Eric O’Sullivan and the Rockstar Energy Drinks Team have had a mixed opening half to the 2008 Prodrift Season. Below is a video update on whats been happening behind the scenes with the Vtec 86 Corolla.
As the 2008 Prodrift European Series hit its half way mark, Sturup Raceway staged what turned out to be one of the most incredible days drifting ever witnessed in Prodrift competition. Following a dissapointing start to the season, it was Eric O’Sullivan in the Rockstar Corolla who defeated all and positioned himself at the top of the Prodrift European Series Table.
All but one of the Prodrift front runners were in attendance. Formula Drift commitments meant that championship leader Darren McNamara was othrerwise engaged at Englishtown New Jersey and this offered a window of opportunity for James Deane and Eric O’Sullivan to close the gap at the top of the championship table.
Sturup Racewawy near Malmo in Sweden was an unknown circuit to all drivers. Apart from previous drifting demonstrations at Touring Car events, the undulating countryside arena had never staged a professional drifting battle in its history. Using a section of track that incorporates a 4th gear blind downhill sweep into a tighter right-left combination finishing with a smokey horse shoe curve, the layout was a true test of a drivers skill, nerve and commitment.
As intermittent dark thunder clouds rolled over head, the venue somehow remained bone dry for the duration of the competition. Qualification was littered with high scoring runs from many of the event favourites as well as many of the local Nordic drivers. Although the unforgiving run off areas of the circuit would spell serious damage to a car, there were no major incidents to speak of during the qualifying rounds and the Top 16 Qualifiers were announced as follows. A big surprise for many was that Norways Frederic Aasbo had claimed top spot driving the JapanAuto Supra. Fredi’s skill had been noted during the previous days Nordic Series event (which he won) but to eclipse the more established names in the field was a massive achievement for Aasbo and his team.
TOP 16
Following the opening ceremony and parade of Top 16 Qualifiers, it was Frederic Aasbo who got things underway in the first of the elimination battles whereby he comfortably saw off the challenge of Denmark’s Jacob Hansen. In the next battle the Danish supporters had reason for celebration as Lasse Ter-Borch eliminated Finlands Marko Hivernan following a sudden death battle. The remaining Top 16 encounters saw no major upsets as all the upper seeded drivers secured position in the Top 8 although Irelands Dennis Healy in the Nexen Corolla was made work extremely hard against Switzerlands Andreas Distel to ensure his passage to the Great 8.
Great 8:
With just 8 top drivers remaining, there were some fascinating pairings setup for the Sturup audience. Top qualifier Aasbo had a relatively comfortable passage following consecutive 7-3’s against Lasse Ter-Borch. Next up was Norway’s Kenneth Moen versus the young Nexen driver James Deane. Following alternating 6-4’s in the first battle, a sudden death run was required to seperate the pair. As both cars pushed even harder for the win, it was Moen who spun on the final run thus handing a comfortable victory to James Deane and the young Irishman progressed to his 3rd consecutive European top 4.
Irish Hankook team mates Eric O’Sullivan and Alan Lenihan squared off for the penultimate Top 8 contest and following a 5-5 stalemate run 1, O’Sullivan marginally took the second run with a 6-4 and to his enormous relief placed the Rockstar Corolla in its first Top 4 of 2008. Fighting for the remaining semi final place was another all Ireland contest b etween the Nexen Corolla of Dennis Healy and the Xtreme Autos Silvia of Dean Kearny. The result followed a similar pattern to the previous battle, insepperable after run 1, it was Kearny who did enough in Run 2 claiming it 6-4 and setting himself up with a Semi Final battle with O’Sullivan.
Final 4:
Two mouth watering contests awaited the Swedish crowds for the Semi Finals of Round 3. First up was the Nordic hero Freddi Aasbo Versus the ever consistent Nexen Silvia of James Deane. As Freddi led in Run 1, the young Deane required all of his power and skill to remain in touch with the red Japan Auto Supra of the Norwegian. Aasbo was carrying huge speed through the course and this was again reflected in the second battle as he seemed to effortlessly remain in touch with the S14 of Deane. It was this agression and power whilst chasing that seperated the two, following a 5-5 run1, Aasbo took a 6-4 advantage in Run 2 and with it a historic place in the Round 3 Final.
The second Semi Final battle between Kearny and O’Sullivan was again seperated by the narrowest of margins. O’Sullivan led through run1. As both cars appeared over the crest within inches of each other, O’Sullivans leading speed seemed too much for Kearny and he clipped the grass thus loosing some momentum as both cars transitioned down the hill. Although Kearny managed to somehow close the gap through the final curve, a 5-5 was the judgement with it all to play for in Run2. As both cars blasted over the brow of the Sturup hill for run2, Kearney had a larger lead than that of Run 1, but in typical O’Sullivan style that gap was eliminated through breaking into the more technical section and this earned the favour of the judges as the 250hp Rockstar Corolla took a 6-4 advantage and with it a place in the Round 3 Final.
Third Place Battle:
Dean Kearny and James Deane contested the consolation battle for third place, but with valuable championship points at stake neither were prepared to take this contest lightly. Deane led in Run 1 and took a clear advantage whilst pulling away from Kearny, 7-3. Run 2 was much closer, both drivers equally as impressive and earning a 5-5 however the Nexen Silvia took the third place position on aggregate and with it critical extra championship points.
Final:
Two drivers worthy of a place in the final awaited the starters orders out of the view of the Sturup audience. Aasbo was clearly overjoyed to be in this position, earlier he had mentioned that during 2007 he had followed the progress of Flat Eric through websites and magazines and was a little nervous to be sharing the same track as the 07 Prodrift Champion. O’Sullivan on the other hand was full of respect for the Norwegian, a fellow Toyota driver with buckets of skill and talent. Top qualifier Aasbo led through Run 1, his power advantage over the lighter Corolla obvious as he drew a trail of smoke down the Sturup Hill. O’Sullivan was driving to the absolute limits of his Rockstar Corolla to keep in touch and to a certain extent he did, 5-5 the result. Run 2 with Aasbo chasing was a slightly different run, the heavier Supra all over the Corolla down the hill but lacking the momentum to carry the speed through the final bend; Erics faster line extending a gap in the last quarter of the run. To the joy of the crowds, another 5-5 was called and Sweden got a second chance to witness these masters at work.
Sudden Death Run 1 was where the competition would eventually be decided, predictably both drivers were simply amazing through the faster section of course but as both prepared to power out of the final curve, Aasbo dipped a wheel onto the grass and momentarily lost traction. This was enough for O’Sullivan to cleverly adjust his line, find grip through his Hankook K105’s and execute the one and only pass of the day. Spectacular battle skills from the Rockstar Corolla had earned a 10-0 advantage with one run remaining. Freddi knew a similar move would be required to force this final to another run and entered the Sturup arena inches from O’Sullivans Corolla. But in typical O’Sullivan style, he made his smaller AE Corolla appear extremely wide and a consistent fast line left no room for Aasbo to execute an attack; it was over. As O’Sullivan passed the judging tower on exit from the final bend he could be seen punching the steering wheel with delight, celebrating a result that had thusfar eluded the 07 Prodrift Champion. This victory now sees Flat Eric top of the 2008 Prodrift European Series points standings and as we enter the remaining half of the championship, his competitors should hope that this victory does not re-ignite a winning streak that we all witnessed in 07. Either way, with 3 top drivers now fighting for the 08 Series title Prodrift fans are guaranteed of a fascinating latter half to the 2008 Prodrift European Series.
Back in November 2007, I was invited to an off-season exhibition match in Teeside. The event was a relaxed affair that pitted some British, Dutch and Irish drivers against each other. It was during the morning practice session, I spotted a tidy white over black AE86 Levin. It wasn’t until this guy was on track that I got a first hand account of just exactly how hard he could drive this little 1600cc AE86.
Coming out of the first wide hairpin, onto a straight away, the driver was flicking the car from side to side, dropping one wheel onto the grass as he went before catching the perfect line through a tight chicane around and up a hill and out of sight again. Breathtaking. The 4AGE motor could still be heard long after the car was out of sight, singing on the rev limiter the whole way until it came back into view again.
Fast forward five months and I’ve just had an interview with the man himself, Mr. Dan Chapman. Having just debuted his new Driftworks Nissan PS13 at Mondello Park for the first round of the Prodrift European Series, he seems happy with his ‘cheating’ car. He says ‘cheating’ because to this guy anything that isn’t a normally aspirated Toyota, is just going the easy route.
Dan started back in 2006 when his best mate, Jon Beezy, bought an S13 200sx. This was his first taste of drifting. Like so many others, looking at drifting videos on YouTube only briefly satisfied the hunger for more. Dan had decided he needed to drift himself. He picked up his now infamous panda AE86, as a fresh, low mileage Japanese import and had his first drift day at Lydd in December 2006. ‘Open diff, stock 16-valve with standard seats, I drove there and home on the same set of tyres and I bloody loved it! It went against all my knowledge of car control as coming from a grip racing background, making the car go sideways but still taking the racing line seemed so messed up to me, but my god the most fun ever, from that day on I wanted to just drift 24/7, just as fun at the time, with no thoughts of competitions!’
Because Dan learned to drive a car with considerably less power than his rivals, he had to learn to push the car harder and harder to keep up. By going this route Dan depended on his driving skills, rather than pure horsepower, to keep his car sideways. He maintains that because he learned to drift with so little power, it’s what has helped him develop so fast as a driver. ‘Starting out in the 16-valve open diff, stock seated AE86, I think that’s what made me learn so much so fast; from never owning a RWD car before to now never wanting to be without one,’ he laughs. ‘The Corolla to me has such a fine balance and the harder it is driven the better it performs, I left the Corolla stock for as long as possible because I believe that you do not make any modifications to the car until it is holding you back.’
Dan will be competing in the 2008 Prodrift European Series, competing under the well established banner of the Driftworks team. ‘Being sponsored by Driftworks and also being apart of the team is amazing, something I never expected or felt I deserved. Here is a group of friends like Drift Republic that love drifting and everything about it. They have all been around since the start of drifting in the UK to my knowledge, and have so much experience between them, that I know I can just call any of them up and ask a question and get a good honest answer. Having the feeling of backup makes things a lot easier, not only are they all top guys but they can all drift so good, and they have asked so little of me, they just want me to have fun and do my best, knowing that again makes competing more relaxing for me, and stress free, lets me concentrate on myself and not worry about others!
I still find it a little embarrassing when people mention Driftworks and me together. As Driftworks has had such a role in the UK and European drifting scene and I’m still such a new person on the scene, I feel I have not earned the right but hopefully will do so this year! Of course being the new boy, I am here to represent Driftworks across Europe on my travels as they compete in different championships, so little old me is here to represent everywhere I go. I love them long time!’
Watch out for Dan flying the Driftworks flag at Prodrift European Series Round Two, Saturday 24th May at Teeside Autodrome, Middlesborough, UK.
words & photos by paddy@prodriftseries.com
