British Drift Championship 2016 – Round 1: Lydden Hill

Round 1 of the British Drift Championship and the traditional starting venue of Lydden Hill. Tradition doesn’t mean much this year though, David Egan has taken the reigns of the British Drift Championship and he is shaking it up with many changes all aimed at making it better for the drivers and fans.

Friday saw the Pro-Am drivers on track with a 3 hours practice session in the morning, plenty of time to setup their cars, for some it would be the first time driving their freshly finished builds.

Karl Farrar’s AE86 was one of those build that everyone was waiting to see, it was worth the wait once it was on track, although it looks to be a bit of a handful to drive.

The track layout for this round featured clip one and two around the outside of the devil’s elbow, with the drivers running mid track through the corner before heading up the hill.

A wall on the entrance to the hairpin was the location of clip three which encouraged the drivers to stay high on the entry before cutting back to the inside on the exit of the hairpin for clip four.

They would then run down the hill onto clip four against the wall as they dial on the angle for clip five on the inside of the final corner, running out to clip six on the exit to finish the track.

Once practice was over the drivers would line up for their two attempts to impress the judges with only 32 of the 50 drivers going through to the battles.

Nick Brady took the top spot in qualifying with a score of 79 on his first run, he had been consistent all morning and it clearly paid off.

Something that caught my attention during qualifying was the performance of the drivers that have come through the ranks from Driftcup. Danny Grundy qualified in 11th, Brett Perry in 15th, Oliver Evans in 19th, that’s not all of them, just the best three!

The Top 32 kicked off with Nick Brady getting a pass into the Top 16 due to Chris Hawker experiencing car issues, Nick would then be knocked out by Lewis Baker due to a small error on his chase run.

Matt Stevenson would make it all the way to the Final 4 after battling the Ben Rowland and his diesel Mercedes, Martin Wonnacott and Lewis Baker.

Ian Rutherford had a good run through into the Great 8 after battling Steven Donnelly and Neil Bamford.

Ian’s day would end in the Great 8 against Ben Manual who would advance into the Final 4 against his teammate.

On the other side of the tree Danny Grundy was the surprise, he would knock out Keith Bart O’Shea, Alexis Drew and Tony Walker on his way to the Final 4.

Matt Walker was the last driver to make it into the Final 4, defeating Brett Perry, Stuart Farley and Peter Hayden on his way.

The Final 4 was set, two teammates to battle first followed by two drivers that have previously come from Driftcup. The Slide Motorsport lads would battle first with Ben Manual leading first, Matt Stevenson straightened and missed clip two whilst chasing. It would need a big run to get the advantage in this battle as they swapped over.

Matt tried his best with a huge entry on his lead run but it wasn’t enough, Ben Manual would progress into the final but who would he be against?

Matt Walker has proven himself since advancing into the BDC last year with his low powered E30, Danny Grundy was out to prove himself on his first round in the championship, this would be one of the best battles of the day. Danny led first with a huge entry, the car rotated too much and he spun after clip one causing Matt to take avoiding action.

Matt knew he had the advantage going into his lead run, it didn’t stop Danny from getting right on his door at every opportunity. Matt would advance through to the final against Ben Manual.

The battle for the third place on the podium was between Matt Stevenson and Danny Grundy, Matt led first with Danny in close pursuit, both drivers made small errors with neither gaining a big advantage.

They swapped over for Danny’s lead run, Matt dropped a wheel early in the run and then lost proximity giving Danny the podium place.

The Final between Ben Manual and Matt Walker was up next, Matt struggled to keep up with Ben on the first run, as they swapped over Ben would dive in against the door of Matt’s car several times. It was enough to give him the win.

The drivers came down to the podium to celebrate in front of friends, family and the fans.

The next day was time for the Pro class to head out for their practice session, joined by the top four drivers from the Pro-Am class. Unfortunately it would be colder and wetter than the previous day so the speeds were lower and a noticeable lack of smoke throughout the day.

This didn’t change the driver’s attitudes with everyone pushing to the limits throughout practice, many trying huge entries into the first corner with a couple of drivers pulling off a backwards entry.

During qualifying Marc Huxley would maintain first place for much of the session with a score of 89.6 until Jack Shanahan’s second run where he would get the top spot of a run of 93.3.

Three of the Pro-Am drivers would also qualify with Matt Stevenson in 16th, Danny Grundy in 17th and Matt Walker in 23rd.

This season the Pro class doesn’t have a Top 32, twenty four drivers qualify with the top eight going straight through to the Top 16, the remaining driver have to battle their way in through Sudden Death. The big upset in Sudden Death was Jay White beating Mike Marshall, the runner up from last year, after a One More Time.

The first battle in the Top 16 was Danny Grundy against the reigning champion, Jack Shanahan. Jack led first with huge angle and speed even in the wet conditions, Danny stayed with him but a mistake exiting the hairpin causing him to straighten. Danny’s lead run was smooth hitting all the clips but it wasn’t enough, Jack was going through to the Great 8.

Paul Smith would defeat Jack in the Great 8 before advancing into the Final 4 against his teammate Shane Lynch. Paul needed a 5 minute rule between the runs of the battle and didn’t make it back to the line handing the win to Shane.

The other side of the Final 4 would see Simon Perry against Marc Huxley, both drivers had performed well all day so their battle was one to watch. The huge R35 skyline tucked in close behind Marc Huxley until the exit of the hairpin where he pulled away down the hill.

They swapped over, Simon dropped a wheel at clip two and it was enough for Marc to go through to the Final against Shane Lynch.

The battle for the final spot on the podium was between Simon Perry and Paul Smith. Paul’s car was carrying some damage from earlier in the day resulting in him struggling to get a smooth run. Simon would do enough across both runs to get the judges vote and that all important place on the podium.

The final battle, could it be a win for Shane Lynch and his new 370Z or would Marc Huxley take it with his 70s Celica, 15 inch wheels and fitment? Marc led first, flicking it into clip one with huge angle almost dropping a wheel. He pulled away coming up the hill and maintained the gap throughout the rest of the run.

They swapped places with Shane leading next, the supercharger whining as they came down the hill, initiating onto clip one. Marc closed onto Shane’s door as they came through clip two before backing off for the transition up the hill.

He closed back in coming through the hairpin and down the hill, maintaining close proximity throughout the rest of the track.

The drivers came down to the podium where it was announced that Marc Huxley had taken the win at Round 1 of the British Drift Championship. The drivers got the chance to celebrate their achievement with some champagne in front of a huge crowd.

We highly recommend seeing the action yourself, the next round of the British Drift Championship is at Driftland, Scotland on the weekend of June 18th & 19th. Until then enjoy some more photos!