When I was growing up, I was taught that there were three subjects never to bring up at social events, as discussing them would inevitable result in an argument with neither side having changed their opinion. What are these three subjects you may ask? Religion, politics, and drifting.
Now, we’ve all heard not to talk about the first two subjects in mixed company, but if the “sport” of drifting isn’t yet on your list of taboo subjects, try this quick test for me: The next time you’re hanging out with your buddies that are gearheads, bring up the subject and see what happens next. If it’s a large enough group, I’ll bet that you’ll be surprised as to some of the people who you’d swear would be vehemently against drifting that secretly love it, while the ones that you thought would be fans are now throwing beer cans at you and threatening bodily harm if dare you bring up the subject again.
While you’re now thinking, “Hmm, loud obnoxious imports with crazy paint schemes that don’t actually race but just ‘figure skate’ around a track. I’ll bet Nutting eats this stuff up“. Well, I’ll admit that I’m not totally sold on the whole drifting culture, but after I actually started watching videos of professional drifting (Formula Drift, Gatebil events) and not just a bunch of clowns in beat up old Hondas hitting curbs on the street, I realized that maybe there’s more to drifting than you read about on the internet, and without a doubt I’m planning on hitting up a Formula Drift event sometime this year to solidify my opinion on the subject once and for all. Just like your local bracket racing can’t compare to Top Fuel, professional drift cars, their drivers, and the events themselves are nothing like the “drifting” videos that you normally see in youTube compilations.
Still think drifting is lame? Well, like those other topics that we’ve learned not to talk about, I’m probably not going to change your mind through this blog item, but do me a favor and watch the video below before cementing your opinion on the subject. This video was filmed last fall at one of the 2013 Gatebil events in Europe, and I’ve got a feeling that more than a few of you may dig it.
Then again, if an automotive event that features a wide variety of vehicles at a gorgeous track, amazing car control by talented drivers, and a fun and enthusiastic crowd isn’t your style, there’s always NASCAR…
CLICK BELOW TO WATCH A VIDEO FROM ONE OF THE 2013 GATEBIL DRIFTING EVENTS
If folks want to tear their tires up sliding their cars around in circles that’s OK with me. I’ll keep tearing mine up doing burnouts at the strip.
Yeah, still lame. Any knucklehead can blow doughnuts.
did you even watch the video??
If drifting is just doing donuts, then drag racing is just driving in a strait line…
Just to clarify my opinion, I love both drag racing and drifting.
I suggest taking a ride with a drifter at one of the drifting schools to get a real feel for why this “sport” exists! Ive never laughed hysterically while fearing for my life, before or after my test ride…just during. I cant imagine using one of my cars to do this, and my talents behind the wheel aren’t up to speed, as It takes a real set of skills and a hate for vulcanized rubber to make it happen.
I was doing some drifting last night on my way home from work in 3″ to 5″ of snow.
^^^ 🙂 🙂
Drifting is not and never will be a real “sport” like 75Duster says, up in the northern states and Canada “drifting” is a survival skill in winter and anybody who drives in winter conditions knows how its done.
I tried bringing this up in forum. People like burnouts. People like screaming around corners. Doing a burnout WHILE screaming around a corner? Not so much…..
I couldn’t even watch half of that…
Does it take talent? Yes, so does figure skating, synchronized swimming and ballet.
Is it a winter driving skill? Absolutely.
Is it a waste of a perfectly good race track? Yes.
Plus, all of the drift cars I’ve seen in person were total beaters, from repeated, slight lack of talents….
I try not to hate much, but drifting, “stanced” ricers, donks, and Mexican jumping cars are all against my “religion”.
Nut, I hate NASCAR, but I hate this a lot more. In fact there is NOTHING I like about it at all (wait, some of the girls aren’t bad). But I’m sure the tire companies LOVE this shite.
On the Pro level. The cars make big power, the drivers are talented. I would not mind trying it looks like fun, but I don’t want to watch it. What ever you do never call it Racing!
I don’t think “hating” drifting is at all appropriate. There’s a lot of skill and ingenuity here. It’s doing something different from drag racing but the commitment required to go and drift is just the same as the guy who drags his hot rod to the local strip and tries to get down the 1/4 mile as fast as he can. Yeah the cars get beat up but they’re going to, same way drag racers are going to damage ring and pinions, transmissions and valve springs. It is just another look at car culture and at least the drifters are actually driving their cars. There’s nothing more depressing than a trailer queen.