Event: BDC Licensing Day at Silverstone 12th February "The Drift Social"

Drifting is a sport that seems to enter hibernation over the winter months. Yes there are practice days run regularly, but for the vast majority it is pretty tough to find the energy to venture out during the coldest quarter of the year. But it appeared that the drift community could sense the sunlight and smoke and luckily for us it happened to be at the BDC licensing day held at Silverstone circuit in the heart of England. I could probably describe the day as the BDC Licensing/Drift social event as it held a great turnout of Drivers, friends, photographers and fans.



I only live an hour away from Silverstone so it seemed silly not to go. So a short journey alongside Mr Jims Factory Jay Walker and Team Green driver Phil Maclachlan and we were soon there to watch the drivers getting used to the course set out for them.



The BDC team had created a short track layout with a nice left hand entry into a tight right/left chicane finally leading to a flowing right hand exit, sounds simple in theory right? Well the drivers had to work hard to achieve a license for the 2011 Season in BDC on this tight course.



A strong turnout of drivers in a range of Skylines, Silvia’s and pleasing for me, an f20c powered 86! As I knew the driver of the Trueno would have been concentrating on his driving throughout the day I didn’t want to take much of his time talking about the car, but hopefully I will be able to find you more info on the car later in the year.



All of the drivers began to get to grips with the course and started to put down some strong runs and it was soon time for the judges to make their decisions. One of the stand out cars for me was a Turbo F20C S2000, the car reminded me of something you’d see in an old Hot Version video running the touge. The white S2000 powered Trueno was also great to watch showing how the f20c motor doesn’t bog down allowing for some good lines and angle to be achieved around the short course. Another firm favourite for me was the chizfab decal'ed Sierra and was showing great driving throughout the day.



Due to the great driving on the day, there was a fair few licenses handed out and here’s a list of the drivers who achieved their Semi Pro & Pro licenses for the 2011 season.



Semi Pro:
Andy Arnott
Mark Annette
Marcin mucha
Stuart Egdell
Adrian Brannan
Matt Hitchcock
Hugo Fernades
James Bull
Marc Huxley
Richard Judd



Professional:
Justin Griffiths - Upgrade from Semi Pro
Marcin Klawikowski - Upgrade from Semi Pro
Adam Day
Danny Isbell
James Fuller



Congratulations to all the drivers and The Corolla Brotherhood wishes them luck in the upcoming season. Here’s to BDC in 2011!!

James.

P.S: I also shot some photos of Ben Morrissey's Levin so hold tight for those in another feature.