What is Drifting?

Step Drift : What is Drifting?

Drifting is a motorsport discipline that originates from Japan and is rapidly growing in popularity in Europe.
It is essentially the art of sliding a car as sideways as possible for as long as possible round a conventional race circuit, linking slides and turns into one fluid, controlled movement.
It's a unique form of motorsport in that competitions are comprised of individual runs judged on style, like in freestyle motocross or, dare I say, Ice-skating rather than the more conventional tradition of many cars on track at once, racing each other.

Although it might look like an extreme form of driving, the reality is that speeds are relatively low compared to other motorsports and when mishaps do happen, its generally just a simple spin to a halt, before carrying on to the next turn.
Drifting has been recognised in Japan for the last 30 years, but has become hugely popular there in the last 15 years and is now a fully established national sport. America is following suit and had it's first pro drift competition in mid 2003. Japanese drivers and their cars were shipped over to compete in front of a capacity crowd. The sport is currently in its infancy in Europe, but is very quickly gaining recognition and popularity both as an easily accessible amateur motorsport and a very popular spectator attraction.

In Europe at the moment, entry fees for events are relatively small and anyone with a rear wheel drive road car can take part in the entry level competitions. All that's needed is a helmet, the ability to learn and think fast and a serious passion for driving. Oh yes, and a good supply of spare tyres.