Drifting, FYI...

It is similar to rally racing, but is done on a closed course and judged on execution and style rather than who finishes the course fastest. Drifting takes all the thrilling moments of traditional motor sports and packs it together into non-stop competition.

Today’s U.S.-based Formula Drift takes the excitement one step further, featuring aggressive side-by-side action as finalists burn up the course two-at-a-time often only inches apart. Drifting pros finesse their cars into spectacular powerslides around a series of corners of a set course as powerful engines roar and the tires bellow smoke.

The driver controls engine power, shifts gears and feathers the brake pedal, while at the same time spinning the steering wheel in a precise fashion from left to right linking corners with pinpoint accuracy. The driver is controlling and maneuvering the car beyond
the limits of the tires’ traction.

Drifting started in Japan approximately 10 years ago. Today, the extreme motorsport is so accepted and popular in the country, that drivers have become recognized celebrities.

In time, drifting evolved into an organized series called the D1 Grand Prix in which top Japanese professional drivers compete in a series of events to determine the best drifter. Amateur drifting events take place in Europe, Australia and in the U.S.

U.S.-based drifting has been an underground sport for the last 10 years but professional drifting has only taken off in the States recently. In Spring 2003, Irvine, Calif.-based Slipstream Global Marketing brought top professional Japanese drivers to the U.S. to participate in an exhibition competition to a sell out crowd at Southern California’s Irwindale Speedway.

Within six months of the exhibition, which was nothing less than an electrifying debut, slipstream Global Marketing, along with Yokohama Tire Corporation as title sponsor, brought the D1 Grand Prix All Star Invitational to the U.S. in its official debut appearance outside of Japan.

The success of these events caused an explosion of interest in mainstream national media and further reinforced the interest and need for a North American competition, and in 2003 Formula Drift was founded by Slipstream to deliver sanctioned competitions of auto-crazed fans across the U.S.

Credits: Kaiser Wilhelm