One event I always lookforward too every year is the high profile JDM Allstars underneath the famous arch’s of Wembley Stadium. This event brings together the top drivers from all over Europe and the driving is always at the highest level.

Saturday Practice and Qualifying,

The event got under way Saturday morning with a practice session. The track was pretty much the same as 2009 and had quiet a good set up that worked well around the tight and technical track!! Having run with a few of the uk guys I knew the car was very fast and had little trouble keeping up with any of the guys. Obviously traction seems to be a bigger thing with Irish competitors compared to the uk and european guys!

Qualifying came and I laid down a pretty smooth run that dropped me into 12^th place for the top 32, Nothing too spectacular but we were in for the main competition.

Top 32 v Leonard Wanders (s14 Falken tyre Europe)

Top 32 saw me against Leonard Wanders, a very spectacular driver from Holland. Having had the chance to watch him in practice, i knew he was quiet slow in certain parts of the track. When I came out of his smoke on turn 2 I was totally on top of him but managed to stay there and not make contact right through the course! While leading I drove as hard as I could and gained 4 to 5 car lengths. This was enough to see me through to the Top 16

Different View of the top 16 battle on youtube!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Top 16 v Dan Chapman (S14 Driftworks/ Federal Tyre)

Dan was the current leader of the JDM Allstars championship and one of the top drivers in the uk. I was pumped for this battle as it was a chance for me to prove the Irish guys are on top of the game in Europe.

I chased Dan first and pushed flat out. Through all the bends there was very little in us and i knew I was slightly up in the run or at the very worst even. In the lead run I concentrated again on using all my grip and putting down a fast, faultless run. It proved to be too much for Dan as coming into the final bend he spun trying to keep up with me! Top 8 here we come!!

Youtube video from Top 16 run with Dan!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Top 8 v Piotr Jankowski

Piotr is one of the top Polish guys to make the long trip to compete in this event and a guy I knew very little about. The lack of knowledge nearly caught me out as I didn’t quiet realise how fast he was through the track! While chasing I left a small gap entering the first bend and could not get it back through the course as I had done with the other battles.  Luckily while chasing Piotr straightened slightly behind me and we would have to run one more time!

The second run was a different story, I chased a lot harder and just managed to keep into him all the way around the track. While following, Pitor made a big straighten over the jump and that mistake handed me the win and a place in the Semi Finals!!

Another youtube vid from the top 8!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Top 4 v Walton Smith (Impreza, Jap Performance Parts)

Walton is one of the Irish guys that I used to battle in the semi pro class back in Ireland a few years ago. We haven’t battled in a long time and was really looking forward to seeing what he was made of and how the new Jap Performance Parts RB25 Subaru was performing.

Chasing I pushed quiet hard and closed and gap that was there through turn 2, I stayed with him through the last few corners. A good steady run and I knew I had more grip and faster than him. This proved true on the second run where I was leading, and managed to put down a fast steady run and pulled a good 5 to 6 car lengths on him by the end of the track!! We were into the final!!

Semi final chase vid….

Click here to view the embedded video.

Semi final lead vid!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Final v Pawel Trela

Trela is another of the top Polish guys that made the trip over. His car may not be the best looking but it has all the right bits and is so quick through the track! I pushed as hard as I Could while chasing and he still managed to pull a gap on me! Not good.

Again I ran as fast as I could hopeing Trela would make a mistake!! He ran shallow through turn two and gave me back the advantage I lost in the first run. The final was to go one more time!

While chasing this time I drove 110% and stayed as close as I could through the track, With all the speed gathered through the track I ran a little wide during the final turn handing Trela a slight advantage! I ran hard and fast through the course but this time Trela was stuck to me, not making the slightest mistake. The Event was his.

It was such an awesome final and was great to be able to run door to door with such a talented guy with no lift from either of us. Big respect to all the polish guys, my eye’s have been opened to their balls out driving style and their go hard or go home attitude!!

Second in such a big european event as this was just awesome and it was great to compete against other drivers away from the Prodrift Irish Championship! Speaking of which Prodrift Rd4 in Mondello was to follw the next weekend after this event! Game on!!

Nigel!

Following the first round of prodrift in Fermoy, it was time to get down and dirty with the car and give it a new look for the 2010 season! My main focus had been the mechanical end and to make the car reliable and with everything holding up and looking good after Rd1 it was time to have fun with the outside!!!

The satin black paint gives the car a real distinctive and agressive look and im really happy with how it all turned out! I’ll go into more detail in the car section when I have the pics back from the awesome Paddy McGrath photoshoot!!

Round 2 started for me on Friday with a new crowd on the scene, Drift Jam adding a practice session before the main event! It was great to get in the hot seat a day earlier and through down some runs and make some adjustments! The car was performing well and everything looked good for the weekend!

With the turn out of the semi pro guys of over 70 cars saturday ended up being a practice day for the seeded guys!!! It’s great to see so many cars competing in this time of economic downturn, and its great to see drifting getting more and more popular!  With a full 90 mins of twin drifting practice, I made a point of following everyone as hard as I could! Chasing really has been my achilles heel lately and with my confidence growing in the car it’s the only way to sort that out! By the end of practice I was feeling a lot more comfortable driving in on people’s doors!!

Sunday was now a full day, qualifying, super lap and the main event!  Sunday morning practice was all about finding the right qualifying line, and a few more close twin battles towards the end!

Qualifying for the main event went well, 3rd overall, but after checking out my speed @ 100kph I was 12k down on the highest qualifer Gavin Lenihan! That meant a loss of 6 points with the new prodrift scoring system! This was something that bugged me!! I wasn’t going to be as slow for the super lap!!

For the super lap I entered at 116kph, the fastest entry of the day, but it messed up my line slightly pushing me wide through the course! The speed made up for the slightly dodgy line though as it left me in 3rd place and another 6 championship points! With championship leader James Deane making an uncharacteristic mistake and not scoring any points we were tied for the championship lead going into the twin battles!

Top 16, Stephen Bolger

I knew Stephen in the orange 180sx was struggling for grip all day and his entry speed for qualifying proved it with an 89kph entry! So while leading first I concentrated on getting a huge entry speed hoping he’d follow and make a mistake! It worked and he spun out behind me! With another spin while leading I advanced into the top8!

Top 8, Michael Swan

Michael Swan is one of the new guys on the scene and his runs had been quiet impressive all day. Its tough driving against a new guy as u just dont know how fast or what his driving style is like! Again his entry speed was a little low so I concentrated on using my fast entry as an advantage! I washed out quiet wide entering the tear drop and Michael was there or there abouts all the way through the run! I knew id have to push hard in the chase run to convince the judges of my place in the top4 so I stuck to his door all the way through the chase run! It worked, and I progressed to the Semi Finals!

Semi Final, James Deane

This was a battle I was looking forward to all day! James and I had practice quiet a bit together on both Friday and Saturday and we were on each other’s door all weekend!! It was also a battle I had to win in order to have any hope at the 2010 championship!!  To be honest it was all a bit of a blur for me!! I pushed as hard as I could and it ended up going to 2 OMT’s! In the 2nd OMT I knew I had to do something different to catch James off guard. I transitioned slightly earler hoping to upset his run. When we got back to the start line  James had a cone caught in his front bumper and I had some kind of advantage! I concentrated on following him hard and not to give him a chance to make up the difference and couldnt believe when he spun coming out of the teardrop! This was one of my biggest wins to date and was totally pumped having bet him!!

me and james messing about after the semi’s!! lol

Final, Gavin Lenihan

After the sick battle against James in the semi’s I knew I had to calm down and finish the event off! Gavin had been a man on a mission all day, defeating both Nexen’s Christy Carpenter and Hankooks Alan Sinnott on the way to the final! I had to get my head down and concentrate hard! I ran a fast line while leading and Gavin wasn’t far off my bumper. I chased hard and I really didnt know what way it would go!

Words can’t describe what it was like to win. After all the upsets of 2009 and mechanical issues id worked soooo hard to get back here again! To get the car competitive and reliable and to not worry what was going to go wrong next, so I could just concentrate on driving the socks off it and most importantly enjoy myself while drifting!!  It was the best feeling ever!!

The last pic pretty much sums up my day, the battles were so tough and I definatly lost half my body weight in sweat!! Dam them cars get hot!!! It was worth every drop of sweat though for an 11 point championship lead heading into Rd3 in CityWest!

Also I want to take this opportunity to thank all my sponsors who have stuck with me through all the good times and more importantly the bad!  Shane @ DriveNStyle, Streetlegalirl, Xtreme Auto’s for building a kick ass engine, East Coast Customs for mapping it, OBP, Ross @ DeadPirate Productions and Dan @ Driftbloggers

Im still hunting for a main sponsor for 2010 so please please please if you can help, catch me at Colfer08@gmail.com

and finally all the supporters and well wishers, It’s what makes me keep going! Appreciate it loads!!

Catch u guys at CityWest on the 26th/27th June as I try hold of James Deane for the 2010 Championship!!

Nigel!

]]> http://nigelcolfer.com/2010/06/07/prodrift-rd2-punchestown/feed/ 4 http://nigelcolfer.com/2010/05/24/new-look-website/ http://nigelcolfer.com/2010/05/24/new-look-website/#comments Mon, 24 May 2010 22:31:19 +0000 Nigey San http://nigelcolfer.com/?p=510 Welcome to the new NigelColfer.com website!!!  New look for the 1Jsx this year and it’d be rude not to update the site to suit!!!

Gonna take some time to get it up to shape but keep checking back for updates on the car, events and much much more!!!

Anyone looking to contact me can hook me up on Colfer08@gmail.com!!

Remember, keep her sideways guys!!!     Nigel!