Lets Talk About The LZ World Tour.
Words : Adam Ivell
Photos : @jonny.rollhard & @andygreenphotography
How do you explain this event, not only this whole frickin weekend to a normal person?
2 Events, 2 Days, 2 Circuits, 2 COUNTRIES!
Well, I need to get my thoughts out of my head and I dont think my Mum wants to hear anymore about how James Deane did the sickest burnout I’ve ever witnessed or Julian from Garage D did doughnuts around me in The BLITZ R34 infront of the Mondello crowd!
So I am busting out the blog once again for this story, so sit tight & If you enjoy it, please consider checking out the 6TWO1 Shop, I’ve new merch that aligns with what im building & Would mean a lot if you grabbed something!
I think this may be one of the most ambitious ideas Dave Egan has had & He wasnt even able to participate much this weekend due to his wonderful wife giving birth!
We all dug deep and I have to say, by the Sunday i was absolutely exhausted while on the mic, having to dig deep to stay energetic to keep the crowd going! But this all starts in the UK at Castle Coombe.
I hitched a Ride out with Adam LZ in his Ex-Drift Masters pro car so we could start the show, and what a show it ended up becoming.
We went into this blind. I had a very loose idea of what was going to happen, no script of what to say and no one in my ear for direction - but I could look at the tower for a thumbs up when it was time to talk, as the cars were so loud on Idle I couldn’t hear the Speakers !
The show had Battles, It had Demos from JD130 & the Avin the Crack lads, along with Arios Suzuki in his bloody drift FERRARI!!
We managed to get the English crowd on side & it was such an honour to do so, England has been starved of epic events & I really think we set the president. Incredible driving, Great laughs & a bad ass car show to boot! `
From a personal standpoint, a few years ago I was booking a ticket to the first LZ World Tour Or LZ Fest I think it was called? as a fan, it just so happened I got asked by the Drift Games Guys to run the socials that weekend which was awesome as I was still fairly new to working with those guys at Drift Masters, & they even refunded me my ticket. Haha.
Now to be fully presenting the show from the track, man it is so cool. Not only that, I get to be the first person these incredible lads driving these cars see and talk to once they get out & are on that adrenaline high. Remember, above all else i am a fan of drifting. I love it so much, so to be on the track with literally drift gods like James Deane (@jamesdeane130), who I saw in his video said “Is Adam interviewing us” When he did his second demos with Grant (@Instagrant) Man it is still so unbelievable to me. I pinch myself that I get this chance to do it, and I really really hope i am doing this roll justice.
We Finished up the show in the UK and it was like a Military drill to get to Bristol Airport - Side note
* Since when did Bristol have an Airport? & It was quite nice too. I expected a shed in a field!
After Titch (our other UK Commentator for the event) drove us from behind the stands all the way to the paddock, we had to sprint to get rid of the mics, and rush to the rental cars. This body aint no runners body no more. I need to work on that. lol. But thankfully we made it & all 80 of us did too.
What an awesome crew to be apart of!
Thankfully we arrived safely in Ireland, good ol’ RyanAir, and we made it to the hotel for around Midnight, only to be awake again by 6:30AM the next day to be at the track to do the WHOLE THING AGAIN. But different…
I got to open the show infront of a packed Mondello crowed, on only a few hours sleep with the Legend that is Dave Egan, who could only stay at the show for an hour due to a baby arriving!.
I’ve known Dave a fairly long time now, and hes become a very good friend to me, and seeing him trust me in this position was an incredible feeling.
As he passed the mic over to me, I heard Cian, who runs the show on the radio saying “keep talking - lz’s car isnt ready”, if i say mild panic had set in, i mean it.
I am still learning this talking on the spot to a bloody huge crowd of people malarky and knowing my cue wasn’t coming out yet , i did my best. Theres only so many times you can be English in Mondello park asking them to make noise before they might start booing me, but we made it work & LZ came out in the Garage D Blitz ER34
LET THE SHOW BEGIN!
The Show was Internationals V Locals, Adam LZ being the head of the International team & EVENFLOW Being the head of the locals.
The only way I can really explain this was utter choas. When Evenflow came out in that Corolla I grabbed LZ & said stand exactly where I do, mainly because I thought he wouldnt run LZ over on purpose, so it was probably my safest place to be. aha.
If I couldnt love the Blitz ER34 anymore, becoming its traffic cone for doughnuts was an honour.
The Irish show was completely different to the UK leg, which has to be the most unique thing about this LZ World Tour series, every show is completely unique and I actually liked that it wasn’t live streamed, much to my parents annoyance! but it really is a show for the people who come down and get a ticket. The chance for them to meet all the superstars for only a few extra quid too, I know how cool that can be if you arnt as fortunate as some of us who work along side these guys.
The whole thing was such an amazing experience, I think us as a team worked so incredibly hard and managed to pull off 2 completely unique shows, in 2 countries, within 48 hours.
If you came down to either of them I really hope you enjoyed it & I really hope I get the oppotunity to do something like this again.
