Here is the TITAN Motorsports sponsored SATS Cosworth Drift Team final video report of the year from the last round of the Maxxis Tyres (UK) British Drift Championship. Featuring 14 mins of top class drift action, interviews, and as it’s the last report, a roundup of the year is also included. With just 3 points separating the Supra from the top spot, the SATS Cosworth Drift Team was truly, on the EDGE OF GLORY.

For those of you have been following the SATS Cosworth Supra, sponsored by Titan Motorsports, you’ll know how well it has been doing, and what a great looking car it is. Here are a few desktops for you to enjoy from Round 4 of the BDC.

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Horseless Carriage Sliding – SATS Cosworth at round 3 of the British Drift Championship from Ciaran Smith on Vimeo.

Team SATS Cosworth were at Teesside Autodrome on the weekend of 2/3 July for round 3 of the Maxxis Tyres British Drift Championship

Having suffered some engine issues at the previous round, the team worked hard over the course of the past few weeks to have the car ready for the event. Team Mechanic Simon Edwards told us,
“The engine was taken back out, checked, and we found a couple of things wrong. It was nothing major, just stuff that needed to be addressed. So while we were there, we took the time to rebuild and refresh it, and made sure that it was built to the same tolerances as the last engine.”

So with the car ready to go, Mark went out on his qualifying runs, and pulled off some awesome displays, staying within inches of the clipping points. However, he was marked down heavily for using the handbrake too much on the straight; something he didn’t know would be an issue until speaking to the judges afterwards. He qualified in 9th place.

The team put the result behind them, and got the car ready for competition the following day. His first opponent was to be Simon Perry in his Nissan Skyline.

In the first run, Mark was chasing, with Perry leading. Both drivers almost had their cars backwards exiting the first corner such was the angles they were pulling. At one point, Mark straightened slightly, as he had to brake to avoid a collision with Perry. However, this was the least of his worries.

With so much smoke emanating from Perry’s tyres, Mark lost sight of the track and clipped the tyre wall with the rear of the car, ripping off the bumper in the process. As a result, Perry scored 10-0.

Knowing that his chances at progressing to the next stage of the competition were slim, Mark went out anyway on his leading run, and put on a show for the crowds, driving possibly one of the best runs of the day, leaving his opponent Perry in the distance.

Afterwards, Mark told us,
“Qualifying wasn’t as we expected. 9th place just wasn’t what we were looking for. It seemed that even though we had fast, consistent runs, it wasn’t the lines that the judges wanted.”

On his drive against Perry, he said,
“We knew we had the worst draw in the top 16, up against Simon Perry. We went out and gave it everything we had on the first run, but just got it slightly wrong on the last corner, ran wide, and caught the tyre wall. It’s caused quite substantial damage to the back of the car. Even though we beat Simon on the second run, it wasn’t enough to beat his 10-0”.

With the work performed on the engine since the last round, Mark was full of praise for the car,
“Mechanically, the car was fantastic. The new Cosworth engine fitted to it ran really good. The car was brilliant all weekend, but it just wasn’t to be.”

So a disappointing result for the team, but you can be sure they will be back, and raring to go, and one of Mark’s old stomping grounds, Knockhill.

-Release and Media prepared by SATS Cosworth

SATS Cosworth at Round 2 of the British Drift Championship from Ciaran Smith on Vimeo.

Team SATS Cosworth headed off to the Norfolk Arena, in Kings Lynn, for the second round of the Maxxis Tyres British Drift Championship which was held last Saturday, 21st May.

The team were looking to repeat their success at round one, which seen them take 1st place. However, just after this, the team had a problem when they realised that the track at Norfolk wasn’t quite suited to the Supra’s setup. After several meetings and phone calls, the team decided that it would be best to arrive at the track with the same setup, and make a decision on how to adjust the car then.

On the day before competition, the car rolled up to the start line, and the team looked nervously on as driver Mark ‘Sidewaysbuff’ Luney proceeded to try and drift the car around the track, accompanied by Cosworth Liaison Brad O’Nians in the passenger seat. At the end of his first run, Mark knew straight away that the diff would need to be changed to a shorter one, which thankfully the team had on board the truck. So it was overalls on, and everyone got down to the task at hand, which was completed quite quickly. This gave the team the chance to get the car back out on track before the end of the open practise session.

As everyone crossed their fingers, Mark put the power down, and the Supra drifted gracefully around the track. With smiles on their faces, the team knew that they were back in the competition.

The following morning, the practise session was about to begin, and the team were confident that Mark could get a good score. In his first run, he perfectly drifted around the track, with plumes of smoke emanating from the Maxxis MA-Z1 drift tyres. However, on the last corner, Mark spun. Everyone, from the team to the spectators, was left scratching their heads at such an uncharacteristic display.

Luney had two more chances, and on his second run he left a trail of smoke the entire way around the track, and received a massive round of applause from the crowd. With one run to go, Luney gave it his all, and coming out of the long sweeping corner he once again spun. At that point, the team knew that something had to be wrong.

When the car rolled back into the paddock, it became clear that the front tyres were rubbing against the wheel arches, which was causing the spins. However, whilst Mark was away receiving the good news that he was once again the top qualifier of the day, there was bad news waiting for him back at the Supra. It had become evident that there was an issue with the engine.

Brad O’Nians explained what the problem was.

“After Mark came in from qualifying, we noticed that the engine was breathing a little heavy than normal. We run a compression test and found that we had a little less compression on number one cylinder than what we should have.”

He added,

“Unfortunately, it’s one of those things. It was going beautifully, we qualified first, but that’s motorsport.”

So the team got their thinking caps on to try and come up with a temporary fix, and that came in the form of an overflow tank and a bung!

It was a big risk to take, but it was a risk worth taking as the team knew that Mark could get a spot on the podium.

In the competition, Luney’s first opponent was Shane Lynch in the Japspeed V8 powered car. In his first run, Luney who was chasing, as usual, put the pressure on and forced Shane to make a small mistake. In his leading run, Mark put the foot down, and as well as pulling a gap from Lynch, he also drifted elegantly around the track, which was a pleasure to watch. He was through to the next round.

Mark then came up against an opponent who he hasn’t driven against in five years, and that was Steve ‘Stiggy’ Evans in his AutoGlym sponsored Cosworth powered Toyota Starlet. In Mark’s first run, he led, which allowed him to pull a huge gap between himself and his opponent due to the huge power difference between the two. But this is an issue when Mark chases, as he has to back off so as not to drive into the back of the leading car. With this in mind, he drove superbly, mirroring Stiggy’s every move. Once again, Mark was the better driver, and he was through to the semi-final.

His next run was to be a repeat of the final from the first round, where he faced Matt Carter. In their first run, both drivers put on an amazing display of world class drifting, with plenty of smoke and angle. In the second run, Mark was chasing, and coming out of the long sweeping corner, Mark overdid it slightly, and the rear wheels of the car went slightly off the track. A small mistake, yes, but when two drivers are so good, it’s enough to go against you. Therefore Mark was out of the running for first place, but he still had a chance at third.

His final opponent was Simon Perry in his Nissan Skyline. There was some friendly banter between the two the previous night, where both drivers stated that they would win a battle between them. Now was the chance for them to prove themselves, and in his first run, Mark pulled a big gap between the two, but Perry was still behind, drifting his car superbly. In the second run, Mark knew that it was all or nothing, and piled the pressure on from behind, which was enough to secure him the last place on the podium.

Speaking afterwards, Luney explained how third place was a great result for the team,

“We had a much better run than expected. The car turned out to be tremendous, we qualified first, which surprised the whole field, and it certainly surprised ourselves. We knew the car could be good, but in a small venue like this, it was incredible. All we really did was alter gear ratios.

He continued,

“We did have engine problems which developed after the qualifying runs. We don’t know what is actually wrong with the car, but we don’t think it’s too serious. We weren’t going to run the car at all, but the team decided to run it and see how long it lasts because it was worth the points, so we did, and third place is fantastic.”

So the team will be working hard between now, and the next event in July, to make sure that the car is back up and running so they can once again take a podium spot.

-Prepared by SATS Cosworth

SATS Cosworth at Round 1 of the British Drift Championship from Ciaran Smith on Vimeo.

Check out this video of the SATS Cosworth Supra, along with its sponsors, including Titan Motorsports, tearing it up during round 1 of the British Drift Championships. The team has been working really hard to get the car prepared this season, and so far, the car is looking very strong. Below is the press release of the events prepared by SATS Cosworth:

The weekend of the 22nd and 23rd April saw the SATS Cosworth Supra sponsored by Titan Motorsports make its competitive debut at the Maxxis British Drift Championship, which was held at Donington Park.

The pressure was definitely on for the team after months of development work on the car, and with huge build up and publicity campaign for the car’s first outing, the team didn’t want to disappoint and they didn’t, the whole team delivered with a magnificent performance, coming 1st in the qualification on the Saturday Morning with a score of 93 points.

In the Afternoon it was on to the main Top 16 competition and after some hard fought battles against some of the country’s best drivers and machinery Mark Luney and Team SATS Cosworth went on to take top spot on the podium and go top of the Super Pro class in the Championship.

This was helped massively by the all the SATS Cosworth sponsors and partners who have been behind the team all winter helping develop the car to what it is today and without their constant support the win would not have been possible.

Speaking afterwards, team driver Mark Luney said,
“For the past six months, the team and I have been working on, and developing, the car alongside Cosworth, Maxxis and our many partners, the pressure was definitely on to take a top 3 spot. To take top spot in both qualifying and the competition is an endorsement of all that effort.”

“Last year, we used Maxxis Tyres at all of the events, and they helped us immensely to get to the podium on several occasions and now with Maxxis behind us as a partner supplying us with their MAZ1 Drift Tyre we have repeated last year’s success at the Donnigton Track. However, it was the first competitive event where we were using our new Meister-R brakes suspension and brake setup, Titan Motorsports stage 4 Head setup, as well as the VP Racing Fuel, so I am sure you can imagine the team and I were slightly tentative. After our first run though, all of our worries went out of the window, as the car delivered everything we expected, plus more!”

He continued,
“We’re not going to stop here though, and will continue to put 100% into the car in preparation for round 2 of the championship, where once again we will be aiming for the podium spot.”