So I was having a look at some old SD cards I found in a clear out the other day and I found a tonne of photos from BDC Round 1 at Donington Park wayyy back in 2011.
To give you some context I was 17 and hadn’t yet passed my driving test so I had to take the train to drift events. To get to Donington you take the C2C to Liverpool Street then the tube to Kings Cross and one of those funky tilting high speed Virgin trains to Donington.
If you’ve not been to Donington by train it’s actually quite a nice ride. The Virgin trains are super comfy and quick and Donington’s train station is literally in the foot print of this big nuclear power plant. It’s not often that you get to be so close to these big water cooling towers!
Anyway, we aren’t hear to talk about nuclear reactors. I thought I would share with you the finds of some of my SD card so we could see how far the sport has changed in 6 short years. It’s great that a lot of the drivers here are still competing today!
First up is Danielle Murphy’s Green Monster. Danielle still competes with this car and won the Queen of Europe Ladies League in 2015 with it. It’s had many makeovers over the years but this is my favourite look it’s had. The camera didn’t really pick it up but the green had a glitter effect in it which really sparkled under the sun!
The series had a few female competitors that year. This is Julie Robinson’s venerable R32 Skyline four door that is still on the competition scene.
Of course Belinda Challis was present with the Castrol Skyline. Belinda went on the TV show Deal or No Deal some time after this and used some of her winnings to help transform this car. I’m not sure if it’s still about.
Kirsty Widdrington was there with the famous Syril who was not wearing such a bright shade of purple. I assume I took this because I liked the Team Twisted logo. That team is still going strong, we see that Yates’ a lot at King of the Ring.
Talking of King of the Ring peeps this was commentator Mark Lappage’s car back in the day. Pink and Silver, can you get anymore Essex?! Mark still competes in the BDC with Acorn Insurance.
Steve Biagioni was still driving the Japspeed Impreza at this point. This car has a lot of history; it’s a hawk eye Impreza converted to rear wheel drive and powered by a Toyota 2JZ straight six. It’s a radical build even by today’s standards and has had a few drivers. I think it’s most famous moment was when it was stolen from Santa Pod and everyone shared it on social media until it was eventually found. The BBC called it a rally car so the mainstream media not having a clue what they are talking about is nothing new.
The Impreza wasn’t the only radical build doing the circuit at this point. Paul Cheshire had just built his 2JZ powered V35 Skyline. A few of these had been done in the states but this was the first on this side of the pond. This was it’s first incarnation. Over the next few years this car would become an absolute animal!
I’m not sure if this was the year of if it was the following year but Mark Luney’s Supra would be the first drift car in the UK with over 1000bhp.
At the other end of the spectrum is this Mk1 Escort. If memory serves it was a fairly original chassis. I couldn’t tell you what the engine in it was off of the top of my head but I assume it would be a 2 litre Zetec or something along those lines. A lot less than 1000hp!
The only other really old school car present was Sid Crowfoot’s Laurel. The paint work on this car was amazing!
I hope you enjoyed that little look back at BDC from 2011. If you enjoyed and you would like to see more of these posts make sure to follow this blog or follow me on the following social media platforms
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