Summer Season of Drift Competitions Ended in Novosibirsk

The third stage of the ‘Capital of Siberia Cup’ drift competition took place at the Novosibirsk Expo Centre International Exhibition Complex. This competition became the final race in the 2014 summer season. Despite the cold autumn weather, over 2,000 people came to see the closing of the season.

Eventually, Yevgeny Spirin (Novosibirsk, Toyota Chaser) became the winner in the 3^rd stage of the ‘Capital of Siberia Cup’ drift competition. Second place was taken by Arthur Volchansky (Novosibirsk, Toyota Altezza), Maksim Rakin, also from Novosibirsk (Nissan Silvia), became the third in the race. 

According to the results of all stages of the ‘Capital of Siberia Cup’ competition the title of the absolute champion was awarded to Yevgeny Spirin. He scored 579 points in total. Arthur Volchansky, who scored 113 points less than Yevgeny, became the second racer in the season. His result was 466 points. Third place was taken by Maksim Rakin. He earned 441 points in all the stages of the competition in total. 

With what results did the organizers of the competitions approach the end of the season? What changes occurred in the process of organizing drift competitions? And finally, what surprises did the Novosibirsk Automobile Federation prepare for drift fans in the next competition season? Armen Arutyunyan told us, exclusively for novosibexpo.ru

- Armen, please tell us what results have you achieved by the end of the season? Have you reached all the goals that you set for yourself at the beginning of the season?  

- We’ve reached our minimum goal. I wanted all pilots to improve their professional driving skills by the end of the season. And we succeeded. Today drifters started feeling more confident on track. They don’t get confused so much. Racing teams now feature obvious leaders who demonstrate higher skill levels with every new race. Besides, we now have the only girl drifter, Inessa Limareva. She’s also planning to become a regular participant of the competitions and win awards in the races. 

 - What new changes occurred in terms of organizing the events? What new ideas could you bring to life?

- We've had quite a few changes. We introduced video broadcasting. I should say that it’s one of the best video broadcasting sessions in Russia. Everyone who watches our broadcasting is surprised by high quality, they say it’s very cool. And it’s a logical thing, because we create our videos using computer graphics, replays of races, photos of pilots with the points they receive based on the results of the races.

This year we were able to install rows of seats for the audience. That allowed us to create more comfortable conditions. Next year we’ll place the seats in a circle. I’m sure that this will help us improve the level of our service and create a more comfortable environment, as well as attract a wider audience to our competition including older spectators.

Our main goal for today is to equip the platform in a way that would make all our spectators happy. We want to give them the opportunities to come to our competitions without any problems and receive the adrenaline they expect to find here.    

I’ve recently come back from the competition held in the City of Vladivistok. For example, they have a professional motorsports arena there, including seats for 5 thousand spectators. This is a good example and a kind of beacon that we should head for in terms of organizing our sports events.

- Armen, what needs to be done for the professional motorsports arena, particularly a drift track, to appear in Novosibirsk? You said that such facilities already exist in Krasnoyarsk and Vladivostok. What do we lack?    

- We need investors. It’s all about the money. I would’ve done that a long time ago. Thanks to the longtime sports experience, I have a good understanding of how to carry out such a complicated task. Unfortunately, the pay-off period for this project is decades long. That’s why there are so few investors who are ready to spend their money on it. And that’s the reason we still don’t have a professional motorsports arena in Novosibirsk. I hope that the ‘Siberian Ring’ Project will be finally implemented.  

- What stage is the ‘Siberian Ring’ Project currently at?  

-As far as I know a land plot for the construction of the track has been allocated. The project of the track itself is also ready. The project is being developed by a German architect, a designer of Formula 1 racing tracks Herman Tilke. He designedall the tracks that had been launched in the world. As I said before, the main difficulty here is the lack of financial resources needed for implementing the project. 

- Armen, could you share your plans for the nearest future – the forthcoming winter and summer. What should racers get ready for? How will you please your audience?   

 -This winter we plan to conduct a winter drift competition. The races will probably take place on lakes of Novosibirsk. There is a lake at the Gorsky and the South-West District. There are actually pretty many racing tracks in winter. The main peculiarity of winter competitions is that almost anyone can take part in them. All you need is have a car and know how to drive it. That is so because of the adhesion between the car tires and the racing track in winter.  

Motorsports fans are already rushing to buy cheap Soviet cars. These cars are bought specially for winter competitions. Damaging such a car is not a painful thing. But at the same time, participating in the forthcoming competitions even with a cheap ordinary car will allow drivers to improve their driving skills considerably. All this causes the improvement of the current traffic situation, since people who come to us learn how to drive a car under extreme conditions, for example, during the skidding of their cars in the wintertime. That’s the way they improve their driving prowess.

The winter season will be opened in late December of 2014. The summer season will start in May of 2015.

In summer we are planning to conduct the ‘The Capital of Siberia Cup 2015’, ‘RDSSiberia 2015’ and, perhaps, some other grand drift event that will attract all regions of Russia.

- What can you say about your cooperation with the Novosibirsk Expo Centre International Exhibition Complex?

- I’m pleased with everything, because all the problems that arise are solved very quickly. That’s what’s important for me. And that’s why we try to conduct all our events here. I’d like to say a big thank-you to the managers of the Novosibirsk Expo Centre International Exhibition Complex for letting us not only conduct competitions but also our training sessions here. Training is indeed an important part of the competitions. No training means no proper level of the race itself. And spectators will have nothing to see. Drift is a show in the first place. It’s a vibrant demonstration of a driver’s car, a driver’s race to the audience. It is important to a pilot how amazing his car is on track, how many spectators support him, and how many new fans he gets.

It’s nice to work with the Novosibirsk Expo Centre International Exhibition Complex!