FORMULA DRIFT ON ESPN2!

Hot of the wire, or the RG-6 as it were... Formula DRIFT's premiere episode airs on ESPN2 Thrusday, November 15, 2007 at 5 PM (EST). This is a huge step forward for the sport--check out the official press release below.

The Formula DRIFT Premiere Episode Airs on ESPN2

Long Beach, Calif. – November 13, 2007 – The Formula DRIFT television premiere episode will air on Thursday, November 15, 2007 on ESPN2 at 5 PM (EST) and will highlight the most exciting season to date.

“We are very pleased with the quality of the show and are excited to bring Formula DRIFT to ESPN2’s millions of viewers,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT.

Formula DRIFT’s latest television program titled, “Formula DRIFT,” will air exclusively on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD. Beginning Thursday, November 15, the show will air for 7 consecutive weeks at the 5 PM (EST) time slot. Each episode will feature a Formula DRIFT event round with the first episode showcasing Round 1 on the Streets of Long Beach.

The episodes were filmed in High Definition for a crystal clear picture of the intense drifting action. The 2007 Formula DRIFT season was the most exciting and action packed season to date and the new programming will bring drifting to millions of households. Episode re-airs will begin in January and a complete schedule will be announced soon, check your local listings or visit the Formula DRIFT website at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001KrDAVpjoFrCWEgsTsbKH8fWCn5F1yRmIG87_JXXMZA0XysElkJfEIY0K_UPTdDz7nsYVCS-sit8u5496nNinhQ7JlLF-roWCp2Lqju_OTMuCD3oxQOICRQ== for more information.

Yet another cool drifting video...

So I was re-loading my computer after a major crash and stumbled across this video while re-loading Google:





Check it out, there is some insane stuff. I found it on Snotr...

Of course I can' get it to work. Hey, I never said I was good at Blogging. Click on this link and go check it out:

http://www.snotr.com/video/584

Internet Know-It-All - Part I

Okay, here it is. This is the Blog I found titled "How to Drift a Car-Part I" on the first page of a recent Drifting search. For some reason this kid (I would post his name, but it's nowhere in site) has enough traffic to make him an authority on Drifting... Please, click over, read a little (it won't take much) and click back for my rant. http://www.notelay.com/articles/how_to/how_to_drift_a_car/

Okay, just because you got to the 25th level of Need for Speed Underground, does not mean you have any clue on how to Drift. How do I know this guy is full of crap? Let me break it down for you...

"For every successful drifting first you must tune-up your care properly." Yes, please, read it a couple of times. That's' right, all you need to Drift is a tune-up--for your "care." Yup, some plugs, wires, an oil change... isn't Pep Boys sponsoring the D1GP this year? Either way, I think that instead of "teaching" How to Drift, this Blogger should take a few classes on copy editing.

Hey, maybe I am being too harsh... He goes on to explain that (I think this is what he means by a tune-up) Drifters need: "300hp minimum horsepower." Does he understand that "hp" means horsepower, and therefore he doesn't need to repeat it? You know what, I won't even bag on his grammar any more. The fact is that YOU DO NOT NEED 300hp. Yes, it would be nice. Yes, it is roughly the entry level power that would be a good idea for higher level competition. But to state you have to have 300hp to Drift is just stupid. If you want to learn Drifting it is better to start out with less power. You can learn in a 240 with a KA24DE and 5-speed--that's about 140hp. All you need is enough horsepower to break your rear wheels loose and keep them spinning. This makes the 300hp statement that much more idiotic. You have to consider the power-to-weight ratio here. A heavier car will require more power, a lighter car less power.

Okay, the next item on the list is "Strong and good working tires." WTF?! Dump truck tires are strong, and they work great--does this mean they are good for Drifting? What size tires? How about traction ratings? Speed ratings? People like to think that because you are sliding a car sideways that you need, hard tires that slip across the asphalt. No! Although there is a reduction of traction in Drifting, there is NOT a loss of traction--absolute loss of traction=loss of control, even in Drifting. Drifters still need tires that grip.

Next on the "How to Drift a Car - Part I" Blog it is stated that for Drifting you need... "Powerful suspension." Again, allow me to reiterate--WTF?! What is "powerful suspension?" Oh, I know, air bags or hydraulics! I mean those suspension systems lift vehicles off the ground--that must be it! Right?

Suspension is the single most important part of a Drift car. What Drifters need is performance suspension that is fully adjustable for damping, ride height, camber, caster, and toe. This will help allow the car to be set up with the proper corner balance, suspension stiffness, and traction to give the car more of a tendency to oversteer while allowing the driver to maintain control. Uh, and this is just the tip of the iceberg, there is an entire chapter in my book on car setup--but this moron thinks he can sum it up in a couple of sentences...

Okay, I think you get the idea. Please note, the italic, bold phrases in quotes above ARE NOT FROM MY BLOG! I don't want any confusion on this point. There is more crap on that Blog, but I just can't stomach another word. Oh, and it goes on to part II and III!? I will rip those apart in future posts...

What's really priceless is the comments section where some 13-year-old states he knows how to Drift. The other people who posted comments called him out, as well as the Blog author on his B.S., but this kid is exactly why I am doing what I am here. People assume to much and the Internet allows them to post it as fact. Let's start calling these people out--what do you say?

Until next time, don't try to bullshit a bullshitter...

Bullshit!

Please excuse my French, but BULLSHIT! Once again I was perusing the Web for interesting Drifting stuff and I stumbled upon a few different sites--sites with info that is completely WRONG! I have been trying to keep my Blog honest and PC, but I am just going to have to face the truth that those things don't make a successful Blog. So from here on out, I am not only going to post the facts about Drifting, I am going to do it the way I want. If you don't like it, go read some of the B.S. from the other blogs out there--enjoy, there is plenty of it.

First and foremost, I have to say that 99% of what you read, in magazines, books and Blogs has no basis in reality. I wrote How To Drift to try and dispel many of the myths associated with Drifting, but people would rather read some 15-year-old kids Blog-rant about how he can beat Ryhs Millen in a drifting contest--Okay dude.

What gets me is that when you Google Drifting, Drifting Book or How To Drift, the first thing you get is this incorrect crap. You know, just because you are a good Blogger and know how to tweak Technoratti, does not mean you have the first clue about Drifting--do some research and stop assuming so much.

With this I am going to make a bold statement: The ONLY technically accurate information about Drifting is in my book, How to Drift: The Art of Oversteer. If anyone has a problem with that, go ahead, Prove me wrong, I DARE YOU!

From here on out you are going to see some actual facts on Drifting and the pure B.S. that is to be found on the Web. I AM CALLING YOU OUT!

Until next time, buy the book, and actually read it.

Chinese Drifting Soap Opera

This one is hilarious! It’s a cross between a Chinese Soap Opera and a Drifting DVD. Although I can’t understand Chinese, it’s pretty obvious that the gal goes into labor and the driver “races” her to the hospital…

Keiichi Tsuchiya--Long Live the Drift King!

The Dori Kin himself decided to kick things up another notch in this video where he had his hand taped to the steering wheel before he went drifting.

Drifting Gone Wild!

The beauty of this blog is I can show you what Drifting looks like thanks to the wonders of streaming video. Now I could find some D1GP footage or a clip from a Formula D event, but found this great video that illustrates my point from my definition of drifting post. Drifting is driving under absolute control... Click here to see what I mean.

So, what is Drifting anyway?

Certainly this isn’t the first Drifting oriented site you have hit on the Web, so I am sure you have seen a few “definitions” thus far. The fact of the matter is that the definition of Drifting, as it is concerned on the World Wide Web, is quite varied. These so-called definitions range from the simple and not-so-accurate: “Drifting is driving out of control man—YEAH!!!” to the painfully detailed: “Drifting is when you enter a corner at speed, depress the clutch pedal and…” Okay, you get the idea. Although these Drifting def’s are all over the map, the enthusiasts who make this stuff up are on the right track (for the most part).

You see, Drifting is like love… it’s hard to put into words, but you know it when you see it. Why you ask? Pretty much because Drifting is new and before How To Drift, there really was no set definitions or terminology. As you know, Drifting came from Japan and, for the most part, started here in the U.S. as an underground sport. The only way early Drifters could read about their favorite past-time was to get a Japanese magazine, and learn to read Japanese! This lead grass-roots U.S. Drifters to make the terms up as they went. Even today, listen to the pro Drifters when they are interviewed after making a run, and they are pretty much just talking a combination of racing terms and slang. This might be good for street cred’ but it can make it hard for the rest of us to understand what is really going on.

So the answer to your… uh, I mean my question is: Drifting is the ability to maintain control of a vehicle in an oversteer condition, with a slip angle greater than 10 degrees.

Yup, that’s it. But why am I so special you ask? Why do I have the answer when so many others do not? Well, I’m not all that special, but I did take the time research Drifting, and the various elements that make it up when I wrote How To Drift. Like many others I felt I knew what Drifting was all about when I took on the assignment. But, when I sat down to write it, I had nothin’. I was like, “Drifting is…” “It’s when you…” No, no, that’s not it. Okay, I got it, “When you are in the turn and the car is sliding and…” Crap. It really was like love—I knew what Drifting was, but I had a hard time putting it into words.

What I needed were some terms and definitions. I needed the raw information that would allow me to explain Drifting on paper, technically and accurately. I knew Drifting mainly took place in the turns (yes, you can pitch it sideways on the straightaway, It’s called the Choku Dori my friends), but what were the technical elements of a turn? What were the technical terms for a car driving through a turn at speed, with the rear end hanging out? And where would I find such terminology?!?

As it turns (no pun intended, seriously) out there is an entire genre, with numerous bodies of work dedicated to answering these very questions, and more—it’s called racecar driving. Do you know what the difference between a racecar and Drift car in a turn is? Slip angle. Other than that, and the ways in which drivers use the vehicle’s controls to get increased slip angle, everything is the same.

So let’s put my definition to the test, shall we?

Q: What happens when you “Drift” at less than 10 degrees of slip angle?
A: That is simply oversteer. A racecar driver uses it to help trim speed and/or turn his or her car around tight corners while maintaining greater speed than he or she could without oversteer.

Q: Drifting is driving out of control, right?
A: Uh, no. Drifting is in fact driving under absolute control, if it wasn’t, even the best drivers would not be able to slide through a given track over and over, following the same line—it takes control (absolute control) do achieve this.

Q: Okay, but Drifting is when you depress the clutch pedal and…
Well, yeah, that can be true, but it might not be either—you don’t need to use the clutch to initiate a Drift with a Feint, or Power Over for example. That wasn’t a definition of Drifting as much an example of a specific technique.

Q: So can you Drift a front wheel drive car?
A: Ooh, ouch--now that is a tough one that has been under much debate since Drifting started. As per my definition, yes, you can Drift a front wheel drive car (oh, I’m gonna hear it over that one...) You can control and maintain a slip angle of greater than 10 degrees in a front wheel drive vehicle, if you know how to do it. But you are very limited in how you can initiate and maintain a “Drift.” Some will say it’s not Drifting, others will say an FF driver sliding his or her car through a corner is actually performing a power slide. Hey, what can I tell you, I don’t have all the answers.

Okay, I guess that will do it for now. Armed with your new-found knowledge you can go back through the Net and prove or disprove any definitions you have read, or are yet to find. Try it out, put your new found powers to the test on the Web sites and in the chat rooms of your choosing! And, feel free to leave comments, questions and requests here!

Welcome to How To Drift!

My name is Paul Morton, and I wrote the book on Drifting. I love to say that, tongue-in-cheek, but the truth is I am an enthusiast and continual student of the art form known as Drifting. I actually did write a book about Drifting however entitled How to Drift: The Art of Oversteer. And I did this for a couple for reasons: 1. Because over the past 12+ years I have made a career out of bridging the gap between those in-the-know and those who want to know, and 2. Because I think Drifting is the most exhilarating, intense and exciting motor sport ever devised.

For me, drifting goes back to my earliest driving experiences. Right off the bat I understood the concept of counter steering, or turning into a slide. As a teenager with a license I didn’t have much of an urge to go fast, or race, but every time I got the opportunity I would slide the vehicle I was driving sideways. Of course at the time I had no idea that on the other side of the world the pioneers of a sport that didn’t yet have a name or a following were doing the same thing I was (on a much grander scale, of course). I can’t autocross. I would suck at drag racing. But there is just something about sliding a car sideways that I get. I can anticipate the arch that the car will travel in as I enter a drift and I have a feel for feathering the throttle and finessing the steering wheel just enough to keep the car going that way. Call it intuition, gut feeling, or just dumb luck, but the only performance driving skills I can stake claim to involve over steer at maximum slip angle.

Make no mistake; I’m not claiming to be the best drifter out there, far from it. I have a lot to learn—as I know many of you out there do as well (even the ones who don’t want to admit it.) This is why I spent a year of my life writing a book for which there was no reference material (I can’t read Japanese). My goal? Write a distinctly American book on the distinctly Japanese sport of Drifting. I wanted to dispel some of the myths (Drifting is driving out of control and only Japanese cars are good for drifting) and I wanted to give those learning to drift, and those expanding their skill set, a larger frame of reference than what was available on the street and the Internet (which is why my book is written from a racecar driver’s point of view). My goal was to create a good starting point for people to learn, and further define, the various elements that make up Drifting. I also wanted to create an interactive element to the book where we could both (me and the rest of you) take part in discussion on what we know is the best motor sport ever.

Well, here it is. I know, it's not much--at this point anyway. But I have a feeling that together we can turn this humble blog into something much more than just an Internet page with a bunch of words. Note that I said, "We." Hey, I've done my part. I have researched written and photographed several hundred pages worth of book. I will soon be posting some information, images and even lessons from that book here on its companion Blog (which means this is a good time to actually get your hands on a copy and read up). The rest, well, that's up to you. I need input. I need to hear from all of you out there that have made Drifting the greatest thing since sliced bread. I am not here to preach, I am here to expand my knowledge just like you. So let's see where this takes us, shall we?