March 7, 2004

I THINK it’s fair to say that I’ll never complain about golf being classed as a sport after discovering the joy of drifting. Yes, that’s right dear reader(s), someone out there has founded an entirely new professional sport based on – wait for it – handbrake turns.

Drifting kicked off in Japan and about 10 years ago by men in fast cars who came up with the idea while driving along the country’s winding mountain roads. Within no time at all, they started meeting and competing to see who could do the best controlled skids, with points awarded based on execution, style and flair, and the sport of drifting was born (drifting.com).

Pretty soon it had spread across the country, with competitions breaking out quicker than epileptic fits at the latest Pokemon movie. Cars were modified, suspensions and brakes tweaked until the perfect combination of power and traction was achieved, and you could either go for the 100mph blast-and-turn or the more complicated swerving-through-the-bollards option.

Nowadays, thanks to the Internet, drifting has found a new and appreciative home in – yes, you’ve both guessed it – Southern California. At this point in time I’d usually go off on one about stupid Americans, but to be honest this isn’t the kind of sport that involves a bunch of wallies armed with clapped-out Escorts in your local Tesco car park. These people take their sport seriously – even to the extent that there are officially-endorsed schools that teach you the basics of drifting.

One look at the D1 competition that took place last week should prove that. Ten thousand people turned up at the Irwindale Speedway near Los Angeles to see the best drifters Japan has to offer, and to be fair it looks like a blast was had by all, with 16 teams from Godzilla’s home country taking part, a load of local drifters getting to show off their skills and some lucky person waltzed away with a couple of grand by virtue of having the best paint job.

Whether drifting will ever catch on over here – and, judging by the footage on Police, Camera, Action, it’s all a British driver can do to keep his motor going in a straight line – remains to be seen. But if you need a fix, pop along to your local supermarket car park on any Friday night and I’m sure the wallies will not disappoint.