What is this Drifting?

Drifting refers to a specific driving style. Now days, this is a popular upcoming sport all over the world. Wherein the driver on purpose over steers with an intention to loose traction in the rear wheels while turning and at the same time the driver is also required to maintain total control of the vehicle and the speed levels are also to be maintained at the same level. Doing all the mentioned together and successfully is called drifting.

Talking of the history of drifting, I would have to take you half way across the globe to Japan. This is where the sport originated. Kunimitsu Takahashi a legendary motor cyclist was the first one to come up with these techniques, and this all happened in the late 70s’. His popularity was for hitting the apex and then drifting through the corner. The scene of burning tires got him a lot of championships with quite ease. Tsuchiya began practicing his drifting techniques and soon gained popularity as the drift king. In 1987 several popular car magazines were quiet eager to produce a video on Tsuchiya’s drifting skills.

We do have records of drift events being held outside Japan in 1996. This was under the patronage of the Japanese magazine “Option” and was held at “Willow Springs Raceway” in California USA. Keiichi Tsuchiya and Kenji Okazaki were also a part of this demonstration in the United States in a Nissan 180SX. The event was judged by and Bryan Norris with Rhys Millen. Since then this RC drift culture or RC drift sport gained popularity in the United States beyond words could explain. This sport was not limited to the boundaries of Japan and United States. Rather it has traveled all over the globe to the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia. In Europe the first drifting competition ever was hosted by the OPT drift club at Turweston in the year 2002.

In the modern days Drifting competitions are judged by the judges based on the show factor, speed, line, and angle. In these games it’s very normal to see a disagreement between the judges; also there are times when the crowd also disagrees with the judges under these situations the drifts continue, till some one gathers enough points to supersede the other. Now if you are a starter you might be thinking what a wired game this is. So my answer to you would be welcome the world of drifting.