NEW DRIFT SERIES; WDC World Drift Championships

[Ghost of Duluth]

Well, I don't like the control box. Part of Drifting competitively is picking your car. Some like the low power, highly maneuverable 86 while other like a high powered FD and some like the middle of the road powered 240. That is why Drifting is the great equalizer, you can have a high powered car and still get beaten by a low powered car. The control box is going to do nothing more than give lower skilled drivers a better chance to hang with the big boys. Let's put it this way, if you aren't good enough to close the gap mid drift, you aren't good enough to tandem in the first place.

[FC_RAUL]

The Japanese will probably laugh at us for even having a control box. They'll just think the American drifters suck.

[Craftsman]

I just don't think this whole series is what it's made out to be...

Control box is ok, but how are you going to expect a 500 HP car to slow down before turn 1? If the car was going slowly to start out with and letting the weaker car too keep up into turn one, that's different. You can't expect a car to slow down into the turn... I agree with you guys on that...

Being courteous and starting slow is a good thing, but to make it a rule is another.

[Octagon]

MX-5, if one pro series can't survive in the states, then it means drifting as a sport has failed in the U.S.

We're a continent that supports no less than 15 to 25 different professional touring series for sprint cars alone, and only two of those are Canadian. There are over 35 race tracks in Ohio alone, each one putting between a dozen and 50 cars in any one division on the track on a weekly basis. We have TWO pro series for monster trucks. Three different pro series for "pro street" style drag cars as well as a large number of sanctioning bodies with classes for them. We have factory teams on the dry lakes at Muroc and Bonneville. We have two touring vintage racing series for GTP cars. Three series with rules for tube chassis, carbed 5.0L V8 silohouette formula race cars.

For crying out loud. We have 4 DIFFERENT pro stock car series all with television coverage that aren't NASCAR (CASCAR, ASA, USAR, ARCA).

There will be a pro series for drifting in America, there may even be two, but to wish that the pro series would go away is to wish for the failure of the sport and the neglect of enthusiasts of all kinds. Drifting deserves better than to be a niche sport the rest of its existance.

My personal favorite racing series, the ISMA Supermodifieds, have been a series on life support since the mid-90's. Most folks outside of the open wheel community have no idea what a supermodified is, much less a clue about ISMA. An ISMA race averages a car count of about 30 cars. The average ISMA winner's purse is around $1,500. That might (if the team is lucky) cover the fuel and tire bill for the weekend. But an engine runs between $12,000 (for a real weak sauce lump) to $75,000 (top of the line Kevin Enders, R&L, or Malcuit built engine). ISMA only two years ago picked up a series sponsor with Lucas Oils, and has finally stabilized to the point where they can plan next year's racing season without the question "Will there be a next year?"

Lucas Oils' sponsorship has attracted new teams, new tracks, and new drivers into the ISMA fold. Two of ISMA's top rookies, A.J. Davis and Lee Boss are actually now in USAC Sprint and Midget rides that will move them into NASCAR or Indy stardom within a few years. Speed TV has started talking about supermods and ISMA again. A form of motorsport that has produced Indy champions like Gordon Johncock and Tom Sneva, and NASCAR legends like Timmy Richmond was saved because the good folks of Lucas Oils are footing the bill for us to race at nicer tracks with more publicity and more prominence.

You punks talk about "it's better when it's underground" and "I hate how competition and the media are changing things" well tough. Try watching your sport wither on the vine for the better part of your life then be saved and supported by corporate sponsorship, then we'll see just how much you like "underground"

[Al]

I hear that Lateral G racing is part of WDC...

I hear things... Maybe Im wrong.

Drifting is not growing too quickly, We have been waiting for all this to blow up. First competition event was in 1996 with Drift Club at Streets. Ever since, We wanted more!

More events the better.

-Al

[Hubert Young]

How official is WDC? We have only seen a press release on IGN.com. Other reliable source to confirm this? I guess we may have to wait till SEMA.

[INFO]

DRIFTING.com has the full WDC announcement and we are waiting for the approval to officially release the 05 schedule.

Originally posted by motdyn_s14
How official is WDC? We have only seen a press release on IGN.com. Other reliable source to confirm this? I guess we may have to wait till SEMA.

[Nemesis]

Drifting is a joke in the U.S.

Bikini's? AutoCross? Car Show?

WTF!!!!

to the big names that throw all that nonsense into drifitng, you guys suck. I wish drifting events would be something i can take my kids to(when i have'em), something i can take my parents too, and DEFINATLY, something i can take my youth group too, but throwing in all the sexual influence and 'super uber cool' cars with wicked bodykits and neon lights with half naked woman standing on'em jus irritates me.

Drifting is drifting...it's none of which has been listed above. It's a different motorsport yet your mixing it with the old.

Drifting is heading in the wrong direction...it's jus gonna get more people in toruble and less people are gona have fun with it.

"streets, no rules, no bullsh*T; just make sure you do'em in a safe place where you won't be bangin up cars and stuff"
-Ross Petty

^we need to build a track like that^

i'm in the process of one as we speak...hooray for Nemesis!

there ya go, there's my venting....some of it might not have made sense, but it's how i feel about drifting in america....

[Ghost of Duluth]

None of you will ever win the "Drifting is headed in the wrong direction" arguement. Corperate Drifting is and always will be supported by the people that make money off of it and protested by the people that don't. If you notice everyone that champions the new "All Access Lifestyle Drifting" events are people that will either go there to make money and sell their product or friends of those people. Simple as that.

But can any of you blame them? This is their life, how they support themselves and their hobbies. Same with the Drivers. You can't expect them to boycott any events because of something they may disagree with because they drive in them and thats how they make a living. And when and if any of you open a shop or a store to sell things, you will feel the same way. You can call it selling out but I think of it as "Modifying your business thinking parameters"

So, as I have said numerous times before. I hate the over commercialized, Import lifestyle driven bullsh!t that promoters are injecting into Drifting but I see where they are coming from on some of it, the rest is just ridiculous. It boils down to this, if you feel strongly enough to voice your opinions on the net about how you hate these events, don't show your face at one. Don't like it, don't support it.

[Nismo_r34]

Right on Ghost. This is what american is. MONEY MONEY MONEY.
This is how they make money. If you're making a drift event like D1, you think you can make money. Yeah but you gotta make sure that your business doesn't go down. That's why the american have these import lifestyle.

Import lifestyle is important to american because they know there is alot of ricer out there and if they make an event, it has to be like HIN in order to make alot of money and they know that alot of ricer will come to their event.

[mav1178]

Ironically, the one thing that the U.S. population has a lot of, is lacking in Japan...

In Japanese culture respect and humility are important social traits. Over here, it's all about individualism and (to a lesser extent), ego.

I see it everyday at work... and on forums too. Weird.

I think if people put their egos aside, things would be a hell of a lot better. But that's just me.

-alex

[Ghost of Duluth]

In Japanese culture respect and humility are important social traits. Over here, it's all about individualism and (to a lesser extent), ego.

To a lesser extent? More like to a greater extent.

[AlexPfeiffer]

Back to the topic.

I dont really like the idea of another US series. I feel like its a "keeping up with the Jones" type thing. Vision is backing formula D, so their compeditors Primedia has to have a series also and thinks they can do it better by adding more bull to it.

As a driver, I dont care what series or event I'm running in. All i ask is that they take care of the drivers and formula D has done a great job at that.

That control box idea is stupid. Real drifters already know that it looks bad to just run away from your compeditor before the first corner. Its an unspoken rule in drifting already. Making a box was an idea made up by non drifters who do not fully understand the judging.

[ALI]

Originally posted by AlexPfeiffer
Its an unspoken rule in drifting already. Making a box was an idea made up by non drifters who do not fully understand the judging.

Man, I thought the same thing when I read that. I was like "who would just take off on a straight away and leave their tandem competitor way behind?!" That doesn't prove anything except that you have more horsepower... What I'm wondering is what kind of coverage they will provide for their series and what kind of support if any they will offer drivers to compete in their series versus another more established one that works well(Formula D). Anyway, good point Alex. Now answer your email dammit!

[Ghost of Duluth]

That control box idea is stupid. Real drifters already know that it looks bad to just run away from your compeditor before the first corner. Its an unspoken rule in drifting already. Making a box was an idea made up by non drifters who do not fully understand the judging.

Thank god someone in the pro's agree's with that. Bloody hell.