Re: Gautam Singhania's E46 Drifter! This summer, I decided to try my hand at drifting, and I managed to do 2-3 days of testing for the same, in the UK. Since I was enjoying it, I wanted to get to the next level. When I spoke to my friends in the UK, they recommended that I come to Malta, and try and do an event. This would be the best way to get some seat time and experience. This would also help me brush up my skills. Hence we decided to go to Malta for the All Star Drift Championship and participate in the amateur category.
The objective of going for this, was to have some fun and try and get some “seat time”. When we got there on the Thursday, our car had arrived. It was the Nissan Silvia S13 with 450 bhp. Unfortunately, the car came in a very dilapidated condition, as the transporters had wrecked it in transport. They had smashed it from the rear and the exhaust was pushed through and damaged the exhaust manifold. So much was the damage that it also broke the windscreen. However, we decided to ‘fix it’ and make a go on the practice. This was the first time I was drifting with concrete barriers on the sides, and the implications of any mistake would have been horrendous. It would have meant an end to the long weekend.
We went out for the first test session and just caught a chance to get used to the car. The next day when I went out for practice, I had a spin and i smashed the car into the wall. It was a small mistake, and I paid for it. It was more grip than expected, but however, when we came back to the pit, we did a cut and paste job and got the car back up and running. Wheel alignment was done with a “crowbar” to an approximate idea of where it should be. Amazing but it worked !!!!
Subsequently we went out for the practice session, and at every practice sessions I had two spins. It was very demoralizing. It was difficult to keep the car on the road, especially with the surface change between wet and dry, and the continuous change of rubber between new and old. We had one more practice session which unfortunately got cancelled, and we were suddenly thrown into the mind set of having to qualify.
At this point I just had to put my head down and focus, and put behind all the negativity of practice where we were continuously crashing.
We had 3 laps to qualify and I went out to qualify with a mindset to do 1 proper lap. Fortunately when I did the first lap, I got a good base lap and I knew I would at least qualify. In lap 2, I pushed it, and to my surprise I was kissing the far wall for 40 m. It was the best feeling ever to be drifting , while the back of the car was continuously touching the back wall. Needless to say, I qualified first with 88 points, and a huge amount of respect with judges, for being the only person to kiss the wall that whole day. This was done between the amateurs and the pros.
Next day were the finals and needless to say, I was a bit tensed, as it was my first championship. Obviously a good result would give me a great amount of confidence.
I went out to the finals with the same mind set, to do one strong base lap, and then build about that. I got 3 fantastic runs with lot of smoke and at the end of the day, it was a hotly fought competition. The Sicilian competitor who had been drifting for years and was the local champion, put in an extremely hot lap. The next couple of hours were a tense wait and watch to see where we finished.
Later that evening the results were announced, and I am happy to say that we finished in P1. I was extremely elated, that on my first outing, I had qualified P1 and finished P1. It was a huge day for us, and I am sure as Indians we should all be proud of the same.
In addition to this, due to our performance, I was given an All Stars Pro Drifting license. I can proudly say, I am now the only Indian that has received pro drift license in this sport.
The first experience was amazing. My challenge is now to build on my skills and try and do the pro category next year. I shall give it my best shot and try and bring some recognition for this sport in India. Will keep you guys posted.
If any of u have questions, please tweet me at singhaniagautam, and I will be happy to answer. Video to follow shortly. |