last weekend was the D1 Grand Prix 2006 round 1 event at irwindale speedway. top drifters from america and japan came out and put on a fantastic show.

i bought an infield pass, so that means no fence = a clear view of ... most of the track. the only downside was that the first turn after the transition is obstructed by the judges booth.

anyway, it was a BLAST. heres some of my pics and a video i made:











































VIDEO HERE.

 

sweet pics and awesome vid....

 

niiiiiiiice

 

Sweeeeeeet!

 

thank you! though, i wish i had a better camera...

 

great pic's! looks like a lot of fun

 

Does anyone else think drifting is totally lame. I mean it's fun to drive around a 15 year old grand marquis in the snow and power-slide it around corners, and it's fun to pull your e-brake on a dirt road and pretend to be Colin McCrae, or go to an empty parking lot at 2am, etc, etc.

But this whole push to turn it in to a legitimate form of motorsports just seems contrived to me.

 

its actually very difficult what they have to do.

i mean, yeah, its fun to slide around in a parking lot, but its different when you have to do it at 60-70 mph while trying to stay within 2 feet of sequential clipping points for the span of 40 seconds all the while your back wheels have no traction. they can also hit these on tons of different track layouts and do so very consistantly. not to mention these drivers are skilled enough to take part in "tsuiso" battles; running two cars side by side, sideways. the amount of control they have of their cars is much more than Joe Random dickin' around havin a good ol time in the snow or in a parking lot.

theres a lot more that goes into it than just sliding around a corner. in individual runs, they have to hit clipping points, stay on certain lines, maintain speed, and always keep their tires smoking through the entire run. points are deducted for being too far from the clipping points, understeering, driving straight, spinning out, or hitting things.

honestly, it requires a HELL of a lot more skill than drag racing. clutch dump, shift, shift, shift, done.

 

I'm not saying there isn't any skill involved...far from it.

It's the figure skating of cars - subjective judging, "routines"... It's cool to watch, but it's a circus act. Why not take it a step further and require them to jump off a ramp thru a flaming hoop.

Maybe I'm just jaded by all the clowns out there who watched initial d a few times and decided to live the drifting lifestyle.

 

but its not routines, there is a specific course layout with a series of clipping points and transitions you have to hit. you drive the laid out course, come as close to the clipping points as possible, properly transition when needed, and dont make any mistakes. points are deducted points for each error you make.

in the tsuiso rounds, the clipping points arent as important, its more of a "battle" between the two. each heat is two runs, each car switching lead positions. the goal isnt to pass (but if you do, its considered a 10-0 victory). the goal is to keep or close the gap between the car, and points are awarded for placing any of chasing car ahead of any of the leading car. theres a couple other things they judge on, but the ehglish-speaking announcer doesnt fill us in on a lot of the details, and i dont speak japanese fluently to understand the judges. most rounds are 5-5, or 6-4/4-6, but if one opponent makes an error, it could be as much as 7-3 or 8-2. total points after two rounds determins a winner. if its a tie, or very close, they continue to run heats until a clear winner is decided.

i do agree with all the initial d drifting fanboys. i played the initial d arcade game for a while, and posted on an ID forum. its crawling with idiots that like to buy crappy 80s econoboxes and then wrap them around a tree trying to drift. thats assuming they have a license and a car at all; which most dont.

 

great pics!

 

Yes Great Pic's -- Thank's for sharing with all of us that didn't get to go to see the
mayhem Some day -- Some day

 

you're in AZ, correct? theres an exhibition round in las vegas during the summer. it may be a bit of a road trip though, depending on where you are.