Having had a somewhat disastrous time at Round 2 of this year’s Maxxis British Drift Championship, we were eager to move forward and get back to the sharp end of the action. Round 3 was to be held at Teesside Autodrome – a track we have traditionally done very well at and, at last year’s event there, took both the Super-Pro and team triple drift victories.

With this round being unique in that it was a three day event, we arrived on Thursday afternoon to get set up in the pits and prepare for three long days of drifting.

The weather promised to be fantastic and, while the hot temperatures looked set to make it a weekend to remember for the fans and spectators, it meant that keeping the Team Japspeed cars cool was of critical importance. Big turbos and cramped engine bays mean high temperatures – the biggest enemy of high powered cars. Also, due to the cars rarely travelling in a straight line when drifting, only a limited amount of cold air hits the front of the cars, resulting in cooling being vastly restricted.

For this event we had chosen to fill our Subaru’s cooling system with Evans Waterless Coolant, a specialist solution that eliminates the need for water in the cooling setup. Due to having a raised boiling point of 180 degrees this meant that the  Impreza’s 1JZ engine could comfortably run hotter without the fear of overheating. We were looking forward to seeing how this would pay off over the weekend.

Friday morning was soon upon us and it was straight into practice for the Japspeed boys. Paul Smith looked comfortable from the off in his S15, with every lap on track giving him more confidence in his new 1.5JZ engine setup and KW coilovers that were both hastily fitted for the previous round.

Shane Lynch was also looking good in the VH45DETT powered S15. Shane has always gone well at Teesside and his experience of the circuit certainly showed. The main challenge with the car is to keep temperatures down – with both turbos tucked down behind the headlights airflow to them is limited. The removal of the bonnet and the bootlid (as the radiator and cooling system are located in the boot) helped to keep the heat under control but that’s not to say that we didn’t always have an eye on the gauges!

Brett Castle was looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the Japspeed Impreza again having come on leaps and bounds at Pembrey with regards to getting used to the car’s unique setup. However, during practice he seemed to be plagued by misfire issues and, after checking the diagnostics in the pits, fuel issues as well.

With little time to resolve any of the issues prior to qualifying, each driver had three attempts to nail a brilliant run and impress the judges.

Both Paul and Shane did fantastic jobs and were hoping for excellent results, but unfortunately for Brett the Subaru’s health was deteriorating rapidly and, as such, he really struggled to string a decent run together without the misbehaving 1JZ refusing to play ball.

As it came to the calling of the results at the end of the day, Shane had secured a fantastic 3rd place, Paul wound up in 14th and an extremely relieved Brett had ended up in 32nd, resulting in all three drivers going through to Saturday’s Top 32 battles.

Friday night was spent trying to diagnose the issues with the Subaru. The first potential sign of failure was a faltering fuel pump which was quickly replaced, but there also seemed to be an issue with the fuel pressure regulator that was providing a different fuel pressure reading to that of the ECU. After replacing the fuel pressure sensor and checking the diagnostics on a laptop, it was decided to call it a day and re-asses the situation the following day.

Saturday dawned and it looked like we were in for another scorcher of a day. With the Top 32 battles being held in the morning it gave us some time between these and the afternoon’s Top 16 battles to asses the cars and make sure everything was in order.

Paul Smith had drawn former Team Japspeed driver Stephen Biagioni in his first battle – a pairing that drew a lot of friendly banter between both drivers and teams. Unfortunately for Paul, a missed gear during one of the battles resulted in him straightening up and gifting the run to Baggsy – a very disappointing end to his campaign.

Shane’s first battle saw him paired against fellow Irishman Ciaran Synnott – a battle that Shane won in convincing style and one that saw him securing a place in the Top 16.

Due to his 32nd qualifying position, Brett found himself drawn against top qualifier Mark Luney. If there’s any car to be drawn against when you are suffering from engine trouble, you would not want it to be Mr Luney’s monstrous Supra! Brett drove admirably considering the issues with the poorly Scooby but, unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough to keep Mark from taking the victory.

Thanks to the relaxed environment promoted by the powers that be at Teesside Autodrome, lunchtime saw a meet and greet held on the track with the drivers, their cars and all of the spectators. It was great to see so many fans asking for signatures and photos, or just studying the cars during a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with them.

With the meet and greet over it was time for Shane to concentrate on his Top 16 battle, and lo and behold he had also found himself drawn against former team mate and fellow Monster Energy Athlete Stephen Biagioni. After yet more friendly banter between the two teams….

…it was time to get serious. Shane’s lead run was going fantastically well until he entered the tight section of the circuit – the car cut out and Baggsy was left with nowhere to go but into the back of the S15. Thankfully only light damage was sustained, but the judges showed no remorse in marking Shane down for his failure to complete his lead run.

With the positions reversed for the next battle, Shane was keen to get on Baggsy’s door and drive as closely as possible and that he did, with barely a gap between the two heading through the first half of the track. Despite this run being deservedly awarded in Shane’s favour, Baggsy’s advantage from the first run was too great to beat and subsequently Shane was knocked out.

While it was extremely disappointing to see all three drivers knocked out at this early stage, the Top 32 battle format always brings plenty of surprises with it and, as such, there is no such thing as an easy ride through to the final stages of the competition any more.

Nevertheless, with Saturday over it was time to focus on Sunday’s team triple drift competition. With another red hot day in store it was decided to retire the Subaru from action which meant that we were a driver short for the competition. It is here that we must extend a massive thanks to Monster Energy and Japspeed supported driver Luke Woodham (who usually competes in the Semi-Pro class) for stepping up and filling in for Brett. I can imagine how nerve-racking it must be to pit your 300bhp S14a up against two of the Japspeed S15s, all while part way through your first season of competition level drifting!

During practice Luke originally ran at the front, putting Shane and Paul in a position where they could match Luke’s speed and angle and adjust their own driving accordingly. Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to work too well as a mixture of nerves on Luke’s behalf and a massive power difference between the cars lead to some inconsistent practice runs.

It was decided to switch things up a bit and have Luke bringing up the rear, meaning he could try his best to match the two experienced drivers’ speed and lines. While it was a massive learning curve for Luke, he rose to the challenge admirably and his rate of progression was incredible.

The team battles were run to a traditional top 16 format, albeit with each team running separately and the winner being decided by which team performed the best run.

Our first battle was against Team WKD Imports, with Wes Keating, Brian Egan and TJ Berney all being very experienced and aggressive drivers. Unfortunately for us Luke made a mistake during this run which saw us marked down. However, with one of the WKD drivers putting two wheels off the track and being given an automatic zero points as a result, we were through to the Top 8.

Our Top 8 battle saw us pitched against the appropriately titled “Team Reprobate”, comprising of Chris Smiffy, Richard Grindrod and former BDC champion Phil Morrison. Paul, Shane and Luke put in a fantastic run, but unfortunately it wasn’t able to pip the superb run put in by Team Reprobate.

While we were of course disappointed to be eliminated at this stage, the Reprobate guys went on to win the tournament, so at least we went out against the best on the day. Also, considering the last minute addition of Luke to the team we were very pleased to have secured 6th place against some teams that have been driving together for many years.

Overall then, a bit of a mixed bag of a weekend for Team Japspeed but it was good to see both S15s running well and back up to speed. The Subaru’s engine problems are obviously a bit disappointing but we’ve got a few weeks to get those sorted in time for Round 4 that takes place at Lydden Hill on the 10th-11th August. All that’s left to sort out is our luck – we could use a bit more of it!

For more pictures, check out our Facebook photo gallery from the event here.

All photos on this blog post provided by Jordan Butters Photography.