EDC Round 5 Photos

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Is there a better way to spend a Saturday than watching high level competitive drifting? Yesterday I spent my day by the side of the track at the European Drift Championship Round 5 at Santa Pod. The quality of drifting was superb, and despite some early rain the afternoon turned out to be dry which allowed for some huge smoke trails (particularly from the pair of black Driftworks Nissans).

Despite his car not starting after the driver introductions, Ben Broke Smith’s Driftworks R32 Skyline ran well with him being beaten by his team mate in the 2JZ S15.

Martin French debuted his new (and very bright!) RX7 at Santa Pod, and drew a huge crowd in the paddock and with a high level of detail and finish on this car it seems that the attention was warrented! I think this was the cars 1st outing in the EDC and the team used the testing time well to make a few last minute changes and even a bit of a polish!

Results:

1. Phil Morrison – Nissan S15
2. Alan McCord – Nissan S15 V8
3. Brett Castle – Nissan S15
4. Paul Conlan – Nissan S15 2JZ
5. Mark Luney – Nissan 350Z
6. Martin French – Mazda RX7
7. Ben Broke Smith – Nissan R32
8. James Russell – Nissan R32
9. Pete Barber – Mazda RX7
10. Declan Hicks – Toyota Soarer GZ20
11. Kieron Cameron – Nissan S13
12. Paul Cheshire – Nissan S14A
13. David Monaghan – Nissan R32
14. Keith Hammond – Nissan R32
15. Steve Will – BMW M3
16. Alexis Drew – Nissan R32
17. Stewart Hansford – Nissan S13
18. Gary Hughes – Nissan R32
19. Ian Harrisson – Nissan R32

If you would like to see more photos from the EDC action yesterday, click on any of the photos above or here. if you would like to see any of these photos released as high resolution wallpaper leave a comment below with a description of the photos or the IMG number from flickr.

On a slightly more negative note, I wasnt very impressed with the judging yesterday – when the crowd are telling you that they dont want ANOTHER ‘One More Time’ run surely that tells you that the judges SHOULD have awarded a winner already! I’m not sure if it was just me but it seems that there is a slight anti Phil Morisson feeling from the judges. It might be that I’m not an expert, or maybe I saw things that the judges didnt, but when an opponent straightens up on 2 corners in one run (unforced errors) is miles behing the black S15 and then on the following run Phil is right on their bumper through the whole course pushing hard… why is another run needed?

What do you think – Harsh on the judges? Or is that a fair comment? Leave a comment or email me at the usual address.