Drifting

There is a (fairly) new motorsport out from Japan called drifting, which I think is the most interesting and novel form of racing to come along in a long time, if ever.

Consider it auto ice skating.

(The reason I bring this up is because I watched the Dukes of Hazzard movie on my visa run yesterday, and they did a fair ammount of drifting style driving.)

You've actually seen drifting before... on dirt tracks, with those funny winged cars that slide sideways around the entire length of the turn. Well, imagine doing that on a small circuit course (often set up in a parking lot), with as much of the entire length of a lap done with the back wheels slipping and sliding around.

People win races by doing the most outrageous skidding around the length of the track, keeping their front bumper inches from the inner wall, keeping the back tires as far out of line with the front tires as possible.

It's skill, it's artistic, it's racing. It's quite simply the highest demonstration of driving skill that doesn't involve going over 100 mph.

In a word, it's eff'in brilliant. If you ever get a chance to see this stuff, especially if you are a car or driving fan, and you haven't seen it before, tune in to watch. You'll be impressed.