Brands Hatch.. the place where nothing is close! if you miss your window to cross the track your in for a 20 minute walk back to the drift paddock, i dread to think how many miles i must have walked on Sunday but my legs are feeling it now.
7.30 in the morning and the track was just starting to recover from the prevous nights biblical storm that had pelted the NFS-EDC staff with bullet sized hail stones as they were setting up the track, the whole track was surrounded by a low lying mist giving a eerie humid feel to the place.
Maz, Al and Tim Marshal gave the briefing, new circuit and a bit of a leap into the unknown for the majority of the drivers.
Back in the paddock the mist had burned off and the humidity was rapidly rising making even the simplest tasks a hot at sweaty effort.
round 3 winner Alan Mccord's LS2 powered S15 was looking mean as ever with 8 throttle body's poking out from the engine bay...
...the LS2 sits nicely in there complete with cheeky statement on the standard S15''s displacement.
Brands Hatch is one of the oldest race circuits in the UK, from its humble beginings as a mushroom farm it has been used as a race venue for more than 80 years, unfortunately not even being one of the most famous tracks in Britain with almost a century of racing under its belt can protect the venue from the growing trend of pig headed people buying houses near to the circuit, then crying to the local council that the noise from the track ruins their glass of pims on a Sunday afternoon, because of this Brands is subject to very strict noise regulations meaning most drivers had a few adjustments to do to get the cars through the 105db limit...
..meaning some cars sprouting weird and wonderful additions to the exhaust systems, i thought the Driftworks solution being the most comical in the paddock.
Simple but effective, Stuart Handsfords's S13.
So close to completion but a problem after problem meant Steve Evans's LS1 Lexus was in attendance but unable to run..
... with the Starlet engine less Steve had to Borrow team mate Mat Chiappa's s13 to compete.
Pete Barber had totally ruined the rx7's power to weight ratio with his Dr Pepper binge.
K-san had to take evasive action to avoid a spinning Dave Monaghan causing slight damage to the brand new Driving sports PS13
For the first time NFS-EDC included a separate gymkhana event, i didn't get a chance to see any of it unfortunately as i was over the other side of the track most of the day but only heard good things about it, hopefully is will be a permanent feature in future NFS-EDC events...
The gymkhana was eventually won by Nev Payne in his Vauxhall powered Corolla proving 2wd can be competitive against 4wd.
Driftworks Phil Morrison and NFS-EDC's Glen Horncastle.
Sitting in front of the podium you do tend to overhear a few conversations between drivers, some you can repeat others you cant, this chat between Phil and Peter went along the lines of..
PM: you do know Maz has to drive to wales straight after the event?
PB: oh really.... right!
Cue Maz getting soaked with champagne for his long drive.
With a set of tyres lasting roughly 2 laps on the SVA 350z it took a fair few to see Luney through to the win.
NFS-EDC coverage on speedhunters
-Ross I'Anson