鈥淚t’s been a hard last few months, with many late nights long days. During the off-season, we have upgraded engine components, giving the car over 700bhp at the wheels. We have also transformed the car鈥檚 looks with a full S14-to-S15 body kit, a new fuel cell to meet FIA regulations, a new fuelling setup, new cooling and much more.

鈥淟ast week, we took the car to Clot Kart in France for some pre-season testing and shakedown, it did really well with only a few minor issues to rectify before the first round of the French Drift championship, one noticeable thing is how quick the car now eats tyres!

鈥淎fter this, we then were at Santa Pod doing a full day of passenger rides at an extremely busy and hot Japshow.

鈥淚t was then back to France for the French Drift Championship, and to see the car鈥檚 new paint for the first time!”

鈥淭he season opener for the French Drift Championship was a spectacle; massive crowds of cheering fans left no empty seats at a packed-out Val D’Argenton, a rammed grandstand resembling a football stadium cheering on their home team winning best describes the atmosphere I was welcomed with!

鈥淚 arrived early Saturday morning after leaving the UK at 3am, meeting the team at the track to what I can only describe as the best look the car has ever had. A little context on this聽鈥撀爋ne week earlier, we had handed the car over to LM Autosport86 in France after a solid test day at Clot Kart, the car was only bare panels, Luke and his team had worked day and night prepping everything from full service, fresh EBC discs and pads, Alignment, some fabrication, paint and vinyl. When I first saw it, I was blown away by just how good she looked!

鈥淎fter eventually picking my jaw up off the floor, I was straight out to learn the track and understand what the judges were looking for.

鈥淚 had a limited practice of one hour and then it was straight out for qualifying. Luckily, I had gelled with circuit quickly, relating it to another circuit I鈥檇 previously driven 鈥� there was only a few areas I needed to tidy up to get a reasonable score on the board.

鈥淚 was 3^rd on the line for qualifying, so pressure was on for being one of the first drivers out. After a very good first run, I was sitting in 12^th on the grid when everyone had finished Q1, coming back in to the paddock and seeing where I was in the standings I was over the moon with the result, knowing that I was in a good position for a spot in the main show.”

鈥淩un 2 鈥� there was nothing to lose, so a flat-out, full-commitment run given to try and better my position, unfortunately pushing a bit too hard on entry I ran wide on clips 2 to 3, giving me a slightly lower score, after the full qualifications results I finished off in 21^st聽on the grid (not bad for the first time driving this course)

鈥淟uckily, after qualifying had finished, we had been granted some free battle practice until the evening, during this I had some amazing practice with top drivers from the grid and gained the car鈥檚 first few battle scars聽

鈥淪unday kicked off with practice during the afternoon and the then the Top 32 for the Pro class, this gave me a good bit of downtime to speak to fans, mingle with some of the other drivers and watch some of the spectacular driving in the Pro class and stunt bike displays as the Elite Top 32 didn’t start until 6pm. However, during the down time, the clouds rolled in bringing heavy rain thunder and聽lightning, turning the track into an ice rink. Luckily, the championship granted all the drivers a practice/sighting lap to feel out the new conditions before going into battles.

鈥淎fter some small adjustments to the car and tyre pressures being dropped down, we lined up for our first battle with DLGB Round 1 winner, Jordan Lapelosa. By this time, the grandstands were overflowing with fans, all the surrounding fences were five-deep with spectators and the cheering was so loud I could hear it from the start line in the car!”

鈥淚 put in a solid chase run, following Jordan鈥檚 near-perfect lead, mirroring his line and keeping close proximity, pulling back round to the line for my lead filled with adrenaline and confidence from my chase I pushed really hard and tried to pull off the perfect 100-point qualifying lead.

鈥淚 think with the buzz of a good chase I knew Jordan would be hot on my tail so I knew I had to be fast and give it 110%, doing this and with a bit of damp still settled on the track, I pushed a little too wide on entry pushing me away from Clip 2 making my transition to Clip 3 with too much angle throwing me away from the correct line, giving Jordan the win.

鈥淭his unfortunately was all she wrote for me at Round 1, finishing in 24^th聽place 鈥� again not bad for the first time driving this track with limited practice and changing conditions.

鈥淭he event overall was a great success getting to show off the brand-new car, meeting many new fans and being out there in front such a huge attendance, the crowds were outstanding, I don’t honestly think I’ve seen a drift competition with such a huge lively attendance!

鈥淯ntil the next one鈥︹��

鈥淛ust got back to normality after a wild weekend at Silverstone! Japfest once again boasted sell-out crowds and reports of people queuing for hours to get in (just to see me, I鈥檓 sure鈥�) This led to a blinding show!

鈥淲e arrived on the Saturday, , then returned with the S14A 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. Upon arrival at 6:30am, there was already queues of traffic backing onto the dual carriageway, and three lanes of stacked traffic leading into the circuit 鈥� we knew it was going to be a BUSY day!

鈥淧ublic 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 sun came out. Our first session lasted 20 mins or so with a few slippery patches here and there giving a few off-track moments, but by the last few laps a fully dry smoke show was on the cards.”

鈥淭he second session was a full-heat, full-smoke, max-boost, flat-out crazy fun time, with two sets of Zestino tyres burnt through!

鈥淎fter the second session, we had an open pit and autograph session. I signed every hero card I had to give away, then moved onto people’s T-shirts, programmes and even some bare skin.聽I even had to sign my Helix teammate Henry鈥檚 hero cards as I had depleted the hundreds I had.

鈥淲e gave away all of our goodie bags, sweeties to the kids that came over, and answered many questions about the sport and the car.

鈥淢y 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, goodie bags and food!

鈥淥ur lest session was a bit wild; I鈥檇 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 GoPro attached. We managed to retrieve the many pieces of fibreglass, and a slightly worse for wear GoPro.

鈥淪o, what’s next?聽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鈥︹��