The British Drift Championship headed to Lydden Hill, Kent for the second time this season. The undulating track always creates close battles and plenty of action.
The drivers were briefed on the track early on Saturday morning, this time around the judges had laid out a track to promote close battles.
A great day met the drivers, clear blue skies and temperatures in the 30s, giving the drivers a challenge of keeping themselves and their cars cool.
The clipping points were located around the outside of the first bend before transitioning onto a wall and rear clip before entering the hairpin.
The exit of the hairpin featured a front clip before they would have to run out to the wall for another rear clip.
As they headed uphill into the final corner they would push the cars to the inside for another clip, being careful not to hit the kerb, before running out to the final clip right on the edge of the track.
Running wide at any of the rear clips could be costly as the drivers could end up in the gravel trap or tap the walls, some drivers were lucky to escape without damaging their cars.
This event would run to a different format to the rest of the season with both classes battling on Sunday. Saturday would feature a practice session for each class and qualifying.
Pro Am practice ran early in the morning with everyone pushing hard from the start.
Qualifying would soon follow with everyone getting two runs to get earn their place in the Top32.
Nick Brady would earn the top qualifying place with a score of 86.8, the heat of the day clearly suiting him as he was 9 points clear of second place.
Some other notable results include Steven Donnelly in 6th place in the ever improving RX7 & championship leader, Adam Simmons, in 7th.
The Pro class were out on track next for their practice session.
Jack Shanahan would experience the heat more than most when his car caught fire crossing the finish line with a trail of flames.
The quick reactions of Jack, the other drivers and the marshals soon got it under control. He would surprise many of us when he returned to the track during qualifying getting a score of 81.3 and 13th place.
Michael Marshall would take the top spot, a great second run would earn 91.2 points.
A chance to relax for some drivers on Saturday evening, time to repair their cars for others before the battles the following day.
Sunday morning would bring an overcast sky, rain was the talk of the paddock with many saying that it would start just before the Pro battles.
The Pro Am Top 32 ran first, Ryan Pothecary qualified lower than usual in 28th place, taking on Tony Walker in the top 32 and beating him as Tony span out. Ryan would then take on Ryan Toporowski and Louis Geldart on his way to the Top 4.
Championship leader, Adam Simmons, would have an eventful run to the Top 4. He would beat Jamie Owen in the Top 32 before taking on his team mate Matt Stevenson.
Matt would misjudge the first corner, hitting the rear of Adams Skyline resulting in them both parking their cars in the gravel trap.
A quick check over the car and a bit of teamwork would see them get back to the line ready to battle again, which Adam would go on to win.
Frazer Stark would drive his E30 Touring hard all weekend, he has been awarded the hard charger award twice this year so we wouldn’t expect anything less this weekend.
He would battle against Tom Marshall in his new 1JZ PS13 before taking on David Egan and his AE86.
Steven Donnelly would battle him in the Top 8, both drivers throwing everything they had at the battle but it would be Frazer advancing to the Top 4.
Nick Brady would be the final driver making it into the Top 4, he would have some great battles on the way. Ben Mellish, Lewis Baker and Ian Rutherford all fell by the wayside as Nick was on form this weekend.
Ryan Pothecary and Adam Simmons would battle for a place in the final, Adam would advance through after a Ryan dropped a wheel on his chase run.
Nick Brady and Frazer Stark would battle on the other side of the tree, Frazer would earn his place in the final after Nick made mistakes on both runs.
Nick would then take on Ryan Pothecary for third place, unfortunately another mistake would cause him to leave the track giving the win to Ryan.
The final battle between Adam Simmons and Frazer Stark would not be one to miss, Frazer led first with a great run hitting all of the clipping points and pulling a small gap over Adam. They swapped positions, Adam also running a great line but he could not pull away from Frazer.
The Pro class lined up next, as they headed out to the start line the rain came down. Rhys Gamble appeared to enjoy the conditions as he knocked out Jordan Patton and Mark Lappage on his way to the Top 8.
Dan Firmager put in some strong runs taking out Dean Barber although his battle with Jack Shanahan was just too much, knocking him out in the top 16.
Jack would go on to battle Rhys, knocking him out and earning his way into the Top 4.
Wesley Keating was on form after qualifying 7th, he would battle Martin Richards in the borrowed S15 before taking on Marc Huxley and Richard Grindrod, although they weren’t able to stop Wesley’s charge to the Top 4.
On the other side of the tree we would see Matt Carter run the best chase runs of anyone, taking out Jody Fletcher, Luke Woodham and 2014 champion, Shane O’Sullivan, to earn his place in the Top 4.
Adam Weeden had a great day making it to the Top 8 before getting knocked out by number 1 qualifier, Michael Marshall.
The Top 4 would see Jack Shanahan take on fellow Irishman, Wesley Keating, Jack throwing the car up onto Wesley’s door at every opportunity.
As the swapped over Jack would lead, initiating early into the first clip before pulling away in a cloud of smoke and advancing through to the final.
The other Top 4 battle between Michael Marshall and Matt Carter would be just as exciting, Michael leading first. Matt Carter pinned it on the door and remained there for the whole run before swapping places.
Matt would then pull away whilst Michael tried to take the shorter line around the track to keep up, it wasn’t enough and Matt Carter would go through to the final.
Michael Marshall and Wesley Keating battled for third place, Michael led first whilst Wesley kept good proximity until the last corner where he dropped two wheels off the track and into the gravel. Wesley would then lead Michael although it would be tough to take the win, he pulled a gap but it wouldn’t be enough to take third place.
The final battle would see Jack Shanahan and Matt Carter have an eventful battle, Jack would lead Matt first. Matt would stay right on Jacks door as he had done in every battle throughout the day, in the final corner Jacks rear window would fly up in the air clearing Matts car, landing in the track.
A quick collection by the track marshals before Matt would lead. Jack stayed pinned to his door until the hairpin when Matt would have an issue, causing a straighten and some contact between the cars.
Jack had done enough to take the win, a big celebration on the way to the podium would show how much this meant to the 16 year old.
The podium followed with the Pro Am drivers collecting their prizes first. The guys were ecstatic as they celebrated with Frazer in first, Adam in second and Ryan Pothecary in third.
The Pro drivers took their turn on the podium with Jack Shanahan in first, Matt Carter in second and Michael Marshall in third.
Nick Brady would be awarded the Aford Awards Hard Charger for his impressive driving throughout the event.
The championship heads to Anglesey next as we wrap up the 2015 season.