Alongside the main Trax event, the final round of the JDM Allstars was running. This is an event that, if you’re a regular reader of Garage Awesome, you will know we have covered before and is possibly our favourite drift series, so there was no way we were gonna miss it or lump a report in with the main show, so with Coop and his camera poised and ready, we bring to you Round 5 of the JDM Allstars!
First thing to mention is the slightly disappointing amount of time the guys had out on track, through no fault of anybody in particular, but the Trax schedule is so tight with public track time that when the unfortunate happens, like a engine or box giving up round Brooklands, which coincidentally was what did happen, it severely effects the schedule and JDM Allstars qualifying round was the one to suffer.
USA drift hero; Chris Forsberg, was billed as the main attraction, and led most people to believe he would be competing against the JDM regulars but, bar a few demo runs, he was mainly breaking driveshafts on the Japspeed S15 in the live action arena, which is probably for the best as the standard of the drifting was really high!
The JDM Allstars weren’t without their own problems though, fan favourite Stiggy Evans managed to put a nice hole in the Pinto block on his cheeky Toyota Starlet, Pawel Trela also had car issues and failed to qualify and the big upset of the day was that championship contender, and Donnington Park round winner Dan Chapman failed to qualify after England’s unpredictable weather put pay to his run with a covering of rain on the circuit.
The Polish contingent were out in full force, with Marcin Mospinek in his E30 amazing the crowds swinging it from one side of the track to the other to set up his entry, along with fellow BMW driver Marcin Skwierczynsk in his M5 powered E46! Piotr Jankowski and Maciej Bochenek joined them in the qualifying last 16.
Other drivers to qualify included odds-on favourite to take the crown; Luke Fink, Jon Calvert, the rear wheel drive Scooby of Walton Smith, the infamous S13 of Anthony Scott, Brad McQueen, Matt Chiappa, Skyline driver George Tilling, Irish drivers Dwaine Mckeever and Alan Mccord and the E36 M3 Turbo belonging to Steve Will
With the runs being judged on a single run, because of the time constraints, it certainly wasn’t an easy call to make on any of the rounds, and although commentator Bryn was doing his best to keep up with the action, I’m not even sure he knew exactly what was happening, although even if he did, Silverstone failed to recognise there were people on the outside of the circuit so we were unable to hear him!
Eventually, after some tight battles, it left us with four drivers to take the round win, and with Dan Chapman out and Luke Fink making it through, the Aussie driver had already wrapped up the overall title.
Fink made it through to the round final after beating Maciej Bochenek in his semi final, setting up a final with Jon Calvert who beat another Pole, this time Marchin Mospinek. Mospinek took the advantage in a very close 3rd / 4th place battle
The final was everything the last drift of a series should be, seeing both Fink and Calvert produce crazy speed and angle and on the second run, the pair got so close I think Luke could have read the mileage on the clocks of John’s car, honestly one of the closest and most exciting runs I’ve seen whilst watching drifting.
The end of an epic season of drifting for the JDM Allstars, one that we’re going to cover even more of next year here on Garage Awesome, sees Luke Fink claim the championship, and Jon Calvert taking the round win, his second of the year!
Pic Credits – Rich Cooper
