My passion for cars began when I was just a little kid. My father is a big racecar fanatic and a motorsports photographer since he was 14 years old. Because he is such a big fan of motorsports- the first time I saw racing cars was at a very early age as well. The competitions we attended at that time were mostly touring car races, but even then the sound, and smell of roaring engines and smoking tires took a big place in my heart. I was always anxious to know when is the next race planned for us to attend and waited for that day with lots of emotions. This is when my love for motorsports was formed.
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MY BIO.
The first time I saw drifting was when I was about 14 years old and it first became popular in Latvia- somewhere about year 2007/08- with the first competitions in which cars were slightly modified to be able to slide the pre-set "8" layout.
The smoke, the sound, and the overall atmosphere were so exciting- It had me hooked instantly.
How my passion for cars began.
How I got to know what's Drifting.
AT THAT POINT I UNDERSTOOD:
"ONE DAY, I WILL FIND A WAY TO BE ONE OF THOSE GUYS"
And from that point on- I became a true Drift fan. I was attending almost every drift competition possible- just to see the emotion and the risks drivers were taking on the track- it took my breath away...
NAME: SILVESTRS DZIEDATAJS
BORN: 29th January, 1992.
AGE: 25
ORIGIN: Riga, Latvia.
"My ambition pushes me towards everything I do. I'm not here to compete- I'm here to be the best!"
How I started drifting.
I got my Drivers license 3 days after my eighteenth birthday. I didn't have enough money to buy myself a rear wheel drive car- my first car was a 1.3L 2003 Ford Fiesta which, as we all know- is not a very good drift car. But that didn't bother me to try and learn how to make an e-brake turn and later combine them to make a chain "drift".
"When I had mastered 3 years of front wheel drive- I finally found a way to buy my first drift car. It was a BMW e36 with an M52B28 engine."
My dream finally started to become reality.
My first experience in competitive drifting.
When I had driven a year on the city streets and roundabouts- tried my luck on every possible drift spot in Riga- I decided that it's time to step over the fence and try my luck with the big boys.
"So in 2014 I competed in my first full seasson.
Latvian Drift Cup street class."
The car that I drove that year was the same car that I bought as my first "drift car": 1995 BMW e36 with M52B28 engine.
Since this was my first expirience on the track- I had really much to learn and improve in my driving skills and the tehnical part of my car- to even try to compete with anyone.
So my first year went just to understand whats happening and how to control my car and all the new emotions I had. Sadly- no wins or even qualifying in any of the races I entered in my first seasson.
"This made me think that maybe drifting is not for me."
Right as I thought that maybe I should return to the viewer side of the fence- some major coincidence of circumstances made me overthink this. My friend gave me a call and suddenly I had the chance to buy a fully prepared BMW e30 with M62 V8 engine- which was a class higher drift car. This meant more power, more angle and even more requirements for me as a driver.
"So I switched from the street class to ProAm before I even mastered to compete in a lower level witch, at that point, seemed like a hasty decision. But I went with it anyway."
Second season- now in ProAM class.
Right from the beginning- when I first drove the new car- I understood that this is something completely different from what I had experienced before. Finally, I was able to put the car sideways and get it to the point I wanted the car to go- which was a complete gamechanger for me.
In my first season in street class, I had the chance to meet with lots of new people around the drift scene and make some very good friends along the way. Together we decided that we should make a drift team for the season of 2015 called "Advanced Motorsport"- so now, without individual competition, we also were competing in team competition- all together as a team.
Everything started to make sense and now- with a properly prepared car- I was able to learn everything very quickly. This aroused a lot of enthusiasm in me- that was a bit faded from the previous completely unlucky season.
"NOW I FINNALY STARTED TO QUALIFY FOR TANDEMS AND EVEN WIN THEM. THAT WAS AWESOME."
All throughout the season, I was able to show some good improvement in my driving skills and show very competitive driving style even against the best of proAM drivers. We were top of the game- both in individual and team season overall results.
My overall season result in Individual - 5th place (~50 drivers)
We managed to race a full season without any major technical faults or crashes- so all this set a really good tone for our future plans. We started to think about going even further and maybe building our car to the PRO class level.
I had the feeling that we can try and compete with the best guys in Europe- and maybe, just maybe, surprise everyone with competitive driving even on the highest level.
"So we made a decision to put on a Turbo on our car- to make it a PRO class car."
Our Team overall season result- 2nd place (6 Teams)
Third season- PRO class.
Coming to the first race now in the PRO class, I felt very scared because together with Latvian Drift championship, we now competed also in Baltic Drift championship. That meant, that we were up against the best drivers from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia- and in addition to it all the first race was in Witch Kettle- Bikernieki- which is one of the most obscure and complicated tracks in all the Baltics.
In the offseason, we managed to boost our car power from 310bhp and 500nM to supposedly savage- 640bhp and 850nM by applying a Holset HX55 turbo to our M62 v8 engine. And with the help of our sponsor "Maxxis" we were able to switch to 225/45R17 semi-slick tires which made our car even more faster and reliable.
Just as we started our trainings and I drove some tandem runs with the experienced PRO class drivers- I understood that everything is not so bad as it seems and got over my fear pretty fast.
"NOW WE JUST NEEDED TO FOCUS, LEARN FAST AND TRY NOT TO MAKE ANY BIG MISTAKES"
Already in the second stage of Baltic Drift championship, I managed to show a very good performance and for the first time in my life climb on the honorary pedestal with a 3rd place.
"AT THIS PONT IT WAS CLEAR- WE CAN DO IT."
In Latvian Drift Championship, I was holding the 2nd place in overall results. So we decided that we need to improve our skills and, for training purposes, drive not only with the best guys in Baltics but try our luck with the best of all Europe. So we applied for Drift Allstars Riga GP and Driftmasters GP King of Riga races.
Drift Allstars went by really good, but everything changed in the 1st qualification run of Driftmasters GP- when after the initiation my front tires lost grip and I hit a concrete wall at about 100 km/h. The intake and exhaust manifolds were broken and the car itself had pretty major damage- which meant that sadly our season was over.
"THIS CRASH DREW A BIG FAT CROSS OVER OUR CHANCES OF TAKING ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP"
This crash ruined all our dreams and opportunities to continue and prove ourselves as a team and most importantly- me as a driver. Right after my car landed on all 4's it was clear to me what I had done. I had hit the point of no return.
We all know that Motorsports are very expensive. Everything we did was built and sponsored only by ourselves. So we had no choice, but to announce that:
"We have to withdraw from further competition in season 2016 due to insufficient funds."
So we finished our season 2016 with these overall results:
Latvian Drift Championship:
Overall result in Individual Championship: 5th place (~20 Drivers)
Overall result in Team Championship: 2nd place (5 Teams)
Baltic Drift Championship:
Overall result in Individual Championship: 11th place (~40 Drivers)
Present Day.
From every situation in your life, you have to learn something. After this crash in Driftmasters GP, I learned that it is too risky to put everything I have- in something that can be destroyed in 1 second. Don't get me wrong- I still love Drifting with all my heart- but I no longer want to donate all my finances to it.
If you're reading this and I seem interesting to you to cooperate with- feel free to check out my FOR SPONSORS page and contact me.
I Still compete and I'm willing to do it professionally- but this time with a PLAN- Where I can be the Driver and face of my sponsors in any way that it is needed- by creating high-quality content and increasing my sponsors outreach and increasing their sales- with world class driving both in Social media and on Track.
"Our car is back and running- but with Less power and downgraded to ProAm Class."
Come and join me in my quest to become the best of delivering youre goals true my passion- Drifting!
"I could say that my father is my biggest inspiration for chasing my dreams as a Drifter."
© 2017 by SILVESTRS DZIEDATAJS. Proudly created for you.