Drift Practice Gone Wrong at Arena Essex

Drift Practice Gone Wrong at Arena Essex…….What a shit f`ing drift practice this turned out to be…….Ever so short and Not so sweet!

Heading up the M11 towards Arena Essex with no traffic, arrived in no time at all. Signed in, paid up & went down to the pits. Taped up the lights, got the GoPro ready & queued up!

Time now for some drifting, drifting, drifting fun! Was having a great time & then on the last lap I spun of onto the dirt. As I rejoined the track, there was a massive bang, followed by loud banging and rattling…….not good……not good at all.

There was a dip in the dirt and the underneath of the car hit the f`ing Curb!

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BMW e30 Engine Swaps

BMW e30 Engine Swaps, whats in your e30? The classic e30 BMW has been around for many years now, from 1982 to 1990. With its legendary handling characteristics due to the front engined rear wheel drive set up & with a relatively light body, it was and still is a sought after car.

From Drift missile to Original untouched classic, these amazing bits of German Engineering can be picked up from a few hundred pounds to £6000 plus for a minter!

The German engineered beasts from the east still have cult status after all these years, mainly due to the M3 powered cars and the many, many highly modified race cars and drift machines that have been built.

Many different engines have been transplanted into these little beauty’s over the years. With the conventional swaps from other BMW models to the more extreme swaps, where people have fitted M5 V10s & even V12s. Others have even risked offending the BMW community by fitting big Yank V8s or Japanese engines, with big turbos & big power….. Continue reading

Drift Practice at Lydden Hill 2014

Drift Practice at Lydden Hill, 15th Feb 2014. Arrived at 9:15am ……a little later then planned. Parked up in the pits & opposite me was Peter Green in his V8 powered E30 beast! I would have to have a chat with him later but 1st thing was 1st, had to go sign in.

Went down to the office where there was no queue, result! Sometimes it works out better been a little late 😉 The lovely young lady signed me in & gave me my wrist band & Orange sticker for the Novice Inter group & unlike last time on the reserve list I wouldn’t have to keep going back to check if i could drift again, woo hoo!

I had missed the 1st session, hmmm at times been late isn’t so good! Not to worry I had another 5 sessions to go!

Time to unload my tools, my tyres & check the tyre pressures. All the pressures were low even the fronts? So spent about 20mins pumping them up!

What I hadn’t realised, is that the gauge on the pump was set to Bar & not Psi……so now they were really pumped!!!

Then a familiar face approached me, it was Christian Freed. Met him through ebay when I was getting the M52 328i lump for my E30 swap, he was in the process of fitting the mighty M62 V8 to his E30!

He was selling the complete kit but I never won the bet but Christian had been a great help with tips & advice when I was fitting the M52 lump, although I wished I went the V8 route, still might do the V8, soon, very soon…… You just cant beat that V8 rumble & power!

Pictures from Auto Extreme

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The Only Way is Sideways

The Only Way is Sideways for drifters but for 16 year old Jodie Rasburn from Romford in Essex, the Only Way is Up, she is well on her way in the drifting world, where she has recently been sponsored by Acorn Motorsport division, GyroDrift & Competition Clutch!

Jodie and her dad Ronnie are well known around Essex Arena Raceway, where they both  go to the arena to practice drifting, Jodie in her E30 BMW & Ron in his E36 BMW. They both also compete at the drifting competitions held at Arena Essex, named `King Of The Ring!

Jodie BimmerLast year she managed to finish 3rd at one of last years `King of the Ring` competitions, where she put many others to shame……but car troubles through out the rest of the year and a bad crash during practice hampered her progress to claim the crown of `Queen of the Ring`!

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Santa Pod Drift What Ya Brung DWYB

Santa Pod Drift What Ya Brung DWYB. Let the good times Roll. Finally I get to go to the Pod, although I was not feeling too good at all. Had a damned nasty ticklish cough that I have had for over a week now & just cant shake the damn thing of……

Arrived at 10am, got there in 2 hours, there was just a little traffic on the way, Missed an hours worth of drift practice & the drivers briefing but asked the ticket man whats what, when I Signed in.

He just said there were several play pens. Start with the  smaller pens, where you can practice doughnuts, figure of 8s & drifting between cones.

Then there were the bigger play pens, the 1st one has a pair of cones about 8ft apart for you to drift between.The next bigger pen had cones laid out in the shape of a kidney, for you to drift around. You had to go on this one to prove you are competent at drifting before moving on to the advanced track!

The Advanced track is laid out like one of the EDC (European Drift Championship ) Tracks…… awesome stuff, couldn’t wait!

As I went he said to just Have Fun!;) Ohh yes I intend to bud…..

Next I found a parking spot, it was a long way of as all the good spots had gone. Unloaded all my tyres & tools before setting up the GoPro & Ghost HD action cams!

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Keep Drifting Fun – Outsiders Japan

Keep Drifting Fun – The Outsiders Japan! The other day I found a little Gem of a video, called The Ugly Duckling and now I found this large Gem of a video, Outsiders Japan! I cant believe I haven’t seen it before but when I started watching Outsiders Japan, I was hooked!

This was filmed in 2011 by Driftworks, featuring Phil Morrison & James Robinson, who take a tour of Japans Drift scene. This is a great documentary for anyone, drift fans or not. It was beautifully shot, with a great soundtrack & gives an interesting insight into the Japanese drifting culture.

Japan has always been at the forefront of drifting. The Japanese always Keep Drifting Fun, from drifting in the city streets to the Touge Passes from the mountains or the dedicated drift tracks all around Japan.

They just drift for the pure thrill of it, not for the glory, the fame, the money or the sponsors! The Driftworks crew visit drift teams from the big to the small, Bee*R, Mind Control, Kids Heart, 326 Power and V-Factory. They visit many places including Bihoku, Suzuka Twin and Meihan, plus the crazy city of Nagoya! Continue reading

British Drift Championship 2013 Review

British Drift Championship 2013 Review. Although the British Drifting scene is coming along in leaps and bounds & the quality of drifters & cars has stepped up to another level altogether, there is a little problem.

The TV coverage is still somewhat lacking. Motors TV been the only channel broadcasting the BDC. Needs to be more mainstream & on for longer to fit more drift action in. Hopefully things will improve in 2014!

The BDC needs to get onto some of the Bigger tracks of the UK, like Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Snetterton etc to get more recognition & draw in some bigger sponsorship deals. And they need to add a couple more rounds to the season…. 🙂

Its a bit hit & miss trying to watch the BDC on Motors TV & the coverage & production of the show is pretty poor! To be honest its shit! The commentators get on my tits & they only show some snippets of the actual drifting & they talk too much shite, often leaving the viewer unsure of whats going on!

Sadly it has a long, long way to go before they come anyway near the level of the Drift scene in Europe or the USA.

Round 1 at Lydden Hill, the 1st competition of the season. I went to see this event which was pretty damn good.

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The Ugly Duckling Drifter

The Ugly Duckling Drifter. This awesome short film about two mates wondering what to do on a quiet day, sound interesting? Well probably not but you just have to watch it….you will be amazed.

Its like one of them days we all have at some point in our lives, talking to a mate about how we often plan to do things, what we could or should do but never end up doing it…..

The story is fun, the filming, the editing, the music and best of all, the Drifting is so damn awesome, I love it! The star of the film is an old beaten up e36 BMW 325i, Filmed in Lithuania by amateur drifters Norbefilms. Great stuff.

I really enjoyed this short film, there is so much crap on YouTube these days, then all of a sudden you find a gem like this, if only there was more great little movies like this…..if you do find any just send them to me. 😉