With this being my first ever British Drift Championship round I was extremely nervous going into the event but also very excited to be in the paddock with my team mates at Boss Motorsport. My expectations were not high for the first round but I was determined to put on a good show and push the Rocket Bunny R33 Skyline to its max. The main aim for Lydden Hill was to shakedown the car and find what grip levels it had in varying conditions as the weather forecast for the weekend looked changeable.
In the practice sessions I was on the pace straight away with the car handling perfectly and delivering the power right from the start, giving me the determination to push harder throughout the morning to get ready for qualifying later that day.
Qualifying saw the track drying so I decided to push the car to its limits and try and achieve a good result. After learning the line and entry speed to hit the clipping points in the morning, I gave it all in the 3 runs to achieve a 4th place qualifying result.
Sunday began wet again so lining up in my first battle I was nervous about the conditions which caused me to spin out on my first practice run, but knew everybody else would also be suffering with the same problem. Next up my first ever twinning battle in the British Drift Championship and against my team mate meant the adrenalin was pumping.
With two solid runs and a slight mistake by Martin I got the judge’s decision to move forward to the great eight.
My driving was becoming more fluid and I was the learning to control the power of the Skyline in a more progressive way, which took me through to the final against Matt Stevenson in his 350Z.
To say I was elated would be an understatement, so with the opportunity to win my class at a British Drift Championship event, I pushed hard for the win, driving aggressively and trying to stay on the door of Matt throughout the chase run. On my lead run I drove even harder, trying to create more angle and smoke to impress the judge’s and felt I had performed well.
The win was award to Matt who drove awesome all weekend but second place was truly memorable and a great result for me and the team.
I now cannot wait for the next round at Knockhill and the chance to win more silverware, where I will also get the opportunity to race in the Pro class of the series due to my 2nd place finish at Lydden Hill. Thank you to all the sponsors for supporting the team and all staff involved in the hard work that goes into running the BDC events. Bring on round 2!
