Imagine a time before 2003, when the only access to JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) racing was through bootlegged Best Motoring videos or badly translated versions of Initial D. The GFC hadn’t decimated anything, and the world was beginning to embrace the scene.
Two forms of motorsport emerged from that boom, drifting and time attack. Of those, the latter is the oldest, and based heavily on time trials (an event steeped in history that pre-dates even Goodwood).
The main difference here is that rather than competitors only allowed one flying lap, groups are allocated a block of time to get in as many flying laps as possible. Unlike other forms of time trial, the cars are started from a rolling start following a warm-up lap.
Time attack events started in Japan during the mid-1960s. However, it wasn’t until the mid-nineties when the media organised ‘Tuner’ events at Tsukuba Circuit, just north of Tokyo, that the sport took off.
It combined some of Japan’s top street tuners with rules designed for modified road cars that allowed freedom of expression (as long as the essence of a street machine was retained). The cars were relatable and the drivers personable.
Some of the fastest cars were home-built in the driver’s backyard or home workshop too. This showed that anyone with a modicum of talent could become the King of Tsukuba, and win at Time Attack.
The fact that some of the fastest cars still resembled street machines, albeit tuned and modified to the nth degree, with huge wings providing massive downforce for cornering and turbos as big as your head, didn’t seem to matter.
In the professional world of motorsport, amateurs still had a chance to win. And that’s what makes it special. There are not many forms of motorsport where an old Civic can mix it with a Toyota Supra or Mitsubishi Lancer EVO.
It wasn’t long, however, that word spread and soon Time Attack events were starting to show up across the globe, with the largest international events being held in the USA at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in California and Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas.
World Time Attack at Sydney Motorsport Park in Australia, along with events at the Nürburgring in Germany, Circuit Zandvoort and the TT-circuit Assen all now attract drivers from all over the world and have somewhat overlapping rules and regulations.
Their vehicles, even today, still resemble the cars on which they’re based. Nobuoteru ‘NOB’ Taniguchi’s HKS-powered Toyota 86, Yoshiki ‘Fire’ Ando’s Escort Drag Racing Service Evo IV or Tomohiko ‘Under’ Suzuki’s Scorch Racing Silvia S15 all at least nod at the original.
Drifting on the other hand (in terms of popular culture) had its origins in the 1970s, with former motorcycle-turned-car racer Kunimitsu Takahashi using the technique to entertain fans during touring car races.
This style of racing was soon replicated by street racers, especially those on the mountain roads (Touge) that surround Tokyo. In the late 1980s a racing driver known as Keiichi Tsuchiya, the “Drift King,” became interested in the driving style and techniques.
He started practising on the Touge around Tokyo, participating in illegal street racing. In 1987 he was the subject of a popular film. Then in 1988, he helped organise one of Japan’s first official drift events with Option magazine founder and chief editor Daijiro Inada.
Since its inception, drifting has been popularised in film and print, most notably in the anime series InitialD and in Hollywood blockbuster Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. There’s been the odd documentary along the way too.
To get a real understanding of the true nature of underground street racing and drifting culture though, this writer urges you to read or watch the original un-westernised versions of Initial D.
Fast forward to today, and drifting in competition form is as much about style as it is performance. It’s not about being the fastest around the track. Points are awarded for speed and fluidity, angle, line and style.
In Japan, D1GP is the top-tier series, with others spanning different countries, including Formula D, the LZ Drift World Tour and Drift Masters as well as international rounds for the aforementioned Japanese series.
The beauty of drifting is the fact it’s very accessible at a grassroots level, with many clubs offering drift days and tuition. This allows you to start on a wet pan in essentially a road-going car, before graduating to full circuits.
How far you want to go is effectively down to your talent and budget. All you need is a rear wheel drive car to get started. Like time attack, it’s accessible, features strong personalities and is above all else, fun.
There aren’t too many forms of motorsport where spectators are encouraged to be close to the pit action or where passenger rides with a pro are offered regularly at exhibition events, but both these give you the chance to do just that.
Even the big-name stars make themselves available to the fans, and that’s what makes them, and the sport of drifting and time attack, special. More importantly, it’s how an underground race scene, became mainstream.
Great thought piece, gives me a much better perspective.