Drifting is a sport for those who love the adrenaline rush of a power-packed engine steered to accuracy with the tyres smoking at the curves, putting together a show that spectators are thrilled to watch. Taking this thrill to the next-level is when the wheels are taken drifting on ice… and this is something every auto fanatic would wish to try.
Perhaps one of the best ways to show-off a high-performance car’s prowess on ice is to drift with it. For those not versed in the automotive lingo, drifting is when a driver oversteers and causes the back wheels of the car to loose-traction, finding the backend out. What better way to flex automotive muscle than to sling thousands of pounds of growling engine around an icy corner? It also happens to be just plain exciting for passengers and spectators alike. The sight of it gets the blood pumping. It is an art, however, which requires a particular skill, and lots of practice. Cruising around on the ice track is both incredible and numbing.
History of Drifting
Just like everything else, the history of drifting has spurned many different versions, some more likely than others. Pinpointing exactly where it exactly began is as easy as finding a needle in a haystack, especially when you consider that, technically, the technique of drifting has been around since about the mid-1950s.
What we do know about its history is that Japanese played a very important role in ushering the technique’s popularity, so much that it has become one of the most popular forms of automotive competition. Unlike other forms of racing, drifting is different in that it’s not so much about who comes in first as it is about who can smoke their tyres the most.
Drifting Competition
In drifting competition, the most important things are the line, angle, speed and show factor. For the uninitiated, the line is pre-determined by the judges before a competition with the drifters scoring points based on whether they take the correct line. Needless, to say, as with any other competition involving high powered cars, the faster a car goes around a turn, the rosier he smells in front of the judges. Then there’s the show factor which, in essence, is arguably the most important part of drifting. This involves the amount of smoke the tyres burn, how a car navigates around a track in the most daredevil of ways, and how the car reacts to the car’s performance.
Big Today, Bigger Tomorrow
While drifting doesn’t have the grandeur of Formula One, it’s popularity has spurned a generation of upstart drifters practicing their latest hooning skills in every corner of the world. It’s hard to believe that the first organized drifting competition only happened a decade ago, and the sport’s appeal not just to the viewer, but to young racers, is living proof that drifting is a sport that’s yet to hit its full potential.
From humble beginnings in the Land of Rising Sun to the worldwide phenomenon that it is today, drifting has become a popular sport for millions of fans who take great satisfaction in watching smoke come out of the tyres…
