BDC @ Knockhill 2011

On the 21st and 22nd of August 2011, the British Drift Championship (BDC) ventured back up to Scotland. One of the most exciting circuits in the BDC calendar due to the 100mph blind entry on the first corner. what the drivers refer to as, "Duffus Dip".

This year a total of 65 drivers made it up to Knockhill, which is an amazing amount of competitors. The anticipation was high, this was going to be an epic event.
The event started on Saturday at 1pm which was mainly the qualifying. I was late due to one of my tyre valves disintegrating on me that morning, more on that next time.
The track itself was split into the two sections. The Pros and Super Pros would do their qualifying and practise runs on the main circuit while the Semi-Pros would do their qualifying on the tri-oval. This would mean the Pros and Super-Pros would have more time on the main track.

The usual Scottish contingent was out in force as you would expect on the only Scottish track. For the Pros we had Marcin Mucha from Team Scotdrift (not team Scotland) in his Toyota Supra.

Adrian Brannan (Ade).

Only the top 8 made it through to Sunday. Ade qualified 3rd.
Another member of Team Scotdrift, Marcin Klawikowski was competing in the pro class and qualified 13th and was through to the top 16. Jarack (Jeek) Federico in his BMW 540i also managed to make it through to the twin battles to represent Scotland.

Practise day was full of surprises, mainly as some drivers have never driven on "The Hill" before. As the drivers get to grips with the track, there were always casualties. Jamie Kenyon in the SR20DET powered Miata noticeably went into the gravel trap and lost all his aero.

One of the most impressive drivers of the day was Marc Huxley in his SR20DET powered KE70 Corolla.

However he did have a bit of a run in during a drift train on the tri-oval and manage to damage the rear quarter. Lucky enough he's a panel beater by trade and fixed the damage in the pits with a hammer and a block of wood.

On Sunday I arrived early as I was due to be on the SXOC stand, which far surpassed our previous efforts if I do say so myself.

Throughout the day, Knockhill claimed more victims and more bumpers, be they semi-pro or super pro. After a brief practise the competition got under way. The Semi Pro class were up first with Matt Campling looking good qualifying first on Saturday.

Unfortunately Ade was knocked out due to mechanical failure.

In the end Sam Holt came out top and claimed first place in his S14.

The Professional class produced some of the closest competition of the day. Mark Huxley also competed in the Pro class and made it into the great 8. Jeek was knocked out in the top 16 battle against Justin Clarke in his S14. Jordan Patton was looking good through the runs in his R32 Skyline.

But Jordan was knocked out by Pete Green in his BMW E30 who went on to come second in class.

Michael Marshall drove well in his S15 throughout the day and was rewarded with the first place podium in the professional class.

In the Super Pro class, all drivers were pretty much amazing through the day. Paul "Smokey" Smith was doing his usual trick of producing lots of smoke in his S15.

Mark Luney was looking amazing as always in the SATS Cosworth Toyota Supra.

Steve Biagioni was attacking the course and was pushing really hard in every run.

Shane Lynch was also putting in consistent good runs.

The final came down to Matt Carter in his Falken sponsored S14.5 versus Mark Luney in the SATS Toyota Supra. Mark Luney however spun in both runs and handed the win to Matt Carter in the end.

The day was amazing, with so much action on track (including on the break period they had a small 1/4 mile competition). The level of drifting has been raised to a higher level than last year. I am grateful that so many competitors made it up for this Scottish round this year. I am sure if I asked any of the drivers how they found the hill…they will give their answer with a smile on their face.