The Red bull Driftbrothers have certainly carved a name for themselves in Europe throughout 2017. Finishing 1st and 2nd overall in the 2017 King of Europe Drift series would have to be their biggest highlight, however, drifting the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and putting on a display at the Formula One in Austria, are also achievements not to be played down. The brothers, Joe and Eli, are doing big things for the sport of drifting.
Originally from a small town near Stuggart in Germany, they have been drifting for nearly ten years now. Moving forwards, their close-knit team has even larger plans on the horizon to showcase their talent and professionalism to the rest of the world. Until recently, the pair competed while maintaining full time jobs, however, Eli who was a former aerospace engineer, has now started drifting his BMW E30 full time. 

 

Eli’s vehicle is a BMW E30 7.0L V8,  featuring ±610bhp and ±780Nm

 

 

While Joe drives a  custom built Nissan S13 pickup 7.4L V8, featuring ±620bhp and ±850Nm.

 

 

Both cars run Link G4+ engine management systems tuned by Robbie Thornton of Trackday Performance Ltd. Robbie attends all the King of Europe events to ensure the boy’s cars are running perfectly , of which they have a good record. In fact, the Link ECUs and their logging capabilities have prevented quite some potential failures since they have been installed a couple of years ago!

 

We recently caught up with both brothers to hear more about their growing success:

Congratulations on your European Championship results this season!  It must have been a very busy season for you, describe your year for us..

Joe: It has been a crazy year! Our first season as part of the Red Bull family has had it all. We had the privilege to do some amazing stuff – drift the complete Nürburgring Nordschleife right before the start of the 24h race, for example. Or being able to display the sport of Drifting during the FIA Formula 1 Austrian GP. On top of that, we had a very succesful season from an athletic point of view. Winning the King Of Europe championship in an overwhelming manner: With me as champion, my brother Elias as vice champion and the team championship in cooperation with Dutch drift-legend Remmo Niezen. Unbelievable!

 

Who was your strongest competition?

Joe: My brother Eli

Eli: My brother Joe

 

It must be nice to have someone constantly push you along like that. Which was the best event of the season?

Joe: The last race in Greece where we secured all the titles.

Eli: The first Event in Austria – Winning in the home land of Red Bull and having my brother in 2nd has been a dream.

 

What’s next on the agenda for both of you?

Preparing the next season!

 

Do you have any aspirations of competing in other continents in the near future?

We do have big plans with our team 😉

 

In your opinion, what is the most competitive drift series in the world at the moment?

That is really hard to tell, there are quite some out there Formula D, IDC, Drift Masters GP and King of Europe to just name a few of them.

 

What do you love about Link products?

The user interface and the high quality with the countless motorsports features.

 

Who is your tuner?

Robert Thornton from Trackday Performance TDP.ie

 

What are the typical things he does with your cars at the track on a race weekend?

He extensively uses the data logging capabilities of our Link G4+ Thunders to analyze if there is anything not running 100% smoothly.

 

The brothers pictured here with Link ECU CEO Andy Millard, and Robbie Thornton from T.D.P 

 

We can’t wait to hear what the Red Bull Driftbrothers will be up to next year! Stay tuned.