2008 season summary

i started into the season and wanted to know if im able to compete in the pro level.

At the end of the year i finished on position 7 overall (2nd in the german ranking) and did all that with a fully street legal daily usable 280 bhp car. Even though the judging from round one and my "no contest" at round two i managed this result, wich makes me happy.

For the season 2009 i wanted to go for more power.

IDC Finals

A massiv flu and immense headache i had and did´nt really want to go all the way to Brüstem in Belgium. But i had to because i wanted to know my position at the end of the season.

So i travveled nearly 700km in my drift car with a bunch of tires next to me.

The Track was really nice rough tarmac, very fast i really would have enjoyed it, if there were not the flu.

Some fancy medicine made me stay up and do the qualification - place 12 was what i got no idea wich line i took, or how fast i went :)

My Oponent number 1 was Ogien, the polish vice Champion in his M5 powered 400bhp-E36. The first battle was 6:4 / 4:6 and the "one more time" run was tight 6:4 / 6:4 to me. This was a really hard and tight but a fair fight.




lucky i was when i got out of my car and take some medicine again - but i had no medicine for my next battle agains (Big) Remmo Niezen. Remmo is imho definately one of the very best european drifter and a learned a lot of him.

After loosing the first run where i nearly overtook him in the first section and doing a mistake in section 2 i decited to link the two sections wich left foot braking instead of using the handbrake. I just wanted to show Remmo that i practiced the left foot braking - and messed it up right infront of him with a nice spin, d´oh.

Anyway i felt better after Remmo said that i was one of the fastest on this track.


and some video footage of the weekend: random footage of the IDC final 2008

IDC rd. 6

After all this little successes i thought i should finish the IDC championship and see what i can get. Luckily i found a Sponsorship wich supported me with brand new tires and so my car got a new outfit with a lot of funky stickers :)

Hungary was the next place to be - A nice carting track near Budapest was our next target.

After a very long trip without sleeping we had some nice trainings with the hungarian drifters.

We put all Pro Drivers together for qualification, so there were nearly 70 drifters fighting for the top16.
Judging was very interesting, because 2/3 were judged by the driftbox score and 1/3 was judged by a team of international judges (line and style)
My overall result was position 4 (IDC 3) wich was not too bad. But i had the advantage to practice with the driftbox in the past so i knew how to get a good score = massive angle.

My first oponent in hungary was Alex Gräff, another german drifter in a V8 powered E28. After having a massive advantage in the first run by 8:2 for me i took it easy in the 2nd run. I struggles to keep the low speed alex was going and spun in the last corner - damn!

the new look of my car:

Krsko Avto Magazin Drift Pokal reloadet

We just had to go there again. So many nice people, good drifters and a cool racetrack.

So we went to the Finals of the Avto Magazin Drift pokal in 2009.

The Judging ist a bit different over here:
Top16 = 4 runs and 3 out of them will be judged
Top8 = 4 runs and all 4 will be judged - no mistake allowed ;)
after that twin battles.

I qualifyed into the top 16, and messed it up then endet up taking place 8 for me. But the big Final was the night drifting. We had to qualify again wich i did with brand new grippy tires on the rear and did a 100 point run - awesome tires!

My first oponent was the austrian vice champion in a 360bhp E30 - a lighter car and more Power than me - i was a bit excited. But took the advantage of my tires and won 7:3 and 7:3.

Nest one pleas :) Here he was Cimpo the slowenian champion and a very agressive drifter in a highly modifyed E36 M3. Okay i just tryed my best and spun out in the 2nd corner - next run was a 8:2 but im shure Cimpo did´nt fully attack .

VIDEO: Avto Magazin Drift Pokal 2008

IDC rd. 5

Recaro Tuning Days at the Nürburgring was our 5th round. We were dirving the Mercedes Arena on the GP-Track against the normal direction. That meaned a long 3rd gear uphill section with only 280bhp.

But i really liked the track layout and qualified 3rd overall with 1 point missind to the 2nd :)
VIDEO: one top 3 qualification run

My first oponent at the Nürburgring was no one else than Berend van Berkel in his widebody M3 GTR. Unfortunately my reartires were already falling appart in the warm up lap and i was not allowed to change them. So i was a bit angry and put the pressure on Berend. That worked out, i won the first battle.





round 2 - fight!
Oponent number 2 was Paul the Driftking Vlasblom again. Remember: he tricked me at rd. 3, and i wanted to win this battle :D
In the warm up i was not drifting, and in the first rund i was leading doing a massive backwards entry (no left foot braking) but that was just right, Paul struggled and had to stop his drift for a short time, but he got back manjiing the uphill section and nearly crashed into my passenger dor.
Run 2 was 7:3 for Paul because i thought first run was a 10:0 for me, because he stopped drifting and nearly crashed into me.
BUT the Judges decited Paul won - even Paul said this must have been a "one more time".
All in all this was still statisfying to me, because Paul ist one of the most experienced drifters in Europe and i just saw a little chance and will continue here the next time :)

Overall Result for me was 6th position again and i had a great weekend with good battles.

In the Championship points table i moved up to Rank 9 "Hell yeah im in the TOP10!" :)

Drift Demo @ Reisbrennen 2008

The Orga-Team of the Reisbrennen meeting asked me to do a drift show for their huge jap-car meeting.

Unfortunately the show was cancelled after about 20 minutes because we were too loud.

But hey, lets go for some 1/8 mile drag racing instead :)
VIDEO: 1/8 mile drift record

IDC rd. 4

the Yokohama Tuningdays at Hockenheim were the place where our 4th round was held. Typical for hockenheim there was a huge crowd and lots of spectators.

I managed to qualify 7th and my first oponent was Ogien, a very aggressive Drifter from Poland in a 5l V8 Powered E36.
VIDEO: some practice runs
VIDEO: qualification

VIDEO: warm up lap
VIDEO: the first run
VIDEO: the second run

After i won this battle my next oponent was Frank van Heeren from Holland.
In the first run i had a 6:4 advantage but spun out in the second run:
VIDEO: the second and last run

The 4th round found an end with me on place 6 overall. With the result of rd. 3 i joined the top 16 of a pro series for the first time in my life - ranked as number 12.

IDC rd. 3

The 3rd round of the IDC was just around the corner and i went there because i already payed the fee for the whole year.

It was a very very hot summer day and i felt very confident on the small track.

Qualified 16th and my first battle oponent was no one else then the Driftking.nl - Paul Vlasblom.
VIDEO: qualification

Paul tricked me in the first corner but even without that he would have won.

To me it was a good thing because i noticed i did a lot of twindrift practice in the past - but i never practiced entrys in battle situations. 1:0 for Paul, but i will be back ;)

After this event there was a huge discussion about the judges and from rd. 4 on there will be new judges.

some more practice

instead of concentrating on the IDC i did some small practice and broke some wheel studs on this event.


Luckily a friend of mine and his girlfirend were there too, the same one who gave her Skyline to me in the year before. Now she had a nice FD3S twin turbo RX7 - and i couldnt say no drifting this thing :)

IDC rd. 2

i did not compete in the second round because i was still so upset about the worse judging from rd. 1.

IDC rd. 1

was held at Hockenheim together with the biggest time attack event the "Sport Auto Tuner GP"

I managed to repair my engine (worn cams and rocker arms) and run it in on the way to the competition - yeah my car was still road legal and i used to go to the events in my drift car.

In the competition i had some really good runs but the judges had no idea about drifting unfortunately and so they preferred famous names and female drivers lol.
VIDEO: qulification




some high speed dirt dropping:

the IDC Pro Search

was the day i had to proof im good enough.

i did not to bad in the first 2 of 3 parts, but were not able to start in the 3rd part because i had engine trouble wich i could´nt fix within the short time.
VIDEO: pro search



but who cares - i managed to get the IDC Pro licence :)

Engstingen Season start 2008

The year 2008 i wanted to see if my drift skills are enough for the european Pro level, but nothing without a first beginning of the year practice :)

testing the new steering lock:


and some tandem practice could be helpful :D