The Drift Scene in Europe
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 lack of serious 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 miserably. It's only a matter of time and the best series will prevail and start attracting the money of the big sponsors. Several organisers and drivers have also lost exclusive sponsoring deals from major players in the market due to very poor media management and failure to perform or produce any kind of ROI (Return on Investment). This has made it even more difficult to close serious sponsoring deals.
Some of these organisers dream of dominating Europe 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 and political attitudes of motorsports organisations in some countries also pose a barrier, so it's not as easy as some people think!!.
Up until now, organisations who have only put commercial interests first have failed to sustain a successful drift series.
Organisers who make efforts to put the drivers in the limelight, to promote the sport as an “Extreme Sport” and retain the fun element are the ones that will succeed.
UK/IRELAND
PRODRIFT
Darren McNamara being interviewed in USA
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 had some dedicated sponsors some serious money and backing is involved. The current economic situation has however put many established drivers under pressure, forcing some good ones to quit. Aspirations to run a European Series were also present but at the moment this appears not to be the case with the series restricted to Ireland.
Darren at the IDC Hockenheim, 2006
Pro Drift's connections with the Formula D championship in the USA can only be seen as a positive factor for development of the sport and recognition of talent from Europe. Several very good former ProDrift drivers are there such as Darren McNamara, Eric O' Sullivan and more recently James Deane.
EDC
EDC is a professional championship in the UK. The D1GB organisation which ran the D1GB events in 2005 and 2006 changed it's identity to EDC (European Drift Championship) After 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. EDC also made it's first european outing in Poland in 2008 which was a spectacular event and the famous "TEAM ORANGE" were a regular visitor to the events due to their involvement in the UK drift scene. In 2010 the participation seems to be at a lower level despite efforts to keep the series going. The organisation seems to concentrating more on Time Attack style events.
BDC
The BDC is an amateur/ professional championship in the UK.
2008 also saw the formation of a new Pro-Am series, the British Drift Championship (BDC) after the earlier collapse of the UKDrift and Eurodrift initiatives due to poor management. This is a series which seems to be growing in popularity with high participation. Some talented drivers are coming from this series. It has developed well and has attracted sponsoring from Maxxis tyres for the 2010 season.
JDM Allstars
JDM All-Stars championship which seems to have all the "fun" elements many events have been missing up till now. This series is interesting with events planned in some pretty "off the wall" places in 2010. The thing that stands head and shoulders above any other European event is the attention paid to the "Fun" and "show" factors. Due to this, JDM Allstars has attracted the participation of many foreign Pro drivers wishing to pit their skills against the UK and Ireland's best. It will blossom once again in 2010 for this reason. In 2010 Australian champion Luke FInk (one of our supported drivers) took the crown at the SIlverstone final.
UKDC
Lydd Raceway
UKDC (UK Drift Championship) came from a one-off promotional, FUN event at Lydd in Kent called the SVA DRIFT CHALLENGE . This has transformed into another organisation DRIFTRACING, who organise training and competitions in the Kent area of UK. Driftpromotion arranged the filming of the event by CLASHPRODUCTION, who have produced material for MotorsTV and EDC, the RedBull Wold Drift Championship and many other prominent events.
Happy faces at Lydd..
BELGIUM/NETHERLANDS
Organisations in Belgium and Holland have long struggled 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. Despite these setbacks the Benelux is most certainly the source of the best drift talent in continental Europe. 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.
NL Drift series and Benelux Drift Series
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.
Xtreme Drift
In 2007 the BE series changed it's identity to Xtreme Drift Series increased the size of it's organising team and attempted some 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. Recently Xtreme Drift has come to an end due to internal politics, questionable sponsoring deals and financial irregularities. In addition, the whole organisation was over-hyped when there were actually no substantial sponsor or financial backers of the series. Contractual and sponsoring upsets and some difficulties between organisers and drivers caused extra headaches for 2008, "Wet Paddock Drifting" was often the most on offer much to the frustration of the drivers. This was in the form of a low-level street legal event with the name Kamikaze Cup.
NL Invitationals
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. This format seems to be popular with drivers and public alike. More recently a Gymhkana like event was held in the paddock at Zandvoort, along with a pure drift competition.
Open Benelux Drift Challenge
A new initiative, the Open Benelux Drift Challenge, was announced for 2009 and this seemed to be the most promising development since Xtreme Drift stopped as a drift series and was attracting a lot of interest. This was organised by SKYLIMIT EVENTS. A new training initiative at the former BEAF base of Brustem, also organised by Skylimit was also becoming popular, although the Zolder drift school still exists. There was also an attempt at cooperation between the IDS/ODC and Skylimit but for some reason this did not materialise.
Open Drift Championship (ODC)
In the Netherlands the activities have been revamped by a new organisation SD EVENTS who will hold several rounds both in and outside the Netherlands in 2010 under the name ODC.
It’s never been easy to find locations in the Netherlands and despite the success of the events some planned locations have been scrapped from the calendar due to external influences.
SKYLIMIT DRIFT
Skylimit events are running their own revamped SKYLIMIT DRIFT competition in Belgium based at the ZOLDER track/paddock.
FRANCE
FDS
FDS was a series running an amateur championship in France.
Pouilly en Auxois 2007
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 has often (unfortunately) put doubts on the credibility of the events.
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 preparation by the organisers.
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.
In 2008 FFD was revamped under another name, French Drift Community (FDC). Training sessions are planned in 2008 and some competitions in cooperation with other organisations.
DC
In 2009 the ropes have been taken up again with the formation of a second organisation DC (French Drift Challenge) under management of top drifter Tony Jouin and his team, and 5 rounds planned this season. There has been a massive leap forward in quality of management and some spectacular tracks on the calendar. In 2010 DC struggles to find new venues due to limitation of funding, but a calendar of events has been announced.
KD RACE
A second drift initiative in France set up by two pro drifters, first saw the light of day in 2009 with events at Anneau du Rhin (France) and Lousada (Portugal).
The Portugal event proved very popular with participants from many countries and is likely to do the same in 2010.
GERMANY
IDC / IDS
IDC was originally 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 made some serious steps forward in the 2007 season. With it’s new identity of IDC (International Drift Championship) Driftpromotion also facilitated the involvement of top drivers and external experts in an affort to raise the level of competition. Based on this action, the first ever twin battles were held in Germany in 2007 which were a resounding success with the public.
Consistent failure in 2007/2008 of the main "backer" of the series to commit to any kind of viable business plan and at the same time actively blocking the involvement of any new sponsors resulted in stagnation of what could have been the most promising series in Europe.
Also the failure to effectively market the series despite being part of a multinational media group also led to a total lack of confidence and a failure to communicate with drivers was a big problem mainly due to the general attitude of the main sponsors. The organiser invested a lot of energy and money in bringing the competition up to a professional level but even this was not enough to get the main backer to invest in the series or to commit to it in a businesslike manner.
There was then news from Germany with the announcement of the split of the original management team due to a difference of opinion. It seems that 2 key members parted company with IDC and formed a new IDS initiative for 2009 with new sponsoring agreements and a professional set of regulations.
IDS still leaves a lot to be desired unfortunately with teething problems well into the 2010 season. The marketing of the series is still a weak point.
DRIFT SENSATION
Another initiative from the former manager of IDC has appeared in the guise of "DRIFT SENSATION" but with more focus on the show aspects of the sport. No calendar of events has materialised for 2010 but they have cropped up at some DTM events.
EASTERN EUROPE
KING OF EUROPE
King of Europe is a series of commercially based drift events running exhibition rounds in different countries. King of Europe is an event that consists of combined events, mainly DRAG and DRIFT events.
Although KOE has added more countries to it's list of conquests, the quality of the events suffered for a long time from poor organisation. The only improvements came where the events were under local management rather than under management of the mainly French crew. Actual tracktime was always an issue at KOE events and at last, things are looking much better for participants of this series
In 2011 it seems to have grown in popularity in Eastern Europe, with other venues in France and Spain on the calendar for 2011.
