Keep Drifting Fun

I love goin to autocrosses and a lot of other younger guys and girls around my area go too.

That's not even a sentence...

I like the idea of drifting. I've never been to an event, but I suspect I wouldn't like it. Idiots hooning on public roads before/after the event? No bueno. Mouthbreathers on course with their i-Phones out? Don't like. Cars "sliding sideways at 90 miles per hour" without rollcages/window nets/fire safety? Think ima puke. (before I get flamed, all of these WERE in the video, and seemed to be condoned)

I want to like it. I really do. If someone were to make it a legitimate motorsport by regulating it and making it safe, I'm in. Hell, I'd set a car up myself. Until then, however, I tend to view it a car-related extension of the hipster movement. I'm all for grassroots motorsports, but won't actively support drifting without some regs.

To be fair, drifting organizations have helped make the events much safer than they were when the "craze" first started.

I first witnessed drifting in Vegas just after the SEMA show in 2002. There was an exhibition out at the speedway where a few pros from Japan were giving test rides. The event went well.....until the organizers left. Once the "man" was gone, a couple of the drifters took turns "drifting" doing donuts around a group of youngsters. The kids in the center were reaching out and smacking the car as it went around. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I don't care how talented you are. Diffs break, tires go flat, mechanical problems happen. All it would have taken was one broken part--- and many kids could have gotten hurt or killed.

I competed in a NASA sponsored drift event in Charlotte back around that same time. While the organization was great, an idiot kid decided "drifting" his mom's Accord in the parking lot was a good idea. He nearly hit one official, and caused another injury as his car smacked the camera hanging around the NASA official's neck, and it came around to hit him in the head--- he was that close to hitting the guy!

I like that people enjoy drifting, but clearly tighter organization / regulation is essential for it to survive. If the drift scene really cares about the future of their events, they will step up to the plate, admit their past mistakes and make it clear to everyone that these kinds of shennanigans will have a zero-tolerance policy. If they spread that message far and wide, more folks would take them seriously. I hope they do.

I still like how some like to come in here and just bitch about things unrelated to the topic

Formula Drift, D1, European Drift, etc, all those have roll cages and all the safety stuff. What you saw in the video was pro and pro am and drivers in Formula Drift, which they have the safety stuff. The others were just regular people, and they still had belts and a helmet.......which at an autocross or track day, not everyone has roll cages and safety nets, etc. And on organization, Club Loose? the one that was in the video, is organized. Formula Drift? organized. D1? organized. European Drift? organized.

And I guess some you have NEVER done anything on the streets in you cars, when you were young.....NEVER and I don't see the problem with iphones, they weren't using them when they were running or anything.

I feel like an old guy when I say this but...I remember back in the day when drifting was still underground and a bunch of us would go out to industrial parks and back roads late at night and tear it up for hours without being disturbed. After the sport gained popularity most places got shut down after some kid would have a bad wreck out there.

I honestly don't really pay that much attention to the scene these days, I think I've seen one too many multi colored 240s with E36 M3 hanging from the tow hook and big glittery shift knobs...

That being said I still enjoy to watch it and can appreciate the skill professional drivers have! I went to the JGTC and D1 event in Fontana back in 2004 and both groups were absolutely amazing to see in person, especially JGTC...those cars are amazing...

My safety is as I perceive it. Yours is as you perceive it. If you or the next guy is comfortable racing in XYZ conditions, cool beans. Not my job to tell you "that's wrong, you need to do it this way or its not safe". I just won't do it. As I perceive the safety at drifting events, from that video and others, I don't think I want to be at an event as a driver or spectator.

I don't like that the nannies have perceived drifting as unsafe, and subsequently generalize that lack of safety to apply to all motorsports. I understand you want to have fun and I respect that this is your outlet, but please try not to give the safety nazis ammunition with which they can attack motorsports in general. That's my rationale behind the safety troll.

That's about all I've got to say about it. Cool video, looked very well produced. Does look like lots of fun.

Question:

At the location I run AutoX's, the management (airport) specifically does not allow drifting. I am wondering why this is?

I would say it might be the smoke (could be mistaken as a fire), but they do run a stunt training type school there, and it has to make some smoke.

I have done some pretty good drift action there, but with the engine hanging off the back of the car, I have a built in excuse

Seems like a lot of locations are having one horrible experience from a drift event (littering, on-street hoonage, noise complaints) and are banning drifting. There was a thread in the GRM section on that not long ago.

NickF40 wrote: And I guess some you have NEVER done anything on the streets in you cars, when you were young.....

Some of us old farts dislike people hooning on the streets because of past experiences when we were young. When I was in college, one of my buddies ended up spending five years in prison after two people were killed by the car he was driving. PM me if you need all the gory details of what happened and why, but the practical upshot is that his experience totally soured me on the idea of driving fast on the street. Keep it at a sanctioned event at a proper site with designated safety officers on the premises.

Within an hour and a half of me, there are facilities like that to drag, drift, time attack, road race, circle track on dirt, circle track on asphalt, or dodge cones in a parking lot. There's no need - or excuse - for driving like an idiot on open public roads.

CLNSC3 wrote: I feel like an old guy when I say this but...I remember back in the day when drifting was still underground and a bunch of us would go out to industrial parks and back roads late at night and tear it up for hours without being disturbed. After the sport gained popularity most places got shut down after some kid would have a bad wreck out there. I honestly don't really pay that much attention to the scene these days, I think I've seen one too many multi colored 240s with E36 M3 hanging from the tow hook and big glittery shift knobs... That being said I still enjoy to watch it and can appreciate the skill professional drivers have! I went to the JGTC and D1 event in Fontana back in 2004 and both groups were absolutely amazing to see in person, especially JGTC...those cars are amazing...

My story is a lot like that as well. I was rocking an S14 back in '04 or so and doing the industrial park stuff, as well as a few Just Drifts and stuff. Never was any good at it, though. I went to all the D1s and a bunch of FD events, as well as that JGTC event. The JGTC race was awesome, I'll never forget the noise that the Amemiya FD made, like no other car I've ever heard.

I came up in the canyons as a driver, and I knew a ton of the people who were the "core" of drifting and all that. I never liked the culture much, and a lot of the guys were way too serious about their image and not nearly serious enough about safety or professionalism. I got kicked off one of the big drifting forums for arguing with a bunch of guys who were whining about having to wear harnesses and helmets at the track. Some of the guys were cool, though, and it's really weird to think that the same dudes who I used to hang out with at the top of mountains in the dark are now "pro".

The biggest thing that I like about drifting is that it's the only form of motorsport where an amateur with a low budget can really become a professional if they're good. Too bad I'm not really into driving cars sideways.

I enjoyed drifting events at Thunderhill. For the most part, I felt they were well run. I didn't totally fit with the crowd, but was pretty well welcomed anyway. I wasn't interested and didn't totally get the whole "hella flush" thing and zip-tying on ugly body kits that constantly get ripped off while drifting. (How the heck does a side skirt that doesn't match the rest of the car supposedly make it look better?)

The first couple of events where they opened up the full track to drifters were a bit interesting. I got irritated that people were either not watching, or not paying attention to flaggers. Thankfully the guy coordinating the event had a lot of track experience and appreciated when I brought my concerns about that to him. He cracked down a bit and things seem to have gotten significantly better. Although, drifting still leaves the track a mess from all the people going off and dragging dirt and rocks back onto the track.

I do know that when they have competitions, even for the amateur and Pro-am stuff, they have some pretty well established safety rules. I don't know them all, but they're pretty well in line with time trials if you're doing solo drifting, and require a certain amount of cage if you're going to be doing any tandem drifting at speed. (I'm pretty sure it's something like, braced rollbar and door bars, and a fire extinguisher, minimum.)

Drifting competitions are a lot of fun to watch.

As for the crowd. I was not quite "one of them" since I was the track-day "grip" guy in the hella-functional Miata. Even still, I was pretty well welcomed, and got some good tips from more experienced drifters. Seemed to me that the more serious and experienced drifters had a lot more respect for me and my "grip" skills and knowledge than the more amateur people.

nice, guys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_m6ITXvpU&feature=related

and with other racing series being so serious, it's nice to have fun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5OkOza9bAU

That video was a lot like real life.

The drifting was awesome, the music annoyed me(This is my fault), and I loathe the crowd(commenters).

I remember when drifting ,before it was called drifting, was just us rednecks fish tailing F-bodies and Novas around.

or guys in Cavaliers and Escorts in the forests in the 60's and 70's in rally

Grizz yeah, you know!

Drift events attract more cute young women than auto-x. Clearly, they know something we do not.

Salanis wrote: Drift events attract more cute young women than auto-x. Clearly, they know something we do not.

So girls are clearly attracted to the handbrake turn.

93EXCivic wrote:

Salanis wrote: Drift events attract more cute young women than auto-x. Clearly, they know something we do not.

So girls are clearly attracted to the handbrake turn.

Didn't top gear establish that nothing impresses young women more than a well executed handbrake?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mopar3ddxOM

can't argue with that!!

NickF40 wrote: or guys in Cavaliers and Escorts in the forests in the 60's and 70's in rally Grizz yeah, you know!

They had Cavaliers in the 60s and 70s?

In reply to EvanB:

Vauxhall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71vtrFLXlMg&feature=related

or Vauxhall Chevette's, whichever you prefer