2868 externally gated turbo.

Sharon Cope - UK.

Sharon has been practicing at Santa Pod and Norfolk Arena for the last 6-8 months. Her plans for 2012 are to prepare her new Nissan S14 and come twinning with me ;)

Sharon de Ridder - Netherlands.

Sharon has been drifting on and off for 6 years. After doctors told her she wouldn't drift again she entered her first competition in 2011 and came 3rd! She competes in the NL Drift series, The Skylimit cup in Belgium and she recently travelled to the UK to compete in the BDC. Her BMW E36 was converted to an M3 by the well known Falken driver, Remmo Niezen.

Belinda Challis - UK.

Belinda has been drifting for 4 years and has competed in the BDC for a number of years in the Semi Pro class, in 2011 she was awarded her Pro license for consistent top place finishes. She takes part in many demos across the country in her Castrol stickered RB25 powered Nissan R32.

Starzia Procter - UK

Starzia has been drifting for 1 year and is becoming a regular at the Norfolk Arena practice days, she has also travelled to Germany to practice at a larger track where unfortunately her beloved 'Seb' saw it's end! (below) she is now preparing her new Nissan S15 Silvia which is currently running 330bhp.

Michelle Westby - UK.

Michelle started learning to drift a couple of months ago, she has attended DWYB's at Santa pod over the last couple of months and it progressing well in her S14a sponsored by GarageD.

Kate Bauer - Missouri, USA.

Kate has been drifting for around 3 years and practices at St. Louis MO, Topeka KS, Nashville TN and Atlanta GA. She owns a 1997 240sx (S14a to us English folk!) with full PBM suspension.

Tara Lewendon - UK.

Tara has only been drifting for a couple of months but has managed to gain experience at Santa pod, Llandow and Smeatharpe race tracks, next year she hopes to compete in the Open drift championship.

Her Nissan S14 has coilovers, rollcage and the usual power upgrades.

Amelia Verri - Essex, UK.
Amelia started learning to drift a couple of months ago, she has begun learning at Santa Pod however she hopes to attend other track days next year and pick up more tips! She drives a Nissan S14a.