I am in love with Japanese culture and one of the reasons why I want to visit this country is one kind of sport - drifting. Here is brief history of this interesting sport.
In different sources it is possible to find different mentions about the use of the guided skidding as a method of the most rapid passing of turn. Some certificates deepen even in 30th of ХХ of century, where the racing drivers of the European series of Grand Prix passed turns with displacement of back axis.
But all agree that the first country where the drift was formed as an independent movement and not related driving technique, was Japan.Originally from Japan, but got wide distribution and in other countries. A winner is usually determined in a few arrivals. The first participant starts and immediately behind him starts the second participant. The winner is the one who first came to the finish line by a corps, or is the difference in time when crossing the finish line. For example, if the second rider managed to stay on the tail of the first, he is the winner. In the second race the rules are the same, but the opponents are reversed. Such races often take place on Mount Haruna, located on the island of Honshu in Japan.
Exactly there in 70th on the twisty mountain roads street racers began to explore for themselves the new way to get out of turn with minimal loss of speed and torque.
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| Takahashi Kunimitsu |
Legendary Japanese rider Takahashi Kunimitsu is famous for his flawless high-speed passing of the so-called "apex" («top» - a place to turn when the car is closest to the inner side of the road before the turn), and then maintaining high speed of passing the entire turn via "drift".His aggressive technique provided him wins in many competitions, and a crowd of fans who enjoyed the spectacle of burning tires at high speed driving.
He was the first Japanese who had won the World Championship on the highway-ring motorcycle races, the German Grand Prix in 1961. He was the best in Spain and France in 1962, and he could possibly win more titles, if not a heavy accident on the Isle of Man, which put an end to his career of motorcycle racer, but at the same time it was the beginning of a new path. Takahashi came back to the sport, but as a car racer and again began to win. Japanese Grand Prix, Japanese Formula 2000 "24 Hours of Le Mans" and even Formula 1 - all this is part of his extensive track record.
However this didn't bring him fame in street racing community, his style of driving did it.
He was the first Japanese who had won the World Championship on the highway-ring motorcycle races, the German Grand Prix in 1961. He was the best in Spain and France in 1962, and he could possibly win more titles, if not a heavy accident on the Isle of Man, which put an end to his career of motorcycle racer, but at the same time it was the beginning of a new path. Takahashi came back to the sport, but as a car racer and again began to win. Japanese Grand Prix, Japanese Formula 2000 "24 Hours of Le Mans" and even Formula 1 - all this is part of his extensive track record.
However this didn't bring him fame in street racing community, his style of driving did it.
He entered a twist on the speed limit, creating at the apex an oversteer which made it possible to preserve pace and trajectory. And here the smoke of burning tires and glamour with which the car went out of the turn, played a decisive role.
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| Keiichi Tsuchiya |
Street racer Keiichi Tsuchiya was so charmed by the technique of Kunimitsu Takahashi, that began to practice the "drifting" on the streets and quickly gained fame among the so-called "hasiriya" (riders, and street racers). Since 1977 he had begun to participate in amateur races on a variety of machines in which he drifted through incredible angles, shocking and surprising thus the crowd. Exactly he had come up with the term "drifting".
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| Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 |
Keiichi performed skidding on the legendary afterwards car Toyota Corolla Levin AE86. During many races he showed a better angle than his rivals. In the 80's several popular Japanese car magazines and tuning companies have decided to make a film about the art of drifting of Keiichi Tsuchiya on mountain serpentines - toge. The film has become very popular among amateur drifters and Keiichi Tsuchiya was nicknamed "dorikin" (Drift King or King of drift.)
Questions :
1. Have you ever tried to drift or would you like to try it in the future?
2. How do you feel about such an expensive and not ordinary hobby?
3. Are there any special places in your city where you can legally drift and compete?
Sources:
1. https://www.youtube.com/user/ZaRrubin
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drifting_(motorsport)
3. https://drivetribe.com/p/it-started-in-japan-the-history-Z7UMkajoS-uajc3HNU-NyQ?iid=OdENCzWGSPCbCXBh4LaTFQ
4. https://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/the-history-of-drifting-ar111147.html
Comments
I agree that it’s expensive hobby but there are other more expensive hobbies. And also I think that if you really love something, it’s not harmful and it makes you happy, than it doesn’t matter how much it costs 😉
I don’t know about legal places. I’ve drifted only in illegal places :D
2. Well, it's pretty cool that people with such passion exsists. Beeing ready to spend that amount of money on a hobby is admirable.
3. In my hometown there is a racetrack where drivers are drifting every sunday in summer.
I don't know about Warsaw's special places to drift or compete. There must be safe tracks for it. I lived near racer's track in Ukraine, so i know how it looks like.
I have never tried to drift by myself, however I tried it from the passenger poin of view (I am not sure if that counts ;))
2. How do you feel about such an expensive and not ordinary hobby?
There are a lot of expensive hobbies and usually when you dig into something more and try to get better and better stuff, hobby is becoming even more expensive.
In drift I dont like how dangerous it is and if something goes wrong it actually can make you disabled or you can even die.
3. Are there any special places in your city where you can legally drift and compete?
I don't know if there are any legal places to be honest. Usually, I heard about people drifting on parkings or streets.
I would very much like to try, I hope in the future I'll find the time.
2. How do you feel about such an expensive and not ordinary hobby?
I think people who practice this hobby are less likely to get into an accident or can prevent it. There are even special courses of extreme driving.
3. Are there any special places in your city where you can legally drift and compete?
I am sure that in Warsaw there are a lot of places for such a ride, very often in the winter I saw how near Stadion Narodowy guys drift in the Parking lot on the ice where there are many cars.
I often visit drift events in my home town, I like this sport. It’s exciting and amazing.
Yes, at least one, which I know. It’s a big track in the countryside and if you have enough money you can drive your car at this track on the weekends.
I did not hear there were such places. I am often near the Łopuszańska shopping center. There is a very large parking. I see drifting cars there, but this is a rather illegal place for such things.
1. Have you ever tried to drift or would you like to try it in the future?
-Might have happened a couple of times during winter ;)
2. How do you feel about such an expensive and not ordinary hobby?
-Well, afterall, if something makes a person truly happy, it is worth all the money.
3. Are there any special places in your city where you can legally drift and compete?
-Nah, I don’t think so.
Thanks for the interesting article. I tried to do it and I did it, especially in such snowy weather as today. Drift is extreme and energy, unfortunately I do not know of such places where it would be possible to drift. But it can always be done on the street with turns or in an open area. I used to like the movie Fast and Furious 3: Tokyo Drift, so I knew that the drift was invented in Japan. And I like this kind of hobby, but so far I have no suitable car and money for tires.
If it’s somebody’s passion or hobby then I think he can do anything for it. That’s not my hobby so it’s hard to think this way, but I have other hobbies and I know how to manage my budget to make it possible. Actually drifting is not extremely expensive I think.
As I said I’m not interested in drifting at all so I don’t know any special places. I think there must be something because there are drifters that have to train somewhere.
1. Have you ever tried to drift or would you like to try it in the future?
No. Car is for me just a mean of transport. How to get from point A to point B. If I could teleport I would use it every time and never sit in a car again. I was in a car accident when I was a kid, I don't understand fascination with cars and driving.
2. How do you feel about such an expensive and not ordinary hobby?
If somebody have money for that, time and likes it, why not? Just please, don't drift on public roads, that is all I ask for.
3. Are there any special places in your city where you can legally drift and compete?
No idea. I have never been interested in that topic.
As for how I feel about drifting, I think that it's fairly cool. Something about it is strangely enticing, though I can't quite put my finger on what that exactly is.
My city is rather small, so there are no places where you can legally drift or compete. Up until recently, there used to be an area where what I suspect was illegal racing took place due to the presence of an abandoned road that was used in WW2 that was still in good condition. However, few years ago the road started being used again and new infrastructure was built, so this is no longer the case.
Yes I tried it ! Each winters me and my friends are "playing" on parking lots. It's cool and such experience might be very useful. Lately when I was driving a car it started to skid, but I was able to get out of it thanks to a skills I've gained when I was learning to drift.
2. How do you feel about such an expensive and not ordinary hobby?
I'm cool - hobby is a hobby, it's always expensive :) If someone spends his/her money on drifting - great !
3. Are there any special places in your city where you can legally drift and compete?
Unfortunately not - there was a racetrack on Żerań but now there's nothing. The only was it to do it illegally
Yes, I've tried it with my BMW, but my car is too weak to drift on dry streets. The fun begins when the snow is falling and the parking lots are empty :)
2. How do you feel about such an expensive and not ordinary hobby?
I think that if you have fun while doing it - do it! Life is short and we shouldn't waste it on things, that we don't like. A lot of people got a lot of different hobbies, some of them are expensive, and some of them are not.
3. Are there any special places in your city where you can legally drift and compete?
It's sad to say that, but no :( I hope that someday someone will build a racing track in my neighbourhood and I will have a chance to try my best there
- I will not do this because I am a really terrible driver.
2. How do you feel about such an expensive and not ordinary hobby?
- I think that it's quite an unusual hobby but if it makes someone happy I am fine with it.
3. Are there any special places in your city where you can legally drift and compete?
- I do not know.
Everyone has their hobby, is it an expensive hobby? It's definitely not cheap, but it's definitely a more expensive hobbys.
Unfortunately, but not really.
I'm became happy when see someone make an awesome drift.
about any special places my city where I can legally drift and compete, actually yes, but I didn't because I didn't look deep before around legally drift requirements.
Yes, I tried, but I didn’t really work it out, I guess I didn’t spend much time on this activity.
2. How do you feel about such an expensive and not ordinary hobby?
This is of course a very dangerous hobby. It is better to thoroughly approach this business. Especially to security issues.
3. Are there any special places in your city where you can legally drift and compete?
Yes there are. These places collect a lot of young people, there are "auto-parties", there I tried this case for the first time.
Nver tried it since I have Toyota yaris 1.0 2002 and I don't see enough place to practice in my city (I'm not living in Warsaw). I'd like to learn how to drive car this way.
2. How do you feel about such an expensive and not ordinary hobby?
I think it's very interesting. It's like any other sport (for example: motocross). As long as it's controlled and not dangerous it's more than okay, cause it's like a show, looks amazing - like in Tokyo Drift!
3. Are there any special places in your city where you can legally drift and compete?
Unfortunately not :/ Żyrardów is a place where people "practice on the streets".
I feel like expensive hobbies are the best ones because you are waiting so patiently to try some new thing with it or buy a new toy. To be hones I have a lot of expensive hobbies and its really hard to make it possible but I wouldn't change it for anything else.
I don't think there is any place that I can drift. The only place that its possible are places where it is illegal and sometimes it's just ending with wasting some of your money on ticekts.
2. I can't say that it is an expensive hobby. For instance hobby such as aviation piloting can be much more costly. I think that it is quite cool thing to do when you are bored. It can give some adrenaline boos which is nice feeling.
3. Due to the reason that I'm not involved in such activity, I'm not aware about some legal places. I can assume that there can be few parking lots near to shopping malls, however most of those paring lots have special obstacles in order to prevent such cases.
Such a hobby is one of the best hobbies in the world, but a set of new tires that wear out when drifting is, however, very large.
I don't know any legal places to drift, but what the police do not see then everyone is better sleeping.
I have tried it but wasn't really good at it. Maybe in the future if someone will tell me how to do it well I will repeat it.
2. How do you feel about such an expensive and not ordinary hobby?
I don't really care if it is expensive or not as long as you can enjoy it. And I don't find drifting not ordinary hobby, there are many more weirdest and more extreme hobbies, for example Wingsuiting.
3. Are there any special places in your city where you can legally drift and compete?
I don't know, didn't really pay attention to such places.
If someone is happy about drifting then who am I to judge those people. Myself I wouldn't consider trying it.
To be honest I can't add any places in my city where you can drift legally because I don't know such places.
2. I have som expensive hobbies and I am conscious that most of extreme hobbies are expensive (even not extreme like gathering stamps is expensive). I think that one day I will try to drift or race on professional track.
3. I have never heard about such places in Warsaw.