“After another quick turnaround, we were off to Three Sisters for the fourth round of the BDC – the final point-scoring round of the championship.

“With the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Friday’s practice was cancelled and a day of mourning and respect was shown.

“Saturday was perfect; the weather greeted us again with beautiful sunshine and perfect driving conditions. Qualifying went perfectly with a good score putting me in 17^th place, the driving was on top form from all the drivers.

“My battle saw me against Sam Nolan in his immaculate S15. We both gave it our all and I can honestly say it was the best battle I have had in a long time. Sam pushed hard and took the win, doing very well that day.

“After a quick wrap-up from Three Sisters, we rushed off to the mega crowds at Silverstone for the TRAX show.

“The Sunday saw large numbers of people turn up for the show, I had chosen to sit out of driving here and concentrated on talking to the fans and customers on our Helix Autosport stand instead.

“So, what’s next? I have just got back from the BDC final at Buxton (updates to follow). There’s a trip to Snetterton, the Halloween Action Day show at Castle Combe and the Grand Finale at Silverstone to wrap up the season.

“Thanks to 91´«Ã½ as always for their continued support.â€�

“We set out on our journey to Germany from to Poland in the lorry, but unfortunately, due to some logistical issues we were arriving in the evening instead of the morning.

“We arrived at the track at 10pm and immediately got the car out of the lorry. Fortunately, I managed to get two dry laps in until torrential rain flooded the track. This was my second time (10th lap ever) driving the car with a sequential gearbox and a supercharger.

“The next morning, we were informed that we had one practice lap, so I did the best I could to push the car into every clipping zone on the track and managed to put in a good lap.

“Next up was qualifying. My first run was in the wet and with a few minor errors I put a good score on the board, but with a patchy track turning into a dry track, the weather was not on my side. As the track became less and less unpredictable, high scores started to occur, and by the time It came to my second run I needed to do something special if I wanted to make it through to the Top 32. I thought back to my 99-point qualifying run at Three Sisters and all the techniques and lessons I have learnt over the past few years. I decided that I had to go all-in.

“Staying as close to the walls as I could and covering the grandstands in smoke, I scored a 79. With only three Laps of practice, I considered this a nice accomplishment The score put me in 31st by the end of qualifying. This means that I would take on arguably the best driver in Europe, Jack Shanahan.

“Competition day arrived, and I was feeling confident that although Jack was a tough competitor, there was a chance I could beat him. In practice that day I chased his brother around the track with extremely close proximity.

“I lined up against Jack on the line, and the lights went out. I knew for the second time that weekend that I could not hold back. On entry, I stayed close to his door, however, when I got to the second corner I was further in the zone than Jack. This was good in the eyes of the judges, but the track had other ideas. Suddenly I hit a wet patch and the car dialled on more angle, slowing me down and giving Jack a lead. I soon regained proximity, but it was too late. I put in a nice lead run but it didn’t overturn my error in the chase. As we watched and cheered Jack went on to win the event, ‘we’ll get him next time,’ I said to my dad.�

“Then it was qualifying. Run 1 didn’t go to plan; that understeering issue I mentioned came back, with a solid entry and push through clip 1 and 2, on the transition I didn’t have the control to set me up where I wanted for clip 3, and a straighten gave me a 0.

“For run 2 – the final qualifying run – I had it all to play for! I gave it my all, with a good entry, solid through clips 1 2 and 3, slightly shallow on 4 and a bit deep on 5. The run was good, I breathed a sigh of relief and was over the moon, then it was just the wait to find the score to see how I’d done and where I sat in the qualifying order. The judges’ scores came in… an 84-point run! That was me through to the top 32, and after all the scores came in, it put me in Q14!

“Onto the top 32, my battle was against Harvey Moore. This was a bit of an unknown to me; I don’t think I’d had much time out with Harvey before and all I knew was his car had some pace and he was celebrating his birthday! We lined up, Colgate gave the nod and we were off. My entry was solid but with the grip in the car, it pushed me slightly inside on clip 2. Past the transition towards clip 3, I was on the wrong line completely and tagged the tyre bales with the front bumper, pulling my crash bar into the lead wheel jamming me on full lock and then into a spin. Harvey brushed straight past me and then had complete suspension failure.

“Harvey’s team worked some miracles and he made it back out on track for the second half of our battle. With the first run looming in my mind, I didn’t push as hard as I should, Harvey carried a brilliant pace and took the win, which spelt the end of my weekend.

“However, on the Sunday, Dave Egan of Drift Games had an unfortunate clutch failure in his Corvette, essentially knocking him out of the competition, with me being confident in the car and wanting a pro driver’s opinion of how it drove, it made sense to offer the car up to Dave, not to mention the amazing amount of publicity Drift Games gave us.

“Dave did amazingly well in a car he only had four laps in; he put in a solid qualifying run, scoring 76 points getting him the big show! Dave did really well driving the car, but his party stopped at the first battle as Charlie Hulme progressed further.�

“The top 32 battle was against Craig McLeod – the local man on his home track. Craig had been driving very well all day, qualifying fifth meaning he was the lead driver and went first.

“I knew Craig was fast, I knew he was confident and I expected him to be on-point.
So, on the start line, I was psyching myself up, thinking when I got the signal I needed to be off that line sharpish to keep with him, concentrating on the signal, focusing on pinning it straight off the line.

“I was flat-out off the line, slamming through the gears, picking up speed along the straight up towards the entry. As I was approaching the start of the scoring zone, I didn’t drop in behind craig as I was expecting him to speed up and enter just in front of me along the famous Driftland wall, however my predictions weren’t quite as I planned.

“Just as we were about to enter, Craig flicked across to the middle of the track and I was just 50cm too far forward. We made contact and I ended up coming off the track, giving Craig the advantage.

“With me in the lead, I laid down my fastest, best line of the weekend, hoping he made the mistake behind me, but unfortunately however much of a run I gave him, I’d sealed the deal with my zero on the first run, and with no mistakes from Craig, he advanced to the top 16 and my weekend ended there.

“Round 3 of The British Drift Championship is at Teesside; I’d love to see you all there!�

After checking out the new livery himself for the first time, Cotton used the occasion as an excuse to perform some of his signature powerslides around EBC HQ’s site, which can be viewed in the video below.

We wish Max all the very best of luck for this year’s championship. Updates will be shared on the News pages of our website as and when they happen.

– To find out more about Max Cotton, .

– To find out more about the Drift Masters European Championship, .

“The last seven weeks on the lead-up to round one have been incredibly stressful and time consuming. The team put in so much effort, working days and nights on getting the car stripped to a bare shell, welded, repaired painted, wrapped and back together running just in time for the season opener, and the results made it all worthwhile!

“Practice on the Friday went exceptionally well, with only a few minor issues to sort. By the end of the day, I was confident and comfortably running well with the other drivers.

“On Saturday, the car was faultless, running well all day with only fuel and tyre requirements getting the best of us. Qualifying saw me inside the Top 16 bracket. It wasn’t all plain sailing though; after watching 90% of the grid before me in qualifying and seeing what the judges were giving out, I put my first run in too hard and dropped wheels off track on the entry, putting my score down. On the second run, I knew I had to be sensible and put in a safer run that gained me 13^th place.

“My first battle was against young Irish talent, Dan Nolan. Scrappy runs from both of us ensued, but a huge straighten in front of me put me into the Top 16.

“Next up was Max Fleckney in his V8 Corolla. Max’s driving was on top form all weekend and his car was FAST, so I knew I had to push hard. Leaving the line, Max gained a length or two on me, then ran wide past Clip 2. I stuck to my qualifying line and ran shallower on the bank thinking Max would run too wide giving me a gap to get through, however Max managed to hang and make the hairpin and closed the door on my chase efforts.

“In the lead, I put in my best lead run of the weekend, fast and wide round the track making the A-line on all the clipping points, however Max’s chase was flawless, and he took the win.

“That finished my day leaving me sitting in 12^th place in the championship (which I’m over the moon with).

“That wasn’t the end of our day though: the Championship has prizes for 1^st to 3^rd place, as well as the ‘Hard Charger’ award and Best Presented Car award. When our team was called out at the trophy ceremony, saying we had won Best Presented Car, a rush of emotion took over, I didn’t know what to say. I was honoured to be awarded with that prize and it really showed that the hard work the team had put in the last seven weeks had paid off.

“Overall, the weekend was a staggering success, loads of comments of praise, a sense of great achievement and a proudness to be where we were.

“Up next: Japfest at Silverstone! Thanks to 91´«Ã½ for the continued support.â€�

– Find out more about the BDC by .

– 91´«Ã½ will have a stand at Japfest Silverstone on 10 April. Please come and speak to the time to find out more about our high-performance products.

The 91´«Ã½ stand benefitted from an all-new design for 2022, with many new products showcased including the highest-performing pads in their new ‘91´«Ã½ Racing’ branding.

The team spoke to countless individuals from the industry across the weekend, which proved to be a great success.

Please keep your eyes peeled for announcements on future events that 91´«Ã½ will be attending.

Cotton entrusts 91´«Ã½â€™ Yellowstuff pads and USR discs for his V8-powered PS13 Nissan Silvia – a vehicle that’s receiving some serious upgrades over the winter months to ensure he’s as competitive as possible for the year ahead.

As part of the continued partnership, Cotton’s car will receive another bespoke 91´«Ã½-adorned livery for the new season, the design of which will be unveiled in the coming months.

You can see Max’s comments on the news in his own words below.

“As the 2022 drift season approaches, I am extremely excited to announce that my partnership working alongside 91´«Ã½ as my title sponsor will continue throughout the next season. After a brilliant relationship with 91´«Ã½ during 2021 with amazing media being produced and outstanding support.  

“For next year, the LS V8 engine will be forged and armed with a procharger (a turbo-supercharger hybrid) to produce around 900bhp. This will allow me to be more competitive in the Drift Masters European Championship, which is where we will be competing next year.

“I am so honoured to have 91´«Ã½ as my sponsor next year and run their Yellowstuff brake pads and USR discs once more. We have some extremely exciting plans for 2022, all of which will be revealed in the near future. 

“A massive thanks to the EBC team for being so amazing; I cannot wait to get back out in the 91´«Ã½ PS13 and shred some more tyres!â€�