Purpose-built drifting cars were on display from one end of the show floor to the other, and everyone was trying to get in on the excitement. There were drift demonstrations and ride-alongs in the parking lot. Show-goers joked that the sport had been invented by tire companies looking for a way to dramatically increase profits. The real fuel for this craze, however, was demographic in nature.
Drifting was seen as an adrenalized expressway to the youth market, and its brink-of-control drama made for terrific photo stills and video to spice up any advertisement. ESPN’s X Games had graduated to live TV coverage just a year earlier with great success, and the motorsports world was looking to bottle some of that youth-market lightning with its own flavor of extreme sport.
Sponsors seemed eager to write big checks to secure a chunk of this newly discovered drift world, and the influx of money piqued the interest of drivers looking to become part of the phenomenon. Japanese aftermarket companies and tire manufacturers found themselves with a leg up on the competition, as they could simply import their D1 Grand Prix pro drivers and cars to our shores for high-profile events.
Thankfully, we had a low-tech time machine at our disposal to answer this question: waiting. It has catapulted us 10 years forward at the incredible rate of one year per year. The future is upon us, and while drifting didn’t turn out to be bigger than NASCAR, it’s still alive, evolving and thriving in some unexpected places.
Cut Loose
Drifting got big in a hurry, and several organizations arose hoping to provide structure to the hobby. Most of them realized that for drift to have a viable future, the ladder between newcomer and professional needed some clearly defined rungs.
A number of smaller groups, including USDrift and DGTrials, emerged to fill out the amateur rungs. Slipstream Global announced the Formula DRIFT series–usually just shortened to Formula D–at the SEMA Show in 2003, and they held their first four-event North American championship series the following year.
There was a Wild West element to the start of professional drifting in the U.S., as a fairly large and well-sponsored series had been created nearly out of the blue. Imagine if NASCAR one day sprang from nothing and announced 60 wide-open spots for the Daytona 500. Drivers of all stripes had a chance to take a stab at glory regardless of actual drift competition experience. A number of now-famous personalities heeded the call and found glory with Formula D in the early years, including Rhys Millen, Chris Forsberg, Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Tanner Foust.
Foust, who scored back-to-back Formula D championships in the 2007 and 2008 seasons driving an AEM/Rockstar-sponsored Nissan 350Z, got his start in SCCA road racing. “I quickly realized, as many racers have, that it’s an expensive thing to do,” he says. “If I wanted to spend enough time in race cars to get any good, I’d have to find someone to pay the bills.”
Foust’s initial instinct was to try rally, which was a smaller sport that still welcomed grassroots-level participants. He quickly noticed there wasn’t a ton of growth in stage rally in the U.S.
He tried a drift event around the same time, and it opened his eyes. “I could see that there was more support,” he recalls, “not on a motorsport side but a marketing side because of the young demographic. That makes drifting one of the best places to start a motorsports career.
“My first drifting competition was Laguna Seca; it was a Yokohama invitational,” continues Foust. He had spent a few years as an instructor at an ice driving school, so the art of sliding came naturally enough. “[Drifting] didn’t have the same black-and-white definition that motorsports has when you’re racing against a clock,” he notes, “but it was incredibly fun, the cars were cool, and the sponsors were begging to get involved, so we stuck with it.”
“My business plan has been to get involved in something that was growing, get on top of the pyramid while it’s a small pyramid, and then when it’s a craze,” Foust says, “allow others to invest.” He notes that as drift has grown and matured in the U.S., the gap between the ground floor and the top of the pyramid has grown as well. “It’s still a great opportunity for drivers with the right stuff,” he adds.
Photography Credit: Kevin Adolf
View From the Pyramid’s Peak
Formula D remains the top tier of drift competition in the States, and the quality of the show may surprise anyone who hasn’t been paying attention. “The talent has progressed pretty fast,” explains Brian Eggert, who got his own start drifting with NASA Mid-Atlantic’s HyperFest back in 2002. Eggert became a judge for Formula D in 2012 and serves as the event director for USDrift, one of the largest feeder organizations for Formula D.
“This is the 11th season,” continues Eggert, “and [compared to] even five years ago the skill level is insane. We’re asking drivers to be within inches of each other around the course. Japanese drifting is very high-speed but usually two or three turns, tops. Irwindale is so long that the tires can barely take it. It’s neat to see how long our guys can stay on someone’s door. I’d love to see another world championship; Formula D did one with Red Bull about five years ago.” Eggert is sure the U.S. talent would fare well against the world’s best.
The machines that allow drivers to hang it out in such proximity are serious pieces of racing hardware. Specially constructed and highly tuned, Formula D cars can cost well above a quarter-million dollars apiece. More than 800 horsepower is the norm, whether from displacement, turbocharging, nitrous or all three.
These cars are rolling, fire-breathing showcases of their sponsors’ hardware and their teams’ ingenuity. Most cars run custom suspension and steering geometry to allow for extreme angles of attack.
Tire manufacturers are heavily involved, as these beasts burn rubber more quickly than fuel. Professional drifting isn’t about skinny tires and minimizing grip to encourage easy sliding, either: Formula D cars run the same super-sticky, ultra-high-performance summer compounds that autocrossers favor for the Street Touring classes, and rear widths of 265 to 305mm are common. These provide considerable grip even when they’re being tortured into clouds of smoke at very high speeds.
As Foust explains, “There’s very little hoon or showoff factor in drifting at the top level. They’re very fast cars with very high grip levels. Their drift setup isn’t that different from what it would be for outright road racing.”
When a car is tail-out in a dramatic drift, there are some interesting side effects, including an increase in the effective width of the car relative to its direction of travel. That makes a more stable footprint for cornering. “A drift car coming in at 30 degrees is beyond the slip angle of the tire,” notes Foust, “but you’re still at 0.85 or 0.9g around the corner.” As a result, apex speeds aren’t too far off from what they would be on a conventional road racing line.
Foust also shared a technical nugget that will surprise many spectators who think drifting is simply the act of getting the tail end to break loose: “Drift cars are set up for understeer. They have a softer rear spring rate and they battle constantly for rear grip. The goal of a drift car is to create rear traction, because you want to be faster than the other guy. They have plenty of horsepower to overcome even 305 tires on the back, but [the rear grip level means] you can go into the corner nearly backwards and still have the front end wash out.”
Photography Credit: Kevin Adolf
Prepare to Be Judged
Most forms of motorsport depend on stopwatches, lap counters or speed traps to determine a winner, but drifting is judged like diving or ice skating. To minimize controversy, most organizations publish their criteria to let drivers and fans know exactly how a run is scored.
Measured speed used to be a standalone factor, as Formula D’s Brian Eggert explains: “We’ve eliminated that, since most of the drivers are so fast they were starting to race.”
Formula D rotates its panel of judges to ensure fairness and prevent any predictable patterns from emerging. “Sponsors want to know why their driver lost,” continues Eggert, “so we got super technical and simplified: style, line and angle.” Their goal is to make drifting just as intuitive for first-time spectators as any other popular sport. The current Formula DRIFT judging criteria are:
- Line: The judges’ predetermined optimal route through a judging zone. This is often the same as the racing line, but sometimes alternate entries or exits will be specified, or straightaways will become mandatory slaloms to keep the cars drifting and to fill dead zones.
- Angle: All other things being equal, the car that maintains a steeper slip angle while maintaining control will emerge victorious.
- Style: This is the most subjective category, and the one where audience reaction still holds some sway. A dynamic run showcasing outright speed, proximity to walls or the lead car, and rapid flicks from one drift angle to the other will usually generate more cheers from the crowd, which can coax more points from the judges.
Drifting is all about the show, so sometimes organizers and judges will specify tricky touch-and-go situations to up the excitement: Get as close as possible to this wall, for example, or run a particular corner along the outside edge near the dirt. “We sometimes get criticism from race fans for not running the line,” notes Eggert, “but we want what looks best.”
Photography Credit: Kevin Adolf
Going Up
Today’s path to the professional ranks of drifting in the U.S. is well defined. Several organizations throughout the country support the ladder, and they work to educate and graduate interested drivers from their first controlled slides to the high-speed tandem action of Formula D through the organization’s Pro/Am Licensing Series. Groups like Golden Gate Drift, Vegas Drift, Midwest Drift Union and USDrift all provide a structured path of access to the Formula D ranks.
As Eggert explains, the Pro/Am format brings together the top local guys and the lower tier of professionals to help both groups see how they’re stacking up as they vie for a top seat.
“Formula D uses eight series in the U.S. to do this,” says Eggert. “The minimum is four competitions, and the top three drivers can get a license for Formula Drift.” There’s more to the equation than just talent, however. “Just because we can give out three licenses doesn’t mean we will give out three,” he notes. “I’ve seen too many drivers in the past take up credit card debt thinking they can compete at [the Formula D] level. We’ve tried to cut back on that.” USDrift judges and organizers try to evaluate a driver as a total package–considering factors like wheel talent, sponsorship viability and budget savvy–before granting access to the deep end of Formula D and its potential financial ruin.
The Nissan 240SX with a Japanese-spec turbo SR20DET is the easy choice for drivers on a budget at this level, as they can generate plenty of power for the money. Running a turbo car near the redline at relatively low speeds and less-than-optimal airflow angles for the radiator can be troublesome, however, so quite a few drivers make the swap to domestic V8s.
A Chevy LS-series V8 generates gobs of tire-liquefying torque without working too hard, and it has ample junkyard availability. Plus, replacement parts are easy to find at most local parts stores. Used examples of the Ford Mustang and BMW 3 Series are also becoming more common in the amateur ranks.
Even at the intermediate level, there’s some clever engineering at work on the cars, particularly the steering. Modified steering knuckles allow for more severe steering angles without messing up the caster and Ackermann geometry of the front wheels. Many drivers space their front wheels to create more clearance over the frame in the wheelwell.
Photography Credit: Kevin Adolf
Forget the Ladder, Let’s Drift
As with any motorsport, the high end gets most of the spotlight, but drifting isn’t really about money or insane horsepower or huge crowds. Getting a car to go where you want it to go while the tail hangs out in a smoky slide is seriously, infectiously fun.
For every high-profile drift pro with glossy PR cards for autographs, there are dozens of drivers who just want to hoon around in a car and socialize with their buddies. Skate and BMX aesthetics heavily influence their culture, as many of today’s just-for-fun drifters grew up with constantly skinned elbows and scarred shins. They’ve simply traded their decks and bikes for beat-up Nissans and Mustangs.
Although they could be seen as the first rung of the drifting ladder, casual drifting clubs are full of folks who don’t particularly care about competitions, judging, scores or formalities. The pros are still welcome to come play, however, and they often do: You can’t beat these local events for sheer track time.
Club Loose II runs events at Midvale Raceway in Ohio and Pittsburgh International Race Complex (formerly BeaveRun). Its schedule boasted more than a dozen events this year, with anywhere from 25 to 35 drivers per event. It’s an offshoot of Club Loose, a New Jersey organization that draws even bigger crowds to Englishtown Raceway Park over 16 calendar dates. Their headline event in May, the East Coast Bash, drew around 170 drivers–so many that they impeded track time and made organizers realize they needed to cap the registration for next year.
John Wagner, who organizes the Club Loose II events, spent a while on the formal drifting ladder before deciding he cared more about drifting than competing. He found some great results with USDrift and even spent a couple of years competing with Formula D, but he found himself spending every spare penny on tires and towing for his increasingly fragile, highly turbocharged Nissan 240SX. Then he checked out, built a beater 240SX on 15-inch wheels for less than $5000, and started having a lot more fun.
“We don’t want to steer kids away from competition,” says Wagner, “but [a similar thing] happened in skateboarding and BMX: The X Games became a thing. You didn’t start skateboarding to get a sponsor. Now, you skateboard for six months and say, ‘Where’s my sponsorship?’ Kids started drifting and wanted to go pro immediately.”
A Club Loose II event has three groups. Beginners prep as they would for an autocross, taking similar safety precautions, and learn how to flick their cars around the track one driver at a time. Intermediate-group drivers can typically slide their way through the whole course without pause, but it’s still a solo outing. At the top tier, full cages and more robust safety gear are required as drivers hone their skills, drifting inches from one another in tandem.
“We get a lot of drivers who just want to have fun, and we get a bunch of top Formula D drivers that still show up at every event. These kids look up to them and can drift with them,” Wagner notes. Your typical Formula 1 fan doesn’t get to go wheel-to-wheel with Lewis Hamilton, so accessibility is a nice perk of the tightly knit drift community.
Even at the Club Loose II level, tires are the main expense. The entry fee may be just $75, but you’ll only get 10 to 14 laps from a set of tires. Wagner figures the average tandem drifter goes through as many as 10 tires in a day, so on 15-inch budget performance tires, that’s $400 or more per day. Still, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than shoeing a drift car with flashy 17s or 18s. “Local tire shops have been helping us out with tires at cost and group buys. You can buy through Club Loose at wholesale,” Wagner adds.
While professional drifting enjoys a high level of polish and packaging, the local clubs embrace their skate-punk roots with some entertaining results. On a lark, Wagner and some drift buddies formed the Bloodmasters, a tongue-in-cheek denim vest gang with Nissans instead of motorcycles. They even have a video–approaching 1 million views on YouTube–called “Bloodbath Part 1.” It will make you shake your head at the questionable sanity of the participants, but there’s no doubt they had fun making it, and it showcases some pretty cool drifting stunts. Watch if you dare at tinyurl.com/m2wmahy for a taste of drifting’s gritty underground.
Photography Credit: Kevin Adolf
Future Pending
Drifting’s crystal ball is difficult to read, as it’s obscured by tire smoke and covered in rubber clag. Formula D has shown ample business savvy in creating a top tier for the sport in the U.S. They’ve marketed it successfully to keep sponsor dollars coming in, and they fill the grandstands at events across the country.
Feeder organizations do a great job of grooming fresh talent by giving drivers a safe, controlled venue to explore their addiction. And at the grassroots level, a dash of organization can get dozens of drifters to show up and have some fun for a weekend.
There’s no denying that the sport has matured in the U.S., and driver talent has come a long way in the last decade. There’s plenty of hope for the future, too, as the kid getting his driver’s license today grew up in a country where drifting was both a sport and a pop culture phenomenon–Ken Block’s “Gymkhana” video series has attracted plenty of eyeballs in the past five years.
Eggert believes a simple passenger-seat demonstration can turn anyone into a diehard fan: “We do ride-alongs for Johns Hopkins for our Wounded Warriors, things like that. We line up two to six cars and send ’em all at once. We did one in Baltimore–a blind girl went in and came out giggling. She went back out four times in a row. She had the biggest grin on her face. Most people get out of the car and say, ‘That’s the best ever.’”
Photography Credit: Kevin Adolf
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