What Happens When Your Drift Car Hits The Wall Going The Wrong Way

What happens when you hit the wall at a short track going the wrong way around the circuit? Uh, it's not great.

This is Chelsea DeNofa running his BMW E46 at Formula Drift New Jersey yesterday at Wall Speedway. Just about an hour south of NYC, it's a third of a mile oval with a 33 degree banking.

DeNofa led in his first run (pictured above), then followed in his second. His first run looked fantastic, but his second caught him out about as poorly as possible.

He clipped the wall, but as the FD announcers pointed out, the metal barriers are set up for cars going the opposite direction. For the FD cars, the barrier is angled like a cheese grater.

It absolutely sucked DeNofa in, bashing his whole driver's side into the metal.

DeNofa, badass that he is, did not stop running the course. First his left rear spun off his car right as he transitioned off the banking, and his left front took a vacation two turns later.

The crowd, of course, loved the whole thing. Nobody seemed to mind that DeNofa left on a flatbed. Drifting on your wheels gets you style points for sure.

These FD cars run such low pressures (15 psi is considered quite conservative) that just about anything will de-bead a tire. Smacking a cheese grater wall certainly doesn't help.

Photo Credits: Raphael Orlove