What are american drifters lacking?

[Topics II]

Originally posted by AlexPfeiffer
First thing, practice.

Second, better set ups on our cars.

Third, and american judge, expecially at american events.

Like what we were saying the other day. We need to grab some of these guys and put them through intensive training to be the official american judges!

[drift_monkee]

...i think he means places that a person could drive to on the weekend, like a six flags or a kings dominion for drifting.

...how is the average joe gonna be able to afford flying both himself and his car to hawaii every, month, or every three or for months even.

...it's just not enough of an avenue for anyone to sharpen their skill as a drifter, it would take years at that rate.

...but of course there are drift days and such

[HKS-NOB]

...i think he means places that a person could drive to on the weekend, like a six flags or a kings dominion for drifting.

...how is the average joe gonna be able to afford flying both himself and his car to hawaii every, month, or every three or for months even.

...it's just not enough of an avenue for anyone to sharpen their skill as a drifter, it would take years at that rate.

...but of course there are drift days and such

just by practise on track is not enough.............
i know this will sound very unresponsible but.........drifting on street is really the way to go...........

lets put hawaii aside and think.........track days are really expensive to some ppl too...........i bet there are alot of talented drivers who just can't afford this sport.......they might already spend all their money on their car............

that's y i usually drift back home every nite at around 1am (only when it rains though...........can't afford tires..........)
it's the only way that i can practise.........and i can do this all the time.........

in my opinion............a person can only learn and be good at one thing with LOTS of practise............not just random track days that appear once every month or so.........

[swifty949]

unfortunatly yes it takes money. Most of it will go towards tires. Tracks are not that expensive, especially when the fees are split between a group of people. Find 20 of your buddys to go practice on a weekday ( a lot cheaper). That cost should cover the track rental, if you can't afford it, then some tracks have skid pads. Rent those? It just takes some organization, so for all of you should get together and come up with a plan instead of spending your energy on complaining.

Street drifting is just plain dangerous. Sure many do it, but i say learn the good techniques on the track before going out and endangering other peoples lives.

This is what the Hawaii drifters did. The track needed business, the drifters could bring business to the track.

[Cade]

I agree with you in a way. But we need better tracks and such just for the general purpose of learning and progressing. Ive allready tried drifting my car on the streets, which out came me counter-steering too much and oversteering off into the opposite direction and sliding 2-3 car lengths away from a telephone pole. Coulda screwed my future in the sport up big time, but didnt cost me anything other than $9.00 to wash all the mud my car before getting it back home. But if I was at a huge track, none of that would likely happend, if so, I woulda spun out on the course and start back up. Just my input as someone who is really ambitious in Drifting.

[Ben Schwartz]

Not only better tracks but more tracks. I love D1 but the same course at the same track over and over again will get a little boring. We need to have more drift specific tracks built around the U.S. (not only in Cali, Hey Chris why did you move to Cali anyway, IS IT THE LACK OF COURSES ON THE EAST. AAAAAAHHHHHHHH, damnit im moving to Cali too.) I know its still baby steps right now but ive heard of a few drift only tracks that are going to be built within the next year or so. Thats what i would like to see.

[drift_monkee]

if you want to practice on the street, that's your business

...all are guilty of it, even myself, but there are smart ways of going about it.

...find an empty parking lot, restrict your episodes of automotive insanity to late late at night, and if possible do it real late on a weeknight

...im not here to advocate anything illegal, but people are going to do it whether we want them to or not, so the best we can do is provide them with safer strategems for practice when the track isn't enough

...and lets face it, the track is never enough

[HKS-NOB]

since i'm located in canada............we dont have alot of drifters around here.......and track is just too expensive for me......

i've only drifted once on track......even though that wasn't a drift day.......atleast i've never heard there's any drift day besides the signal drift that held in bramton centre last yr and the upcoming drift xtreme event on august 1st.......

anywayz.........i guess i can't really make any comments or suggestion towards US drifters........since i dont even live there and i know nothing about it

[AE86_drift]

I don't think that street drifting is dangerous if you are "smart" about it. Since I don't have my Hachi yet, I've been practicing with my friends, driving his S13 240 coupe and riding while the group(3 of my friends own 240's) goes drifting. I've only practiced street, but we do it on wide open roads with wide corners. There have been crashes, but only into curbs(none by me )

It's like people saying street racing is dangerous, which yes it is. However, we are all guilty of it.

[Topics II]

Originally posted by Ben Schwartz
Not only better tracks but more tracks. I love D1 but the same course at the same track over and over again will get a little boring. We need to have more drift specific tracks built around the U.S. (not only in Cali, Hey Chris why did you move to Cali anyway, IS IT THE LACK OF COURSES ON THE EAST. AAAAAAHHHHHHHH, damnit im moving to Cali too.) I know its still baby steps right now but ive heard of a few drift only tracks that are going to be built within the next year or so. Thats what i would like to see.

That is true about the D1 course, but it is one of the most challenging courses you can make in that layout. And yeah, i moved to cali for all the events, and having fun, and gettin exposure. half of the companies that wanted to sponser me didnt even want to talk to me when i was in PA. kinda funny. there are far more events out here than back home. and i also heard about possible drift specific courses being made. You should def. move to cali, ive been having fun ever since i got here!

[CrazyHawaiian]

If I could drift on the street and get away with it, hell yeah I would do it. I also think its possible to do it safely where you dont endanger innocent people on the road (having lookouts, etc). The reason I dont do it at all is because my daily job can be directly affected by getting in trouble with the police (my job requires a security clearance that I can lose if I get busted). Because of this I only drift on the track, but that limits me to drifting once a month. Drifting on the track is definately safer, but the tracks are not always available to everyone when they want to go drifting. In this sense, I think thats why the people in Japan are so much better. If you practice every night you'll get better than someone who practices once a week, or once a month like me. Unfortunately for us in Hawaii, drifting on the street is questionable. This place is just too small, there are too many people around to be doing it (condensed population). The one good mountain road we have to drift is right in the middle of a residential neighborhood, so this makes all the drifters look bad (just from the noise at night). Some of you guys in the mainland USA have a huge advantage in that respect. You are able to find large pieces of road that are completely deserted with no people in sight. We still have people in Hawaii that do it on the street, they just go at the right time and they are safe about it. They have secret spots that they only share with a select few. These guys will ultimately progress faster then me because they will get more seat time. I'm stuck only being able to drift once a month. I'm still happy with it, but I would be much happier if I could practice every night and not risk getting arrested or losing my job because I get arrested. My only hope at progressing faster than I am (only drifting once a month) is to wait for the interisland ferry to get going and make weekend trips to the outer islands in an attempt to find deserted areas for me to continue practicing.

[Emagdnim]

They should just start havin the competions and practices on the streets legally. They could easliy find some nice roads that don't have anything around to hit like houses or anything, get a permit and close it down for a day, It should be easyier with sponsers and lots of money. What do they do when they have wrc races on actual streets. Drifting just needs alittle more acceptance as it is still realitively young. The more people accept it the more people will be behind it.

[A.YEN]

just know that what they took 15 years to leare took us 5.
the cars are a issue, the track time is a big issue and the biggest one is they do that for a living. we all have to keep a roof over our heads......




andy yen SWINGBattle

[marshun]

i dont think its the setup. i mean sure there are those little fine tunings that you dont know. i think its dedication. sure allot of you are dedicated, but how much. how do you pick at your drifts? like do you really pick apart at how you can enter? how fast you go into it? how long you can stay on the verge of spinning out? look at ueo. an ae86 taking out the newer cars.

and i've only been recently going to our drift events here in hawaii. crazyhawaiian is definitely right. once enough definitely is not enough. i've been going to our industrial park very late at night to try and get some seat time. but its taking its toll. (lack of sleep)

and about the courses in japan that are open just for drifts, thats kind of hard to believe. unless of course theres a bigger course for time attack people.(wich more people are into).

i really wish there was a real track here though. it would be so much nicer. instead of using our 1/4 mile as a drift course. some bends and a straight away.

[driftxtreem]

Originally posted by A.YEN
just know that what they took 15 years to leare took us 5.
the cars are a issue, the track time is a big issue and the biggest one is they do that for a living. we all have to keep a roof over our heads......




andy yen SWINGBattle

Andy you have some good comments I just would like to add.

Most of the pros work a 8to5 and some even more. Most drivers have between 7 and ten years experiance. Getting to the D1 for a noob is about 5 years. Getting sponsore ship for parts and stuff is a stand in line only. I have been here for quite a while and practice every week end I dont see myself being able to get a D1 seed for another 2 to 3 years.

You guys had to learn fast to get to where you are and fast learners you are. Im sorry the sport moved faster than you all had time to prepare for.

For me to get the oppertunity to drive against the Japanese pros any time soon I would have to move back to the states and go threw the whole drivers search prosess. If that was a top priority for me then I would but as it is now in Japan all I can do is try and beet the 200 drivers ahead of me all trying to get to that spot.