A Quick Post on Why I Think Drifting is Ruining Motorsport
I’ll start off by saying I simply don’t understand the fascination with the current fad of drifting; the following are a couple of my reasons. Perhaps some here will agree, but it will probably just start a lot of hate.
Thrashing Cars
The only other type of “motorsport” that promotes thrashing on cars in a similar fashion are demolition derbies. That being said, nearly every individual I’ve met that performs in demolition derbies finds cars that are at the end of their life and there is no limit to what model is used. They choose simply whatever is available. Their cars are no longer road worthy and therefore find a fitting end.
The drift crowd, however, finds their “dream cars.” These cars, most sought out in unmolested stock form, are then modded to the owner’s taste. Nothing wrong with that. However, after an event or two is when problems start…
The Dreaded Wall Tap
Simply - why?
“Drifting” is the only “motorsport” where hitting a wall is considered “cool.” I’ve attended many Formula 1, Indycar, GT3, Ferrari Cup, dirt track, and 1/4 mile races as a spectator as well as driven quite a few track days myself (road course and drag). Touching a wall is never a good thing; in any way. This leads to drifters being done with cars with the likelihood that they will never be used again.
The Drift Stitch
Another thing that, to me, screams “I just can’t drive, and I’m too poor to fix my own car.” It is a common misconception here on CT that drifters started this, hence the name, but I know it was popular amongst the moto-x and offroad crowd a long time ago. In that arena, this type of fix makes a bit more sense.
Plastics get expensive, it’s (usually) a muddy, off road environment where having protective fenders is necessary to keep the rider from constantly being pelted with dirt. Doing whatever it takes to keep them on makes sense. Still, I never wanted my quad to look beat up in the same way that drifters take pride in their juvenile “fixes.”
Anyone I’ve ever known from a track day always properly repairs their car if “battle damage” is received…
There is No Clear Winner or Loser in Drifting
It is the Synchronized Swimming of motorsport. Real racing is determined by seconds, not judges. There is always a clear-cut, undisputable winner; definitely not the case with drifting.
I won’t say drifting doesn’t require skill, but I strongly believe that setting fast, consistent lap times takes humongously more skill than any drifter (from amature to pro) possesses. Pacing against a solid benchmark, competing with your own times, always striving to be faster will be infinitely more fun than sliding around a bit. I attribute this to the fact I wasn’t raised when everyone gets a trophy and I find it more enjoyable to work hard, push myself, and reach goals.
I’ll see how this goes and may go more indepth with my thoughts on cars and motorsport in the future. I know I often go against the grain here which often receives many negative comments from the hive-mind that is CarThrottle.
And I’ll just end this quickly thrown together post with my favorite quote from James May - “Drifting is for the Unintelligent.”
Comments
Hey, Trevon… Glad you finally made this explanation…
If you think drifting is hard on cars, you haven’t seen rally. Rally is much harder on cars. I have damaged a lot of stuff on my car with rally stuff and jumps and stuff.
But, yes, I respect drifting because I simply cannot do it. I have tried. RWD cars… I can’t drift them. My reflexes cause me to straighten out. If I try to hold the drift, I spin. I cannot learn their lifestyle. So, I respect them for being able to do what I cannot.
Thanks. With rally my views are a bit different. The harsh environment just seems to be par for the course. And also, it is again more measurable. Point-A to point-B timed races that require immense skill. Although I haven’t seen it first hand I can’t imagine a rally driver is gonna have pride in sliding off the road into a tree…and after a race that damage will be fixed right up. But anyways, its getting late for me, I can’t really convey the points I want to properly hah. I’ll probably add more posts later on…I just chose to do drifting first and it really stirred the pot.
Ok, let’s recap
Thrashing Cars - You state you understand derby for “chosing what’s available”, well sorry, but a run down crown vic running on 3 cylinders isn’t going to cut it to go sideways at 80mph.
The Dreaded Wall Tap - the ability to get as close to the wall as possible is to show how much control you have over your car. Scraping the wall and still maintaining the slide is showing the centimeter precission over your car’s placement. So… what’s the problem here?
The Drift Stitch - Ok, instead of 2 bucks worth of zipties, they will all now spend 100 bucks on a bumper and about 100 more to get it painted. After all, it’s been an accident and will never repeat itself. But hey, moto-x and offroaders can have that.
There is No Clear Winner or Loser in Drifting - Ok, from now on Olympic figure skating, diving, syncronized swimming are no longer a sport but a passtime, because there isn’t a stopwatch involved.
Half your points are blindly hypocritical and reek of double standards, one is plain stupid and the last one is offensively unintelligent and unresearched. You should be ashamed of posts like this in the future.
IMO drifting and “grip” racing require the same amount of skill. It’s like discussing which category requires more skill if WRC or F1, it’s just diferent.
Although I agree with you in the beaten up cars part. I (or should I say “we”) love cars and we don’t like to see beaten up cars. But on the other hand there are many “clean” cars that are used for drifting, and I really enjoy watching videos or seeing pictures and articles of those cars.
I agree with you about the idea of those drift events. I can’t understand who wins and lose. I think it would be better if they took their cars around a track and do a race where they had to drift on every corner, and if they omit the drift on a corner they could be penalized.
If you ask me I’ve always prefered grip over drift. However there are good things that we can learn from going to a race track and thrash a car. There’s no doubt that you can learn some skills doing it.
CarThrottle… may I suggest (again) a #downvote button on posts too?? Not just comments :)
Drifting is the ultimate expression of car control so if you are not good behind the wheel you are going to trash the car. And all the hits on the wall and the other cars where not cool on the old days, getting close was but not hitting, after many years hitting the wall became cool because means you are close but in the old days wasn’t that awesome.
You would have been SO MUCH BETTER OFF with saying: “I hate drifting!”
I enjoy drifting events a ton. It just interesting to watch. I love the culture and the people you meet at drift events. I love how I can walk through the pits and chat with the drivers like they’re normal people. I love the smell of tire smoke. I love loud obnoxious V8s with open headers and the scream of 2JZs. I love the wacky wraps and colorful wheels. I’m not saying other motor sports are bad, (I love F1). But drifting is just a pleasure to the senses.
First i want to say that I respect your opinion.
Now my opinion is:
You Just can’t compare f1 and drift, in one Word f1 is precision and drift is show. You don’t compare rallye and nascar ? I love all sorts of motorsports sadly there’s not many in switzerland because a dumb law after the crash at the 24h du Mans in 1955… Whatever. The cars you’r talking are i suppose some amateur cars. Some people that dont have money for changing the bumper each month/want to show the scars of the car, and i assume that these cars are “track cars” so who cares ? If they put à big smile on the owner’s/spectator’s face that’s win.
It’s a matter of taste and if i was you, i don’t have found necessary to say that drifting is for the “unintelligent”.
Have a good day sir !
The drifting community may not be the most wealthy group in motorsport, but it is, unlike F1, DTM, RallyX, etc. Because it is open to the public and not very expensive for a decent build. Like a used 240sx will cost you around 3k around my neck of the woods. With all upgrades it will take you up to around 5-6k to make IT WORK. To make it look good doing it it will be around 8k. So you are basically judging people for how wealthy or unwealthy they are. A little Prejudice is it not?