Last Sunday, Robert and myself headed to Drift/Rally School Ireland. Kindly invited by owner David Smyth, there was no better way to spend a cold autumn morning but sliding about in someone else’s BMW 325i Sport or Mk2 Escort!

What a circuit – just built for not only teaching people how to control a rear wheel drive car but for sheer fun, however myself not perhaps being their typical punter had David fearing for the gearbox and clutch of his beloved BMW.   He did tell me that Kris Meeke had been out in their 350z and managed to link the whole track (in the wet), so I hope to bring down my S14 in the future to do the same… in the dry!

This is an excellent venue for anyone with an interest in Rallying or Drifting and wants a fun day out.  It was a great break from the serious competitions, and I’m hoping to get a crowd together from the RMS forum for a day out before the next season starts.  Big thanks to all at RSI.

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It was great to be back to my drift roots at Nutts Corner. This is where I learnt to drift and there is always that nostalgic feeling when I’m here – I’ll blog about those back in the day stories over the winter.

Back to this event!  Despite being fraught with issues over the last minute change of venue from Boucher Road to Nutts Corner, it certainly didn’t stop competitors or spectators coming out in force  to see a variety of drift, rallycross and autograss cars rip up the track.  It was great to be out drifting here, and although it was a non-competitive event there was some great twin drifting moments.   The BBC were also in attendance with a few clips making Newsline 6.30.

Unfortunately we had a few electrical issues on the day which cut my first run short.  Over-enthusiastic constant running at the Aghadowey oval a few weeks back, and a long first run at Nutts had started to melt some of the well insulated wiring loom in the engine bay.  We botched a temporary fix at the track, however we are going to pull the wiring loom out to investigate this week.

I managed to get some footage of the pit lane just before we went out – see below the photos.  Unfortunately no on-board footage at this event so if you spot anything good on Youtube let me know!

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I have just been informed due to a problem with the Boucher road site, the Nitro Festival event that I am drifting at this Sunday has now been moved to the Nutts Corner Motorsport centre. This is just off the Dundrod Road, less than half a mile from the roundabout heading Lisburn direction.

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Just a quick behind the scenes video of the drift team and the RMS S14 drift car in the paddock at Snetterton last week. Available in HD – just select it at bottom right of vid. Note the rest of the team taking one of many breathers!

I’ve been invited to drift at the Nitro Festival, taking place just off Boucher Road in Belfast this Sunday 24th October.   This is a totally new multi-discipline motor sport event and is a great opportunity to bring drifting to the big smoke.  For further information on the event click here.

Back in September I took part in the historic Cultra Hill Climb and my appearance was mentioned (and photographed centre page) in the Daily Mirror.

“Andy’s 420bhp drift car is not only amazing to look at but seeing it at full throttle, going sideways around every corner and leaving black tyre marks the length of the course was a sight to behold.” Darren Liggett, Daily Mirror, 17.09.2010

Thanks to Darren and the Daily Mirror!

Click on the image to view the full article or click here for the PDF.

A great year culminated with a 4th place finish at the final event of the 2010 Pirelli European Drift Championship, leaving me 6th in the championship.

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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Some on board footage from the Cultra Hill Climb.

If someone said to me a year ago that I would be drifting at one of NI’s biggest tourist venues, the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra, at a hill climb, I simply wouldn’t have believed them.  Never mind being along side the likes of rally champ Kris Meeke!

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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Here is a great video to show the scale of the European Drift Championship Events – this one is from Cadwell Park at the start of August 2010. Look out for my Nissan!