Irish Times Interview

3rd March 2010

SHANE LYNCH Pop singer, actor, 33 Drifting: The Boyzone singer’s passion for this form of extreme motorsport costs between €8,900 to €11,500 on tyres over a weekend

What’s your history with cars?

I was a car mechanic before I got into Boyzone. I worked for my father for many, many years.

When did your motorsport career begin?

I’ve driven all sorts of race cars since ’98. I rallied with Ford Motorsport for a while and then went onto the circuit stuff. I was in British GTs for three or four years. I’ve raced 360 Ferrari, 911 Porsches, the 996 and the 997. I raced for Porsche UK and Porsche Germany.

When did you get into drifting?

Three years ago. I had to know how to drive a car like this because it blew my mind.

Can you explain drifting?

Drifting is an extreme motorsport. It is a judged sport so there’s no chequered flag. You have to get the car into a controlled slide. What you see a lot on the likes of Top Gear is a car sliding through a corner that is predominately a power slide. They’re going through a corner fast and the back end kicks out so the back end is sliding through a corner.

We generally initiate like that into the first turn but then you’ve got to continue that slide through a series of lefts and rights, whichever way the track may go.

You’re judged on how much angle you carry, how sideways the car actually is, how much speed you carry and how fluid from left to right your transitions are within a drift.

How do you manipulate the car?

It’s predominately controlled with your accelerator and your steering wheel.

How do cars compete against each other?

Initially you qualify by yourself. A hundred cars will turn up, but you’ve to qualify into the top 16 for head-to-head battles. Two cars will go out together. You’ll have a lead car and a chase car. The lead car will head off. The chase car will come up behind and when you both initiate into the first corner it’s up to the chase car to mimic what the lead car is doing. If he drops off or cannot mirror that or if the lead car pulls away from him, he’s going to score fewer points than him. Then you go back to the starting line and swap over.

What’s the biggest expense?

The biggest wear and tear on a car is probably tyres. I’d probably do around £8,000 (€8,836) to £10,000 (€11,500) worth of tyres a weekend. We run a tyre called a Maxxis; when you’re spinning up the tyres smoke like hell, which gives a great effect off the back of the car.

Can you explain “the show factor” which is part of the judging process?

It’s a big show-offs’ game like snowboarding or BMXs or skateboarding. With the show factor, it’s mostly to do with the smoke and your bravery into the first corner.

I do what’s called – which only a handful of drivers do in Europe – a backwards entry. I’ll go down a little bit faster than normal and pull the hand-break and go in backwards into the corner. It’s a big, big show factor.

Where do you compete?

England, and next year I’m competing in Ireland, too, for the first time. The season starts around March (and goes) until the summertime.

What car do you drive?

A Nissan S15, which is a Nissan Silvia, but that’s the body shape; the car has been taken down to its bare minimum. Everything Japspeed, who is the team manufacturer, has been bolted on to it so it’s a completely modified car, even down to the engine and gearbox. We run a V8 engine. We push out about 700-brake horsepower. Any normal Porsche or Ferrari pushes out 360-brake horsepower, maximum.

Have you had any crashes?

I had one big one last year. Unfortunately for me I initiated into a turn but a drive-shaft broke in the car so what happened was that spat me into a wall as opposed to the in-field.

I wrote off that car pretty bad. But that’s motorsport – if something breaks on you there’s nothing you can do.

Have you had any serious injuries?

No. The technology that’s gone into making cars safe is pretty, pretty phenomenal. The way the cages are built, you can hit a wall at a 100-mile an hour and you’ll be okay. You’re gonna have whiplash fair enough, but generally you walk away.

What makes drifting so special?

Anyone can jump in a car, dump the clutch and spin some wheels. It’s not a hard thing to do. You see a lot of boys going into car parks and they’re in first and second gear and they’re doing doughnuts.

There’s some smoke and they think that’s the greatest thing in the world, but, with respect, when you get into a drift car and you’re in fourth gear and you’re sliding into a corner at 120 miles an hour, it’s a different world.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/0303/1224265504078.html