BDC Round 1 – Donington – Sun, Smoke and S-Bodies

So, round one of the 2011 BDC. Where to begin? These 2 days of automotive wizardry was absolutely spectacular and I’m going to struggle to put this across in one blog.

The weekend for me, started on Wednesday, when me and Bizz drove down to see Greg at Protuner. The LSR33 was in for a second round of mapping after replacing the power steering pump. We arrived at about midnight and proceeded to map until about 7am. Ending up with 495bhp and 525lb/ft trq, we all left pretty happy. Then it was straight up to Donny to catch a couple of hours sleep in the truck.

We arrived early at Donington’s “Launchpad” early on Thursday evening where we were greeted by Mark Luney and the SATS Cosworth supra crew. The new car can only be described as ‘absurd’.

Friday morning rolled around and it was time for everyone to get briefed and prepare for the days ahead. The track that was decided on was absolutely amazing, as well as being a dream to shoot. It featured a huge starting straight followed by a huge sweeping left hander good for 100mph or so, as well as a wall that many people seemed to really dislike. So much so that it was continuously destroyed by many competitors.

There was also a small runoff that was used quite often. Dirt drops make awesome pictures!

The driver turn out was absolutely amazing, with 84 cars taking part. Not only was the amount of drivers significantly increased from last year, the quality of the cars as well was astounding.

The new 2011 driftworks S15 was out for the first time and looked great. I was a huge fan of the numberplate slogan.

Unfortunately for Phil, he had some car trouble and didn’t make it past the top 16. Whilst the car was working though it looked spectacular. Angle – Check. Smokes – Check. Wall run – Check.

Another new car having trouble was Paul Cheshire’s JZ engined Nissan G35. Looking fresh as hell in it’s brand new Falken colour scheme, the clutch unfortunately failed.

Yet another car having trouble was Bizz’s LSR33. The sheer heat of the LS3 melted part of the loom to the floor pan and that was game over. Unfortunate, as he was going extremely well.

The actual competition got under way on Saturday morning where the top 16 from semi pro, pro and super pro did battle.

It was ladies night in the semi pro class, with 2 of the podium finishers being women. After hard fought battles from all the drivers with some excellent driver skill on display, the semi pro class ended up as below.

Results for the Semi-Pro Class:

1st – Danni Murphy – Green Kouki S14a

2nd – Mark Lappage – Pink S13

3rd – Belinda Challis – Castrol R32

A special mention has to go to my friend Rob Finn for his consistent driving. Aggressive wall taps along with consistency made for quite the spectacle. Below he says goodbye to his rear bumper and hello to the wall. Unfortunately for Rob, he ran out of fuel in his final round and ended up finishing a respectable 4th in semi pro and 7th in pro.

Pro class, as expected, was extremely close. Brilliant driving from a great majority of the drivers with some extremely close and aggressive twinning.

Results for the Pro Class:

1st – Grant Laker – Purple S13.

2nd – Daniel Hall – Black S14a

3rd – Alan Green – Falken S14.5

Super pro was pretty much dominated by Mark Luney and the SATS Cosworth supra. With his seemingly infinite supply of lock and indeed power, not much looked close to toppling him. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see Phil Morrison take him on, but that’s how it goes. Maybe round 2.

The battle between Matt Carter and Greg Gush was excellent. With both drivers pulling out some serious speed and angle. Especially impressive when you consider there was about a door width between the cars. Also I think Greg was driving like this after having only about 10 hours sleep in 5 days!

Steve Moore drove extremely well and took out Sid Crowfoot in his Pink Laurel. He was then eliminated by Declan Munnelly’s amazing MK2 Escort. Who in turn exited the competition courtesy of a bonnetless Mark Luney (120 degree engine temperatures!).

Results for the Super-Pro class:

1st – Mark Luney – SATS Cosworth Toyota Supra

2nd – Matt Carter – Falken 1JZ Nissan S14

3rd – Wayne Keeber – Mint Tyres Toyota Soarer

Round 2 takes place at Norfolk on the 22^nd of May. Get on over to our forums for further info!

More pictures, in higher res can be seen HERE.