British Drift Championship 2012???

It's been busy here lately not only with BDC Round 2 but I've also been getting my car ready for the BDC Practice/License Day at Donington on 18th June! I thought I'd do an ongoing blog of what I'm getting up to in preparation for BDC 2012 to give a slightly different perspective to competing!

I have actually tried for my BDC license before at Norfolk arena, however failing fairly badly, it did give me a relaxed attitude towards competing because i learnt it's not worth getting worked up over!

Picture courtesy of AmmoPhotography

http://www.ammophotography.co.uk/

So when i signed up for the next BDC Practice day at Donington, i initially just wanted to jump at the chance of drifting the same track they used for Round 1 of BDC this year but after having a think, another shot at getting a BDC license looked like a good move!

Now to get the car ready! I have a long list of parts needed for next year, mainly things for regs. e.g. cage etc but for now i want to get the car looking nice and handling well and i can now do this thanks to my supportive sponsors!!!

Mint Tyres - Steve at Mint Tyres supplies tyre changing facilities for the majority of UK based drift events including practice days and competition and he has always been supportive of my drifting!
http://www.minttyresmotorsport.com/
RS Repairs - Ray at RS Repairs has recently come on board to help prepare and maintain the car and I'm looking forward to seeing what i can achieve with his help next year.
http://www.rs-repairs.co.uk/
Carbon Copy - Sharon at Carbon Copy has recently supplied a full Vertex kit for the s14 which has improved the look of the s14.
http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=509125027#!/CarbonCopyUK
PrecisionDrift Clothing - Craig at Precision Drift Clothing is helping by offering his awesome vinyl applying skills, hoping to have pictures of this very soon!
http://www.precisiondriftclothing.com/

I feel I've come along way since ditching the underpowered bouncy Volvo's and i like to think my car has improved lots too.
From this...

To how it stands today, ready for Craig to work his magic next week....



Well, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll have some good news after the Donington License day in 2 weeks but if i don't then, hey, there's always next time!!

Doing it for the girls!!!

It's been pretty quiet here recently, mainly because i've been so busy breaking, fixing and drifting cars and attending the first round of BDC! More to come on that later.

For now, i thought i'd show you a video i watched today of Sumika Kubokawa, the female member of Team Orange in Japan. She's got a brilliant attitude towards drifting and definately has some skills behind the wheel!!

This has given me lots of enthusiasm to get another ladies practice day organised and drag the lovely Ana Rodrigues over from Portugal for some twinning practice!!!

If you're a woman interested in coming to a ladies only practice day or perhaps you're a drifter already, wanting some extra practice with like minded women, get involved and give me an e-mail on laura_ty80@hotmail.com

The countdown to BDC!!

Well with 8 days, 21 hours and 5 minutes left until the start of the 2011 BDC season (of course i'm not excited in the slightest.... ) all the drivers are busy getting the cars ready and there are even some well prepared drivers who have had some time to practice in their newly set up cars - although not many!

The season kicks off on Friday 22nd April at Donnington Park. BDC will be making full use of the launch pad area and if last year was anything to go by we'll be all set to watch some nice fast entries into the first corner!

For those not too familiar with competition drifting, not only do you have to build you car to be competitive with regards to power, suspension set up and tyres, you also need to build your car to very specific safety regulations. This includes a full 6 point roll cage, internal and external engine kill switches and extinguisher pull cables, as well as various other things such as FIA approved bucket seats, fire retardant clothing etc

Sid, who will be competing in the Pro league in his RB20 powered Nissan Laurel, has only a few things to complete before the first round as lucky for us, Sid's car is basically up to spec already (Gold star for our pre-planning skills!) therefore giving us time to make the Laurel look awesomely eye catching... more info later ;)

So, as we come up to the last week before Round 1 here's some pictures from last season to help the competitors who are struggling to get their cars ready, keep their enthusiasm when everything may seem to be going wrong...

And finally, midget chunk gives you all a thumbs up.................

Pictures courtesy of Ross at Doristars

Are you an old Toyota fan???

Got a pre 1990 Toyota??? This is for you....

If it doesn't break, you're not trying hard enough....

It's been a bit quiet here recently, i've been a busy girl getting my S14 ready for some big Mallory skids.. now the big Mallory skids are over i thought i'd share some pictures and videos with you guys!

I turned up bright and early Thursday morning in the hope of getting a garage in the pit lane and it's lucky i did as the weather wasn't very nice, me and Sid got to work getting the S14 and Laurel ready for some drifting.

To those that weren't aware Sid's not had the best of luck with his Laurel, having two front end smashes in the past 4-5 months. This meant a long wait for some expensive headlights from Japan... so we thought it was best not to risk smashing another pair, seeing as it was only a practice day and the start of BDC is so close, we took the headlights out and took the bodykit off.

So the drifting started and i think Bob's wise words in the drivers briefing settled in this time, as i did notice there were less red flags than last time!

There were a number of well known drivers who turned up for a relaxed day of drifting with friends, Paz, Jay of JimsFactory, Phil 'The guy' Morrison and Mitch of DriftGarage.

There were also a few drivers testing out their new cars, Sid in his RB20 powered Laurel was testing his new turbo set up courtesy of Lance at Precision Automotive, Phil Maclachlan testing his new V8 powered green machine and Jason Davis in his pimp 1jz Cressida.

Unfortunately Jason only managed to get in a couple of laps in the Cressida due to a dead alternator!

The sight of Jay drifting parts of the track i haven't even attempted makes me feel totally un-deserving of my 200 horses!

Personally it was a brilliant day for me, even though i managed to bend two steering rods, get stuck on the track and put a hole in one of my boost pipes it was all made worthwhile when i found my balls and drifted Devils Elbow for the first time! A scary but very rewarding corner to drift! Thank you to Mitch at DriftGarage who luckily had a spare steering rod (which i then also bent lol)

I'll finish off with some pictures courtesy of Mark White Photography and AmmoPhotography.

 My Mint Tyres team mate, Wayne Keeber being chased by top female UK drifter Julie Robinson.

The most enjoyable corner i have ever drifted....

Sid Crowfoot testing out the new Precision Drift/Automotive Nissan Laurel.

and finally an awesome video from Dan Joyce to promote Awesomefest 2011 showing some of the brilliant drifting and the awesome atmosphere at FCD days...

http://vimeo.com/21830575

Celebrating Friday with some Manx Rallying!

It's Friday!!! and I'm celebrating with some good old Manx rallying :D

I've been back and forth to the Isle of Man for the last few years, living there has good and bad sides.. drifting is (was) practically non existant over there and getting on and off the island for drift events was extremely costly.

The good side..... the AMAZING roads and driving talent!

So here are some videos from this amazing little island, featuring the lanes i could often be found terrorising :)

This one gives a good idea of the main roads used on the island

Ladies only drift day - 05/03/11

On Sunday 14th November 2010 i ran the first ever Ladies only international drift practice day and as we all enjoyed it so much, i decided to organise another.. So on Saturday 5th March 2011, 13 women headed to Santa Pod raceway in Northamptonshire for a day jam packed full of practice.

The day started early for me, up at 5.30am, got to Santa Pod for 8.30am to set up the big track for some big smokey skids! Bob, who i run the drift days with was already there helping to set up the play pens and get all the ladies together for the drivers briefing.

9.30am on the dot, the lovely Heidi was ready and waiting to get on the big track. I've never known someone so eager to get in every second of track time possible!

Also in attendance was my Mint Tyres team mate Sharon Cope, trying out her Mk3 Supra which had only been started for the first time in 18 months, the day before! Despite the open diff and amazingly bouncy suspension she did pretty good in it, however unfortunately a broken clutch ended the day early for Sharon.

BDC Pro driver, Julie Robinson came up to lend a hand and pass on her drifting wisdom!

Steve our lovely tyre man showed his feminine side, unfortunately i didn't have a chance to get the make up out!

There were a few ladies who started off in the donut and figure of 8 areas but soon progressed and by the end of the day and could be seen confidently linking up the big track, such as Debbie Joy in her R32.

BDC Semi Pro driver, Kirsty Widdrington was getting some practice in her Nissan PS13 (Syril) before the season starts, very much enjoyed chasing Kirsty around the track in the afternoon!

Ana Rodrigues made the journey all the way from Portugal to join us for some drifting in her missile s13, her drifting improves every time i see her and  i had so much fun drifting with her.

Future twinning partners???? :)

Overall, it was a very successful day, everyone had a really good time and improved lots! I really hope to see more women in drifting over the next couple of years.

Here are some more pictures from the day, thanks to Graham 'Bolf' Beatty and Matt Cross

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53495510@N08/sets/72157626078720389/