I’ll start off with a few words from resident Used Cars NI journo, Graham Curry:

“Sunday 15^th May saw the ReallyMeanSounds Nissan S14a of Belfast lad Andy Cooper, supported by UsedCarsNI and Nutt Travel, head to the Scottish race circuit of Knockhill for round two of the European Drift Championship (EDC).

Knockhill circuit in Fife is a big attraction for the drift fraternity and thanks to its seriously fast blind-crest entry is one of the best venues to watch drifting. It’s a seriously tough course to master with the perfect balance of speed and angle needed to transition from the entry downwards into a tight right hander, but that’s what the EDC is all about.

Getting the perfect entry is the trickiest part with speeds in excess of 100mph, pretty daunting in itself, but when you can’t see the track in front of you until you’re sideways you really need to keep your nerve to avoid ending up in the gravel.”

However, I was still in Belfast whilst team spanners, Robert, was making his way over from the port of Cairnryan.  I was at my brothers wedding, and with little sleep flew over to Edinburgh the next morning.  Needless to say I wasn’t feeling at the top of my game, but there is nothing like the arctic winds of Knockhill and some Pirelli smoke to clear the head!

Back to the qualifying, and I was enjoying our new vertical hydraulic handbrake which Robert had fabricated earlier in the week (although for the first few runs I couldn’t find it!)  And I needed it – to get sideways over 50m from the corner at the ton, it was really a great job.

On to the top 8 and I was battling against Vince Noot in his Toyota powered Nissan PS13.  Vince was very quick and we were both flat into the first corner, but I kept a cool head and I think Vince didn’t just keep as tight a line and I got through to the top 4.  My next battle was with EDC veteran Declan Hicks in his huge Toyota Cresta.  Declan was very quick and on our second run I lost momentum into the second corner and the small correction cost be the battle.

I was then up against Brett Castle in the Nismo S15 in the battle of the Nissan 4 cylinders.   Brett had put me out at Round 1 (Oulton) and I was determined to put in a good run against the one time EDC champ.   I was as quick as I dared in the first run and managed to clear some distance on my first run scoring a 6-4 to RMS.   Brett went hard on the second run to even the scales but didn’t make it through the corner.

And there we have it, our first podium position in EDC.  Next up is the equally fast and challenging Brand’s Hatch on a special 2-day event (25/26 June) and I intend to be spraying the champagne all over again!

From Left to Right: 3rd – Andy Cooper, 1st – Paul Conlan, 2nd – Declan Hicks

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Keep an eye out for the new Nissan livery with a fresh new image for the 2011 Pirelli European Drift Championship!  Thanks to Graham Curry and Steve Hawthorne for the images below.

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Snetterton is simply thrilling – I remember driving it last year and it was the fastest drifting I had ever experienced.  Initiating the drift over 100mph, and accelerating down the long corner full throttle for what seems like a lifetime we (the drivers) all agreed that it was an awesome sensation.  We arrived on the Saturday for some testing and it was fairly overcast, but surprisingly the sun came out on Sunday and the venue was packed.

I had some great runs against Declan Hicks in his Toyota Soarer and Pete Barber in his RX7.  Pete put me out after some tight runs in the semi-finals, which put me up against championship winner Mark Luney in the SVA Cosworth 350z in the battle for 3rd and 4th place.  After an even 5/5 run I still had a shot at the podium but I took the wrong line on our second run, straightening up and the points went to Mark.  The other NI driver of the series, Paul Conlan took the well deserved win in the Sumo Power S15.

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I was kindly invited by the Thoroughbred Sportscar Club NI (TSCC NI) to run a drift demo at their hill climb event, and when I arrived into the paddock my Nissan and its pink wheels seemed a little out of place!  There was some great vehicles on the climb including a stunning SWB Audi Quattro, and Meeke was in a Mk2 Escort.

We had sign on, a drivers briefing and I met the MSA rep who had a look around the car – it reminded me of an EDC competition, however the difference being I was seemingly the only one leaving tyre tracks the length of the hill!

The climb was fantastic, all be it with some very tight sections of road which at one stage I lost the bumper brushing against a grass bank.  It was quickly re-cable tied (we doubled them up) and off I went again.

I’d like to thank the TSCC NI and club chairman William Heaney for taking the leap of faith and bringing me on board.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the drifting – I certainly had fantastic craic myself.

We were trialling an on board camera at this event so stay tuned for some in car footage!

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The Paddy Rally event was a supercar owners track day at Mondello and after party at the Cultra Inn; I had been kindly invited to do drift demonstrations at lunchtime along with Mark ‘Buff’ Luney but I was only home a few days from honeymoon so prep time was non-existant!  I decided at the last minute I could do it and made the trip to Mondello really not knowing what to expect.  I was in for a treat…

I had arrived about 10.30am at Mondello to fairly empty pits, and soon after I was greeted by a jaw dropping selection of supercars including Lamborghinis, Porsche 911s, Nissan GTRs (I love them), a Honda NSX, Lotus Elises, an Aston and a TVR in there as well.  Toys for the boys – or the girls, who were in an orange Lambo Diablo!

Spot me below if you can  – somewhere behind Cool FM’s Pete Snodden!  You might also notice the back of Plum Tyndall in the pic – he was there with the whole RPM crew who were filming the entire event for a special RPM show due to air in late July 2010.  Also at the event was Mr Paparazzi - I took his associate out during the first drift demo and he was glad to get out at the end of it!  

My second drift demo run of the day was with familiar looking gentlemen – none other than Britain’s Got Talent’s Stavros Flatley!  Dimitri absolutely loved the drifting after his run with me and was raving about it all day. 

The rest of the day was spent mingling with the other drivers who were there for the track day before heading back North to the Cultra Inn for a great after party.

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We ran out of fuel pressure (well injector duty) at 380bhp (1.4bar) due to my knackered fuel pressure regulator, so Steve is coming back soon to finish the job with a new (adjustable) reg.  The question will be how much into the 400hp region will it make then.  The video below shows one  of mapping runs on Elite Motor Performance’s rolling road dyno. 

Also stay tuned for a blog redesign for 2010 featuring my new sponsors for the year.  Thanks for reading!

The top 16 saw me against Clive Heatherington and after a ‘one more time’ battle re-run I was out by one point.  They don’t come much closer than that!

Next up, with the 2010 EDC looming the S14a is going for a new look.  All will be revealed at an upcoming press day….

So back to round 6 and if you’ve seen my previous posts we were coming to terms with a dying engine.  All back together but barely run in, we loaded up and headed to East Anglia, the home of Snetterton Circuit.  Luckily we got some practice on the Saturday, and like all EDC events, this one seemed faster than the last. 

The Coram and Russell corners were used – Coram was so long that I had to take the racing line without drifting on the previous corners of the track in order to get the 200sx sideways  – with enough momentum to get round the corner.  I ran the engine on a low boost - probably 25% down on power - so it would survive the day!  To put things into context, 115mph was cited for drift entry, with in-corner drift speeds in the mid 90s! 

On the Sunday, I got through to the top 8 and was up against Paul Conlan in his 550hp Nissan S15.  Running more boost helped but on my first competitive run a hose blew and was badly damaged.  Using the EDC  ’5 minute rule’ we were able to get a quick fix for the second run but the failing pipe broke again mid-corner sending me off the track!  Paul went through to challenge Mark Luney in the final, with Luney winning the round and also the championship.

This marks the end of the 2009 EDC season - both myself and the car have come a long way over the year.  I am hoping to make some improvements on the car over the next few months and aim to compete in the SWD events at Bishopscourt.   I’ll keep you posted through the blog – thanks again for the support throughout the year.

Andy.

Even more exciting than driving Silverstone our trip to GP circuit Brands Hatch was special not just as it would be my first ever visit, but that it was the first time that a drift competition had ever been held there.

This highlights how well respected the European Drift Championship series is and why I want to be part of it!

The weather was overcast but even warmer than Silverstone at around 28′C and this made it particularly unpleasant in the car!  However the track was as dry as a bone so it would be a hard event on the car.

This was round 4 of the EDC and the fastest track in the championship.   I was flat out from the start line and up onto the limiter in 4th gear along Cooper Straight (aptly named) for the large horseshoe corners of McClaren and Clark Curve.  

 
Unfortunately we were having engine trouble with the car at Brands, with noticable loss in power.  The next two weeks include Nutts Corner and Santa Pod but I am going to run the car and see what happens.

High speed entry at Surtees

New bumper, still intact!

It’s not even a week since I’ve been back from Silverstone and the Nissan was going well, qualifying a very respectable 5th at Bishopscourt for the UDC.   The good weather followed me to the Downpatrick track from England, although this meant I had a pair of new rear tyres used by the time qualifying was over.  

Changes had been made to the track format with the inclusion of new clipping points on all the corners- some drivers struggled with the changed first corner layout, ending up in the field!  Thankfully I managed to save my new front bumper from destruction. 

Into the top 16 and after a good run I was straight into the top 8 against Silverstone EDC winner, Alan ‘Chubby’ McCord in his V8 S15.   I had to push as hard as I could but a fluffed gearchange put my chances at bay and Alan went through.

Pushing hard in the top 8 against Alan McCord

However one surprise of the day was that I was awarded ‘highest scoring division 2 driver’ and promoted to division 1.  A technicality of the newly implemented divisions system used by UDC but it meant I took home some silverware!

Thankfully there is a fortnight gap in events until Brands Hatch at the end of June, and Robert (team mechanic) and I will be making best use of this time to get the car back on to form.  The high speed tracks and sheer amount of events in such a small period of time is so hard on the car and it will be getting fully serviced and all round spanner check before we venture back across the water!