subject: The Rise And Dominance Of Drifting [print this page] The precise history of drifting is still a topic that generates much debate among racing fans even today. While the identity of the first ever drifter is lost in the annals of automotive history, it is commonly accepted that Japanese driver Kunimitsu Takahashi was the first to use drifting manoeuvres during races in the late '70s.
Kunimitsu Takahashi initially found fame as a champion motorcycle racer in the early '60s - he holds the distinction of being the first Japanese winner of the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix in 1961. Takahashi would switch to racing cars, however, after a serious motorcycle accident in 1962. He started his new career as a race-car driver in 1964 and slowly rose through the ranks in the coming years. At this point in his racing career Takahashi started drifting his car out of necessity to tackle tight corners while maintaining speed. These innovative cornering techniques, accompanied by screeching and smoking tyres won Takahashi many fans as well as quite a few races.
One such devotee, an ex-street racer and up-and-coming Japanese Formula 3 driver Keiichi Tsuchiya studied Takahashi's drifting techniques and took them to the next level. Not content with simply using drifting as a one-off technique on the racing circuit, Tsuchiya took the pioneering step to make drifting the entire focus of the race - elevating it to a sport in its own right. To enhance his drifting techniques Tsuchiya practiced on Japanese mountains where the winding roads provided excellent series of twists, turns and bends. The Japanese term for mountain roads, Touge, has since entered drift racing vernacular around the world and is now used to refer to any event involving street racing - whether they involve mountain passes or not.
In 1987 Tsuchiya and a few partners would team up to produce a video featuring footage of him drifting through mountain passes. The video, called Pluspy, was a huge hit generating a massive amount of followers in Japan's racing scene. A year later Tsuchiya and his partners would organise the first ever drifting tournament, the D1 Grand Prix, which took place at the Ebisu Circuit in Fukushima, Japan. Thanks to the buzz created by Pluspy, the D1 Grand Prix was also a huge success and has been held annually ever since. Today the D1 Grand Prix remains the world's leading drifting tournament where the top drifters from Japan and the world compete.
Competitive drifting exploded on the racing scene in the late '80s and has gone from strength to strength creating millions of fans worldwide. One of the world's leading motor-sports; drifting events take place everywhere from empty public highways to the world's biggest racing circuits. Drift-racing's low barrier to entry has made it a fairly simple task for the average muscle car enthusiast to modify his vehicle into a decent drifter. Unlike building a Formula-1 car from scratch, all it takes to make a good drifter is a speedy Japanese import with a sturdy chassis, a bucket seat, roll-cage, improved suspension and, most importantly, a limited slip differential (LSD) - while all this may sound daunting to the average car-owner, it is easy work for the dedicated car enthusiast. While this easy of entry has lead to a surge in driftings popularity, it has also lead to the murky underground world of illegal drift racing.
D1 championship events are now held all over the world, with major events taking place in Japan, the United States, UK, Malaysia and New Zealand. Outside the D1 Grand Prix umbrella there exists a number of highly successful local drifting organizations in many countries. These home-grown drifting associations hold their own tournaments and events that cater to the local drifting scene. Some of these influential organizations include the D1NZ and NZ Drift Series in New Zealand, Pro-Drift Mania in Canada, Formula-D in the US, Superdrift in Italy, and the British Drift Championship in the UK.
