'I just believed in the dream': Meet the record-breaking Irish drift driver James Deane

Cork man James Deane was just 10-years-old when he was first introduced to the motorsport of drifting, an encounter that ignited a lifelong passion. This, and a lot of hard work, is ultimately what led him to becoming one of the greatest drift drivers of all time. 

Now, at 34-years-old, the Castletownroche native has already cemented his legacy by being a 5-time Formula Drift Champion, 7-time European Champion and a 4-time Oman IDC Champion among others. His success follows years of drift driving, a motorsport which features a high-skill technique where the driver purposely oversteers, with loss of traction, while maintaining control and driving the car through the entirety of a corner or a turn.

After watching his older brother Mike win his first drift competition over 20 years ago, he “fell in love” with the hobby and from there started learning all there was to know about the exhilarating motorsport. 

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James began perfecting his technique as a young teenager in fields, saying it was “massively in the blood” as his dad and uncles used to rally. Surrounded by this, everything clicked when it came to drifting: “I just thought it was the most exciting thing you could do within motorsports.”

(Image by Jordan Butters)

He said, “Once I started competing myself, it came to me very naturally and basically that was the number one focus from that point onwards; trying to be as competitive as I could and just doing everything that revolves around drifting.”

2007 was the first full season James completed in drifting alongside school friends and other under-18 drivers, given it was a popular hobby in the Cork village he grew up in. Starting in the junior class, the then 15-year-old quickly realised that he had developed the skill-set needed to progress further. That same year, he managed to buy a new car and save for the 2007 series where he qualified for his pro-licence. This meant that he was competing against men in their 20s and 30s. 

It was at that moment James realised he could turn his hobby into a career with a lot of hard work: “In my second ever pro event, I managed to win it and then there were a couple of local companies reaching out, offering to support. 

“From that point onwards, it was like, ‘Okay, let's see how far we can take this.’ I was working in the background as much as I could trying to earn money at whatever jobs I could find, all revolving around cars, and between a few sponsors and that, I realised, ‘Okay, there is a chance that this could one day become a full time thing,’” said the now-champion. 

One drift driver in particular inspired him: Darren McNamara, who was competing in the USA Formula Drift Championship and getting paid to professionally drift drive. This was James' “ultimate dream” and so, he kept on working and securing better results. 

(Image by Jordan Butters)

This hard work began to pay off in 2008 when, at 16-years-old, he won both the Irish Championship and the European Championship. More opportunities then began to open up for him. 

In the years that followed, James’ life completely changed: “Moving into say, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, I kept on getting really good results and winning a few championships here and there. 2012 was my last time working a full time normal job and from 2013 onwards, I went out on my own and I've been doing it full time since then.

“It's been a wild journey, from even those early years and doing whatever you could to make it happen, to make every race.”

Despite the fact that drift driving is “not the cheapest hobby,” it became evident to both himself and others that nothing was going to stop him from achieving his ultimate goal.

Determined to be successful, James stated, “I kind of convinced my parents and the people around me that one day we'd make it. I just believed in the dream and just worked around the block. I was determined to try to make it, I knew I had the skills and it was just a case of finding the right opportunity.”

(Image by Jordan Butters)

What first started off with just his friends and family helping him out in their spare time with his cars and events has turned into a full-time business for the Cork man, who now employs a staff of four at James Deane Motorsports, which doubles as his race team and a workshop specialising in high end drift builds.

The group, including the drift driver himself, build, run and maintain his own competition cars along with building cars for customers. The team also supply pro competition vehicles and rent them out to drivers. 

Going back to the very beginning, James’ biggest dream was to one day drive full-time for Formula Drift in America and in 2017, this became reality for the determined young man. 

Here, James teamed up with Worthouse drift team, from Poland, to build a car in Ireland for Formula Drift in Long Beach, California and from there, managed to win the first event. Just a few months later, he took home his first ever US championship, calling this period in his career “mind-blowing.” 

(Image by Paddy McGrath)

“I feel like people in Europe and Ireland really believed, ‘Okay, James could really shake things up here’ but I think it was a shock for the Americans because it was such a jump, you know, not having the experience at all the tracks and it's a new team and new cars and just a lot of new challenges, but we ended up winning the championship by a decent amount. Then in 2018, we came back and we won the championship again and in 2019 we were back and won it again,” he said. 

After being crowned Formula Drift Champion for the third year in a row, this made him the first driver in drifting history to win three consecutive titles. Reflecting, the record-breaking motorist says, “Sometimes it's hard for me to even believe it still.”

A full-circle moment which made the Corkonian realise just how far he’s come is accredited to his father, Mike, who in the 70s and 80s specialised in building Ford Escort rally cars. James himself started off his career with a Ford Sierra and now, he drives brand new Mustangs for Ford Racing in the United States and Europe. 

He is the first ever driver in Ireland to have a manufacturer supporting his drift programme. 

(Image by Jordan Butters)

With James’ first competition of the year taking place this coming May in Italy, he and the team are already preparing. From rebuilding this year’s car, making some performance improvements as well as little upgrades, he said there's months of prepping in the cars alone, and now it is even more heightened, as for the first time, they are also running a second driver. 

Commenting on this, James said, “So we're just preparing two cars, getting everything organised with our partners for the year, like sponsors and yeah, just head down getting everything organised. For my own side of things, I'm involved in the cars themselves but also you're trying to get yourself into gear for the season as well. So preparing as best you can to be ready, mentally, physically, everything like that. You'd be kind of doing your best and try to get some seat time, as in practice, ahead of the season. It's just all trying to be as organised and as prepared as you possibly can for any situation.” 

Between the upcoming European and US championships, James is non-stop daily as during the day he deals with things on the European side and then could be up late at night checking in with the team based in the US. 

(Image by Paddy McGrath)

He makes it clear that despite the gruelling work schedule, he has absolutely no complaints: “It's beyond the full-time job really, but we just live and breathe it. At the end of the day, I'm very lucky to be living my childhood dream, but it doesn't come easy. There's a hell of a lot of hard work and determination needed to be able to pull off what we do."

In 2026, James and his team are travelling to seven different countries for the European Championships where he may employ over 10 staff per event to help run the two cars as well as a truck driver and sorting flights, accommodation and food for all involved.

Despite the stress, he is grateful, saying: “There's a lot in it but I'm very lucky to have a really good team. The team is built off of friends and family so I know everyone for years. We're a really tight knit crew and it's great that we can all be on this journey together.” 

(Image by Jordan Butters)

Unsurprisingly, the 34-year-old doesn't have much spare time on his hands outside of work but does “really enjoy” getting to go home and catch up with friends and family. 

Despite his whole life revolving around some form of motorsports, he says a small thing he really enjoys doing is “coming back to my own house and just cutting my grass and unwinding” but he’s aware his position is “definitely a dream situation but you can't even describe how much hard work goes into it to make it all possible.” 

Looking forward to the future, James and his team are now gearing up for this year’s Formula Drift and Drift Masters events, where he is once again aiming to take home those championships.