Just a few days after Japfest @ Castle Combe Team Japspeed were back on the road for BDC Round 2 at the awesome Norfolk Arena. It’s hardly been the easiest of weeks either, with Baggsy’s Impreza undergoing some last-minute repairs after an unfortunate prang at Japfest. It’s taken several all-nighters but come Friday morning the Impreza was ready and on its way!
Additionally to Paul, Baggsy and Shane’s cars, Team Japspeed would also be supported by the RB25 S15 of Shane O’Sullivan at Round 2 making the huge trek from Ireland to compete. It was good to see all four Japspeed cars together again, not to mention hearing the evil-sounding RB25 screaming once again.
Round 2 had a slightly different format to usual, with Friday being a practice day, Saturday the main championship day and Sunday the annual BDC ‘Team Triple Drift’ Championship. With so many good teams in the BDC the TTD event sees three team drivers drift within inches of one another to then be judged on smoke, angle, speed and distance. Unfortunately Team Japspeed would not be competing this year, but for spectators camping on the Saturday it’s a truly unmissable event!
Onto Saturday qualifying and all four Japspeed cars showed awesome pace, with every single driver making it through to the top 16 including Shane O’Sullivan in his first Norfolk outing. Baggsy showed amazing form, fully hooking up the Impreza and qualifying 5th overall! With the car performing faultlessly Baggsy really is getting the most out of the 1JZ-powered Impreza in just its second BDC outing with the new engine/setup.
First up in the top 16 saw Baggsy face Ashley Stevens. Both drivers performed faultlessly on their first runs taking it to ‘One More Time’. Baggsy, now fully back up to speed in the Impreza, absolutely nailed both runs taking the advantage and heading through to the final 8!
The one downside to having all four drivers compete with just 16 spaces is, inevitably, they’re going to end up facing one another! Next pairing saw Paul Smith vs. Shane O’Sullivan in the two very similar S15s, one Toyota-powered and one Nissan-powered. Paul’s a veteran at Norfolk but Shane’s ‘no fear’ approach sees him take the advantage going through to the final out. Bad luck for Paul after a cracking Round 1 but top driving from both team drivers.
Next was Shane Lynch vs. Mark Luney… AGAIN! Rivals throughout 2010 and during Round 1 faced each other in the top 8, now faced again in the top 16. Shane knows Luney’s driving style and the monster Supra is a tough car to chase with over 700bhp on tap. This was yet another hard-fought battle, but unfortunately Shane was knocked out by the smallest of margins – rotten luck but top driving from Shane.
In the top 8 Baggsy now found himself against invited-driver Remmo Niezen. Remmo is without a doubt one of the world’s best drifters in one seriously-capable V8-powered E30 BMW. The Team Falken driver was just unstoppable, and even though Baggsy didn’t put a foot wrong in the Impreza it was Remmo who took the advantage putting an end to Baggsy’s Round 2 charge.
Shane O’Sullivan would be the last-remaining Japspeed driver who faced the S14a of Matt Carter. Shane’s S15 was absolutely on fire, really sticking it to Round 1 runner up Matt. But disaster struck on track when Shane’s RB25 came to a halt, putting him out of the competition before the end of the runs. A huge shame for Shane who, on his first Norfolk Outing, drove amazingly all weekend! We wish him the best of luck getting the car repaired in time for Prodrift this weekend… no rush.
Overall BDC Round 2 turned out to be another success for Team Japspeed, with all four drivers making the top 16 with Baggsy and Shane O’Sullivan making the top 8. Aside from a few issues with Shane’s RB25, all the cars proved to be completely reliable yet again; all that’s needed now is a bit better luck to get us back on the podium!
