Autosport International 2010 - Part 2

Part 2 of Autosport and we arrive in easily the highlight for many of the show - the Live Action Arena. 1 entire hall is transformed into an indoor racetrack for racing and demonstration runs, so tight racing and very noisy! The Fiesta racing was the 1st racing demo out

Followed by the European Drift Championship drifters - Mark Luney, Paul Conlan and Pete Barber

and some close dirtbike racing

Then 5th Gear presenters Tiff Needell and Vicki Butler Henderson doing some semi drifting - Tiff struggled to do competitive drifting way back in 2006 so he might be better next time he fancies a proper go - or not, particularly when he claimed not to be able to turn the traction control off on the Jaguar he is seen driving above.... Vicki was a bit better in her Porsche though!

Then we have the Autograss specials - purpose built chassis, usually motorcycle engine powered so a very high power to weight ratio - so wheelies and the ability to drift almost the entire arena easier than the drift cars almost, although I think the wheelies were more for show, still good to see though!

And close racing, Id love to see these on their natural surface - grass and mud

The Formula Palmer Audi single seaters were good too, plenty of flames, although this,again, might have been done for the show with the cars adjusted to overfuel slightly, but looked good in the dark!

The cars were being driven by the finalists of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award

Pat (on the right, Fiesta) and Liam (on the left,Citroen C4) Doran about to do a rallycross demo - but given these cars are ideal for the slippery surface of the arena (4wd and 600bhp) the show they put on was a little tame compared to what Ive seen them do before, but then again with 17 shows to do over the 4 days of the show and practice sessions, you have to make the cars last

F1 stockcars - big, heavy, fast - and loud with their unsilenced Chevy V8's - always a favourite of mine - you dont just hear them, you feel them

Being RWD with low grip meant they too, were easy to drift around the arena and are full contact racing, so bumping,nudging and pushing is allowed

An original (not a replica) Lancia Stratos, sounded lovely with its raspy Ferrari V6

An original Audi Sport Quattro - driven here by none other than Stig Blomqvist - the original Stig!

And to end, figure of 8 banger racing, the previously made comment regarding 17 shows applies here too, Id say the last show on Sunday was entertaining!

Part 3 soon

Crash......

It was going to happen sooner or later and it did at EDC Round 5 at Silverstone :( Thankfully there were no injuries

BIG DRIFT CRASH
Uploaded by darkandier

European Drift Championship Round 4 - Santa Pod

Santa Pod was the venue for Round 4 of the European Drift Championship, where Phil Morrison in the Driftworks 2JZ powered S15 Silvia was definatley smoking things up!

This was the second of 2 rounds that Team Orange from Japan attended with their RWD converted Imprezas. After a strong competition it was Nobushige Kumakubo (on the right of the photo) that came 1st, and his friend and team mate, Katzuhiro Tanaka (left) that placed 2nd
But it was not all plain sailing from Team Orange, when Tanaka spun during the final, then again Kumakubo spun on the previous run, it took 6 runs for Kumakubo to win

Not so much luck for Chris 'Paz' Parry in his S2000 powered AE86, suffering this bad crash during qualifying, but the damage is not as bad as it looks and the car will return

Mark 'Sidewaysbuff' Luney takes the Santa Pod R32 GTS-T out for a few demo runs, and gave me a passenger run in 1 of them, Cheers Buff!!

The next day there was a team comp, Team Orange took a well fought victory, practicing with the other drivers, above and below but even though they are regarded as the best in the world they still faced good opposition



Team Green will be more impressive next time round after making a big improvement

Team Driftworks fielded the only 3 car team

Driftworks S15 revealed

Probably the best known driftcar in Europe was Phil Morrisons Driftworks S14 Silvia,but now its eagerly awaited replacement has arrived in the shape of this stunning S15 Silvia

Underneath the Vertex Ridge widebody kit,the SR20DET has been replaced with a 2JZ-GTE engine and 6 speed getrag gearbox from a Mk4 Supra,which puts out close to 600bhp,so should make for an amazing sight on track

Still not yet complete but I should hopefully see it in action at Knockhill for Round 3 of the European Drift Championship

Expect to see a lot more of this car in the future!!

EDC live action display

One of the big attractions of the Autosport Live show at the NEC is the Live Action arena,where 1 of the halls is transformed into an indoor racetrack with everything from grasstrack cars to GT racers in action, infront of more than 5000 spectators for each showing, EDC were putting on a drift demo too...

The cars involved were:
Brett Castle - Nissan S14 Silvia
Tony Green - Nissan 350Z
Mark Johnson - Nissan PS13 Silvia
Mark Luney - Nissan R32 Skyline GTR
Phil Morrison- Nissan S14 Silvia

Despite a small slot, of less than 2 mins all 5 drivers went for long,smoky drifts,in 4th gear on the slippery concrete surface, which made for challenging photos,as with the flashing lights in the hall it was like a nightclub!!


Aswell as being indoors and therefore louder (even had my ear plugs in) it was difficult as it was darker so some exposure time experimentation made for some dramatic shots:



Despite the relatively low work the cars were put through there were still breakages,although nothing too severe

And finally a video I found of the live action show,gives an idea of how fast the guys were going - indoors!!

EDC / Time Attack 2007 is here

I was recently at the NEC in Birmingham for the Autosport International show, 1 of the biggest motorsport shows in the world where the European Drift Championship / Time Attack 2007 series were formally launched. EDC was formally known as D1GB and although the name may have changed,very little else has, the same with the Time Attack series. EDC had a stand with both drift and time attack cars there and there was a lot of interest in both series, particularly from the UK motorsport industry. I was there for Time Attack as I am the series official photographer, but ended up covering the event for EDC too as sadly the EDC photographer could not make it, so there was loads to see and take photos of

A few pics,it was a stuggle in the halls with the lighting but learned a lot about shooting in these conditions



Pink jacket,pink bag, pink........



Norris Designs Evo IX SWB. Very big power levels,very big turbo,very long spec list,very fast. If Satan modifed a car it would be a bit like this.........


In Satans corner we had the Norris Evo,but in Emperor Palpatines corner we find RC Developments new car,their Evo VI. Evo IX Mivec engine,rear mounted radiator,400kg lighter than their last car, loads of carbon and a big turbo. Let the fight begin......

SVA Imports Nissan 350Z drift car,with added turbo,rebored engine (3800cc) and rear mounted raid. Mark Luney aka Sidewaysbuff will drive this car in 2007, so hopefully some excellent results are in store. With a speical mention to the lovely Yokohama ladies


Overall view of the stand on Sunday with the Sumo Power 350Z after its clutch had died in the life action arena,of which Ill be talking about soon, so watch this space. A more indepth look at all the cars on the stand will hopefully follow also