Well, well, well... No AI needed here - just a summary of the 2023 AutofestUK / Garage500 Drift Cup

Firstly, I have to thank my team at Garage500 for all their hard work in putting the three Drift Cup rounds on. As I now have a bit of time I can individually point out what each member of the team did, in order to make this championship the best ever! You will soon see why Garage500 is possibly the best team *insert Jeremy Clarkson voice* ... In the world!

• Aims Hill, without this absolute Queen, we would not have had a championship. She is the absolute soul behind the championship, from co-organising the event with AutofestUK, taking on start-line marshall duties, to prize organisation... she put her heart and soul into this championship alongside her partner Marcus Clare. Even at the Finale, heavily pregnant and due in just over 2 weeks at the event, she still stood in to make the round a success.

• Marcus Clare, big dog, partner to Aims and another one who without his input, this championship would not have been. From co-organising, briefing, scrutineering and judging the events, he put his all into these events, even with a heavily pregnant fiance requesting food all the time to cure her cravings!!

• Other judges include Ryan Hughes, Josh Wyman, and step in judges (when there was a conflict of interest) Matt Kerr, Matt Cant & Oakley Way. These guys were under serious pressure to get it right. With no budget for a hi-tech livestream, they literally judged on what they saw in the 40 seconds per run, and did an absolute sterling job and making tough decisions when it mattered! And to even help with passenger rides to keep the day flowing, these guys had a tough time!

• Then the team behind the limelight who did multiple jobs in order to keep the events flowing - from organising drivers, to gate duties, to track duties, flag duties, scoring and selling of G500 merchandise, passenger rides and passenger ride organisation... the list goes on. Big thank you to Carl Perrin, Louka Grivas, Brad "Duaney" Wall, Carol Lack, Becky Neller, Liam Musselwhite, Yasmin Biddle, Matt Maynard, Shane Faber, Dave Bastin, Elle Wynn, Frankie Wyman, Marcus Padfield, Gareth Curnock, Evie Cook, Harry Penny, Arek Ladniak, Adam Gaut, Kev Florence, James Culley, Marcus Keen, Matt Smith, Martin Wonnacott, Mikey Dove, Nathan Letorey, Paul Seymour, Rob Spray, Sam Marsh, Tristan Baker.. and probably many many more that i've missed! 

• Then to our media team who captured all of the photos and videos of each round - Toby Allen (SessionFPV), Katie Kelland Photography, Diamond Visuals, M. Hepper Photography, JDMyles Photography & Sam Thompson Photography.

• Then finally to our sponsors - GangstaWrap for supplying all the stickers/banners/sunstrips, Faber Roofing for the judging tower, North Devon Tyres for tyre changing facilities.. and obviously AutofestUK (Rob & Gareth) for allowing us, Garage500, to come to your shows and put on the Drift Cup.

Now, I can talk more about the events. Round One was held at a new venue at the Bath and West Showground. A new venue brought new challenges. We turned up not knowing what to expect, all we knew is we had the team to do it, and the drivers to battle. The track was small and technical which suited some, and some struggled. As the first event of the year, we saw drivers flourish that had maybe only done only one or two practice days previous. For quite a number of drivers, this was their first competition drifting event and you could see that nerves were kicking in. However, what an event! It ran beautifully, the crowd had prime viewing position and the drivers put on the show of their life. From the off, we saw drivers door-on-door, and even in some cases, pushing a little too hard! As it came to the final, we saw two MX5's, both team mates, battling it out for top spot on the podium. Unfortunately, gearbox failure from Rob Latchford saw him bow out of competition on the first corner, giving the win to Michael Pettit, and rounding up the podium in third spot was Bartek Siewior. Best presented went to Chris Mann in his immaculate 2JZ Lexus GS300, and hard charger went to a well deserved Alex Carroll, who got knocked out in the Top 8 by Bartek - if only alex knew what was in store for him for the rest of the season.

Round Two - the weekender! If i'm honest, one of the longest weekends of my life! But what a weekend it was!! Back to the track we knew, Smeatharpe Stadium, with the track layout emphasising wall-runs! A two day event, with Qualifying on the Saturday and Battles on the Sunday. The talk on the Saturday was all about Kieran Burley, the man who missed Round One but was absolutely Kiwi-ing it in Round Two (see what I did there? It doesn't get any better, trust me!). Kiwi took top qualifer with a score of 87, with Alex Carroll taking second with an 84 and Bond, Nick Bond taking third step with a score of 82 which left the remaining 33 drivers shaken (not stirred)... Told you they don't get any better! We headed into Sunday with 32 drivers ready to do battle which saw our Top Qualifier go all the way through to the Top 4, before being taken out by the Sneaky Shenanigan, Rob Latchford. Battles were the best we have ever seen, and ended up with Alex Carroll taking the win, putting himself on top of the Championship, with Rob coming in second, Kiwi in third after winning his battle against James Nick Bond. Hardcharger went to the young-gun of Stanley Smith who after having a big off on the Saturday, searched high and low throughout the south west to find new parts including Suspension arms, Brake discs, Coilovers ... Even getting a local parts distribution company to stay open late so they could get there in time to collect. Needless to say, the team worked tirelessly throughout the night and got the car back on top form to get the win during his Top 32 battle. Best presented went to the team Brown Skidders.. aptly named, but by lord did they put some serious graft into getting their cars prepared for the event. All three cars painted the same colour with same livery for an Amateur championship - huge props to Nick Bond, Iain Hogg, Dan Johnson, Ross Hawtin and all the crew. Oh and I must give a massive well done to Rich Crowther and family. Rich's partner, being heavily pregnant and due at any time, still urged Rich to go to the event and compete. But uh oh, at 11:00pm on Saturday night, all alarm bells rang as she started to go into labour. That's right, an Autofest Baby was born! Now you may be thinking that's great and all, but what about the competition for Rich? Oh dont panic, he was back at 6:00am, tired and drearly but ready to do battle! To which he wins his Top 32 only to come up against Kieran Burley in the Top 16 ... which he was probably glad he didn't win as it gave him a chance to get some well earned rest. Big Congratulations to the Crowther family, and glad to see the baby healthy and well.

So we end up here, the Finale. A one day event back at Smeatharpe with a new layout focusing on both speed and technicality. Now I cannot mention this event without mentioning the weather. Holy-moley it was hot! We saw ambient temperatures in excess of 32 degrees Celsius.. and not moaning, but in the commentary box was a constant 37 degrees ... so for those of you who thought me and Carol (top score taker) had it easy, think again. Then again, that was nothing to the heat on the circuit.. and im not just talking about the weather. The competition was wild. The best driving by far all season. We saw drivers who really struggled to maintain a drift in round one, suddenly come out and dominate! I have to pinpoint a few drivers at this point for their outstanding progression throughout the season - Rikki & Amy Dowdell showing that seattime is key, Jamie Foote in his 150hp Lexus IS200, Dan Frost in his awesome sounding R33 Skyline, Paulina Ruszkowska and Charlie Shipley (the Wildcard!). I said the competition was wild, and the qualifying scores showed just that with Kiwi topping qualifying with an outstanding 97 points on his first run and then beating it with a 98 on his second!! For a man who had no hydraulic handbrake at the start of the day, to do that, absolutely insane! But the big points did not stop there. Rikki Dowdell, second with a 94 and Rob Latchford (I shall nickname him the problem child) with a 90! Another star driver of qualifying for me personally was the wildcard driver of Alex Williams. At round two and three we had five extra wildcards, brought in to shake things up. Even though they couldn't compete for the championship, it didn't stop them and Alex showed just what he was made of. From only doing small practice days, to this his first time in competition, he scored a 85 putting him in 9th position in Qualifying and even making it through to the Top 16, only to be taken out by the top qualifier, Kiwi. Moving into battles, the top 13 drivers in the championship still had a chance of taking the overall win so the drivers pushed like never before. Doors were rubbed, walls were tapped and tyres were destroyed! But in the end it all came down to the final battle. The top two leaders in the championship, with equal points (although Alex taking advantage after a better result in round two), made it to the final to battle it out not only for the round win, but the championship. And what a battle it was. In fact, id go as far as saying that every battle from Top 8 onwards looked like final battle-esque. But in the end Alex Carroll pipped the post and knocked Michael Pettit down into second, also meaning Alex took the overall Championship. A guy whos debut year in competition saw him battle fiercly all the way through to the end to take home the big prize money. Rounding off the podium was Bartek Siewior in third and Nick Bond in fourth. Hard charger for the event went to Amy Dowdell, and best presented could have only gone  to one man -  Iain Hogg. Between round two and three, he raided multiple military shops, air conditioning companies and his parts bins to peice together an absolute master piece nicknamed the CyberDrift E46, after Cyberpunk - you really need to go check it out!!
So the championship was decided. Alex Carroll taking home 1st place with 63 points, Michael Pettit in 2nd with 56 points and the problem child Rob Latchford taking home 3rd with 48 points. Not only was this an individual championship however, the drivers were also scoring points towards the Constructors Championship which was sponsored by Martin Wonnacott (Liqui Moly). Taking home 1st in the constructors was all MX5 Team of Team Shenanigans (Latchford, Smith & Pettit), 2nd was Brown Skidders (Bond, Hogg and Johnson) and in 3rd was Team Boar Elite (Siewior, Bochniarz and Ruszkowska).

What a year, what a championship, what a team. Thank you all so much. But for the 2023 Garage500 Drift cup.. im signing out. See you next year?

In 2023, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become extremely prominent and quite frankly, scary. Technology has evolved, and so has the way of life. If you haven't heard of AI, essentially its using computer programming to have similarities of the human mind. In essence, imagine a piece of electronics, with the biggest human brain of all time, enabling you to complete tasks quick and easy within a click of a finger. These tasks include speech recognition, decision-making, problem-solving, learning, and understanding natural language. Now, this is literally just the tip of the iceberg into what AI can actually do, but I thought id have some fun!

For example, I want to know how to build the ultimate 2JZ engine. Now I could trawl through the realms of the internet, searching forums and Youtube videos, which will take time. What if there was a simpler way? Well, by using a well known AI website I was able to ask "how do i build the ultimate 2JZ engine". The results were outstanding. It told me what block to use and in particular preferably from a later model of 1997-2002. It told me about its "exceptional strong bottom end", valve float, standalone ECU's, switching to electric cooling fans, and so much more. *sarcasm start* Suddenly, i've become a guru on building 2JZ engines - essentially i'm now a professional right? *sarcasm end*

But what if I wanted to take it a bit further... What if I wanted to upgrade my fuel system, but wasn't sure on the injector size? Well, insert Mr AI (or could be Mrs, i'm not entirely sure!). So I asked "What size injectors should I use on my 2JZ at 2000hp" (I like the sound of 2000hp!). It replied:

"The size of the injectors needed depends on various factors such as the desired power level, fuel pressure, and the specific setup of your engine. Determining the correct injector size for a high-horsepower application like this requires careful consideration and calculations. That being said, it is common for engines producing 2000 horsepower to utilize large-capacity injectors. Injectors with flow rates ranging from 2200 cc/min (cubic centimeters per minute) to 2500 cc/min or even higher may be necessary."

A very honest answer if I do say so myself! It was even able to tell me:
"The secret fact about the 2JZ engine is that during its development phase, Toyota engineers experimented with a unique variable valve timing system that was never implemented in the final production version of the engine. This system, known as "Variable Valve Timing and Lift with Intelligence" (VVT-i), allowed for precise control over both valve timing and lift, resulting in improved performance and efficiency across a wide range of engine speeds. However, due to various technical challenges and cost considerations, Toyota ultimately decided not to include this advanced VVT-i system in the production version of the 2JZ engine. This secret fact sheds light on the extensive research and development efforts undertaken by Toyota engineers to create an even more advanced version of the already impressive 2JZ engine."

And so to finalise, I thought i'd get AI to answer the age old question....

"To understand the chicken-egg dilemma, we need to consider the origin of chickens as a distinct species. Chickens belong to the species Gallus gallus domesticus, which is a subspecies of the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus). The red junglefowl is native to Southeast Asia and is believed to be the wild ancestor of domesticated chickens. 

According to evolutionary theory, new species arise gradually over long periods of time through small genetic changes accumulating in populations. In the case of chickens, it is likely that at some point in history, a genetic mutation occurred in a population of red junglefowl that resulted in an individual with slightly different traits than its ancestors. This individual may have had a slightly different protein structure, leading to the formation of an eggshell with specific characteristics unique to chickens.

Therefore, according to evolutionary biology, the egg came first."

As an avid fan of motorsport from a young age, I was drawn to drifting for the excitement of the sport. As years progressed, and I went from a spectator to a photographer, to a mechanic to just about every role within the sport. 

A pinnacle moment in the sport for me was photographing Round One of the British Drift Championship at Lydden Hill in 2013. There I saw the sport in a different light, not only was there the competitive side, but there was the commaradary side. I saw teams helping each other out, I saw opponents under their competitors cars getting them fixed for competition, I saw people doing anything they could for the love of the sport. 

Since then, the sport has grown and grown to become one of the fastest growing motorsport disciplines in the world. And so has the competition. I'm not talking about the actual competition side of the sport, as that's muchly stayed the same - 2 cars, leading and chasing, being judged on both runs. 

But I'm talking about the competition and rivalry between drivers to do what they can to win, and the upset if they don't. 

Any motorsport fan would have seen some form of motorsport, where a driver has been in a situation where they wouldn't have wanted to be in, be it a crash or similar, and tempers flare. Ofcourse they are going to, the drivers want to win. And when they don't, the adrenaline filled brain doesn't receive the sense of achievement that they wished for, and the driver may react in a way that any viewer may see unnecessary or unsportsmanlike. 

I find some sort of competition healthy. It drives drivers to want to do well, to push harder, and if they do win the feeling of achievement means much more as they know they worked hard to get to that point.

But where do we draw the line? 

I've been studying motorsport, and drifting in particular, over the last couple of years, and the commaradary has quite clearly massively decreased. Maybe it's the cost of living crisis hitting motorsport, maybe it's the fact people were sitting around for so long during lockdown that they are now wanting to up their level to make up for it, or maybe drifting has just found its point in motorsport society where the drive to progress in their career means more to them than enjoying the sport they are doing?

Watching Formula Drift Round 4 2023 at Englishtown, New Jersey. Chelsea Denofa vs Daniel Stuke Top32 battle. Two very good drivers, two aggressive drivers, and like the rest of the grid, two drivers that want to do well. 

Run one, Stuke to lead, Denofa to chase. Stuke with a good entry, slight correction into outer zone two, and car lunges forward to put two wheels into the dirt, but finishes up the run well. Denofa not having massive proximity through the first half of the circuit but clean run nonetheless, gains proximity back through Inner clip 1 and outer zone 3. Denofa's bonnet looks like one of the four latches isn't fully secure - why this matters will be explained below. 

I scored this run a 5-5* (*worth noting here that I am not a judge, just analysing the run from my own unbiased point of view)

Switch them over - Denofa to lead, Stuke to chase. Clean run by both drivers, Denofa on a decent qualifying line, and Stuke slightly shortcutting the circuit and dialling out angle to gain proximity. 

I scored this run 6.5/3.5 to Denofa. Therefore in my opinion Denofa would go through to the Top16 scoring a 11.5/8.5. And this is also how the judges saw it. 

Now this is where it gets sticky. Formula Drift have recently brought in a protest procedure where teams are allowed to protest a decision made by the judges which will then be investigated - similar to formula one. 

Daniel Stuke's team protested the decision due to the fact the bonnet (or hood in American terms) was open, which by Formula Drift rule book states that the run should be classed as an incomplete giving Stuke a 10-0 advantage. Worth also noting here the FD rule book is full of scenarios and situations which I won't go into for fear of opening a huge can of worms.

So, as stated above in run one, Chelsea's bonnet was not fully secure. Out of the 4 bonnet pins/clips, it had one that had come undone/failed. Was the bonnet secure enough, yes in my opinion it was. Would Stuke have been put off by this, probably not, again in my opinion. To me, if that was me in the drivers seat, I'd be 100% focused on the lead car and trying to get as close as possible. Is a bonnet corner flapping on the opposing car going to put you off trying to put your car on the qualifying line and onto the rear bumper of the lead car - probably not. 

So I said before this is where it gets sticky, we'll strap in, it escalates. 

The judges deemed that Chelsea would be at fault but wouldn't deem it an incomplete. Therefore it was down to Stuke's team to make a decision on how they proceed - what? 

Anyway, that's by-the-by and Stukes team decided to re-run the second half of the battle with Chelsea in the lead, and Daniel to chase. We will come back to this in a second.

In the meantime, Chelsea Denofa, with his adrenaline filled self, full of rage, approached Stuke and his team and barreled out a number of words and threats. He accused the Daniel Stuke of being a "b****" and told the team that he "buried you mother f***ers into the ground" along with offering his readiness to fight anyone of the team whenever they like. 

Let me remind that Chelsea Denofa is part of Team RTR Motorsports - possibly the biggest drift team on the planet right now, managed by Vaughn Gittin Jr. of Monster Energy, with team mates James Deane (pound for pound, world's best drifter) and Adam Lz (Youtube sensation). His main sponsor is Pennzoil and is also supported by Ford Performance, Nitto Tyres and BC Racing Coilovers (plus many more). As you can see and tell, not small sponsors, and probably sponsors that are vital to him competing in the championship. 

Back to Stukes team deciding to re-run the second half of the battle with Chelsea in the lead, and Daniel to chase. Chelsea with a fast entry, on a mission, probably still filled with rage. Stuke however messes up outer zone 2 and goes into the wall coming to a halt. No comment.

Chelsea ultimately gets the win, progresses through (again!) Into the Top 16. This is now followed by a social media post from Chelsea Denofa calling out Daniel Stuke by stating "you know when sometimes when your a b****, you get what you deserve".

This was subsequently deleted moments later by Chelsea (or his social media team) but was followed up with a post with the text reading "I meant what I said".

So heres my point, where has the commaradary gone? At what point did we decide that our ambition to win, was to be fuelled by threats and calling other drivers out? At what point did we decide that our ambition to win, was fuelled by creating protests against anything we could find even minutely wrong? 

What angle do you take from this? 

Now I pinpoint this event as its recent, and relatable to drifting fans, as its all over social media. But this is happening in so many forms of motorsport, and growing like wildfire in the form of competition drifting where we used to pride ourselves on the 'friendliest' form of motorsport.

Ofcouse this does not relate to all events. I've personally been to many many events where the commaradary is there - even at the highest level. It wouldn't be right if I didn't mention the likes of someone like John Shanahan (father to Jack and Conor) who will do anything for anyone in the sport - whilst still fully committed to getting his lads onto the top of the podium. 

Don't be a Chelsea or a Daniel, be a John.