VIDEO> Drifting the UK’s Mallory Park Circuit!

Before you watch this video allow me to give you a little back story…

Mallory Park Circuit has been one of the more recent tracks to open it’s arms to drifting in the UK and has been holding drift days for the past few months. From checking out some photos and reading threads on few a internet forums, it looked and sounded like it was a pretty cool setup. So about a month ago JDM Allstars driver Dan Chapman contacted me and invited me to go to Mallory Park with him to see what all the hype was about! Dan was also bringing along his Driftworks PS13, as it was a long time since he last went drifting somewhere that wasn’t related to competitions. With the trailer loaded and our gear ready we headed up to Mallory for a chilled out day of drifting!

I wasn’t really sure what to expect but when we arrived it was a pleasant surprise. The place was far bigger than I thought and with the first thing I saw being a V8 powered E30 BMW and a little KP61 Toyota Starlet hammering down the main straight, it seemed damn fast as well! As with a lot of days in the UK the rain clouds reared their ugly heads later on during the day and made an already extreme track even more so with plenty of rain, which meant people took things a little slower… until Drift Australia 2009 champion Luke Fink rocked up that is. Managing to borrow another driver’s JZX90 Toyota Cresta for a few laps, Luke showed us how to rip the track up good with some fast-as-hell entries!

To me though, the most surprising thing was the lack of people there. The amount of actual tracks we have to drift at over here is few and far between, and I can only think of a few places that hold regular drift days… and most of them aren’t even race tracks! It just seems crazy that more people aren’t coming out! I mean for £90 you can have full access to a great race track, with an open pitlane and all the facilities you need. Sure it might be a little daunting to beginners, as it’s a very fast track (Gerrards Corner is one of the fastest corners in the UK from what I’ve heard), but I can think of many drivers who would be capable. I’d hate to see drifting in the UK lose such a cool track, so let’s hope plenty more people come to the next practice day in July!

Fortunately, videographer Josh Allen was there filming what was going on and has put together this dope video to show you what it’s like. It’s a great insight into how Dan Chapman views competition drifting, and also shows what happens when two pros come to a grassroots practice day to just have FUN and mess around. MotorMavens will be working closely with Josh in the near future to bring out some fresh and entertaining videos that shed a little more light on UK drifting and car culture for those who aren’t familiar with it!

Stay tuned to MotorMavens for more from the UK very soon!

::Daniel Bridle