Saw drifting last night......and it's dumb.

[Low J.]

I got to see a good amount of a "drifting" competition last night on that TLC show about building that IS300 with the V8 in it and all I can say is drifting has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen. They were saying that it's taking the country by storm and is getting hugely popular and I can't for the life of me see why. According to one of the racers the idea is to be as sideways as possible with lots of smoke. So basically it's controlled burnouts around a little course. No racing....just judges? I watched in amazement at how such a dumb activity got so popular. I can see this being like NASCAR for ricers.

I'm sure I'll get flamed for this by some but I've just gotta call it like I see it. I'm a HUGE fan of all kinds of racing (Auto-X, SCCA, Mazda Pro, F1, WRC, Touring) and this drifting s*** is just a waste of a car and good rubber IMHO. Please stop the madness!!!!!

 

[NoahFex]

Suprisingly, drifting is fun to do. In my toyota supra I would LOVE to drift when it was raining out. I always thought it was pretty dumb too. And I still hate to watch it, but it definitely is fun.

 

[enigM@]

when you're in the car while it's drifting, you'll see why people love it

it's like baseball.. it's boring unless you're actually playing the game

 

[Low J.]

Suprisingly, drifting is fun to do. In my toyota supra I would LOVE to drift when it was raining out. I always thought it was pretty dumb too. And I still hate to watch it, but it definitely is fun.

well yeah, I used to do stuff like this too in my old 1979 Aspen Wagon but turning into some kind of legit motorsport is almost to ridiculous to be true. I mean you don't even "compete" against others like a true motorsport......you are "judged" on your skill of burning out around a course as if it was ice skating. As a true motorsport fan the fact that this stupid trend may take track time or resources away from "real" motorsports makes me ill. Whichever country brought this stuff over....kindly take it the **** back please!

 

[AZDriftR]

no ones gonna flame u dude...its your oppinion, everyone has one...i happen to like drifting very much (as if u couldnt tell from my SN..hehe).... its fun to do (its just like doing donuts, or burnouts), although i cant in the protege...and it takes alot of concentration and control of the car to be able to perform right, as well as the car being perfectly tuned to stick to the track..and they actually us real street cars....i think it originated from Rally racing,( how the WRC cars go into turns fully sideways is called drifting) and it is also a racing menuvuer to gain control of the car through oversteer/understeer ( so its used in many forms of motorsports/racing) and japan just picked it up and made it a sport.. ill admit the first time i saw it it looked alittle funny, but i ended up liking it in the end...give it a chance

 

[Low J.]

no ones gonna flame u dude...its your oppinion, everyone has one...i happen to like drifting very much (as if u couldnt tell from my SN..hehe).... its fun to do (its just like doing donuts, or burnouts), although i cant in the protege...and it takes alot of concentration and control of the car to be able to perform right, as well as the car being perfectly tuned to stick to the track..and they actually us real street cars....i think it originated from Rally racing,( how the WRC cars go into turns fully sideways is called drifting) and it is also a racing menuvuer to gain control of the car through oversteer/understeer ( so its used in many forms of motorsports/racing) and japan just picked it up and made it a sport.. ill admit the first time i saw it it looked alittle funny, but i ended up liking it in the end...give it a chance

yeah, I guess that's the key.....I hate doing donuts and burnouts.....those are what happen when you make a "mistake" in driving

 

[mazdaowner123]

Drifting competitions are really lame in my opinion, but going around a corner sliding is always fun. Turning a neat driving "trick"/"mistake" (afterall, drifting in real racing is usual a problem, hence you "correct" oversteer) into a sport however, is pretty stupid I think. Sure, it's useful in rally driving, but on its own it's pretty dumb. Drifting is pretty much figure skating with cars. To each his own. At least the people drifting love their cars just as much as the people racing.

~brian

 

[Maniac0301]

It will be popular because an average person can watch a drift competition and think it looks exciting. If the average person were to watch AutoX competitions they would be bored as all hell. I think drift takes practice, good car control, and a well prepared machine to do well. It is moderately interesting to me but I won't be driving real far to see one in person.

 

[Swerny]

I have no interest in drifting either. i think it's a waste of time and rubber.
Fot that matter, anything that invloves judging is crap.
Drifting in a rally car or other race car, or doing donuts in a snowy parking lot is cool IMO, but a drifting event is not my cup of tea.

 

[Morgan]

I have a "drift car" and I've still always thought of it as pointless, at least in the sporting aspect. As a recreational activity sure, whatever floats yer boat.. but I'm not a fan of sliding around wasting my expensive tires when there's a faster way around a turn. On the same note I think burnouts are just as retarded (unless its for a purpose), you can do a burnout in a freakin Corolla, no one cares! I heard it best on another forum, "Drifting is the figure skating of motorsports."

 

[Ceej]

It is for kids (IMO). Kind of silly but entertainment....just like the WWF (both things I do not care for).

 

[Mazdaspeedgirl]

I'm a fan of autox, WRC, Indy, NASCAR, boat racing, ect, ect, ect.

I think it's awesome. Don't hate because it's not a fwd sport...

Seriously, I think it was put well when someone said it's much more fun when you're doing it.

 

[Ceej]

I'm a fan of autox, WRC, Indy, NASCAR, boat racing, ect, ect, ect.

I think it's awesome. Don't hate because it's not a fwd sport...

Seriously, I think it was put well when someone said it's much more fun when you're doing it.

Oh, it looks like a blast (to do) but it gets kind of repetitive after a minute or so.

 

[tiwing]

yeah, I guess that's the key.....I hate doing donuts and burnouts.....those are what happen when you make a "mistake" in driving

First, everyone at some point makes mistakes while they're driving or gets surprised by someone else who does something unexpected. learning how to control a slide, skid, donut, etc. IMO makes you a better driver because you just "react" instead of freaking out and not knowing what to do.
Second, again IMO, being able to control a perfectly long sideways slide, or a series of perfectly executed donuts takes a huge amount of skill and tons of practise to get "right". It's easy as hell to drift in snow, which is where I like to do it (and most likely where you'll need to use the skills), tougher in wet, and hard as hell to do well in the dry.
While I'm not a fan of watching drifting over and over, I'm not a fan of golf either but I respect that both take skill to do well.

In motorsports, while drifting is normally a "bad" thing, IMO it's critical to be able to recover when someone bumps your car and sends you sideways. And what would rally be without the scandanavian flick anyhow??!