Steve Baggsy Biagioni - it’s going to be one of the best Gymkhanas we have ever had

How did your motorsport career start and why did you decide to become a drift driver?  

Well for me motorsport started with Karting. When we were growing up my dad was racing Go-Karts. I always wanted to kind of get into motorsport, and my dad was a bit of a hero for me. When I was old enough my dad took me to a Go-Kart track and that’s where it all started. From there I did a little bit of motocross and then we did a little bit of circuit racing too. Motocross for me was about jumping the highest, but never about being the fastest. Circuit racing was a little boring. I found it to pinpoint accurate and was always too demanding all the time. Every lap had to be perfect. It never really allowed me to express my personality with the car. So one evening I went to a car meeting in a car park on the street. And guys were bringing their modified cars. In came some drift cars and they were doing some donuts. I was like: that looks really cool. They can do whatever they want with cars, modify them, livery, graphics and what they do with a car looks like a lot fun. I looked it up online and saw drifting was a sport and then I bought a car. I started making some changes to it, I did a few practice days, and then eventually entered my first competition. I did pretty good and then it just kind of carried on from there. I started getting better and better and better. From then until now I’ve been around the world and back with drifting. I’ve had some opportunities I don’t think I would ever have doing anything else. Drifting has been my life.

What do you like the most about Drifting? 

The best part is always the driving and working with some really good friends. Being able to travel, see a little bit of the world and obviously the feeling you get when you’re driving the car, when you have a good event, race or lap, when you know you can be pretty happy with how the cars going.

You mentioned motocross; tell us more…

Motocross for me was a lot of fun, but motocross is a lot more dangerous than racing a car and I was always the guy, who wanted to jump the highest, not the fastest, so I always felt like I wanted to make a show or impress everyone. Try and do something different. Drifting allowed me to do that, but probably a little bit safer than doing it on a motorbike. When I was younger my Mom and Dad were worried that I was going to go into motocross or freestyle FMX and then I’ll be breaking my legs, arms. That’s were drifting allowed me to still be me, but maybe in a slightly safer environment. If I had my time again and it was my decision I think I still would have liked to give motocross a bit more of a go.

What‘ s the best thing about Gymkhana GriD from a drivers perspective?

I really enjoy the event for two reasons. One, it is very technical, so it is very challenging for the car and yourself. You have to make sure the car is setup very well. It’s against the clock, but you also have make sure that you don’t risk too much, because if you hit the objects it gives you a time penalty, so it’s kind of a risk for reward kind of situation. You have to make sure you risk as much as possible, but not too much that you don’t screw your run. At the same time it’s a cool track, the layout’s really good, you get to race another guy, you’re trying to beat him and you are racing yourself. That’s really exciting from a drivers perspective.

When you’re driving are you thinking about the race or is your mind blank?

When it comes to Gymkhana I try to map it out in points. So I know that point 1 is get to here on the track, and then I have to get from point 1 to 2, 2 to 3. Then I’m just thinking about getting the car to here. I’m exiting from this point, so I need the car in this position then turn, brake, accelerate, brake, turn. I’m trying to remember everything that we’ve done during practice to get the fastest time, so that we can be super competitive. With drifting you can have a little bit less control, but with Gymkhana you have to be on point every time.

What is your strategy at GRiD this year, and who do you think will win?

It’s a tough one. We’ve been working with a new tire company, so we’re planning to bring them along to Gymkaha GRiD. We’re hoping that with the new tires we’re using we could be really competitive. In 2017 we made Top 8. In 2018 we made Top 4. In 2019 we are hoping we can get to the podium. There’s some really good drivers though. I know that some of the local Polish drivers are entering. I know Daigo Saito is coming back, Luke Woodham will be obviously looking for a good result. He’s got a lot of podiums at Gymkhana GRiD, so he’s one that you can’t rule out. Everybody’s going to be looking at Daigo Saito. He came in last year, first event and he put some really good times down and managed to win the event. It is going to be a challenge to beat him, but at the same time I’ll be interested to see when the final driver results are lined up to see who from Poland is going to be there. If some of the drivers from Drift Masters enter Gymkhana GRiD, I think it is going to be though.

What do you think about Oliver Solberg?

Well unfortunately he’s in 4-wheel drive, so I don’t get to race him, but he’s a good kid. He’s a lot of fun, amazing behind the wheel and he makes me laugh a lot. When we hang out he’s always taking the mickey out of his dad, making jokes. He’s very young, but when you talk to him he actually has an older head on his shoulders.

How do you design your liveries? Where do you find inspiration?

I’m very lucky to have the opportunity to work with some very creative people. Ricky at 13Media has created most of the liveries we’ve done to date. I’m also working with a company called Fleet Livery Solutions. They’ve made all the wraps, all the vinyl, they printed all the designs and they’ve had good input into making the car look really cool and amazing. Going forward we will be working probably with some other people as far as designing the wraps or the designs of the car and just trying to keep changing stuff and making it look fresh and exciting to see.

Who is your motorsport idol?  

When I was growing up my dad was a big fan of MotoGP, so obviously Valentino Rossi being our Italian rider in the series. He was always the most popular. He was maybe an idol for me. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Valentino a few times now at Monza Rally Show. And it was amazing to be able to say hello and take part in the rally. So I suppose when I was growing up and even now Valentino Rossi is an inspiration to being a great rider, but also being really cool on the bike, making sure that everything looked amazing. And I went to a couple of Formula 1 races, when I was younger. Jenson Button from a British F1 driver was a cool figure.

Can you tell us the origin and story of your Italian name?

Biagioni, which is my surname is originally from Italy, from Tuscany. My grandfather was born and raised there. He eventually moved over to England to live and work. My dad lived in England most of his life and I was born in England. We’ve spent a lot of time in Italy, been on many, many, many holidays there to see family and my sister got married there. I’ve never lived there personally, but it’s a very beautiful place. I’m very proud of my surname, it’s very different than most people. It may be a little complicated, because people think I’m Italian.

Do you know Italian?

I can speak a little bit. I can understand more than I can speak. I just don’t go to Italy enough to try and be a little bit more fluent in Italian. If later in life I get the opportunity to learn more Italian I will.

What is your favourite food? 

I suppose when I go to Italy I love spaghetti, especially spaghetti Bolognese. That’s possibly one of my favourite meals. Or seafood. I really love seafood and sushi. I’ve been very lucky to visit Japan many times and being there to eat sushi is incredible. When we went to Gymkhana in South Africa for the last two years, I’ve been able to go and try different meats that they have out there. That’s probably a once in a lifetime experience to be able to go there and try food and, different meats, like a zebra. It was incredible.

How long are you in travel during the year?

I have been travelling since 2011. That was my first drifting event outside of UK. Now it’s kind of like normal, but at the same time I try to remember how lucky we are to get to travel. I would say probably 60% or 70% of the year I’m away, which obviously seems like a lot, but it’s not necessarily a lot when you spend 30% of your life at home.

Which country you visited was the most interesting?

I raced four events in China the year before last. That was interesting. It’s a very, very, very different place than anywhere else in the world I’ve ever visited. I only did one event in China which was in Shanghai, so kind of mainland. Every other event I did was further in, deep, deep China. The deeper you go, the further you go in the weirder it can be. But it’s a very interesting place. I enjoyed it there. I think Japan is one of my favourite places to go. Just to see the culture and see the technology and the food. That was insane. That was a really cool place to go.