Team Japspeed Drift Team 2012 Season! Follow Us here!

[Japspeed.]

Hey Guys,

We thought we would put up a thread with what we have done so far in 2012 and also we will keep this updated with info on how we get on at future events Just to give you a little insight into the life of team Japspeed!!

The cars have undergone lots of changes in 2012 and so far they have been perfect for us!



So here is a quick update of what's been happening in the world of team Japspeed. Our 2011 season never really ended if we are honest as we literally finished the event at Sunderland and began prepping the cars for the demos at topgear live show, followed by tyre testing in Spain with sponsors maxxis tires again then followed by the live action arena demos at Autosport!




We must say we have been thrilled to be asked to do so many demonstrations and really believe that its helped to get drifting in the uk noticed! We have seen and met many of you at the events and given away so many freebies to so many people! ITS BEEN AWESOME!!! We have new sponsors on board this year with Monster Energy now sponsoring two of our cars and the team and also Factory Moto getting on board and providing us with all the cleaning products we require to keep them looking super cool!




On our return from Autosport we decided that we needed to continue to push forward with the builds with the car and it was quickly decided that the cars needed to go on a diet! From the feedback from the drivers we needed to get some better balance to the cars.



so after chopping as much weight out of the cars as possible we the decision was made to design a custom rear mounted radiator setup to aid cooling and also create a better balance with some of the weight being transferred from the front to the back.




The workshop lads quickly got to work with this as realistically we only had a few months before we needed to be ready for the British Drift championship of 2012! Baggsy’s Subaru was first to take shape with the team orange Subaru over in japan being the inspiration for the design. Ant did a great job at creating the intakes in the doors and if you get a chance to look at them closely you can see that they are a work of art!!



with the Subaru well under way we decide to do the same to the V8 S15, this was the car that suffered from cooling problems the most and we knew that the two turbos situated behind the front lights were not helping matters! The engine was tired and we knew this was due tot he extreme temperatures under the bonnet on race days! The design was going to have to be very different compared to the Subaru and we left ant and his hands to do the work! After a quick search on the internet Ant was creating once again some air intakes to replace the rear quarter windows and this time the inspiration was the Shelby 500 (Elenor!) Once again Ant did not disappoint the team!



With the rads fitted and uprated water pumps connected to the system and 2 x kenlowe performance fans fitted to each race car we knew we had the cooling sussed! with the cars almost ready for mapping we then got the news that Quaife engineering who had supplied us with the sequential gearbox used to cope with the power of the V8 S15 were going to provide us with the same gearbox to fit both our RB25NEO powered S15 and also our 1JZ powered Subaru! RESULT!!! This technically should mean that we never have another stripped gear EVER!!!




By the time we had the gear boxes it was only days before the cars were due at mapping down at Protuner down in the midlands. Despite all the planning and organizing we were getting down to the wire!The whole team got involved and put in some late nights to get he cars ready and we set off for round 1 of the BDC at Teesside Autodrome! This brings us to last weekend, we arrived on the Friday and got in an hours practice with a full field of drivers! All the Japspeed cars were working a dream, no cooling issues at all and the new sequential boxes were perfect! All the Drivers were on top form and we were hopeful for a good result.



Straight in to Saturday and it was visibly noticeable that Baggsy, Shane, Paul and Sullly were all glad to be back in the driving seat with them all pulling great run after run! At the end of qualifying both Paul Smith and Shane O’sullivan had made it into the top 16 battles on the Sunday, with Steve Biagioni and Shane Lynch narrowly missing out! Sunday arrived and due to a mechanical failure with one of the other competitor in the BDC this meant that everyone moved up a position in qualifying allowing Baggsy a space in the top All the cars worked faultlessly with the hard work and changes had done exactly what we needed to improve the cars, we watched the day unfold and before we knew it our drivers were battling it out against each other for a place in the final! Shane O’sullivan in the Monster S15 went through to the final whilst both Paul Smith in the 1JZ S15 went up against Baggsy in the 1JZ Subaru in the 3rd and 4th place battle!





We witnessed Great Driving with shane taking the VICTORY!!! And Baggsy coming in 3rd with Paul in 4th! What a great start!




we have to say that we are really pleased with the improvements we have made and also with the result we have achieved! A big Shout out goes to all our sponsors as without them this would not be possible! We would also like to thank any of you who turned up to support team Japspeed at Teesside and all of those that sent your congratulations on the forum! Its been good and we look forward to round 2! Time to think of what we can do to the cars Next, and i promise to try and update this thread more often!

I will leave you with this video we made as a teaser to begin the new season, check it out!!
Japspeed 2012 Preview on Vimeo

http://<iframe width="560" height="3...reen></iframe>

regards
Paul and the Team.

[Japspeed.]

Check out this small video of us from round 1 of the British drift championship at Teesside Autodrome where we took the win and also got 3rd and 4th place! RESULT!!

ENJOY!!!

Team Japspeed - Round One BDC - Teesside Autodrome - YouTube

[Japspeed.]

Hey everyone, check out our blog from our recent day at Japfest where we celebrated there birthday by smoking the place out!!!

CLICK THE LINK - Team Japspeed | Japfest 10th birthday bash

[Japspeed.]

Another Podium Finish For Team Japspeed!!

After the heady success at Round 1 of the Maxxis British Drift Championship at Teesside, the Japspeed Team were keen to capitalise on their storming start to the season. Driver Shane ***8216;O Sullivan was carrying strong form going into the event after scooping 1st place at Teesside and claiming a close 2nd place at Prodrift only a week before the event.



O***8217;Sullivan laid his cards out in qualifying and sent a shockwave out to the other Super Pro drivers with a run that bagged 91 points! The highest qualifying run of the weekend! Things looked good.

There were some hurdles that had to be overcome though; Shane Lynch destroyed the custom-made propshaft on his twin-turbo V8 S15 but all was not lost. Shane had not ran for qualification, this meant that he was eligible to use team mate Steve ***8220;Baggsy***8221; Biagioni***8217;s Subaru.



Using the Subaru for the very first time ever, especially in qualification runs placed some serious pressure on Lynch***8217;s shoulders. He had 3 chances to qualify and if he didn***8217;t make the grade, he***8217;d be going home! The first run out saw Shane spinning out as he entered the centre section of the track, no problem with two spare runs left. Yet when Shane span again in exactly the same spot on his second run, hearts were in mouths! This was too close for comfort, maybe it would be too much to expect Shane to be able to master the Subaru within seconds of getting behind the wheel.

The team ran over and whispered some words of wisdom in his ear, whatever got said certainly worked! On the third and final run, Shane mastered it! Putting in a seriously exhilarating run, it got huge cheers from the crowd who were clearly rooting for him in these tricky circumstances. The run was so good, he actually gained a qualification spot above Baggsy! So much friendly banter ensued between the lads.

At the end of day 1, the BDC staff read out the standings for qualification. Things looked solid with Team Japspeed gaining 1st, 5th, 6th and 10th place in qualification. It was back to the pits to check the cars over, have a team talk and rest up ready for the finals.





Even when parked up the monster S15 looks angry, meanwhile Team Japspeed technician Andy ensured everything was spotless.

Day 2 started to the sound of engines and screaming tyres. Some last-minute-motorsport repairs were hastily underway on Shane O***8217; Sullivan***8217;s car while the lads soaked up the track and swapped battle tips.



After practice, it was time for the popular ***8220;meet and greet***8221; sessions, were the Norfolk spectators are invited down from the stands to come and say hello to the various teams. It was crammed with people milling around. Team Japspeed were busy signing autographs for keen fans and once the mania had died down, people left the track to return to the stands ready for the finals to begin.



***8216;O Sullivan was the first out in battle and with the form he***8217;s been carrying, he was expected to be a strong performer. In a complete shocker, he span out! Nobody could have predicted it and you certainly wouldn***8217;t have put money down on it, even though he won the second battle, it wasn***8217;t enough to stop Dan ***8216;O Brien taking his scalp; he was out and the torch passed to his team mates.

Shane Lynch looked at home in the Subaru and was relishing the seat time, the Japspeed Subaru was taking a pounding as it was being passed between Shane and Baggsy for their battles. Paul ***8220;Smokey***8221; Smith was his usual calm and composed self, looking incredibly quick around the Arena track.



Nobody had an easy ride, every victory had to be fought for; the judges often struggled to separate the twinning drivers, such was the strength of the competition. The call for OMT (One More Time) went up in several battles, requiring teams to call for the 5 minute rule to ensure the Maxxis tyres were still in great condition and that there was enough fuel in the tanks.

Baggsy found himself in some serious door-to-door driving with Wayne Keeber in an awesome battle in their quests for climbing up onto the Norfolk podium.



The man quite rightly claiming the weekends glory for Team Japspeed is Smokey Smith, Paul was on song all weekend and played part in one of the most exciting final battles we***8217;ve seen, facing the very consistant force of Steve Moore from SATS Motorsport.



When Smokey and Moore locked horns, it made the hairs on your neck stand up! It was a heart-stopper, both drivers giving the crowd and judges what they came to see, it was a clear OMT, then when the pair went again, there was nothing to separate the two, it was exhausting from the grandstands, nevermind inside those drift cars. The judges gave the signal; it was now ***8220;Sudden Death***8221; the slightest of errors would be penalised, it was a showcase of world-class drifting!

The judges put Smokey onto a hard-earned second place and he quite rightly triumphantly sprayed the winners champagne on the podium to cap a wild weekends drifting at Norfolk for Round 2 of the Maxxis British Drift Championship.



Despite it being an emotional rollercoaster, the Team performed as a unit and grabbed some vital championship points to take into the next round. Smokey came second, followed by Baggsy in 4th, Shane Lynch came in at 7th and O***8217;Sullivan still did enough to claim 9th place. It was a solid performance and the team are already moving forward and preparing to take on Teesside again for Round 3 of the Maxxis British Drift Championship. We hope to see you all there!


So as you can see the weekend was a great weekend for us, despite some mechanical issues.
We are busy getting ourselves for round 3 a Teesside Autodrome on the 29th June -1st July where we will be competing also in the Team Triple drift event on the Sunday :thumb:

Check out this Video we made at Round 2 and get yourself to our next event and be part of the atmosphere!!

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO!!!

[Japspeed.]

HI Guys!

We have just returned from a weekends drifting and Round 3 of the Maxxis British Drift Championship was an amazing event! With both a Championship round and then the annual Team Triple Drift Event, it was a monster of a weekend and one of the best in memory. We had a great weekend and picked up some silverware too!

Weve done a short video capturing the action for you all. Feel free to share this around, and enjoy!