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The Repair Shop star says 'are you kidding me' as he's dealt huge blow
Reach Daily Express | March 24, 2026 6:39 AM CST

Dom Chinea was dealt a huge and devastating blow on the latest episode of Dom Chinea's Cornish Workshop as he attempted drift car racing for the first time.

The Repair Shop star, his wife Maria and their dog Wendy are taking on the adventure of a lifetime as they swap the commuter bustle of Kent for the wild beauty of West Cornwall.The series follows Dom as he carves out a new life in the far west of Cornwall.

During the latest episode, Dom built a drift car with engineer Sam Lovegrove, where they entered into a drift car race. Dom explained: "Today, I'm slightly nervous because Sam has emailed me with a link to a Mazda for sale. An MX5 with the title of 'Let's Go Drifting', which fills me with fear.

"But you know what? I've moved down here, moved down to Cornwall, willing to try new things. Drifting is something I have never done, never tried, and no experience in. But I would actually quite like to give it a go. It's something I'd quite like to learn. So we'll have to see."

Later on, the duo went to view the Mazda MX5, where they bought it and fixed it up. Later in the show, they entered it into a drift racing event.

Dom admitted: "This is not my world at all. It just goes to show being into cars is a very broad category, and this is something I've never experienced before. I am, to say I'm out of my depth here, is an understatement.

"In drift competitions, it's not about who crosses the finish line first, but how well the cars perform on the track. Judges give points for how well drivers control their drifts, or skids, going around the corners. They're looking for speed, and who can do it with style."

However, just minutes into the race, Dom and Sam's car veered off course and crashed into the side. Dom said in a VT: "With our modifications, we're confident our Phoenix is going to fly. The steering, the cornering, the suspension, all working together in perfect harmony. Until it didn't."

Getting out of the vehicle, Sam joked: "That didn't go so well!" to which Dom responded: "Seriously? I didn't even get a go. Are you kidding me? After all that work?" to which Sam pointed out: "I think it'll fix, but not this afternoon, I don't think!"

Speaking in a VT, Dom quipped: "Well, we wanted our car to make an impact", adding: "We started this crazy adventure in the hope we'd meet like-minded petrolheads. I'd say this was mission accomplished."

Talking ahead of the episode, Dom said of the car race: "Sam showed me a Mazda MX5 for sale that we could fix up to try drift racing - something I've never done.

"But we had to change the car quite a bit first - we needed a hydraulic handbrake, and the rear wheels needed to be able to spin, we had to lock them together to both spin at the same time. But that wasn't completely straight forward - the underside was quite rusty."

Dom Chinea's Cornish Workshop is available to watch on U and Channel 4.


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