With Paddy down in the west country covering Japfest, I was 300 miles north at Nissan's massive Sunderland facility to bring you the action from the second round of the Drift Allstars series.

Round two was quite an eventful couple of days for me. More on exactly what I was up to later in the week.

As with the opening round a whole host of drivers made the long trip over from central Europe. Benjamin Boulbes in his awesome M5 V8 powered E36 was just one of the French contingent present.

As the event was scheduled over two days, the Saturday was meant to be a relaxed practice day. A chance for the drivers to get familiar with the custom built track and a chance for the Drift Allstars staff to make sure the track offered everything that they wanted for Sunday's competition.

An informal driver briefing was held just before the track opened at 1pm.

To give the drivers a chance to dial in to the track and make any necessary adjustments.

Not everybody had a smooth ride, with a few mechanical gremlins sneaking in here and there.

Drifting can be a weird and wonderful sport at times. Every so often you see a car that just stops you dead in your tracks and forces you to take a closer look. Alberto Cona turned up with possibly the strangest one yet! [Rolf Harris tags on]Can you guess what it is yet?[Rolf Harris tags off]

 

It's actually an S14! No really, it is. It's an S14 converted to a pickup, with a Toyota Celica front end, Honda DC5 rear lights, BMW rear axle and powered by an LS V8!

Fresh from Japfest, Walton Smith and the Jap-Performance crew turned up on the Sunday morning with the RB powered wide-body Impreza.

The ex-Steve Usher S14a returned to the UK for round two ,now minus the S15 front end.

With competition day upon us, everything shifts up a gear.

The driver briefing takes on a more serious nature. With the judges explaining exactly what they will be looking for from the drivers throughout the day.

Jon Calvert was having to car share with Ian 'Bizz' Philips' V8 R33 for the day as his S13 was having engine issues.

The assembled media awaiting their briefing. From right to left – Frazer Gordon, Peter Bartle, Ash Burrows, Andy Harris (head of all things safety), Ian Gratton and my lens hood, polarizing filter and coffee cup holding my place as I took the shot.

Having not slept in two solid days Ben 'Bon Bon' Broke-Smith arrived just before qualifying. Suffering exhaust fitment problems at Japfest the previous day, the problem was sorted in true 'Bon' Style – cut the system off and make it poke out of the bonnet!

As qualifying got underway a nasty light rain started making the track tricky.

At this point I thought I would pay a visit to the judging tower…

… it was of course a planned decision to bring you an in-depth 'behind the scenes' feature. I wasn't hiding from the rain at all.. no siree.

It was quite busy up there. Tv crews, commentators …

… and with the best seat in the house of course, the judges.

"Like a drifter I was born to walk alone" During the interval commentator George Tilling gave a spectacular karaoke rendition of Whitesnake's Here I go again.

Also during the interval you could get a grip demo ride in a KTM X-bow. I really must have a drive of one of these at some point.

Thankfully by the time the top 16 competition got underway the rain sorted itself out and the track started drying out.

Bon back to doing what he does best. Driving a big four door mobile smoke generator.

Walton Smith had by far the greatest angle into turn one. Now in its second year of competition the RB powered Impreza is a seriously sorted drift machine.

With custom built tracks it's always tricky from a photographers perspective where to shoot different parts of an event. For the finals I took a gamble and went across the track from the press box.

Low Brain Drifters James Deane took the overall win, with Bon in second and Nigel Colfer in third.

Once the action on track is over its a quick sprint over to the podium for the presentations. Just enough time for a quick lens change.

Rarely caught on camera the famous 'Bon rage'

I noticed as Nigel and Bon were handed their bottles of champagne they immediately took the safety catches off the bottles, leaving James at an immediate disadvantage.   

 

Run away, recoup, and come back all guns blazing!

Ross.