Text provided by YOKOHAMA Tire

Background

Drifting is a high-skill, high-powered motorsport that calls for drivers to control a 450hp car while it slides sideways at high speed through a marked course. It is similar to rally racing, but is done on a closed course and judged on execution and style rather than who finishes the course fastest. Drifting takes all the thrilling moments of traditional motorsports and packs it together into non-stop competition. The D1 Grand Prix takes the excitement one step further by being the only drifting competition that features aggressive side-by-side action as finalists burn up the course two-at-a-time often only inches apart.

Drifting pros finesse their cars into spectacular powerslides around a series of corners of a set course as powerful engines roar and the tires bellow smoke. The driver controls engine power, shifts gears and feathers the brake pedal, while at the same time spinning the steering wheel in a precise fashion from left to right linking corners with pinpoint accuracy. The driver is controlling and maneuvering the car beyond the limits of the tires' traction.

History

Drifting started in Japan approximately 10 years ago. Today, drifting is so accepted and popular that drivers have become recognized celebrities. 

In time, drifting evolved into an officially sanctioned sport called the D1 Grand Prix in which top Japanese professional drivers compete in a series of events to determine the best drifter. Amateur drifting events take place in Europe, Australia and now in the U.S., but the D1 Grand Prix remains the only pro drifting series in the world. 

U.S.-based drifting has been an underground sport for the last few years but professional drifting has only taken off in the States recently. In Spring 2003, top professional Japanese drivers participated in a demonstration event in front of a large audience at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, CA. Now, only six months after that electrifying debut, Slipstream Global Marketing, along with Yokohama Tire Corporation as title sponsor, have brought the D1 Grand Prix All Star Invitational to the U.S. in its official debut appearance outside Japan. 

The American Drifting Scene

As the more mainstream compact performance enthusiast or "import tuner" scene continues to explode across the U.S., it fuels the demand for Japanese-inspired trends. 

What is Drifting

As car club leaders and magazine editors look to Japan for the newest trends, they began to take notice of the hugely popular D1 Grand Prix. Today there are several small U.S. based drifting teams, primarily on the West Coast, that meet at local tracks to practice and compete, as well as learn new techniques.