Your thoughts on drifting ...

What do you guys think? Valid car control exercise? Acceptable "professional" motorsport? Something for kids to do to be cool? Over sensationalized? Causing too many dumb teenagers to crash 240s?

My understanding is that the original purpose of drifting was to open new passing opportunities on the track. It started with Japanese GT drivers ... they could enter a corner faster after/during a pass and then drift to maintain/gain position. This lost speed in the next straight, but allowed for the pass and also a sort of "psyche out" throwing the driver you've passed off his line.

I've heard so many stories about this ... "Drifting was invented in the mountains of Japan," "It's the fastest way to take a corner." All rubbish. If a revolution of the tire doesn't propel the car forward then it is wasted. Drifting is never the fastest way to take real corners on a real road/track. I say "real" because gymkhana is the exception.

Now, there is this whole underground "drifting scene" in urban areas and the professional drifting circuits. I'm sort of on the fence about it all. I think drifting is sort of an art and takes skill and concentration to do well ... because of this I can accept the pro drifting scene. It's over glamorized, but what pro motorsport isn't?

But this urban drifting scene I don't get ... kids get beat up S13's (if they're lucky), mount crappy all seasons and do donuts and call this drifting. The few that do understand what drifting actually is (requires an intended path) may pull off a few decent slides and then roll in to a ditch. Who's paying for this crap? Parents who are afraid to tell the kids "no?"

Anyway, what do you guys think. This is completely up for discussion.

I could have at least spelled "thoughts" correctly ...

<-- n00b

i dont think any thing that is judged as being a true sport. i think it is fun and would love to get paid to do it.

Well, drifting can be likened to gymnastics ... it's not getting from A to B, but how you get from A to B. It's subjective, yes. I would call gymnasts athletes, but gymnastics could be debatable as a sport. Sort of a fuzzy line ... just like drifting.

I like drifting, but i know its high maintenance on your car....how many diffs they replace in a year?......how many tires?.......how many fenders?.......how many control arms replaced?......coilovers?.........not to mention if you total your car....what i'm saying is it seems like the ONLY way to really get the most out of drifting is if you have someone with disposable income like say a sponsor.

drifting does teach you a lot of things and i do recommend it for anyone who wants to get in racing seriously to use it as a stepping stone

reasons being:


1) Reaction Time: i was a "drifter" from about 2000-2007. it did help my reaction time immensely

2) mentality: any good driver isnt thinking about just the corner he is in. he is thinking about the next few corners ahead, what gear he wants to be in and how much throttle he intends to use. drifting is a good learning experience in this aspect.

3) crash avoidance.: if you can drift a car well. your are more likely to get yourself out of a hairy situation in one piece. i am living proof of that...

i help run drift411.com so if you have any more questions on drifting. check it out. i am "keepitsideways" on there

i have too much to say about this to even start

i liken drifting to figure skating, not a sport to me. I was drifting before I knew what drifting was, its how my dad taught me to drive.

i agree with your points TT, except reaction time, I don't agree with that, it may help, but there are tons of other things you can do to increase your reACTION TIME

Wangan_X wrote:

i liken drifting to figure skating, not a sport to me. I was drifting before I knew what drifting was, its how my dad taught me to drive.

i agree with your points TT, except reaction time, I don't agree with that, it may help, but there are tons of other things you can do to increase your reACTION TIME

thanks man. in rebuttal to your reaction time statement though.. tandem drifts, faints (flea flicks), shift locks, clutch kicks all require excellent reaction time..

i understand that, i think i misread your post, i thought you typed it is the best way to up your rt.

Wangan_X wrote:

i understand that, i think i misread your post, i thought you typed it is the best way to up your rt.

no worries. i think that formula d does drifting no real justice. the original japanese D1 is a spectacle to be held though. monkey magic nomu-ken is one of the moste talented drivers i have ever seen. the list goes on and on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmsLG1Ngb3M

NoB is a great driver too, but, they got their start on the touge. doing grip and then as they increased their speeds they got faster, they gradually over powered their tires, and drifting came around, but watching some of these guys in d1 or anything. and then watching some japanese mtn drifters and its considerably different

my real problem with drifting is well, a big part of it is luck

that and alot of professional drifters don't make great road racers. the arguement could go on forever, drift v grip.

I will say most drifters are much better than traditional drivers in the rain though

Wangan_X wrote:

NoB is a great driver too, but, they got their start on the touge. doing grip and then as they increased their speeds they got faster, they gradually over powered their tires, and drifting came around, but watching some of these guys in d1 or anything. and then watching some japanese mtn drifters and its considerably different

guichi got his start on touge, and i agree. mountain drifters are way different. there is alot more at risk for them than bumping another car or body damage. it was big in haruna and that has some of the most unforgiving touge's..

don'tcha mean Akina

myogi and iro are much mo harder

Wangan_X wrote:

don'tcha mean Akina

lol i was trying to avoid that reference. maybe but haruna has the steeper cliffs in alot of places , what about irohazaka yo! endless hairpins...meh its the sweeping corners that get ya.. slide out a little and earn a paint trade with a gaurd rail. they can be hard to judge entry speed in. hairpins are "OMG BRAKES DOWNSHIFT MAYBE SOME EBRAKE while steering THROTTLE GO" were sweeping corners can trick you into misjudge your entry speed. i guess i am saying that with a hairpin your less likely to let your guard down and come in too hot. ill admit i have lost a few bumpers in my day.. never on a hairpin though. it was always pushing the limits on the long corners.. what we call learning experiences..lol


*kills himself..doesnt deserve to live after saying that..**

iro is irohazaka, did you mean iro up or down, down is just hairpins, boring, iro up is hella awesome though

and I actually meant usui not myogi... its fairly light

Wangan_X wrote:

iro is irohazaka, did you mean iro up or down, down is just hairpins, boring, iro up is hella awesome though

and I actually meant usui not myogi... its fairly light

up is tricky.. you make a point. . and im not speculating. i have actually seen them IRL. oh god usui **shudders**

i has also... i didn't push on those though

I really wanna go back, but im not gonna reup just to do it

I still Love his 4dr Skyline...It's timeless

I like drifting. Mainly because I couldn't afford amateur rally circuits, which is why I got interested in the drifting thing. I am in the middle between road racing/touge stuff and drifting stuff.

If I had the money I'd get serious into the rally stuff because I think you need the biggest pair of balls from here to hell to drive through a dark icy forest going 90MPH.

Nascar can't compare. It's a controlled environment.


When you are in the wilderness, anything goes.

rally isn't that expensive, no more than a track day or two...

yeah but fixing your car after you hit something or to maintain it would be higher.