It's pretty blown up in So-cal I wouldnt mind attending one of the events because from the videos it looks amazing

people dislike drifting now because it's become more of a fad rather than a skilled hobby. everyone's suddenly a "drifter" because they slid their car once.

Deadly BlaZe said:

people dislike drifting now because it's become more of a fad rather than a skilled hobby. everyone's suddenly a "drifter" because they slid their car once.

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Sorta, really we all hate drifting because it's more like automotive figure skating. Based on judges opinions (and we know how accurate that is) and quite obviously how stupid your hair looks in those retarded poses they do for the camera. We don't disagree that it takes a lot of skill, so does being a master at the game of chess. It sill isn't cool or interesting to watch.

It's more about style than anything even remotely related to automotive racing of any type. You wanna slide around with your feet hanging out the door and are expecting hardcore automotive enthusiasts to think thats a real sport? Right....

big green said:

I dont get why people dislike drifting so much. It takes allot more skill then running the 1/4 I think.

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U have obviously never put a 7 or 8 second street car down the track on a set of DOT's!!!! Drifting huh-- so that's what they call it these days?20 yrs. ago 90+mph on a gravel road was just called a fun afternoon :laugh: (as long as u didn't hit those 4ft. deep ditches on each side!!) fun--yea i'll give u that,but with a little practice almost anyone can drift.Not just anyone can pilot a 7 second street car!!!

gotjuice01 said:

U have obviously never put a 7 or 8 second street car down the track on a set of DOT's!!!! Drifting huh-- so that's what they call it these days?20 yrs. ago 90+mph on a gravel road was just called a fun afternoon :laugh: (as long as u didn't hit those 4ft. deep ditches on each side!!) fun--yea i'll give u that,but with a little practice almost anyone can drift.Not just anyone can pilot a 7 second street car!!!

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Obviously I have not. I'm just saying it seems more fun then running down a 1/4 in a stright line. I'm not saying that drag racing takes no skill. I'm saying that for me, I do not get a thrill when I drag race. I rather actually turn the wheel, and learn how my car reacts.

The whole drag vs drift argument is stupid. It's all subjective to your own tastes.

To me, it boils down to this...

I don't really care for drifing because:

1. It's a "sport" where the winner wins based on a judges opinion alone, there is no quantifiable data used to back up a win.

2. Everyone and their mom wants to be a "Sweet drifter" yet barely anyone that I know of posess' the skill to do so.

Obviously I have not. I'm just saying it seems more fun then running down a 1/4 in a stright line. I'm not saying that drag racing takes no skill. I'm saying that for me, I do not get a thrill when I drag race. I rather actually turn the wheel, and learn how my car reacts.

have you ever ran your car in the 1/4?

If DSMs came in AWD trims and RWD trims rather than AWD and FWD, half the people here would be drifters with there RWDs just because they could. :thumbdown

Man, drifting in a all wheel drive is about the funnest thing you can do, especially on a nice rainy day when no one without all wheel drive will race.

big green said:

Obviously I have not. I'm just saying it seems more fun then running down a 1/4 in a stright line. I'm not saying that drag racing takes no skill. I'm saying that for me, I do not get a thrill when I drag race. I rather actually turn the wheel, and learn how my car reacts.

The whole drag vs drift argument is stupid. It's all subjective to your own tastes.

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U should try getting in a quick car--you'll be in love forever.and yes i agree--to each his own. Look at this picture--yea i know --it's my other race car,but that's how u make drag racing thrilling! Have fun drifting, ( u guys probably use up more back tires than my camaro)

lowridin2g said:

Obviously I have not. I'm just saying it seems more fun then running down a 1/4 in a stright line. I'm not saying that drag racing takes no skill. I'm saying that for me, I do not get a thrill when I drag race. I rather actually turn the wheel, and learn how my car reacts.

have you ever ran your car in the 1/4?

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I ran my old RS along time ago, my time was not very good I have not taken my "new" car to the track yet. I plan on doing autox and hopefully get into club racing so I can get on a road course this spring. I just rather tackle the corners then drag race. I want to improve as a driver. Is there anything wrong with that?

You wanna drift go to Traxx or any indoor karting place. Holy shit I went last night for my first time, what a rush! You can drift those things all over the place. no front brakes only rear :laugh:

gotjuice01 said:

U have obviously never put a 7 or 8 second street car down the track on a set of DOT's!!!! Drifting huh-- so that's what they call it these days?20 yrs. ago 90+mph on a gravel road was just called a fun afternoon :laugh: (as long as u didn't hit those 4ft. deep ditches on each side!!) fun--yea i'll give u that,but with a little practice almost anyone can drift.Not just anyone can pilot a 7 second street car!!!

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I've never heard of a 7 second street car. Just because it was at one time a streetable car, it doesnt mean that they are still streetable after 7 seconds. Most cars I know that run under 10s run a tube chasis.

Drifting requires skill and there is such a thing as a race drift. So to those who compare it to figure skating they don't know what they are talking about. Its true that a race drift looks nothing like a fancy drift you are used to seeing but they do exist.

EvolvingGST said:

I've never heard of a 7 second street car. Just because it was at one time a streetable car, it doesnt mean that they are still streetable after 7 seconds. Most cars I know that run under 10s run a tube chasis.

Drifting requires skill and there is such a thing as a race drift. So to those who compare it to figure skating they don't know what they are talking about. Its true that a race drift looks nothing like a fancy drift you are used to seeing but they do exist.

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that camaro up above runs 8.40's @ almost 170mph,it's got full interior w/ carpet,headliner,doorpanels,ect... mufflers,DOT's,and look--NO tube chassis. we drive it in town to car shows,or to just cruise.(PS-ther are a couple twin turbo S-10's that run 6.50's in the 1/4mi.)and yes-- a race drift does require some level of skill.now, if any of u guys ride bikes,there's a rush,takes mega skill also--drift a bike through a sweeper once-u'll be hooked

big green said:

I ran my old RS along time ago, my time was not very good I have not taken my "new" car to the track yet. I plan on doing autox and hopefully get into club racing so I can get on a road course this spring. I just rather tackle the corners then drag race. I want to improve as a driver. Is there anything wrong with that?

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You should check out www.scca.org
Its the Sports Car Club of America. Its races are about cornering instead of just going fast in a straight line. Im with you. I love hitting the sharp corners and accelerating through the apex. Check it out and let me know what you think.

shortracer said:

You should check out www.scca.org
Its the Sports Car Club of America. Its races are about cornering instead of just going fast in a straight line. Im with you. I love hitting the sharp corners and accelerating through the apex. Check it out and let me know what you think.

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I have a friend that is in SCCA, from what I hear from him, its really expensive. It's defenitly something I want to check out once I get a little more money.

Here's my thoughts on drifting:

I BREAK ENOUGH STUFF IN A STRAIGHT LINE.

Drag racing is heads up you vs the other guy thats its biggest apeal for me.

I like them both, there is nothing like the feeling of sliding around n car under control but then again seeing how fast you can go and how fast you can get it there is awsome too.

Yeah, racing with curves is fun, unless you can't drive, we had a great road with turns and stuff we used to fly through, it was kind of a delayed time trial race, and we would time each other through the run, just to make it interesting, don't try it without nextel and like 5 people though, you need to watch your asses :laugh:

You can drift an AWD DSM.

All you need are a 35/65 Cusco center diff and no center VC.

- Jtoby

i mostly run my car at the track in the 1/4 but ive been known to get it sideways out in parking lots at night and in the snow especially. its fun to be able to control slides in your car.

drifting to me isnt really a sport so much as a really fun thing to do. its the most fun at 20mph ive ever had.... when im in the snow at least...

gotjuice01 said:

U should try getting in a quick car--you'll be in love forever.and yes i agree--to each his own. Look at this picture--yea i know --it's my other race car,but that's how u make drag racing thrilling! Have fun drifting, ( u guys probably use up more back tires than my camaro)

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That's a nice looking second gen.. looks like you had alot of money into it... what kind of motor setup?

SCCA is good if you like driving around cones in parking lots at 35 mph. More intense racing is on road courses such as hallett, oak hill, and motorsport ranch. I'm partial to road racing because seeing vipers and vettes tackle construction cones at speeds slower than a normal city road speed limit just doesn't keep me interested.

for the drift thing, I find it interesting because of the whole aspect of control. I did a research paper in college on types of racing, and I found out by lots of research that drifting was created as a way to regain control of your car when you lose control in a cornering situation. It makes sense that it's all about keeping control of your car, not to slide around all pretty. Also, the judges at a drift event are not subjective at all. They judge your car on things such as the angle you enter the corner, duration of the slide, angle throughout the drift, transition from slide to traction, distance from the inside lip of the track, etc.. I went to a drift event a little over a year ago and this old beat up 80's el camino won the event. His car was bone stock with the exception of a locker rearend and some all seasons. :laugh:

JiveMasterT said:

drifting to me isnt really a sport so much as a really fun thing to do. its the most fun at 20mph ive ever had.... when im in the snow at least...

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keep in mind our driver hits a drift at 50-70mph and pro's are well over 100mph when they are in a slide. I still don't see how people can say it isn't a sport. It's just another sport on wheels, just like drag, auto-X and road racing. I can tell you as some one who has driven a 10 second drag car and also taken a few cars sideways.... the drift is MUCH harder. Keeping control while loosing control is quite a task.

Drifting is a technique used in all types of raod course events ,such as auto cross and cuircet racing. Just beause you'r not doing it at 50 mph doesnt mean it's not hard. How many indaviduals here can feather the throttle to maintain a 35mph drift around a cone while not loosing speed and continuesly adjust the driving angle of the car?


I have done auto x b4 and it's not easy by anymeans. If you can somewhat master auto x then you'r leaps and bounds ahead over buddy who skipped it and went straight into actual track racing. Being able to negotiate the entry speed of a series of slow tumblers is incredibaly hard but b4 you can run you must learn how to crawl.

I love dragging but it cannot compare to drifting. Sometimes People forget the true reason of drifting was to better manhandle the line through a corner ,by placing the car in the most advantageous position.

Drifting to some might just be a show, To me drifting is an art that few can do and even fewer could master. To drift an awd drive car you must fully use the weight of car to initialize the rotation, kind of like trail braking while truning sharply towards the inside of the corner thus enabeling a very nuetrel type of understeer . By then pressing on the gas you could use the the grip of the awd system to pull/push you out of the corner faster then a traditional rwd car. Depending on how much gas you give the car the more the drift would be exagerated.

I can drift my talon only because I can shift it's weight, this I am proud of ,now learning to do that around five consecutive sweepers is the part im having problems with.

for all those that think drifting is a show and is like figure skating look up drift videos on dsmtuners and see what i wrote then . its a skill. i drift a gsx and it isnt nearly as much stress on the car as drag racing is. engine wise less suspension wise is another story. you can drift awd and even fwd( ebrake induced or left foot braking... harder) there are always ways to take the best line in a corner no mater what drive train for example if there was for some stupid reason a center wheel drive car you would in some manner beable to take the best line. in awd drive drifting difference is less counter steer and center of the car typically takes the best line rather than the front tires as in a rwd. drifting is very valuable allows you to loose minimal speed when cornering so whats wrong with that. getting side ways just is stupid drifting is smart and controlled.