We've been following the exploits of pro-drifter Stuart Egdell who has had quite a dramatic showing at Japfest Silverstone 2023 (April 23), the high-speed performance Japanese car event.
Here is his account of how it went.
Just got back to normality after a wild weekend at Silverstone.
Sell-out crowds and reports of people queuing for hours to get in pointed to an excellent show.
We arrived on the Saturday, delivering the 350Z to longstanding partners EBC Brakes, then returned with the S14 to set out our Drift Kings pit setup.
Sunday morning was an early start with a bit of drizzle on the way up to the circuit. On arrival at 6.30am, there were already queues of traffic backing onto the dual carriageway, and 3 lanes of stacked traffic leading into the circuit. We knew it was going to be a BUSY day.
The public started flocking in at 9am and our first session was a damp 10am outing.
As I scrubbed in the tyres and warmed the car up on my way round to the start line, the clouds parted and the sun came out.
Our first session lasted 20 minutes or so with a few slippery patches here and there leading to a few off-track moments, but by the last few laps, a fully dry smoke show was on the cards.
The second session was a full heat, full smoke, max boost flat out crazy fun time.
After the second session we had an open pit and autograph session, I signed every Hero card I had. We gave away all of our goody bags and answered many questions about the sport and the car.
The team worked exceptionally hard trying to get to the bottom of a power steering related issue as well as keeping me stocked up with fluids and snacks.
The last session was a bit tricky. I’d been pushing the boundaries throughout the day and in the final few laps I went a little too fast, and a little too wide, cutting the grass down the straight, destroying my front bumper and the Go Pro attached.
We managed to retrieve the many pieces of fibre glass, and a slightly worse for wear Go Pro (unfortunately the footage stops at the disaster moment).
So what's next?
Some required maintenance, a new bumper, paint, and wrap, then off to our first main competition of the year: IDC round 1 at Ballykelly for the Northern Irish Motorsports Festival.
We're looking forward to the next event!
At SPAL Automotive UK we can just imagine what an action-packed event it was and wish Stuart well in getting match fit for the next challenge.
