British Drift Championship Rnd2 Driftland 25th May 2019 : Lwi Edwards
Fresh from Drift Games Nationals in Cork, Ireland, it is now all change and 25/26th May will see us make the long trek back up north and over the border of Scotland to the drifters mecca, Driftland in Fife, the only purpose built drift track in the UK.
A notoriously fast track will be a challenge again for young Lwi Edwards in the Allitalia prepared BMW E36 M3 with moderate power against some high powered machinery but his technical driving style should make up for the lack of horsepower. Still only his first year in competition, Lwi is currently sitting in 5th place overall after a great result in Teeside and is hoping to build on this result this coming weekend.
Transformation from Drift Games Nationals to British Drift Championship for Lwi Edwards M3
The car has been checked over in the workshop, given a bill of health ready to go apart from change of graphics from Drift Games to British Drift Championship and a few minor changes and repairs. Transmission upgrades will have to wait until after this round, the car is continually being modified and improved this year as none of us expected Lwi to be competing at such a high level so soon and he will be competing within a limited budget.
So stocking up on tyres and fuel, our trip to Scotland will soon be with us, come and join the fun at Driftland, or if you cant, check out the BDC Livestream https://www.thebritishdriftchampionship.co.uk/live
Another trip across the water from our base in North Wales with the help of Irish Ferries for Lwi and the M3 Powered E36 Coupe for round 2 of the Drift Games National championships at Kartworld, Watergrasshill, Cork
The Saturday was a practice day and the chance to get familiar with the circuit and the first time using the Westlake control tyre, based on a standard road tyre , it is designed to level the playing field and benefit lower horsepower cars.
The layout of the track was very technical, a lot of elevation and the Drift Games team had spent some time designing a very tight and challenging layout to test the abilities of the 75 drivers. This certainly made for entertaining battles later in weekend.
Sunday : Raceday
Sunday starts with briefing from the Drift Games team and help and advice on how the layout should be driven to gain maximum points. With an hour and half practice in the morning it gave Lwi a final chance to hone his line and get the feel of the circuit until he snapped a driveshaft, luckily this was in practice and changed by team mechanic, Dan, in a few minutes. then it was straight into qualifying mode.
Qualifying for the top 32 places and Lwi was his usual technical, precise self, where much more experienced drivers struggled with the tight layout, he nailed his first run to score 85 points. The judges commenting on his technical lines. Second run couldnt better his previous score and by end of the session Lwi was seeded in 10th place . Once again the level of driving to get into the top 32 was incredible, with the lowest score of 74 up to 92 shows the level of the competition, one small error and you drop out of qualifying.
To the Battles. The Top 32 started with Mark Brady in Nissan Skyline, a close battle which Lwi won and progressed to top 16.
Top 16, was a hard battle, pitched against another very experienced driver Justin Murphy in similar spec M3 Powered E36 BMW, it was going to be a close run. Both drivers made small errors which made it difficult to judge and resulted in a ‘one more time’ run call. Both Lwi and Justin once again did clean lead and chase run and after a very long deliberation by the judges, Lwi was knocked out of the top 16 by a very small margin of errors. Check out the footage from YouTube playlist below
Great result for Lwi Edwards, more points on the Drift Games championship leaderboard sees him currently in 13th position overall.
Big thanks to everyone who helps Lwi to achieve these results in the two premier drift championships. Next challenge will see us in Driftland Scotland for round 2 of the British Drift Championship on 25th May 2019 . Currently in 5th position overall and looking for a good result. See you there!
With the dust just settling from an awesome result in the British Drift Championship which puts Lwi in 5th position in championship and his well earned Pro-Am status in the UK, it is now time for Lwi to prepare for round 2 of the Drift Games National championship at Watergrasshill in County Cork, Ireland on 5th May
Another technical track in Kartworld should suit Lwi well with his precise driving style against some high powered machines . The field will be using a Westlake control tyre so this will also be an advantage to lower horsepower cars
Currently sitting in comfortable 19th position overall in Drift Games National standings after making a minor error in the top 32 battle, Lwi is looking to improve on this now he is getting more comfortable in the new M3 powered BMW prepared by Allitalia Ltd, Wrexham, UK. You can click on this link to check out Allitalia
Once again the ferry crossing has been booked with Irish Ferries who always provide support for us with a considerably discounted fare for the car and service vehicles which eases the cost of competing in the Irish Championship.
We need your support
The rest of 2019 is still ahead of us, as well as the two championships, Lwi is already being invited to drift demos and offering passenger rides at high profile events. We are looking for a small selection of companies/indivduals who could benefit from promotion to a wide audience in UK and Ireland. Please get in touch by email to support@lwiedwards.com and see what we can offer you.
Due to the success with Drift Games in Ireland, Lwi was given a bonus opportunity to be able to enter the first round of the British Drift Championship to try and qualify for a place to compete in the 2019 BDC season. A golden opportunity to pitch his driving abilities against some of the best drivers in the UK.
Friday was spent practising the very technical circuit layout, organisers had decided to run the traditional Teeside layout in reverse to spice things up a little and level the playing field. This suited Lwi and the less experienced drivers as it was new to everyone. The car was set up and tyre choices selected by main sponsor Allitalia Ltd with just 1 broken driveshaft changed in record time to keep the M3 Powered BMW out on the track for a long as possible
Saturday was the main event for the Pro-Am and after a morning practice it was straight into qualifying mode. For Lwi, the pressure was on to qualify in the top 32 to gain his BDC Pro-Am status but he didnt let his nerves get the better of him and nailed his first run to put him in top ten, then drove a nice tidy line on second run to a final qualifying score of 73 which placed him in 8th place overall at the end of the session. A pretty incredible result for the young 17yr old in his first competitive season. This result secured his BDC Pro-Am license to compete in the UK but the real competition was just about to begin…
Let The Battles Commence
Top 32 battle started with Matt Fountain in a Soarer, Lwi putting in the usual clinical lead run which seemed to unphase the experienced chase car, and he made a few mistake, running off line and also finishing with a small ‘love tap’ around final bend. The chase run for Lwi saw him being left behind slightly due to the power difference but Lwi managed to make up some proximity and also followed a qualifying line to take the win.
The top 32 Battle to take Lwi into Top 16, Lwi Edwards Vs Matt Fountain
Top 16 battle was against William Hanna in another high powered Nissan Skyline, but this didnt phase Lwi with his technical approach to driving, again the lack of horsepower was compensated by car control , putting the BMW where it needed to be to take the win and move into Great 8!
Great 8, where things really start to get tough,and only one step away from the final battle and chance to go through to next day with Pro class! Unreal that Lwi should be at this level on his first ever attempt of BDC
Great 8 battle for Lwi . Lwi Edwards Vs Josh King
So, the Great 8 battle saw Lwi and Josh King. Both in BMW E36 but one was turbocharged and had twice the horsepower as the other… unfortunately, Lwi was in the M3 engined one, so was about 300 hp short. However, this again didnt phase Lwi, once again he drove a near perfect lead run, following qualifying line, and let the chase car make the mistakes, but he just couldnt make up any proximity on his chase run against the superior power of the lead car, so the battle was lost. Josh King went on to win the ProAm on the day
Expectations officially exceeded
Lwi went into this competition just to qualify in top 32 to gain his BDC ProAm license but once again, as in Drift Games license day, he has shown his incredible talent to both qualify in top ten and take a relatively under powered car up to top 8. He was officially the youngest driver in the lowest power car to get into top 8 on the day, a pretty decent result.
Alltalia support Lwi Edwards
Next event will see us back in Ireland for round 2 of Drift Games Natonals 4/5 May
It was never going to be easy with the class of drivers in the championship but Lwi pulled out all the stops with his smooth precise driving style to qualify 1st in the first session and finally finished an impressive 6th overall out of 75 drivers after the second session. This meant Lwi had officially made it into top 32 and ready for battles
Things went a little pear shaped during his first battle, carrying a little too much speed into the first corner he stepped off the track causing the chase car to follow therefore getting penalised, his chase run was clean but the damage was done and he lost the battle. It was the first time all weekend that Lwi made a mistake and he paid the price.
But a lot of positives to take away from the weekend, an incredible result considering Lwi is still just 17, has only been Drifting for around 12 months in a car that he has only driven twice before arriving at Mondello in a championship that has a mix of experienced pro and Pro-Am drivers.
The car prepared by Allitalia Ltd ran faultlessly all weekend and the service crew was on point.
The Drift Games championship is new for 2019, very slick and professional and fast turning out to be the best drift championships to be a part of. The opportunity to compete against top class drivers in this environment is invaluable at his age and we are confident Lwi will shine during the season.
Next stop will be Teeside this coming weekend where Lwi now has opportunity to qualify for British Drift Championship as well!
Countdown to first round of Drift Games National Championship.
Car is finished and ready or the trek over the water from Wrexham to Mondello, Ireland for the first round of the championship. A big step for Lwi to have opportunity to compete against some of the best and experienced drivers in Ireland and a few from UK also.
Drift Games is a perfect stepping stone to Pro and International competition and Lwi will be the name to watch in the future. Fingers crossed for a good result this weekend.
