Drifting (Motorsport)

The art of Drifting, the most exciting Motorsport globally, originated in Japan in the 1960's. Drifting is one of the most unique forms of racing, it requires a intricate diving technique which can be fatal if its not done right. When you see a car Drift your eyes are just glued to the car and you'll get nervous because it always gets close to crashing. Concentration, self discipline and loads of experience is what makes a great drifter.    

Mad Mike Drifting Crown Range In New Zealand

When drifting the driver intentionally or unintentionally oversteers, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels or all tires, while maintaining control from entry to exit of a corner. A car is drifting when the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle, to such an extent that often the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa, also known as opposite lock). Please don't try it just from reading that to all the armatures out there..

In the 1960's, the Motorsport Drifting was first popular in it's home town Japan which made the All Japan Touring Car Championship races very exciting. Motorcycling legend, Kunimitsu Takahashi, was the foremost creator of drifting techniques in the 1970s. This earned him several championships and a legion of fans who enjoyed the spectacle of smoking tires. The bias ply racing tires of the 1960s-1980s lent themselves to driving styles with a high slip angle. As professional racers in Japan drove this way, so did the street racers, and til today you would still find many Petrol Heads totally obsessed with Drifting.

Keiichi Tsuchiya the Drift King

Keiichi Tsuchiya, known as the "Dorikin/Drift King" became particularly interested by Takahashi's drift techniques. As they say  Kunimitsu invented it but  Keiichi perfected it.. Keiichi pushed himself to be the best in drifting. He practice on the beautiful mountains of Tokyo which brought a lot of attention. Keiichi's reputation stood out the most among the racing crowd.

In the late 80's the media became drawn to Keiichi, several popular car magazines, film producers and other forms of media all had a scoop of Keiichi's drfiting skills. The video, known as Pluspy, became a hit and inspired many of the professional drifting drivers on the circuits today.  

Top Gear Meets Keiichi Tsuchiya

The annual event Revlife, by Goodhope Fm at the Killarney racetrack in the Western Cape, has many exciting items on its program such as sound off's, drag racing but the one that stood out the most had definitely been the Drifting.. 

The international Drift King for 2013 James Deane and Cape Towns favourite Sean February had been there and actually raced against each other. Even though Sean won the audience was more blown away by the beauty of two race cars drifting in sync.  

Sean February at Killarney Racetrack