With regret, we must announce a change of venue from the O2 arena to the Wimbledon Stadium for the Drift Allstars European Series Round 2. Over the past month a great strain has been placed on venues in London by outsider event producer LOCOG, who looks after the Olympic builds. With the old home of London drift events in Wembley unusable for this period and the O2 arena increasingly squeezed for space, it was no longer viable to run our London event as originally planned.
Luckily, we have secured Wimbledon Stadium instead. One of the UK’s very first oval tracks and still the biggest in the UK, Wimbledon Stadium has been hosting racing since 1928 and has fantastic facilities with a 8,000 seater grandstand, restaurants and a dedicated VIP/Corporate area. It’s even bigger than previous Wembley layouts, making this the biggest London drifting event ever. With a fresh map, we’ve relished the chance to design a new course and our Round 2 layout, bringing fans even closer to the action.
Niall Gunn added: “Its very important we keep drifting in the capital, and we already have major plans in the works for 2013 for London, but with the Olympics coming up and demand on facilities tighter than ever, we had to act fast when the O2 arena became untenable and were very happy to secure Wimbledon Stadium. I expect we will have nail-biting action just like at Round 1 in Birmingham. With our drift season kicking off in the UK’s two biggest cities, we are bringing drifting to an even larger fan base and this can only be good news.”
Drift Allstars London will run until 10pm on Sunday June 24th. Bringing the Series to the capital for a late evening show, with worldwide live streaming, means we will be showcasing European drifting live to fans all over the globe – a 2012 development we are extremely proud of. Of course, the show will continue to have a massive following on the ground with local car clubs, freestyle motocross displays and the London Car Culture UK with Sonax all present.