James Deane (born 14 October 1991) is an Irish professional drift driver. He is a 4-time

Formula D Formula DRIFT (also known as Formula D or FD) is an American drifting series, and was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that introduced D1 Grand Prix to the ...

, Drift Allstars and Oman IDC Champion. He has also won multiple National and European titles. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest drift drivers of all time.

Career

Deane began his career in competition drifting in 2006, driving a

Ford Sierra The Ford Sierra is a Mid-size car, mid-size/D-segment, large family car manufactured and marketed by Ford of Europe from 1982–1993. It was designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Bob Lutz (businessman), Robert Lutz and Patrick Le Quément, and was noted for ...

in the Prodrift Junior Championship, finishing third in the series. In 2007, Deane won his first ever professional event in the main Prodrift series at Rosegreen at the age of fifteen, which is believed to have made him the youngest professional drift event winner in the world at the time. The following season, he won both the Irish series and the Prodrift European series, qualifying him to compete in the

Red Bull Drifting World Championship The Red Bull Drifting World Championship is a non-championship all-star drifting contest sponsored by Red Bull energy drink and hosted by IMG and Slipstream Global Marketing, the organizers behind Formula D. The event took place at the Port of Long ...

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Deane won the 2010 Prodrift series whilst also competing in some

events. The following season, he won the Drift Allstars series for the Low Brain Drifters team, with six podiums including four wins. He won the Irish Drift Championship in 2013 and 2015 and from 2014 onwards, won the Drift Allstars European Series for three consecutive years. In October 2016, following his third DA title, it was announced that Deane would return to

for a full campaign in 2017. Deane would pilot a Toyota 2JZ powered Nissan Silvia S15 for the Worthouse drift team alongside teammate Piotr Wiecek. Wiecek would pilot an identical S15 converted to left hand drive. His return to competition in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

was a major success, with him winning the 2017 Formula Drift Championship. James returned to Formula Drift in 2018 alongside Worthouse. He finished the season in 1st Place, successfully defending his title. This would make him the second driver in Formula Drift history to win back-to-back championships, the first being Tanner "The Golden Child" Foust. Deane took first place on the podium at the 2019 Oman Oil Marketing International Drift Championship. Representing Worthouse and Falken, Deane dominated the bracket despite an issue he was having due to a flaw with the rack and pinion in his steering assembly. This win at the Oman Drift Championship gives Deane his thirteenth title win. Having successfully defended his Formula Drift Championship title, James Deane returned for the 2019 season, which would prove to be Deane's toughest Formula D season since his return to the series in 2017. On 19 October 2019 Deane was crowned 2019 Formula Drift Champion for the 3rd year in a row, making him the first driver in the sport's history to pull off a 3-peat. Deane is tied with

Chris Forsberg Christopher Forsberg (born April 6, 1982), is an American Formula D driver from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He competes in the Formula Drift series in his Nissan Z (Z34) for Forsberg Racing, where he is the owner and shop manager. NOS Energy Dri ...

and

Fredric Aasbø Fredric Aasbø (born 18 August 1985) is a professional drifter and stunt driver originally from Siggerud, Norway. He currently competes in the Formula Drift Championship. Aasbø is a three-time Formula Drift champion, having won the title in 2 ...

for most Formula Drift championship titles; However Forsberg's and Aasbø's championships were nonconsecutive, giving reason for many to hail James "The Machine" Deane as the best drifter on the planet. As a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Worthouse Drift Team withdrew from the 2020 Formula Drift championship. In the same statement, it was also announced that James Deane will no longer be competing with Worthouse. On 3 March 2021, Deane announced that he would be competing in the 2021 Russian Drift Series with the AIMOL Drift Team. He would compete alongside teammates Daigo Saito and Charles NG. On 23 February 2023 Vaughn Gittin Jr. announced that Deane would be competing in

2023 as a member of the RTR racing team. He managed to get 5th place overall with 2 3rd place podiums On 1 January 2024, he returned to Formula Drift with RTR team, he also managed to get a win during the first round of Formula Drift in Long Beach, mark his first win in Formula Drift with RTR Team. From October 8, 2023 - August 10, 2024 James Deane had 13 consecutive podiums (longest podium streak in drifting history)

Formula Drift Achievements

* 1 of 3 drivers to qualify with a perfect score of 100 points (

Tanner Foust Tanner Lee Foust (born June 13, 1973) is an American professional racing driver, stunt driver, and television host. He competes in rally, drift, ice racing, time attack, hill climb and rallycross with multiple podium placements, national cham ...

- Justin Pawlak - James Deane) * The first and only driver in the FD's history to pull off a 3-Peat *The first and only 4 time FD Champion

Event wins

Drift Masters wins

Formula Drift wins

Career results

Oman IDC results

Formula Drift results

Drift Masters European Championship/Drift Masters results

World record

On 14 December 2014, Deane and Jordanian drifter Ahmad Daham set a new

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for the world's longest tandem drift, 28.52 kilometres.

Story of starting number 130

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loved racing and his Porsche "Little bastard", on which he died in a car accident, had number 130 on board. James Deane hoped that he could make number 130 more successful.

Personal life

Deane is in a relationship with Becky Evans, an automotive presenter and YouTuber who stars in the

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

series 'Drift Queen'.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deane, James 1991 births Living people Drifting drivers Formula D drivers Irish racing drivers People from Castletownroche Motorsport people from County Cork