What is Drifting

Drifting is one of the greatest auto sports ever created. If you have never heard of drifting back home before coming to Japan; by the time you get back, it should be popular. So you ask what is Drifting, why is it so great, and where did it begin?

First off, drifting is getting your car sideways down a road. So what do I mean by getting a car sideways down a road? Basically drifting is the controlled loss of traction. Although the car may look as though it is out of control, a good drifter will be in control of his car at all times. So in essence a good drifter has the ability to take five or six opposing turns without having traction at any point in time. Good drifters take their cars upwards of 80mph and sway the car from side to side at angles of 45degrees or greater.

There are basically two kinds of drifts, there is a straightaway drift and there is a corner drift. Often a straightaway drift is combined with a corner drift. So is drifting illegal? Yes and no. It's kind of like a don't ask don't tell thing. The Kesatsu (police) usually ignore it unless it is done in a public area. The docks which is a very popular drifting spot is about half a mile from a police station but they very rarely bother coming down and passing out ticketsSo why is this so cool you may ask? For starters, it?s a sport that was started in and mastered in Japan.

(Mr. Keiichi Tsuchiya)

Drifting has many different roots and similarities with other motor sports such as rally racing, auto cross, and any other high speed racing. So some might say that drifting never began in Japan, but it definitely developed here into what it is today. One of the pioneers of the sport is Keiichi Tsuchiya. Back in 1977 Keiichi began his racing career driving many different cars in amateur racing series events. Later Keiichi was picked up to drive the ADVAN sponsored AE86/1984 Corolla GT-S. During many races on a downhill corner he would drift the car and carry a better corner speed than his competitors. This technique is what made him the Drift King.

Drifting a car through a corner is not the fastest way around most turns, any race car driver will tell you strait out. Although it is not always faster to drift through a corner, Keiichi was able to use positions on the track that no one else in the race could. This helped to prove his style of driving. Along with improving his ranking in races, Keiichi?s style helped his reputation to grow. He is a racecar driver now and still takes to the mountains for illegal racing this also made his reputation grow.So where do these Drifters drift you ask? Why have I never seen or heard of then? In Japan the first and probably the most popular is in the mountains (Touge). Drifters flock to them because they are relatively desolate with few people and they have perfect groups of S turns to test a drifter?s abilities. The second is the docks, which are usually deserted of cars and people late at night. It is also done in isolated parking lots. I know in Kobe, the docks are a very popular place for drifting. I am not sure but I would think the same is true for the docks near Tokyo. This is where drifters learn or warm up for the mountains. Last but not least are the circuits. This is where competitions are held and contestants are judged on a specific group of turns on a 100 point scale. Circuits are very popular but are usually only open one day a week (Sunday or Saturday) and you have to pay to get in. In Japan there are over twenty different circuits scattered all over Japan. So can you drift with any kind of car? Technically you can drift with any car, but it?s mostly done with rear wheel drive cars. The reason being that rear wheel cars are better balanced for the swaying motion of drifting. Also having a rear wheel powered car, you are able to add power to the rear thus adding to or reducing your slide when needed.

(Keiichi Tsuchiya with his Honda NSX)

The following is a list of cars that are some of the most popular drifting cars: 1986 Toyota Corolla/AE86/Trueno/Levin, the Nissan Silvia S13 and S14, the Nissan 180SX/240SX, related mechanically to the Silvia, the only difference is in the body style and the fact that is lighter and has a better front/rear balance ratio, the Mazda FC3S RX-7, and lastly Nissan Skyline GTS-T. There are many other great cars that are used for drifting, but I want to keep the list short for the sake and simplicity of this article. I could go on and on about this topic, but like the saying goes ?seeing is believing.? So please search the net. I will list some popular sights that you can get a better idea of what drifting is. There are also numerous videos and magazine you can check out. The best videos and magazines out there are Options, Options 2, and Drift Tengoku (Drift Heaven). Car Boy video and magazine is also pretty good. I would say the best way to experience drifting without actually going to the track would be through a video.How to start Drifting...???There are two ways to start a drift. The first is the clutching technique. When approaching a turn the driver will push in the clutch and shift his car into second gear. Then rev the engine up to around 4000 - 5000 rpm (it all depends all the model of the car being used) and then slightly turn away from the turn and then cut back towards it hard while at the same time popping the clutch and causing the rear wheels to spin. At this point the drifter has a loss of traction and is beginning to slide around the curve.

Now comes the hard part. You have to hold the drift until the next turn. To do this you must keep your foot on the accelerator while at the same time adjusting your car with the steering wheel so you don't spin out. It's not as easy as it sounds. Then as the drifter reaches the end of the turn and approaches the next turn which is in the opposite direction he must cut thewheel in that direction and in some cases, if the previous drift was to slow and they start to regain traction, they must pop the clutch again to get the wheels spinning. And that is how you drift a rear wheel drive car.The second technique is used by a few drifters in rear wheel drives, but is the only way you can really drift a front wheel drive. You have to use the side brake. A front wheel drive can not whip it's tail out because the tires are being driven in the front as opposed to the rear. So when approaching a turn you pull the side brake to cause traction loss. And the rest is pretty much the same except that it's much harder to take more than one turn with a front wheel driver.