The final round of the British Drift Championship was held at Anglesey circuit, North West Wales. This was the first time Anglesey had been used for a BDC venue. I had visited the track previously but as it was run in the opposite direction, any previous experience was useless.
Saturday morning in the drivers briefing we were shown the track layout showing the line and clipping points. After the briefing there was time for me to have a quick look at the track for myself and check out the last section to see how much of a challenge it would be. The time approached for practice, so I warmed up the car and lined up for practice. The first session ran smoothly but the tricky last section was more of a challenge than I had anticipated so once I’d nailed the first section, I set about getting the last part right. The speed of the track meant my tyres were dead before the end of the session. Sadly there was not enough time to get back to the pits to change them and get back out on track again before the practice was over.
Back in the pits it was time to change the tyres for a new pair and check over the car before the second practice session started. In the second session I was placing the car in slightly different positions on track hoping to get the last section better. Just as I thought I was getting the hang of it I popped a boost pipe off and headed back to the pits to fix it. With a couple of new jubilee clips fitted in was back out on track but only managed to get a couple more laps in before they called time on the session. Next up was qualifying. My first run was a lot better than my practice runs but there was still room for improvement.
My second run started off better but a slight dirt drop meant there would be a deduction on points. My third and final qualifying run was slightly conservative but clean and tidy. With qualifying out of the way, we all headed to the briefing room for the results. As I was still finding the last section challenging I wasn’t expecting to qualify as high as I had in the previous round. As the results were called out I was placed 15th. You always want to be higher but I was happy with that. This would mean that my first battle was against Jo Fletcher.
Sunday was battle day and the morning was pretty chilled out as we weren’t due out on track until 2pm. This gave me time to actually watch some of the drifting of the lower classes which is rare. After a short lunch break we were called to the holding area to get ready for our battles. I headed out on track to line up for a practice run before the twin battles. The track felt as it did the day before so I was able to push from the start. On my our first judged run in was the lead car as I’d qualified higher. I put in a clean run but I didn’t know how Jo had done behind me.
We swapped round and it was my turn to be the chase car on the second run. My chase run was good through the first corner but I got a little close on the transition which caused me to straighten slightly. As we both headed round the track to get the results, I was convinced I’d lost due to my mistake but as it turned out Jo had also made a mistake so the judge’s decided that we should run one more time. On the first run of our OMT battle I was the lead car again and I managed to put in one of the best runs of my weekend. If I could put in a mistake free chase run I’d win the battle. I managed to pull it off and went onto the next battle. I headed back to the pits for a tyre change as those 5 runs had completely killed my tyres.
I headed back out onto the track and made my way to the start line for my next battle which would be against Jack Shanahan in his BMW powered S14. Jack was the lead car for the first judged run and he was really quick. I managed to stay with him while chasing which meant it was all to play for in the second run. With myself as the lead car this time, I put in another solid run but unfortunately it just wasn’t quite enough to beat Jack. Congratulations to Jack on carrying on through the battles and taking the second place podium.
After being knocked out I watched the rest of the finals before packing up and heading home. Well done to Matt Carter for winning the last round and Shane O Sullivan on winning the Super Pro championship.
I’d like to say a massive thank you to all my sponsors and supporters for all the help and support this year. It’s been very much appreciated.
Next stop……..Drift Matsuri