The European Drift Scene
In Europe there are several established drift series and organisations busy
with running events, demo's and competitions. Almost all of them claim to be the biggest or the most professional but
this is just not so. All of them have their own strengths and weaknesses
and many are struggling to survive due to restrictions on event locations,
high costs and (current) lack of response from the motor and tuning industry. Response from investors and sponsors depends a lot on the level of professionalism and good communication, and this is where some series are failing and others are prospering. It's only a matter of time and the best series will prevail.
Some of these organisers dream of dominating Europe with their own "system" but unfortunately the scene is very complex with national cultures as well as national legislation playing a big role in what you can and can't do. Vested commercial interests in some countries also pose a barrier, so it's not as easy as some people think!!. Up until now, organisations who have put commercial interests first have failed to sustain a successful drift series. This should be a lesson to those who think it possible to make a lot of money from drifting.
UK/IRELAND
Prodrift is a commercial drift series running a Pro/Amateur championship in Ireland.
ProDrift was established in 2004. ProDrift has a very healthy championship in Ireland, has run numerous shows and demo's around Europe at some exotic and far off locations and has a group of talented drivers who put on these shows in professional looking cars.
The ProDrift organisation has some very dedicated sponsors and flying drivers around Europe and transporting cars by truck mean that there is some serious money and backing involved. Just how long they can sustain this remains to be seen.
The current economic situation has also put many established drivers under pressure, forcing many to quit.
They also have aspirations to run a European Series. Sooner or later we expect them to break this barrier because the "business model" is one of the best around at the moment with a large slice of the revenue going to support the drivers.
Pro Drift's connections with the Formula D championship in the USA can only be seen as yet another positive factor.
ProDrift produced this nice film called WHAT IS DRIFTING?
This is a demo driven by PRODRIFT at the Paris Tuning Show, 2006
EDC is a commercial drift series running a professional championship in the UK.
The D1UK organisation which ran the D1UK events in 2005 and 2006 changed it's identity to EDC (European Drift Championship)aAfter a broken promise in 2006 by D1 corp. to send the top 5 UK drivers to the USA. "The Brits" are now doing it for themselves, EDC currently being one of the most professional series in the UK.
2008 also sees the development of a new Pro-Am series to act as the official feeder for EDC, the British Drift Championship (BDC) after the earlier collapse of the UKDrift and Eurodrift initiatives due to poor management.
JDM All-Stars championship which seems to have all the "fun" elements many UK events have been missing up till now. This series is interesting with events planned in some pretty "off the wall" places in 2008 and is closely allied to the activities of Pro Drift.
The thing that stands head and shoulders above any other European event is the "Fun" factor which is sadly missing in many other series.
D1UK Round 4, 2006
Tiff Needell tries his hand at drifting a soarer..
EDC Teaser, 2007
2006 also saw the possible emergence of a new mid-level series, the UKDC (UK Drift Championship) which came from a one-off promotional, FUN event at Lydd in Kent. This has faded away now with the emergence of the BDC. Driftpromotion arranged the filming of this event by CLASHPRODUCTION.
SVA DRIFT Challenge, Lydd, Kent.
BELGIUM/NETHERLANDS
Belgium and the Netherlands started their activities in 2005 in the form of the Belgian Drift Series and NL Drift Series. The first serious events (including invitational events at which many UK and Irish drivers attended) were held at the WARNETON SPEEDWAY track in western Belgium, which is a compact oval track with banked curves.
BE/NL Series final 2005, Zolder Belgium
The NL series concentrated on tracks such as Zandvoort and Assen with occasional runs at existing tuning events and shows, and was accompanied by three other organisations, DriftClub (established 2003) , DRIFTSPORT (established 2005) and DRIFTCURSUS (2005) whose events were more for fun and training than a serious competition. DriftClub also ran a competition event in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
In 2005 the final of the BE series was held at Zolder in combination with the ERAN DRIFT day, starting a new partnership between two drift event organisers. 2006 saw both BE and NL series blossom with a lot of interest and a large following, and establishment of a drift school and even drift-karting competitions, plus some spectacular and unique drift locations.
Round 1 BE Drift Series, 2006, Ciney, Belgium
Round 3 BE Drift Series, 2006, Zolder, Belgium.
Round 4 BE Drift Series, 2006, Maasmechelen Belgium.
Xtreme drift is a commercial drift organisation based in Belgium.
In 2007 the BE series changed it's identity to Xtreme Drift Series increased the size of it's organising team and had a low level of cooperation with ProDrift. XD was linked to a series of existing tuning and motorsport events and sponsoring deals which restricted the choice and quality of locations. Drivers from Holland and Belgium (plus some other European countries) often participated in these events.
The NL Drift Series evolved into the NL Invitational series, linked to existing tuning and racing events which shows drifting and demo's on a regular basis at some popular venues and events in the Netherlands. These are often combined with a TIME ATTACK concept and a FULL CIRCUIT DRIFT, where all curves of the circuit are drifted.
Both organisations in Belgium and Holland are struggling to find good drift locations and adequate sponsorship. The Netherlands is very strict on environmental issues, and noise restrictions have caused problems for organisers(even at established motorsport venues) in both countries including the racetracks at Zolder and Zandvoort.
Contractual and sponsoring upsets and some difficulties between organisers and drivers have caused extra headaches and for 2008 "Wet Paddock Drifting" is often the most on offer these days, much to the frustration of the drivers. A low-level street legal event with the name Kamikaze Cup is held regulary at the same location and new training events at the former BEAF base of Brustem are becoming popular.
NL Series invitationals at Zandvoort , "FULL CIRCUIT DRIFT" , check out the chase car (Judges inside!!) Nice concept!
FRANCE
Friendly Drift Battle in 2006, France/Belgium, Pouilly-en-Auxouis
Driftpromotion setup the training day, safety rules and competition plan.
Round 1, 2007 or was it round 0? Pouilly en Auxouis
FDS was a commercial drift series running an amateur championship in France.
France started in 2007 with round one of it's series after ups and downs between two organisations and individuals of opposing opinions. Right now they lag behind many other national series and regular favouritism towards their own national drivers puts doubts on the credibility.
Round 1 was declared a "show event" after the organisation failed to prepare adequately for the first round. A pity, because it was a fun event. The second and following rounds were also fraught with problems and silly mistakes once again based on poor management and lack of good preparation.
The final also became a fiasco after damage to track equipment at the Lyon Motor Show and a big claim being made by the show organisers against the FDS. At the moment it seems unlikely that the FDS will survive in it's present form.
Allied training organisation FFD also looks to be revamped after some financial problems, and a new independent drift initiative held at L'Anneau du Rhin was nothing short of a disaster due to inexperience and bad planning.
In 2008 FFD will possibly be revamped under another name (FDC) but currently lacks adequate sponsorship. Training sessions are planned in 2008 and competitions in cooperation with other organisations.
GERMANY
DVD
- HOCKENHEIM DRIFT 2006
DRIFT DEMO at Augsburg Airport, July 2007
IDC is a drift series running
a Pro/Amateur drift championship in Germany.
After 8 years of crawling and people who attempted to drift just about
anything on 4 wheels, the German Sport Auto-Yokohama Drift Challenge (Currently called IDC) series made some serious steps forward in the 2007 season. Driftpromotion brought in more involvement of top drivers in an affort to raise the level of competition. Based on this fact, the first ever twin battles were held in Germany which were a resounding success with the public.
With racetracks like Hockenheim and Nürburgring at it's disposal one would expect great things. The opportunities are endeless but a commited development of the sport in Germany is still absent unfortunately.
Consistent failure of the main "backer" of the series, (SportAuto Magazine) to produce or agree to any kind of viable business plan and at the same time blocking the active involvement of new sponsors has resulted in stagnation of what could have been the most promising series in Europe. A great opportunity wasted.
KING OF EUROPE
King of Europe 2005 (here you can also see some drift shots
at Warneton)
King of Europe round in the Czech Republic, 2007
King of Europe is a commercially based drift series running exhibition
rounds in different countries.
King of Europe is an event that consists of combined events, mainly DRAG
and DRIFT events. Started in 2005 the event revolved around promotion
of a French Tuning Magazine, Street Racing Mania, and had sponsoring from
several companies, the most well known being TOYO Tyres Europe.
2005 Kicked off at the Warneton track in Belgium, the
winner in 2005 being Paul Vlasblom.
In 2006 the badge of KING OF EUROPE travelled to Poland,
Belgium (Chimay in combination with the BE Drift Series), Finland and an interesting outing to Dubai.
The series suffered from low participation at first, mainly because drivers
were expected to cover their own travel costs to far off places. In 2007
rounds have been held in France, Czech Republic, Hungary, with Finland,
and then Hungary again for the final, this also in combination with existing
events in the respective countries. KOE has at last financed some of the travel costs, meaning a step in
the right direction for the sport and is planning even greater things
in 2008. Winner in 2007 was once again
Paul Vlasblom.
Although KOE has added more countries to it's list of conquests, the quality of the events has made no progress at all in 3 years and appears to be getting worse.
Reports of drivers being "ripped off" are also becoming more common.
Almost every event this year has been a disaster with no action by the organiser to correct the situation.
LUXEMBURG
LU Drift Series show demo at Luxembourg Racing
Show, 2006.
Due to restrictions by the Luxemburg Motor Association it has not yet
been possible to hold a full-blown drift event in Luxemburg.
Once their safety concerns have been addressed it is possible that we
will see regular events here.
Luxembourg does however have some hidden drift-talents and the opportunity for them to put on a show for a home-crowd would be ideal at some point.
In 2006 a massive crowd at each drift demo for the EURO RACING SHOW was
enough to show the enthusiasm for motorsport
in this small country. The 2007 show also attracted much attention with a large DRIFT event planned for the end of 2008.
EASTERN EUROPE
info to follow..
SCANDINAVIA
info to follow..
"If you don't have fun drifting, you will never improve" : Ken Nomura