Donald Campbell demoing the Bluebird CN7 land speed record car, the first single seat race of Graham Hill and the accident that ended Stirling Moss’s career; one thing’s for certain – Goodwood Circuit has certainly seen its share of notable events. But today, for the very first time, the historic grounds were echoing to the sounds of tortured tyres as our very own Fredric Aasbø and Mad Mike took to the track.

Players Classic provided the perfect backdrop to the first leg of the Speedhunters European Drift Tour and a brilliant opportunity to introduce the hallowed grounds to the world of drifting.

The duo’s appearance certainly caused a stir, with the drift cars drawing much interest from the assembled crowd.

Although that paled in comparison to when they headed to the circuit. The cars growled their way through the parting crowd, out onto the track and the crowd flocked to the perimeter to see the circuit’s inaugural introduction to the world of drifting.

Things didn’t all go according to plan though: as the pair approached the first corner and started to initiate, Mike’s bonnet flew up, hitting his screen and flying off, being rather unceremoniously run over on the return up the main straight. Did it slow them down in any way though? I’ll let you take a guess from the above pic.

Souvenir anybody?

Not long after they hit another hitch, with the cars being red flagged for tripping the noise meters. Although the short break provided the perfect opportunity to remove the last vestiges of Mike’s bonnet and swap on some new rubber.

New tyres fitted to the cars, the pair continued to christen the track with rubber…

… before returning to the Speedhunters booth to oblige the fans by signing posters, books and um, hats?

Of course, that wasn’t the only thing for any visitors to the Speedhunters booth to view. The stand played host to this stunning Gulf-liveried Aston Martin GTE race car…

… as well as more exotica in the form of a sexy MP4-12C Spider…

… and plenty of other car content besides.

Not forgetting a healthy dose of facial hair amongst the Speedhunters crew.

Elsewhere around the historic grounds, the show itself was continuing at full swing…

… with a wide range of cars to be found on display including plenty of prime examples of Stuttgart’s finest…

… while the track continued to reverberate to the glorious tones of various motors enjoying the day’s track time, from Mazda MX-5s to turbocharged VX220s.

Although there were a big range of wheels on show, Rotiforms were definitely the brand of choice on the day!

Continuing the bright pastel paintwork theme, this Mk 1 Escort was a real head-turner. Look out for a full feature soon!

Kevve’s ‘bagged E21 BMW had travelled all the way from Belgium to singe the Goodwood grass!

We’ll be bringing you more content from Players Classic soon, but as I type this from the back seat of Paddy’s car, we’re headed from Goodwood up to Snetterton for the second round of the drift tour. So while there may be a few bleary eyes tomorrow at Modified Live, I’m sure another glamorous round of Speedhunters breakfast will see us ready to face the day! We’ll keep you posted.

Words by Suzy Wallace
Instagram: speedhunters_suzy
suzy@speedhunters.com

Photos by Paddy McGrath
Twitter: @PaddyMcGrathSH
Instagram: speedhunters_paddy
paddy@speedhunters.com

European Drift Tour ’13