Drifting: Introduction

Drifting is a demonstration of ultimate car control and balance. Feathering the throttle to keep the back end oversteering and linking it through the turns. Drifting has a big following in Japan and more recently the USA. The UK is still playing catchup but 2004 looks set to be the best year yet. With a few TV appearences at the tail end of 2003, the D1 championship moved up a gear as it moved from Turweston Airfield to Silverstone thanks to the Opt Drift Club. Other organisers have also come to the scene offering practice days at North Weald, Essex.

For 2004 all D1 events will be held at Silverstone, this has brought the standards up, raised awareness and given Drifting a sound basis to progress as a fully fledged motorsport. Not requiring the super fast machinery drifting is judged on style and angle makingnit one of the most entertaining and cheaper motorsports to get into.

Dori Cars
Toyota and Nissan form the majority of drift cars - being affordable domestic models, often found in Front Engined Rear drive (FR) layout in the 80's when drifting started out.

The legendry dorimobile is the Toyota Corolla AE86 (hachiroku - meaning 8-6 in japanese) GT Coupe. A well balanced chassis with a front engined rear drive layout, light weight and not overpowered with just 130bhp. The supercharged 4AGZE engine swap which is a quick way to add power - producing 160bhp. The UK did not see the Tureno version of the AE86 which had pop up lights and caught many peoples imaginations starring in Initial D. With its light weight and naturally aspirated power, the Corolla is a car that many learnt to drift in and still commands high values today.

The S13 based Silvia, 180sx (200sx in the UK), and Sil-Eighty form the main contenders from Nissan. The FR layout and the turbo charged CA18 and SR20DET engines found in S13 based cars made more engine power easily available to lose traction. The later S14 200sx did not catch on with drifter so much with the newer Nissan drifters going for the mroe recent S15 . The S15 in Spec R guise gets a modified version of the SR20DET with 250bhp through a 6 speed gearbox and LSD.

Rear wheel drive Skylines are also used - with the Blitz ER34 Skyline competing in the D1. Other 4 door cars used are usually from Toyota One of the lightest Skylines with a RB20DET engine and being RWD makes for good drifting. Other cars with the RB20DET engine include the little known 4 door Cefiro and Laurel.

The Mazda RX-7 provides the classic FR layout in both FC3 and FD3 with the light weight rotary engine making for good weight distribution. The FC is more commonly used in Japan on the street but on the track where sponsorship begins to cover costs the FD3 shows itself to be the arguably better machine. The Japanese 2003 D1 Grand Prix Championship was won by the A'pex FD3 RX-7.

Useful Links:

UK D1 - www.ukd1.com

Drift Racing - www.driftracing.co.uk

Drift Session - www.driftsession.com

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