First leg of the international series saw the EBC-equipped star head to Austria, with promising results
16-year-old drift sensation, Max Cotton, is representing England in the Drift Masters European Championship [DMEC] for 2021. With a grid of over 60 cars, this series represents the pinnacle of European drifting and travels to all corners of the continent across the year.
Max’s V8-powered Nissan PS13 has been upgraded to produce over 600bhp to help it keep up with the rest of the pros, and also features EBC Brakes’ Yellowstuff pads and slotted USR discs on all four corners.
The first round of the DMEC took the roadshow to Austria’s PS Racing Center in Greinbach back in July. You can read how the weekend went down in Max’s own words below.
“At the end of last season, I received a career-changing email, asking me to represent Great Britain in the Drift Masters European Championship. As a Drift Masters driver, I would be competing with around 60 of Europe’s best drivers, including James Deane, Piotr Wiecek and the Shanahans to name just a few. This meant we had to step up our game, big time!
“We knew this would be a challenge not only for my driving but for the car and the preparation, especially in the current times. With the support from my working partners, we upgraded the car from 430bhp to 600bhp and fitted Wisefab to the rear to improve grip and handling. With only a few test days under my belt, we set off for PS Racing Center in Greinbach, Austria. With travel restrictions all around Europe, the journey wasn’t easy, but despite the obstacles, we arrived at the track and set up the pits.”
“Drift Masters had always been a dream of mine;”
“It was amazing to be amongst some of the best drivers in the world. It was so surreal to think that just two years ago I was getting autographs from these drivers and now I was competing alongside them. From the moment we arrived, it was clear that this was professional drifting at its best, from the way the Red Bull media team were shooting interviews with the drivers, to the way the cars were turning up with teams and lorries. Over the next three days, rounds 1 and 2 of the championship would be taking place.”
“During practice we encountered a few problems. Firstly, the weather, with outside temperatures soaring over 37 degrees the car started getting hot, and then out of nowhere, thick hailstones of ice falling and meaning qualifying was moved to the next day. After a few laps and talking to some other drivers, we soon realised that even with 600bhp my car was the least powerful on the grid.”
“Our trip was very educational but as always, we had a lot of fun on the track and experiencing the country too.”
“The track was very intricate and fortunately, this worked in my favour as line driving is one of my strengths and as the championship integrated sensors into the judging process this was easier to show. I was restricted by my power but placed 15th in qualifying, which meant I would battle the Portuguese driver Diogo Correia.
“Sunday was round 2 of the competition. As people had driven the track a fair bit by this point, the standard of qualifying for this round was quite high. In my qualifying, I placed 22nd with a 75-point run. As a result of this, I pulled out Estonian Champion Oliver Randalu in his 850bhp BMW E36. I drove my best and held my line, but his car had the pace on mine and this meant the battle went his way. As a celebration, we did doughnuts around each other and the crowd roared with excitement as we left the track.”
“After an unfortunate miss shift (more on this later) he had a 10-0 advantage after the first half of the battle. In run 2, after hitting oil on track, I had four wheels off the circuit meaning I wouldn’t advance to the top 16. We later found out that this significantly affected the cars alignment and damaged the strut tops in the front of the car. Despite this result we continued to watch the rest of the event, signed posters and took photos with fans. As it turned out the Austrian fans were very eager to speak to the 16-year-old with the pink car. The atmosphere was amazing!
“Competing in Drift Masters alongside the best drivers in the world was an insane experience and I can’t wait to do it all again but I really couldn’t do it without the support of my amazing working partners, thank you and roll on the next round in Riga, Latvia!”
Yellowstuff Pads
Yellowstuff is a true winner all-round. It has high friction from cold, not requiring warm-up for street use yet when loaded up and really hot the brakes just get better. High efficiency performance and race brakes for track and street use, fast to bed-in, great for street vehicle brake upgrade.
USR Slotted Rotors
All EBC rotors including USR Slotted Rotors are British made and are precision machined in the UK. Rotors are made from high quality grey iron to exacting standards and undergo extensive testing and rigorous quality control.
