DRIFT: "The Art of Controlling Chaos" By Diego González Pacheco Illescas

 

I'm sure you've ever seen a video on the internet where there are some cars sliding in the cornes, making a lot of smoke and listening to how the tachometer needle bounces due to excessive rpm's.

Well, that is drifting, and although most of us do it on the street, it is considered one of the most popular sports in the motor world, it even has a professional competition!

But, how did this come about? Well, like everything in this life, it came about in the mid-70s on the streets, to be exact, on the slopes of the mountains of Japan (this races are called touge), where the street racers (hashiriyas) descended at maximum speed. At first it was used as a technique that prevented the car from leaving the road, in addition to not allowing other drivers to overtake.

It wasn't until the 1980s that a young driver named Keiichi Tsuchiya popularized it by doing it in professional races to avoid being overtaken by his rivals and ensure his victories. Everyone was fascinated with their feats that soon went viral not only in Japan, but throughout the world, thus starting drifting as a professional sport.

Years later, Tsuchiya along with his Corolla Trueno AE86 (Hachi Ruko) was named as the Drift King.

Normally, the cars used for this sport are called FR (front engine, rear wheel drive), like the Mazda Rx-7, the Nissan's S chassis, Toyota Chaser, Lexus Alteza, and among others that stand out for their light weight and their great potential to be modified.

Currently there are many professional drift competitions around the world, the most popular are Formula Drift, which is held in the US, and D1, which is in Japan, this is more aggressive than Formula Drift and is considered the first professional drift championship.