So this weekend just gone, saw the British Drifting Championships come to Teesside for a two day drift event. Day one Pro Am competition and Day two Pro competition.

The atmosphere was relaxed and everyone seem in good spirits. The weather held out and stayed warm, which made spectating that bit more comfortable.

One thing I will mention before I forget, for those who haven’t been to Teesside before. Seating is not provided. So bring your camping chairs or it’s ass to the grass for you.

With that out of the way. This year has seen the BDC become a lot more viewer friendly. Everything running like clock work and whole day lasting around 6/7 hours if get there as the gates open. The live commentary and judges feedback make understanding who’s won and why some much easier. Saturday was the Pro Am competition which featured Jason Clark, who I interviewed a couple of weeks ago (click here to read). What is really cool about the Pro Am day of the British Drifting Championships, is the open pits. Not only do you get to see the cars in action but you can also see them up close and even speak to some of the drivers. When I wandered around the pits. It was just after qualifying which meant a lot of the cars where being prepped for the battle stages. Drift Elite where having a little trouble with their RX ahead of their battle. Which saw them missing it, which was unfortunate. It’s not often you’d get to watch 2 RX’s battle it out.

While there was a couple breaks, the drivers don’t really have much time to fix any major issues. Which has it’s pros and cons. On one side it pushes the teams to build more reliable cars. But we did see a few cars go out to due to some pretty bad crashes.

During the Pro Am semi final battle Louis Lawrence’s BMW took a big hit and was unable to compete for third place giving Nathan Chivers a place on the podium. Although Matt Walker put in a strong chase it wasn’t enough to beat Peter Hayden for first place. Going to show that drifting is as much about the driver as it is the car. Peter Hayden beating out some of the more powerful cars with his BMW was an amazing site to see.

The Pro day results saw Matt Carter take top spot yet again, it seems no one can beat the Door Hunter at the moment. And Conor Shanahan taking the second spot due to a mechanical failure on the final run. Third place was hard fought for by Martin Richards beating Jack Shanahan for that final spot on the podium.

Putting drifting as a sport to one side for the moment, the BDC as an event is great and for the price is was well worth the drive.

Having watched the live streams before, being there is just so much better. The atmosphere is great and I can see the sport growing in to something much bigger in the near future. If you get the chance give the Pro Am day a go it’s only £15 and kids are free.

L.D

I got a shit ton of photos on the day and they will be up on the instagram

https://www.instagram.com/lonelydriverclub/

And also don’t for get to check out the Pit walk video on Facebook;

https://www.facebook.com/thelonelydriverclub/videos/292981434483618/

For more information the BDC check out their Facebook page;

https://www.facebook.com/thebritishdriftchampionship/