What is drifting?

Drifting is a high-skill level motorsport in which drivers control a car while it slides from side to side at high speed through a marked course. It is similar to rally racing, but is done on a closed, paved course and judged on execution and style rather than just who finishes the fastest. Drift cars are typically smaller, lightweight, and rear-wheel-drive. The goal is to apply enough power to the rear wheels to break the tires' traction and initiate a slide, or "drift." Once a drift is initiated, it must be maintained through the turn using a precise balance of power, braking and steering.

To the uninitiated it's a wild display of controlled chaos. But when professionally executed, a drifting vehicle is a thing of beauty and grace not unlike figure skating (albeit much faster and louder).

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, Malaysia 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, California-based Slipstream Global Marketing brought top professional Japanese drifters 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.

Sample of drifting video:


This is drifting at Malaysia done by my sifu WANBRA and gang:


And this is my video but u know la beginner.. hehehe... just see...


Drifting in Malaysia
Recently we had the Proton Street Shoot Out Drift competition. Previous events attracted a fair bit of drifters. The coming events we shall see new drifters emerge as each compete for more angle, more speed & more style. Drifting is no doubt a spectator sport. It’s all about style. Smokes from the rear tires would be a common sight while drifting.

--- DRIFT TECHNIQUES --- (http://www.formulad.com)

Kansei Drift - is performed at race speeds when, upon entering a high speed corner, a driver lifts his foot off the throttle to induce a mild over steer and then balances the drift through steering and throttle motions. Note that the car used for this style of drift should be a neutral balanced car so that the over steer will induce itself. If the car plows through any turn the technique will not work.

Braking Drift - is performed by tail braking into a corner, resulting in loss of grip and then balanced through steering and throttle motions. Note that this is mainly for medium to low speed corners.

Faint Drift - is performed by rocking the car towards the outside of a turn and then using the rebound of grip to throw the car into the normal cornering direction. This is a rally racing technique used to change vehicle attitudes during cornering, mainly on tight mountain corners.

Clutch Kick - is performed by depressing the clutch pedal on approach or during a mild drift, then popping the clutch to give a sudden jolt through the driveline to upset rear traction.

Shift Lock - is performed by letting the revs drop on downshift into a corner and then releasing the clutch to put stress on the driveline to slow the rear tires, inducing an over steer. This is similar to pulling the E-brake through a turn and should be performed on wet surfaces to minimize damage to the driveline.

E-Brake Drift - is a very basic technique in which the driver pulls the E-Brake (emergency-brake) to induce rear traction loss and balances the drift through steering and throttle play. Note that this can also be used to correct errors or fine tune drift angles.

Dirt Drop Drift - is performed by dropping the rear tires off the road into the dirt to maintain or gain drift angle without losing power or speed and to set up for the next turn. Note that this technique is very useful for low horsepower cars.

Jump Drift - is a technique in which the rear tire on the inside of a turn or apex is bounced over a curb to lose traction resulting in over steer.

Long Slide Drift - is performed by pulling the E-brake through a straight to start a high angle drift and to holding this to set up for the turn ahead. Note that this can only be done at high speed.

Swaying Drift - is a slow side-to-side, faint-like drift where the rear end sways back and forth down a straight. Also known as "chokudori"

Power Over - is performed when entering a corner and using full throttle to produce heavy over.

FF Drift - or front wheel drive drift is a technique in which the E-brake as well as steering and braking techniques are used to balance the car through a corner. Note that the E-brake is the main technique used to balance the drift.