# James Deane (drift driver)

James Deane (born 14 October 1991) is an Irish professional drift driver. He is a 4-time Formula D, Drift Allstars and Oman IDC Champion. He has also won multiple National and European titles. He is widely regarded as the greatest drift driver of all time.

## Career

Deane began his career in competition drifting in 2006, driving a Ford Sierra 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 in Long Beach, California.
Deane won the 2010 Prodrift series whilst also competing in some Formula D 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 Formula D 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 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 and Fredric Aasbø 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 Formula D 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 8th 2023 - August 10th 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 - 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

| # | Event | Season | Car |
| 1 | Round 3, Stadion im. Kazimierza Górskiego | 2016 | Nissan 180SX |
| 2 | Round 9, Gdańsk | 2016 | Nissan 200SX |
| 3 | Round 11, Stadion im. Kazimierza Górskiego | 2016 | Nissan 200SX |
| 4 | Round 1, Stadion im. Kazimierza Górskiego | 2017 | Nissan 200SX |
| 5 | Round 3, Bikernieki Race Track | 2018 | Nissan 200SX |
| 6 | Round 4, MotoArena Toruń | 2018 | Nissan 200SX |
| 7 | Round 5, Hockenheimring | 2018 | Nissan 200SX |
| 8 | Round 6, Mondello Park | 2018 | Nissan 200SX |
| 9 | Round 5, Ferropolis | 2019 | BMW E92 |
| 10 | King of Riga, Bikernieki Race Track | 2020 | BMW E92 |
| 11 | Round 2, Mondello Park | 2024 | Nissan S14.9 |

### Formula Drift wins

| # | Event | Season | Car | Team |
| 1 | LBH | 2017 | Nissan S15 | Worthouse Drift Team |
| 2 | ATL | 2017 | Nissan S15 | Worthouse Drift Team |
| 3 | SEA | 2017 | Nissan S15 | Worthouse Drift Team |
| 4 | TEX | 2017 | Nissan S15 | Worthouse Drift Team |
| 5 | WNJ | 2018 | Nissan S15 | Worthouse Drift Team |
| 6 | EVS | 2018 | Nissan S15 | Worthouse Drift Team |
| 7 | WWT | 2019 | Nissan S15 | Worthouse Drift Team |
| 8 | LBH | 2024 | Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D | RTR Motorsports |
| 9 | ENG | 2024 | Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D | RTR Motorsports |
| 10 | WWT | 2024 | Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D | RTR Motorsports |
| 11 | IRW | 2024 | Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D | RTR Motorsports |

## Career results
### Oman IDC results

| Year | Team | Car | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pos. |
| 2018 | Falken Tire | Nissan S14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1st |
| 2019 | Falken Tire | Nissan S14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1st |
| 2020 | Falken Tire | Nissan S14 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 1st |
| 2024 | Fmic.ae | Nissan S14.9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1st |

### Formula Drift results

| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pos. | Points |
| 2010 | Falken Tire | Nissan S14 | LBH Top 8 | ATL | WTS | EVS | LVS Top 32 | SON Top 8 | IRW Top 16 | | 24th | 202 |
| 2017 | Worthouse Drift Team | Nissan S15 | LBH 1 | ORL 9 | ATL 1 | NJ 5 | CAN 3 | SEA 1 | TEX 1 | IRW 3 | 1st | 651 |
| 2018 | Worthouse Drift Team | Nissan S15 | LBH 4 | ORL 2 | ATL 6 | WNJ 1 | EVS 1 | GAT 6 | TEX 2 | IRW 9 | 1st | 595 |
| 2019 | Worthouse Drift Team | Nissan S15 | LBH 6 | ORL 11 | ATL 3 | WNJ 3 | EVS 2 | WWT 1 | TEX 2 | IRW 3 | 1st | 565 |
| 2023 | RTR Motorsports | Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D | LBH 6 | ATL 7 | ORL 7 | ENG 4 | WWT 18 | EVS 3 | UTA 9 | IRW 3 | 5th | 413 |
| 2024 | RTR Motorsports | Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D | LBH 1 | ATL 3 | ORL 2 | ENG 1 | WWT 1 | EVS 9 | UTA 4 | IRW 1 | 1st | 666 |
| 2025 | RTR Motorsports | Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-D | LBH ? | ATL ? | ORL ? | ENG ? | WWT ? | EVS ? | UTA ? | ? ? | | |

### Drift Masters European Championship/Drift Masters results

| Year | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pos. | Points |
| 2018 | Nissan 200SX | POL1 2 | HUN 3 | LAT 1 | POL2 1 | GER 1 | IRL 1 | 1st | 591 |
| 2019 | BMW E92 | AUT 2 | FRA 5 | POL 5 | LAT 17 | GER 1 | IRL 6 | 1st | 381 |
| 2020 | BMW E92 | LAT 1 | | | | | | 1st | |
| 2021 | Nissan S14.9 | AUT1 | AUT2 | LAT1 5 | LAT2 3 | | | 9th | 128 |
| 2022 | Nissan S14.9 | IRL 3 | AUT 5 | SWE 4 | LAT 2 | GER 17 | POL 3 | 4th | 373 |
| 2023 | Nissan S14.9/BMW E92 | IRL 5 | SWE | FIN | LAT 7 | GER | POL | 23rd | 104 |
| 2024 | Nissan S14.9 | ESP | IRL 1 | FIN 3 | LAT 2 | HUN 17 | POL 2 | 3rd | 409 |

## World record

On 14 December 2014, Deane and Jordanian drifter Ahmad Daham set a new Guinness World Record for the world's longest tandem drift, 28.52 kilometres.

## Story of starting number 130

Popular actor from Los Angeles James Dean 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 series 'Drift Queen'.