BDC Round 2 (Pro): Silverstone
A welcome return to the Brooklands/Luffield complex @ Silverstone sets the stage for Round 2 of the 2010 British Drift Championship.
Even though it’s officially summertime in Britain nothing could prepare you for the heatwave that was BDC Round 2. Drivers and machines were put to the absolute limit, and with the Japanese Tuning Show also taking place drift fans could get up close and personal with all the cars and drivers thanks to an open pit and driver signing – you don’t get that in any other motorsport!
Heat was without a doubt the key factor on the day. Temperatures soared to nearly 30 degrees and as expected took its toll on the competing cars, no more frustrating than Japspeed’s recently-repaired Impreza which retired with monumental oil and water temperatures. On the plus side, the awesome track temperature meant new levels of grip allowing drivers to push harder and faster.
Fast forward to qualifying and despite the obvious power disadvantage Declan Munnely’s Mk2 Escort put in one of the best qualifying runs all day. After his second run, Declan found himself second ahead of Danny Eyles, Greg Gush, Mark Luney and Matt Carter. Nothing beats the sight and sound of an old-school Escort revving its nuts off! But the man of the day was Driftworks’ Phil Morrison, who used all 666bhp (and god-like skill) to pull off a full backwards entry and hold it scoring two consecutive 98-point qualifiers. If you haven’t seen thimself in second place ahead of the likes of Danne video, check out the blog now!
After qualifying the drivers going through to the top 16 were:
1st Phil Morrison
2nd Declan Munnelly
3rd Christy Carpenter
4th Simon Perry
5th Matt Carter
6th Steve Evans
7th Steve Moore
8th Greg Gush
9th Mark Luney
10th Ashley Stevens
11th Wayne Keeber
12th Shane O’Sullivan
13th Shane Lynch
14th Ben Morley
15th Alan Green
16th Danny Eyles
Onto the top 16 and the first pairing was between Matt Carter in the Falken-sponsored S14 and Shane Lynch in the Japspeed/Stobart S15. This was only the second time Shane drove the newly V8 twin-turbo motor, and despite headgasket problems managed to put the pressure on where it really mattered. Unfortunately a spin during warm-up broke Matt Carter’s driveshaft, handing the victory instantly to Shane.
Next up was Alan Green in the other Falken S14 and Simon Perry in the Skyline Owners R33 GTS-T. Despite having never raced at Silverstone, Simon kept his cool and managed to keep with Alan giving a 5-5 first run. During the next run, an uncharacteristic spin from Alan gave the win 10-0 to Simon and a place in the top 8. The remaining drivers to make it through were:
Phil Morrison
Declan Munnely
Simon Perry
Steve Moore
Mark Luney
Wayne Keeber
Shane Lynch
Danny Eyles
A big shout out goes to the Team Morley cars of Steve Evand and Ben Morley – despite both qualifying (6th and 14th) mechanical problems with the two cars ended their day early. It’s safe to say the brown duo of Ben’s MkII Escort and Steve’s Starlet are definitely crowd favourites, and easily hold their own against the turbocharged metal out there.
Onto the top 8 and things were about to get smokey – Phil Morrison in the S15 vs Mark Luney in the T51-powered Supra. These two cars alone develop more than 1200bhp, and both drivers have plenty of experience @ Silverstone. After the first runs it was too close to call, so onto one more time! In the first Run Luney managed to stick with Phil giving another 5-5 run, but when Luney then lead Phil managed to pull some distance handing him the win by the smallest of margins.
After a poor qualifying, Danny Eyles was giving it 110 against Wayne Keeber in the Soarer. There was no stopping the S15 and Danny took the advantage on both runs. Speaking of aggressive driving, Declan Munnely in the MkII Escort managed to force Steve Moore’s S14 to make a mistake during his transition putting him through to the final 4 – not bad given the competition featured two turbocharged straight sixes and a twin turbo V8!
Drivers going through to the final 4 were:
Phil Morrison
Danny Eyles
Shane Lynch
Declan Munnely
First paring was Munnely vs Lynch. Shane’s monster power gave him the advantage in the first run, and eager to make up points Declan made a tiny mistake handing Shane the win and the first place to the finals.
Next up was Phil Morrison vs Danny Eyels, and without doubt the best run of the day. Both drove mega hard, sticking on one-another’s doors resulting in another one more time! Yet again both drivers refused to budge, but after Phil went offline by the smallest of margins the win was handed to Eyles resulting in a Japspeed final…
Now it’s probably worth mentioning the last time these two faced each other at Silverstone wasn’t exactly ideal. Both Skylines were written off, so a very nervous Japspeed owner Paul waited to see what happened with around 40 cans of Monster! There’s no team orders here, both were racing to win. Shane didn’t put a foot wrong, but Danny was absolutely on fire all day with entries that took aggression to a whole new level. After the two runs Danny went through with the win, and with both cars in one piece it was smiles all round at the Japspeed camp!
Unfortunately time restraints meant third place between Morrison and Munnely couldn’t run, but after a lengthy discussion between the two drivers it was agreed that both would take third place instead.
Round 3 will be taking over Lydden Jill in Kent on June 19th – this is one of the best circuits of the season and with the points table so close already it’s going to be a hard-fought round that’s for sure.
This just shows exactly why Fink is over there, your events are fantastic!
go on ben morley in the burton powered all alloy pinto
i hope our engines showing its full colours
and glad to see your fast learning curve is still climing
keep up the good work mate
paul @ burtons