Meet British drifting duo Steve ‘Baggsy’ Biagioni and Luke Woodham who have turned their favourite hobby into full-throttle world tour
Monster Energy teammates both have contrasting paths into the underground sport as they now compete around the world together
BRITISH drifting duo Steve "Baggsy" Biagioni and Luke Woodham have taken their passion from the streets of the UK to touring around the world.
The Monster pair now spend most of their time on the road showcasing their talents as the extreme sport continues to grow globally.
Both Baggsy and Woodham discovered their passion for drifting in the streets of England before turning their underground hobbies into dream jobs.
But the two Brits have very contrasting backgrounds when it comes to their route into the sport.
Baggsy comes from a traditional racing family and grew up watching his father race F1 legends Damon Hill and Jonny Herbert in go-karts.
But after going from karting himself to motocross, Baggsy found his calling when drifting recreationally.
He said: “In motocross I came off a few times and I luckily got away with some quite bad accidents and my mum said ‘no more, forget bikes.’
“When I looked at doing something with a car, I didn’t want to do karting, and I just went to a car show and saw drifting for the first time and thought it looked so much fun.
“I knew someone with a drift car and I went along just as a passenger and instantly I was in love.
“I then got a car and jumped on the bandwagon and went to practice days.
“This is where I learnt how cars react when sliding and from here I went into regionals, before going on to win the national and European championship.
“At the time I had an IT job and one day I needed to take make the jump and quit it to drift full time.
"Then I went to do events further afield Abu Dhabi in 2015, Japan in 2014, last year I was in China and then towards the back end of last year I was at Nascar doing it in America.
"It’s been a whirlwind over the last ten years, we’ve never really been seen what’s coming next, I’ve just gone along with the ride and it’s been amazing.”
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But it was a totally different story for his teammate, Woodham – who became a drifting champion in the space of four years.
He eventually made the move behind the wheel after making his own car from scratch, having had jobs as a mechanic and a builder.
And in his own car he learnt the ropes and was persuaded to compete by his best mate, who helped construct the car.
This side project has now turned into Woodham’s livelihood as he tours the world.
Woodham said: “It's been a full snowball affect and a massive blur - it's just taken over my life.
"It's crazy how things pan out and fall into place.
"It's not set in, it was yesterday on a Monday morning I am in Slovenia while people back at home are dragging themselves to work doing a mundane 9am to 5pm day of work.
";So I am really appreciative and thankful for what I am doing."
The next stop for Baggsy is at the Drift Masters GP Round 3 in Torun, Poland while Woodham will be in Lohec, France at the World Rallycross.
