Sales Executive, Rob, Takes Part in AutoFest UK’s Drift Cup

On the 13th May our Sales Executive, Rob, took part in Round 1 of  Autofest UK’s Drift Cup in Bath.

Not sure what Drifting is? In short, it’s the ability to control a car that is essentially out of control. Basically think of Mario Kart when you Power Slide. It is easier to witness it than explain it. Rob’s YouTube channel ‘speedsyshenanigans’ is full of his chaotic…shenanigans, and has videos from all his time drifting…or take a watch of the video below!

This year Click Dealer has had the pleasure of sponsoring Rob with his passion. Click’s backing meant he hoped to run a completely new powertrain and drivetrain setup which will help him eliminate power delivery issues and the unreliable drivetrain he experienced last year. However, the best laid plans never go to plan and unfortunately, on his first test day, the engine failed in his new Mazda MX-5.

Never one to let a hiccup get in the way though, Rob carried on with his older car for Round 1 and his new car will be unveiled in Round 2 in July!

So how did the first competition day of the Autofest UK Drift Cup play out? Here is a full run-through of the day courtesy of Rob.

Competition day

Practice

Rolling into the competition day, I got a chance to have a look at the track, and immediately, I saw some issues. Due to how small the track was, I realised very fast, I had the completely wrong gearing. Without any differential or gearbox options, I had to just make it work. Through practice, I tried a few different things. But after a few runs, I decided to keep it in second gear for my lead runs. Combined with kicking the hell out of the clutch to keep the car from dropping out the powerband which would have caused the car to come out of drift.

For the chase, I decided to go with first gear, run a little less angle and be careful not to expend my rev range too easily. On the plus side, first gear gave me a good throttle response helping me transition behind the lead car more effectively.

However, during practice, the differential started to make some terrible noises and it was really putting me off. Alex, my team mate, assured me it wasn’t going to break but still, it was a very worrying sound. So he hacked off the diff damper in record time and the noise was no more!

In the end, practice went well and I started to feel the rhythm, the confidence started to flow and I began to relax. It became clear I could make it work.

Qualifying

Moving into qualifying, I was a little nervous as I knew one mistake would see the car drop out of power resulting in a 0. So, for the first run, I made 100% sure that it didn’t happen. Unfortunately, due to me using the clutch a lot, the judges saw this as me stalling up and slowing, resulting in a score of 68/100. Straight away, my team came back to me to inform me that I need to try and get around it with less clutch and try to carry more momentum.

That’s exactly what I did for my second run, scoring me 82/100 and putting me in third place for qualifying with my team mate Michael taking the top spot with 87/100

Top 32

Top 32 saw me battle against a rookie with 6 months of experience and a car that had only just got fixed with him having issues in qualifying. I lead first and felt good. I had no idea how well he did behind me so I went as hard as I could. Bumpers touched on one transition, leaving a slight graze on mine but I won the battle and moved on to the top 16.

Top 16

Top 16 saw me battle another BMW, an e46 this time. I hadn’t seen this person drive so I had no idea what I was up against so again I put on the best lead I could, followed by another hard chase run, I took the win and moved into the top 8.

Top 8

Tops 8 saw me battle Rich Crowther in his e36 compact. He was a competitor last year and did well in the championship. I led first again putting down the best run I could. I was unaware, but it turns out he straightened behind me, essentially handing me the win. However, in the chase, I went as hard as I could and his car was VERY fast, certainly one for me to watch out for if we battle again in the following rounds.

Top 4

This was a crazy one. Bartek, you are one hell of a driver! I think the only reason I got the win was due to the mistake he made at the end of his chase, it was extremely close. But I took the win and moved on to the final battle.

Top 2

The final battle saw me go against Michael, one of my Team Shenanigans team mates.

I actually gave Michael his first drift lesson circa 2 years ago and helped him with any technique I could along the way. The guy is a natural driver and combined with technique, he may well be an unstoppable force for the next rounds.

As he qualified first, he lead and I chased. I did the very best I could and I felt like I put on one of my best chase runs of the day. Then came my lead. I left the line, went to shift to second and flick….

…the gearbox broke and I failed to initiate, handing him the win.

I honestly do believe it would have been an extremely close battle and it was a shame my car couldn’t complete the run, but there is always another opportunity for us to have our dream battle!

It was honestly such an amazing day. With so many things going wrong in the run-up to the event, it was hard to focus and not worry. But I am so pleased I got into the right headspace and got the very best out of myself.