Sliding into the Summer, Drift Pros and Time Attack at Brands Hatch - 10/06/23
Words and Images by Mitcham Media
Normal weekends include Cars and Coffee, GT racing, rallying or just getting some spannering done building cars up, but for this weekend in June it was time to try something totally different with the Drift Pros and Time Attack at Brands Hatch. The day was thoroughly enjoyable with some phenomenal driving and a great example of why you should try things slightly outside of your normal comfort zone.
The lap of the M25 to get to Brands is pretty much second nature now complete with the obligatory stop at Cobham services for a coffee. Arriving at 9am to a nearly empty Brands Hatch was a bizarre experience, but with Tunerfest being the following day it meant near total freedom and peace to get around.
First up as always was a wander round the paddock areas, only this time we had no idea what to expect.
The Drift paddock was first, filled with S15’s, 350Z’s, BMW E35’s and even a full carbon-kevlar Euro Fighter 2 Series. One thing which became abundantly clear was the engine and body combination rarely match anything factory. The Euro Fighter BMW featured a 2JZ swap, directly across the paddock was an LS Swapped NC MX5. These engine swaps highlighted the importance of power, but also which engines can reliably produce north of 500hp.
Near enough every car bar the Euro Fighter was sporting some level of battle scar showing how much shoulder rubbing goes on.
Over in the garages lining the pit lane were the time attack cars, and while drift cars are fairly well documented and talked about (particularly with the popularity of channels like Hoonigan), Time Attack cars seem to be seldom spoken about.
The field were split into classes, and the top end cars stood out a mile away with aero packages so big you could view them with google earth. Under the bonnets the power plants were monstrous too sporting in some cases north of 1000hp.
Weight was a clearly a big deal too, pretty much every car across the board were sporting carbon fibre parts and more speed holes than a pack of Edam cheese.
Track action started off with Clubman and Pocket Rocket cars with Civics, Minis, MX5s and Caterhams pushing themselves to skim every fraction of a second around the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit. Of the three groups taking to the track this was the only one which seemed to have a level of similarity across the board with similar engine capacities, number of driven wheels etc.
The second group coming over paddock hill bend were the Club Classes including four wheel drive cars. The variety here started mixing things up with a Tommi Makinen edition and Subaru Impreza’s making up the AWD, mixed in with some a modified Clio Cup car and an Ariel Atom. Considering the variety the track speed was similar across the board showing the difference weight can make.
Last and most fast class was the Pro Classes, and this is where it got chaotic with what was being driven round, a completely stripped and fire breathing MX5 through to full huge aero package monsters which look like they’ve just come from Pikes Peak Hill Climb.
The highlights of the Pro Class included the monstrous wing on the Norris Designs Evo which was full send, but by far the most impressive car was the Tegiwa Racing Honda NSX.
The speed of the Pro cars was mental, the cornering speed looked like a video being played on fast forward.
Across all classes the heat seemed to be causing some real issues, getting the tyres far too hot meaning each driver could get a hot lap in at a time before needing a steady one to cool everything down.
Taking to the track across for sessions was round three of the Drift Pro Championship, starting off with free practice which was the first time ever seeing a proper drift event in the flesh. Starting off in singles it was a tease into how the day would progress.
Being able to transition from being fully sideways through the left hander of Surtees, pendulum-ing into the right hander of Clearways was an impressive skill to witness during the solo runs, but it took a step up seeing the proximity through the transition on tandem runs.
The precision of the slide through Clearways and the Clark Curve gave testament to the driver skill, especially with the speed they’re traveling. The occasional clipping of the gravel peppered us through the fence, almost like being back on a rally stage again.
A qualifying session allowed the judges to generate a top 16 set of pairing so through the afternoon we could see the battles. Each pairing would take it in turns to lead and to follow with the aim to not only have a greater level of angle and speed, but also the proximity which the chase car gets to the lead.
The output of the top 16 battle was a final 8 to round off the day, and these drivers were going hard for the win, pushing to the absolute limits. As a spectator it made for fantastic watching as the pairings were going mirror to mirror with smoke billowing out the back.
For a first trip to a drift and time attack event we were thoroughly impressed and pleasantly surprised by how good the day was. Fantastic to take a step out of our normal comfort zone and into something totally new.
Many thanks to Drift Pro Championship, UK Time Attack Championship and Brands Hatch for organising and hosting an excellent event. And of course thank you to all the drivers and teams who suffered through the heat to keep the cars running and competing.
Check out below some more images from the day, and keep an eye out for the youtube videos which will follow here.
