A slate‑grey sky greeted the participants as the gates to DriftDRIVE’s Liège training ground swung open at 12:30 p.m. Inside, a long briefing table—already ringed with eager students—overflowed with sandwiches, fruit, and bottled water. Beyond the windows, bright cones gleamed beneath a film of water channeled from the circuit’s perimeter hoses. It was the perfect stage for an afternoon devoted to one skill above all others: the art of sliding a car by feel.
Former Formula Renault champion and Midland‑F1 test driver Jeffrey van Hooydonk took center stage, sketching out the lesson plan: no lap times, no data traces—just steering, throttle, and instinct. The tool of choice was a previous‑generation BMW 3‑Series void of electronic nannies.
On the training ground, Van Hooydonk opened the show with a short demonstration in the BMW, coaxing the tail wide with little more than a steering twitch and a feathered throttle. When seats were swapped, the day’s private‑lesson student—Jeff Francis of The Speed Journal—slid behind the wheel as Van Hooydonk shifted to coach. The lubricated surface meant drifts formed at barely 40 km/h, reinforcing that finesse, not velocity, was the currency of control.
Tandem Tutoring
A few runs later, young instructor Romeo climbed into the passenger seat. His calm cadence—“initiate… breathe off… catch, catch…”—helped translate slip into style while Van Hooydonk watched from the apron. With the private pad initially to themselves, unrushed arcs built confidence; as tires began to sizzle, cones were rearranged and the four hour experience merged with a concurrent group class, the entire course morphing into a flowing carousel of tandem drifts.
Takeaways on the Tarmac
- Eyes before hands. Fixing on the exit dictated the car’s path, even when mirrors filled with spray.
- Slow feet win. Gentle, rhythmic throttle pulses steadied the arc; stabbing the gas merely traded one spin for another.
Friendly staff, zero ego, and a curriculum that frames drifting as both an essential safety discipline and an addictive driving thrill made the afternoon memorable—proof that, in the right hands, a wet training pad can become a masterclass in mechanical empathy.
Beyond the Slick Pad
DriftDRIVE’s low‑grip surface is intentionally deceptive—slow and safe, but brutally honest. For students craving higher stakes, Van Hooydonk conducts advanced sessions at Circuit Clastres, a 1.97‑kilometre private track in northern France whose generous runoff and faster corners unlock the next level of slip‑angle sorcery.
The Speed Journal would like to thank Jeffrey van Hooydonk and DriftDRIVE for an incredible afternoon of drift training.
