Pipay Touge: Nicolas Cerdan’s Weekend

Pipay was the first time the car has been run in its new livery with it being finished the evening before the event.

On Saturday morning, the fog and damp track resulted in me running less turbo pressure, 600gr instead of my 1.2, it wasnt enough to stop me pushing the car as hard as I could.

It must be remembered that the body remains a street legal, ext CD, carpet, box unsealed and so on, far from my car track with the maximum 1100kg.

After a few practice runs I noticed the EverythingDrift.com photographers signalling towards the wall on the run into the hairpin, I decided to play the game and run the wall.

After focusing on running the wall I made a mistake, running the outer line on the hairpin resulted in less speed at the top of the hill. I hit a hay bale but didnt do much damage other than body work, I was back on track quickly and practicing tandem runs.

During one of the practice runs I had a collision with the Wheels Fest Skyline of Marin Morier, this time I smashed an Advan wheel, bent a tie rod and broke a coilover.

With the help of my friends, I managed to get the car fixed in time to enjoy a meal with all the drivers & photographers. Shortly after I was asked for a photoshoot with Lukas, AKA Bandana Boy, & the EverythingDrift.com photographers. It was an honour my wife and I to be stood outside at midnight watching as they took photos of our car, knowing that it would be seen by so many people all over the world.

Sunday morning arrived and it was the last chance for some practice runs, it was also the last chance to take passengers so I took the EverythingDrift.com photographers. Rob was suprised to see the small comforts that are left in this car, carpets etc. We even managed to listen to Muse whilst waiting for our run. Bandana Boy grabbed us from the queue and requested that I follow Marin Morier, whilst he filmed from a chase car.

Qualifying was next, three runs to get the best score. On the first run I spun as there was some oil or coolant on track resulting in a 0 score. My second run was the best with a score of 84, giving me 6th place.

During the lunch break between qualifying and the battle I put on a show for the fans, a few doughnuts and burnouts. The EverythingDrift.com photographers took some more photos of my car for their feature. (Car Feature is here – http://www.everythingdrift.com/blog/?p=9781)

Onto my first battle against my friend Damien in the AP Tune S14. On my lead run I pulled away from him giving me a 8-2 advantage, on the chase run I maintained close proximity to his car to get a 7-3 advantage, taking me through to the next round.

The next battles were against Marcin Mospinek in his BMW E30 V8, the power of the V8 gave him an advantage on the lead run leaving me behind. Whilst trying to catch up I spun giving him a 10-0 advantage. My lead run was better but not enough to continue through to the next round.

During the podium I was awarded the hard charge award for breaking so many parts and continuing to push hard throughout the weekend. As the fans were leaving we returned to the pits where I signed my broken wheel for one of the EverythingDrift.com photographers.

I would like to finish by thanking everyone involved with this event, especially the Slide Drift Team, Drift Challenge – France – Fan Page and the King of Europe Drift, you have probably made the event number 1 in France.

Also thanks everyone that helped get my car ready for the event / with repairing it & keeping it running. A massive thank you to my wife for letting me drive her S13 and sorry for the dent.