Lydden Hill | Midnight Potato

I want to talk for a minute about our wonderfully limiting track situations in the UK.

Lydden Hill holds a particularly high place in my heart, purely as it was the first track I ever attended for a drift day. However, being totally honest, it was pants. Now this isn't an attack on them, in fact I hope the guys from Lydden see this.

I love the track, It's awesome. The elevation changes make things exciting, and add a nice challenge to the otherwise quite simple track. It really is a good learning space, lots of run off, fantastically wide tarmac, a nice mix of wide and tight corners.

Lydden has so much potential. It used to be amazing, plenty of people will tell you that. But in the last few years the fanbase has dwindled, and the track has lost the support it once had. This has caused the income of the track to drop, and therefore more protective measures have been taken at events. Less cars out at one time, wet track, etc.

I can completely understand where the team behind these events is coming from. If I had a big expensive track on my hands, especially one with the history that Lydden is so well known for, I would want to preserve it too.

However sometimes you have to give a little to take a little. Lydden are already making moves towards making there track better, with a 5.5 Million pound investement to help boost the local economy and allow them to do more events. Fantastic. But throwing money at a problem doesn't make it go away.

What, personally, I've seen from the track in recent years is a distinct lack of ability to take feedback. Arguing reasons as to why events are getting worse, and the UK drifting scene is falling out of love with it. We need to be given the opportunity to fall back into the embracing arms of a track so well suited to a sport we love.

So here's what I'm proposing. Not for Lydden to suddenly throw another massive investement into a sport that isn't making them much money, that would be idiotic. But allow us, the passionate members of the UK drifting community to aid them in making their drift days better. Call in people who do drifting for the love of it, and have their input on how we can make the events more fun for everyone.

It's safe to say I love drifting. A lot of people down south do, but we are slowly being starved of tracks, and the one track that does allow drifting, not many want to attend.

I have been speaking to a lot of friends during the lockdown, and of course, we all miss driving. I would love to come out of this epidemic into a new, stronger generation of drifting, with tracks opening their metaphorical arms to the shroves of seat-time starved drivers from the south.

Lydden, there's money to be made, but you need to give us the opportunity to show you how to make it.

Thank you for reading. Please, stay safe, stay home, stay stylish.

The original potato, Tom