Event - Sun, Smoke & the BDC Round One Qualifying day

Months of Preparation, blood, sweat, tears and sleepless nights. All those things will mean only one thing to Drifters in the UK. Round one of the 2011 British Drift Championship has arrived, and boy did it kick off in style!

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The Drivers Line up early on in the morning to find their feet out on track.

Brother Sweeps and the brilliant BDC team set up camp at Donnington Park with a few key words in mind. FAST. FLOWING. WALL! It certainly didn’t disappoint. The circuit marked out at the Derbyshire track began with a high speed, wide left hander which tightened into a left hand inner clipping point and that seemed to be the place to test out that classic shift into 2nd smoke out! Straight after that came the tour round the Maxxis tyre hospitality truck with a right hand flowing turn with a wall on the outer edge which everyone was running all day. After giving the wall a quick kiss was the return journey of that right hander in to a super tight left hand clip onto the finish. Such a smooth circuit, with plenty of chances of high speed Smokey crowd pleasing runs. I couldn’t wait.

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Not only were the drivers out there having fun. I was busy playing with 1/10th panning shots!

The morning practice was simply stunning, with all Semi Pro, Pro & Super Pro out there to grab some essential circuit testing. All of the drivers were on it; I was so impressed with the level of driving with everyone out there to push themselves and each other. It was an honour to be out there catching those guys on my camera. On top of the super flowing, fast track & the ridiculous balls out driving was the heat! Oh man, was it a scorcher which I sure added another obstacle for the drivers to overcome.

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Super fast on the straight, blisteringly quick through transitions. Top work from Team Falken

Unfortunately for me, due to commitments on the Saturday I was only able to attend the Qualifying day. But don’t fret! There was some truly incredible action on track that I won’t forget in a hurry, and luckily for you I happened to be pointing my camera at it.

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The colours absolutely popped on the freshly painted G35 Skyline from Team Falken.

The 2011 season has delivered some seriously stunning new machinery to the BDC, most of which were out there for the first time Friday. Team Falken unveiled their new G35 Skyline, which I must say has some of the most incredible attention to detail on the build so a tip of the hat goes to those guys.

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Team Japspeed making the most of morning practice to work on their twinning.

The Japspeed cars had all had a winter month makeover but I’d say the standout car for those guys was Baggsy’s Subaru making an entrance this year rocking a 1JZ Toyota lump.

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Sid taking his bumper for a little journey down south after giving the first clip a peck on the cheek.

By far the spangliest(is that a word?! Well It should be!..) car out there was Sid Crowfoot’s Nissan Laurel and mannn did his savaged driving style suit the car! Pulling some of my favourite runs of the day, the Precision Drift sponsored driver managed to bag an 11th place qualifying spot.

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The DW S15 always leaves me wiping drool away from my chin. Quite simply jaw dropping

Another car sporting a fresh new look was the ever popular Driftworks S15 Silvia. If you are a regular visitor you will know that the DW team recently run a competition for a reader to design the cars 2011 livery. The guys picked an absolute peach focusing on the Awesome Fest logo with a wild orange rear end which popped in this rare April sun. Stay tuned for a spotlight on the new livery here on the Brotherhood!

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On the hunt for some Nissans, Jamie K in his MX5.

One car which I enjoyed watching was Jamie Kenyon’s SR20 powered MX5. The car pulled so well, gaining speed on following runs like you wouldn’t imagine. Definitely a Car and Driver to watch in 2011.

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It's always fantistic to watch a four door monster tear up a track. Especially when it's a super clean Garage D tuned R34.

I honestly could talk about each car & driver all day long, as everyone is on it this year. With fantastic quality cars & stunning driving the bar has been raised. Make sure you get yourselves to Round Two at Norfolk Arena in May!

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You've got to love the way the smoke flows out from underneath the overfender. Super cool

I’ll leave you with a shot I grabbed right at the end of the day of the outside clipping point wall which had quite a tough season opener!

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Thanks for reading.
James Gascoigne

http://www.thebritishdriftchampionship.co.uk/

To see more of my photos from the day, drop by my Flickr as I will be adding more as the days go by.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesgascoignephotography/sets/72157626430059155/with/5647027281/

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