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Round 3 report

The weather may have played havoc with track grip levels but Lydden Hill still remains one of the most-exciting tracks in the BDC calendar.

What a crazy weekend! I think it’s safe to say Round 3 of the British Drift Championship was one of the most eventful rounds in BDC history. Torrential showers followed by blinding sunlight and yet more rain – the Great British weather was on form @ Lydden Hill resulting in a track where grip levels were ‘varied’ to say the least. Rain aside, Lydden Hill still remains one of the most exciting tracks to watch for drifting in the UK. The course features a technical mid section along with a huge sweeping up-hill right turn requiring either brutal manfoot or a slight flick for some of the less-powered cars to maintain their drift.

Over in the championship standings three of the top-placed drivers in both semi-pro (Mike Cooper) and Pro (Danny Eyles and Phil Morrison) all suffered car problems which took them out of Round 3 leaving the championship well and truly open. An unfortunate collision during practice put Mike’s R34-fronted R32 potentially out of the entire season, while a blown turbo ended Danny’s S15 and a leaking crank seal put Phil Morrison’s S15 out for the weekend. Fingers crossed all the cars in question are able to make it to Round 4 especially Mike Coopers – the friendly nature of BDC’s drivers and teams should hopefully be able to offer a helping hand to see him back and competing.

With qualifying underway the technical layout of Lydden Hill proved to be a tough track to crack, and with the adverse weather conditions multiple semi-pro and pro drivers found themselves hitting the gravel. Today was not a good day for aero bodykits… But one car and driver stood out above the rest in qualifying (and the only to score over 90) - Declan Munnelly in the awesome Mk2 Escort. Considering the size and speed of Lydden you’d think the Escort would suffer, but Declan’s ‘no lift’ driving style kept it planted scoring a mega 91 points after his second run. Over in the semi-pro class, Ian Phillips put a solid 70-point run good for first spot.

After the semi-pro and pro qualifying, the drivers going through were:

Semi-pro

8th - Andy Redmond, 7th - Sam Kendle, 6th - Jordan Patton, 5th - Mark Lappage, 4th - John Glaister, 3rd - Phil Maclachlan, 2nd - Martin Griffiths, 1st - Ian Phillips.

Pro

16th - Sid Crowfoot, 15th - Danny O'Brien, 14th Wayne Keeber, 13th - Julie Robinson, 12th - Ashley Stevens, 11th - Steve Moore, 10th - Bon Bon, 9th - Stiggy, 8th - Vince Noott, 7th - Matt Carter, 6th - Shane Lynch, 5th - Mark Luney, 4th - Paul Smith, 3rd - Greg Gush, 2nd - Simon Perry, 1st - Declan Munnelly.

Onto the semi-pro top 8, and first up was Mark Lappage and John Glaister. John has a strong first run to give him a 7-3 advantage, but after straightening on the second run Mark took a 6-4 lead. Unfortunately for Mark this wasn’t enough seeing John through. Next up was Sam Kendle and Martin Griffiths. Much like Mark and John’s battle, both drivers took the advantage in their leading runs with a 7-3 result. After ‘one more time’ Martin took the win by the smallest of margins going through.

After the remaining pairings had been ran, the BDC semi-pro final saw John Glaister face Ian Phillips. Both drivers had shown pro-level skill under the conditions with John knocking out Martin Griffiths and Mark Lappage, while Ian had seen off Andy Redmond and Phil Maclachlan. On the first run, Ian straightened several times giving John the slight advantage, on his second run was much more aggressive but a slight straighten from Ian gave John the win.

Over in the pro top 16, the rain was even heavier than it’d been for the rest of the day. As Mark Luney and Ashley Stevens enter the first corner, it’s clear to see the effects of the Lydden circuit with Ashley going off straight into the gravel giving a 10-0 lead to Luney. A better performance from Ash in the second run keeps him on track, but the power and speed of Luney pulls a 6-4 advantage.

In the next round, Japspeed’s Paul Smith takes on Julie Robinson. Paul tries a backwards entry but can’t quite hold on giving Julie the 10-0 lead. Despite a sterling second run and a 9-1 to Paul it isn’t enough to take him through, with Julie’s Skyline getting through.

It’s always nice to see an underdog do well @ BDC, and Danny O’Brien in his S14a did just that at Round 4 taking out two of the big names in UK Drifting – Simon Perry and Ben Broke-Smith. Danny may not have the fastest car, but the big man kept his cool in both his battles while the chasing cars unfortunately span giving him the 10-0 and a place through to the semi-finals. Someone give this man some power to play with!

Performance of the day has to go to BDC newbie Vince Noott in his 1JZ-powered PS13. Despite qualifying 8^th, Vince managed to take the advantage over Declan in the Escort giving him a place in the semi-finals alongside Shane Lynch, Mark Luney and Danny O’Brien.

First up was Shane against Vince. Shane’s experience and brutal twin-turbo V8 power saw him take a 6-4 advantage in the first run, and despite tripping a kerb in the second he still managed to keep it to a 5-5. Shane goes through to the final. Next was Danny O’Brien in the S14a and Mark Luney in the monster-hp Supra. Mark was on absolute fire, and Danny’s luck was brought to an end with a 6-4 first run and 8-2 second run. Mark goes through to the final.

Unfortunately, a sheared bolt on Mark’s car saw him go over the 5-minute rule while running the final, handing Shane the win by default. Such a shame not to see two of the biggest power cars compete against one another, but Shane’s performance had been faultless all weekend and took a well-deserved top place. BDC newbie Vince Noott also managed to hold off Danny O’Brien to take the 3^rd place spot in his first outing, definitely one to watch!

After Round 3, the championship table really has been left wide open with Japspeed’s Shane Lynch now storming to the lead in the Pro class ahead of Phil Morrison and Simon Perry. In the semi-pro standings, Ian Phillips stretches his head further from Martin Griffiths and Jordan Patton, with Mike Cooper and Matthew Peter-House unable to score the rest of the field is left wide open.

Make sure you get July 10^th in your diary for BDC Round 4 @ Donnington Park, Leicestershire.