Haltech – Lwi Edwards

April 23, 2024April 29, 2024

The 2024 Drift Pro Championship starts on the Podium

The first 2 rounds of the MSUK Drift Pro Championship headed for the first time ever to Anglesey in North Wales. Our home track, Trac Mon in Ty Croes, an amazing technical circuit set on the coast of the Island.

Fresh from 6 months of engine rebuild and upgraded safely equipment to FIA spec, after a few hold ups with parts, the BMW E36 LSX was finished the evening before the event with no opportunity to test.

Round 1:

Saturday, with amazing spring sunshine, practice started on the technical layout that had never been drifted before. All the drivers quickly got to grips of the layout and speeds increased towards the end

Qualifying:

Getting to grips with the layout and Lwi put two solid runs in to top qualify with 95.33. Due to some drivers unable to start, Lwi was handed a bye run for the Top 16 battles, so straight into Top 8.

Top 8:

The top 8 battle was to be against Ian ‘Bizz’ Philips, who had been really fast all day. Lwi put on a clean lead for Bizz to chase but unfortunately Bizz fell off the track on the last fast corner due to driveshaft failure. Lwi took the win

Final 4

Final 4 was against a new young driver, Harry Love, a talented name to watch out for in the future, Lwi put on his clinical lead as always, the chase was nice and clean with Harry putting a nice lead. Lwi took the win to move to the final.

Final

The final was against the awesome driver and friend Dave Bastin in his Nissan, the battles are always close and fast and today was not different. Lwi put his perfect lead and Dave was close to his door, but Lwi had the edge. The chase was fast and smokey, Lwi pushed to gain close proximity and disaster.. on the very last bend the differential mount shattered and Lwi straightened. Dave took the deserved win!

Lwi finished the day in second position, a good position to be in the first round of 2024. The team regrouped, replaced the rear differential and prepared the car for round 2, the next day.

Round 2

Another amazing spring day, slightly cooler than the day before, but dry and sunny. The layout was changed slightly from the day before with the start line extended. All the drivers had improved from the day before in practice and it was going to be an even faster layout.

Qualifying:

Once again Lwi put a couple of clinical runs to top qualify with a 97.3 point run. This again allowed him a Bye run in Top 16 so it was though to the Top 8.

Top 8:

Top 8 battle was again against Ian Bizz Philips who was determined to take Lwi down this time but unfortunately on his lead he went far too hot into the final bend and ended up on the grass : Lwi took the win again.

Final 4:

Final 4 battle was to be with another young driver, Zak Parker, who is smooth and accurate in his style, another name to watch out for in the near future. Lwi’s experience shone through and although Zak put up a great fight, Lwi took the win.

Final:

The final battle was to be against Joel Conlan who had been getting faster as the day progressed. This was the first time Lwi had battled Joel but a mistake on his lead sealed the win for Lwi.

Lwi finished first at the end of Round 2 , another fantastic result for the start of the season and puts Lwi 20 points ahead in the championship already, a nice little buffer.

A 2nd and a 1st with two 1st in Qualifying, it was a good weekend, plus, it was a special weekend to win our home circuit in Wales. The first Welsh round won by a Welshman!

Next round is Cadwell Park on 6th May

Thank you to our partners friends and family who make this possible:

Haltech, Bilstein, Race Winning Brands, Allitalia Wrexham, TPW Engineering, Learn2Drift, Billys Speed Shop, Gizfab, and Family and friends

November 18, 2023November 18, 2023

Lwi Edwards : 2023 MSUK Drift Pro Championship Winner!!

After a fantastic season of the MSUK Drift Pro Championship competing around the circuits of UK, Lwi was crowned Championship winner at the last round at Snetterton.

After 8 rounds on the iconic race circuits around the UK, Lwi took the win at 4 rounds and finished on the podium on all but 2.

Lwi results gave him a lead after the 7th round that couldn’t be beaten.

An amazing result for a young driver with a small family team behind him.

Our thanks must go to our partners who help make this happen.

Bilstein UK, Haltech, Allitalia Wrexham, Learn2drift, TPW Engineering, Billy’s Speedshop

May 24, 2023

Irish Drift Championship Rnd 1 – coming soon

We will soon be starting the long trek from Wrexham to Ballykelly in Northern Ireland for the first round of the Irish Drift Championship.

Lwi’s competitive drifting career started in Ireland in 2019 competing in the Drift Games Nationals championship so it will be good to get back to the Emerald Isle and compete with some familiar names from the season.

Difference this year will be competing in the Pro class and although still the same trust E36 M3, now fitted with much more powerful LSXV8 engine and more than double the horsepower!

Thank you to all our partners who help make this happen, we are proud to be promoting the brands to a new market in Ireland.

May 5, 2023

Countdown to round 3 and 4 of Drift Pro Championship, Brands Hatch

Lwi Edwards Drift Pro Championship 2023 Tunerfest South Brands Hatch

June 10th and 11th will see Lwi Edwards competing in round 3 and 4 of Drift Pro Championship at Tunerfest South Brands Hatch.

Two days of hard battles on the main circuit in front of thousands of motorsport fans.

Check out the Brands Hatch site to buy advance tickets and catch the action

May 1, 2023May 9, 2023

Drift Pro Championship 2023 – First Podium of season

Lwi Edwards Winner Round 2 Driftpro Championship 2023

Round 1 and 2 of the Drift Pro Championship was held at the incredible mountain section of the Cadwell Park circuit.

Round 1 wasn’t going to plan, a mixed bag of weather and some conflicting opinions on the judging saw Lwi qualify a lowly 7th place and finished the day getting knocked out in the top 8.

Day 2 and Round 2,

Things improved for everyone. People settled in and results became more consistent.

Lwi qualified a respectable 2nd place battled through the field to take the top spot with a close battle in the final against Martin Richards

The first win of the 2023 season and the first podium carrying the Bilstein name, our main sponsor for 2023.

We thank all our partners who help make this happen, check out our partners page and support those who support us.

April 15, 2021April 15, 2021

2021 A New season and New Championship to UK

Lwi Edwards : Pro Driver : UK Drift Championship 2021

After a short and difficult 2020 season due to Covid, we are now looking forward to 2021 being closer to some normality if it is possible.

The good news is the dawning of a brand new championship to the UK, The UK Drift Championship to keep everyone entertained. Every round will be streamed live on social media and the circuits are challenging and fast.

Young Lwi has taken up the invitation to compete in the Pro class against some big names from the past and future .

This season is going to be busy making up for lost time last year, competing in both Pro Class of the British Drift Championship and the New UK Drift Championship.

The British Drift Championship season starts in May and Lwi will be looking to improve on his 6th place overall finish in the Pro Class in 2021.

The weapon of choice will be the BMW E36 LSV8 for most of this season while the new build is going through the motions, hopefully this should be out in an event before the end of the season ready for a full 2022 season.

Lwi Edwards : UK Pro Driver : UK Drift Championship : 3 Sisters Circuit

The season kicks off at Three Sisters Circuit this coming weekend 17/18th April with the UK Drift Championship first round, look out for the livestream and check back here for a full report very soon.

October 5, 2020October 13, 2020

British Drift Championship : Round 3 : Teeside : Report

Round 3 of the British Drift Championship took place at Teeside Autodrome, an awesome venue for drifting which Lwi had experience of in 2019, but this year saw a completely new layout never tried before which turned out to be challenging for all the drivers but rewarding when the line was mastered.

With Covid restrictions in mind the event was being carefully organised with social distancing rules in place and limited spectators so extra precautions had to be taken into account in preparation such as face masks and anti bacterial sprays as well as the normal event equipment and spares supplied by main sponsor Allitalia Ltd

Lwi Edwards : BDC 2020 : Allitalia paddock

Friday was practice day for all classes, weather was dry and mild so Lwi spent some time familiarising himself with the new layout, getting to grips with the track conditions and playing with a few setting on the BMW. It was apparent that the layout was going to be fast and technical but initial practice is all about finding the line, speed comes later.

Saturday was the Pro 2 day and the heavens opened, torrential rain for majority of the day made it interesting for the drivers to say the least. It also gave Lwi to get a short practice in the wet conditions inbetween the Pro 2 competition.

Sunday and Pro day. The weather sorted itself out with the track drying quickly so a few hours of practice before Lwi had to get his game face on. He started to dial in the line with some speed needed to push put to the clips. Running the softer Tirestreets UK supplied Accelera 651 sport Extra on the 18 inch 1 form wheels to gain extra grip was a must plus dialling a bit more mechanical grip into the suspension in anticipation that the pro class was going to be on fire this weekend. So on to qualifying!

Qualifying: Run 1 : And things didn’t go to plan, Lwi started with a nice line but pushed a little to hard, always trying to get that perfect score but the grip level was a bit sketchy in places and he span… we could count on one hand the amount of times Lwi had span in his career but he span all the same giving him a big zero for his first run.

Qualifying : Run 2 : And for the first time ever this was to be a safe one, usually Lwi will push harder on the second run to improve score, but no chances could be taken so he decided to push 80% for safety. A nice clean run with a decent score of 85 just put him out of the top 8 qualifiers which go through to top 16, so he would have to battle from top 24

Top 24 Battle : The first battle was to be against Nathan Chivers in his 700 hp Nissan, Lwi put down the almost perfect lead to follow and managed to put a good chase to win the battle. So Lwi advanced to the top 16

Top 16 Battle: And this was going to get hard, Lwi now had Oliver Silcock in another very quick Nissan, equal 5th in the champonship and he had battled him earlier in the year so knew what a worthy opponent he was. Lwi put down a very clean lead line as usual and pushed hard on his chase. It as a close decision which we though should be one more time to decide but Ollie took the win. So Lwi was out of competition.

All in all a good weekend, the car ran faultless, and Lwi has only dropped a few points on the leaderboard to 6th place overall, still an amazing achievement for his first year in the top Pro class surrounded by some big names in drifting.

Follow the link below for more images on online album

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LWhSBqRPtbzevWZj8

We would like to thank all the sponsors who help us on this journey, Haltech, Tirestreets UK, Accelera Tyres, Learn2drift, Sunoco fuels, Driven oils, 1form Wheels

September 16, 2020September 22, 2020

British Drift Championship Round 2 : Three Sister Circuit: Full Report

Lwi Edwards : British Drift Championship Flier : Round 2 Three Sisters Circuit 2020

Round 2 of the British Drift Championship at Three Sisters circuit in Wigan, 12 months to the day when Lwi made the podium for the first time in the ProAms and almost qualified top in the Pro class, so he was looking forward to a good result now competing in the Pro class for 2020.

Practice day was booked for the Thursday prior to the event but a minor scare saw main sponsor Allitalia stripping the gearbox out of the car on Wednesday evening after a noise developed in the transmission while moving the car ready to load on the trailer. After checking the clutch and flywheel, the gearbox was replaced for the spare to avoid any failures on race day. The BMW LSV8 was given a clean bill of health and loaded ready for a later start on practice day.

Lwi Edwards : BDC 2020 : Three Sisters Circuit : Paddock setup with Panda tyre support : Accelera 651 sport

Practice day ran smoothly and gave Lwi a chance to get used to the new Accelera 651 sport Xtra 100 TW softer compound semi slicks supplied by partner for 2020 Tirestreets UK now mounted to some new 1 Form 18 inch rear wheels. We dialled in some different settings to gain some more grip and tried some different tyre pressures. Some new cooling fans fitted after the problem in previous round turned out to be much more efficient and kept the temperatures down by about 20 degrees to around 90c, even when driven hard which was a relief. The car ran faultlessly until it suddenly cut out while waiting in line at the start. After being towed back to the paddock it turned out to be the main kill switch, brand new this year, which had failed! After searching the paddock, Luke Barker’s team came to the rescue with a new one, all fitted and ready to go in under 30 mins. The rest of the day was uneventful, Lwi just cleaning up the qualifying line ready for race day

After chilling out watching the Pro2 class it was time to get the race face on for the Pro day on Saturday. Fuel up with Sunoco race fuel, new Accelera 651 rear tyres and morning practice, the weather was good with a damp start but forecast was dry so it was going to be fast and furious all day for sure.

Qualifying Runs:

First qualifying run and Lwi was on it from the start, a nice clean line hitting all the clips and gaining a score of 94,holding top spot for a while but finished finished 2nd

Qualifying Run 2:

Never happy with his run and always chasing that perfect score, Lwi was advised by judges he needed to put more flare in his style, so this run was more smoke, speed and pushed out to the clipping points. Something was amiss this time though and a lesser score of 92. Back to the drawing board to chase the perfect score. However, Lwi did finish the qualifying in 3rd position which is pretty amazing for his first year in Pro’s

Top 16 Battles:

Due to Lwi high qualifying score he advanced through to the top 16 and his fist battle was to be with one of the most experienced drivers on the grid Martin Wonnacott in his awesome high spec Toyota Chaser, this was going to be a good one. Lwi pushed hard and put his usual flawless lead run which may have caught Martin on the hop but he caught up quickly on the chase run. Turning around and Lwi made a few mistakes on the first few clips so the judges voted for a OMT (One More Time) to give a chance for a cleaner run from both drivers.

Top 16 Battle OMT:

Lwi pushed hard on this battle, it was close and entertaining until Martin was forced into a mistake on the last few clips, running off the track and allowing Lwi to take the win and advance into great 8

Great 8 Battle:

After battling Martin, the great 8 battle should be more even with young irish driver Dylan Kehoe who had advanced through from Pro2 with a very nice spec Nissan with similar power to Lwi. It was very close and tidy battle which Lwi took the win to advance through to Final 4

Final 4 Battle:

Well, this was going to be a mission, Lwi was now up against the experienced and fellow welshman Ollie Evans in a much higher spec Nissan who was determined to win the championship. Lwi pushed as hard as he could, it was close and fast with Ollie losing his bumper on transitions but Lwi just couldnt beat Evans and the lost the battle.

Third Place Playoff:

Lwi had one final chance to make the 3rd place podium and his opponent was the young driver Max Cotton, who had stormed the field of Pro2 to this position in the Pro class. The battle again was close with both Lwi and Max rubbing doors but the win went to Max, so Lwi just missed out on a podium place. Well done Max!

Lwi finished the weekend with a 4th place o/all finish and although disappointed in not getting another podium at Three Sisters it was a great result after some hard battles. Currently sitting in 5th place in the Pro championship, once again it it a great result for the first year in the Pro Class

Lwi Edwards : BDC 2020 : Final Position after Round 2

Always looking for consistency like last year in Pro2, if Lwi can stay in top 5 for this season it will be a great achievement, but who knows what happens, with so few rounds of the championship, things can change quickly.

Huge thanks to everyone involved with the team from sponsors Accelera tyres, tirestreets UK, haltech, Sunoco fuels, Driven Oils, Learn2Drift, 1Form Wheels and bank of Nana and John, as well as all the Team Driftfam who all make this possible.

Always looking for support on this journey, please get in touch if you can help out in any way at support@lwiedwards.com

August 12, 2020August 13, 2020

2020 British Drift Championship is GO!

BDC2020 Driftland Round 1 : Lwi Edwards : Pro Drifter

After a long break due to the Covid 19, the British Drift Championship managed to pull everything together and run a shortened championship for 2020. This started with the first round at the legendary purpose built drift track at Driftland in Scotland

After winning the 2019 Pro Am Championship (Now called Pro 2) in the UK and also finishing 6th in the 2019 Drift Games Nationals, Lwi was promoted to Pro level for both UK and Ireland for 2020

The trusty BMW E36 M3 has had a major upgrade while the new Pro drift car is being built from scratch. Out with the M3 Evo engine and transplanted by Allitalia Ltd with a modified LS2 engine with full Haltech custom ecu pushing approx 500 bhp to keep competitive.

BDC 2020 Driftland : Lwi Edwards : Pro Drifter

The long trek to sunny Scotland started on a Thursday ready to spend a Friday practice day in the new upgraded BMW, and things didnt go to plan at the start, the weather was very warm and still, which caused the temps to rise in the engine bay, then a brand new cooling fan decided to fail, luckily Lwi always keeps a close eye on data, so the practice was aborted until the problem could be fixed. A search around the paddock found a new fan, although slightly smaller than original it kept the temps down.

Practice day was spent dialing in the grip level, running a mix of tyre brands to test before committing to one brand. Extreme tyres that Lwi was awarded as part of championship win and a newcomer on the block, Accelera. At the start of the day Lwi felt he had too much grip but by the end he was using more of the huge V8 grunt to push the grip level to the max on 17 inch rims, this was something that was going to become apparent on race day.

Sunday and Pro race day, Lwi had 2 hours practice honing his qualifying line, which was faultless as always, but it became apparent that he was struggling to hold proximity with the top driver due to loss of grip. With the help of the drift fam as quick change up to 18 inch rear wheels and some new Accelera tyres transformed the BMW allowing Lwi to push harder on chase runs.

Qualifying: Lwi has gained the reputation of being a line driver in both UK and Ireland and he hadn’t lost his skill in the down time since last season. First run and score of 91.5 was not enough for Lwi so he pushed the envelope for the second run and improved the score to 95 points holding top qualifying until Luke Barker and Mckeever knocked him off the top spot, can’t grumble too much. The grip level was improved with the 18 inch rims and new Accelera.

Top 16 Battle :

This was Lwi’s first battle in the Pro class this year and Oliver Silcock was a worthy opponent. Lwi laying down the perfect lead line once again allowing a good chase that the judges ask for but the chase run for Lwi was a little harder, still learning the grip he was judged as shallowing the track to gain proximity. Maybe should have been OMT to fight it out but it wasn’t to be. So Lwi lost the battle.

Lwi EEdwards : BDC 2020 : Drift land. Credit Beasy Media

A successful weekend with a lot of positives, the LS conversion is reliable and the handling of the chassis remains unchanged with the extra power. We will now be running 18 inch rims with the bigger 265 Accelera tyres. Some extra cooling needs to be addressed although autumn will soon be here for remainder of rounds and sure the weather will be cooler.

Thank you to everyone who supports the Team from family and friends to sponsors and companies. If you would like to be part of this amazing journey please get in touch with us at support@lwiedwards.com