Drifting (Poetry in Motion)

April 28, 2023

In the company of Andreas, fellow Dane Rasmus (another motorcycle dealer) I head out of town in the morning, Andreas cursing his fellow motorists all the way. Near Fukushima, three hours north of Tokyo and an hour west of The Death Zone, there are seven race tracks, that this weekend are used for drifting. 

For the uninitiated, drifting is a type of motorsport where people have their cars go sideways most of the time, tyres spinning and smoking. It’s not about speed as much as it is about making those perfect (or not) powerslides, solo, in pairs, even in groups. Depending on the level of enthusiasm and skills, expenses can be limited to tyres and the occasional rear bumper, or you  can go full in and tune everything to your heart’s and wallet’s delight. 

Rasmus’ Toyota Mk. II looks like one that had two careful owners and after them six or seven suicidally reckless ones, so it’s nigh perfect for this game. We install a roll cage, to satisfy the ryle book come track time, and then its off for dinner and in due course an unlimited amount of beer in the company of two or three dozen drifters, all Westerners. Surprisingly few Japanese around....

(Me, on the way to dinner - 'Do all New Zealanders drive like this?'

Kiwi at the wheel, going twice the limit on curvy mountain roads - 'Yeah. Am I driving too fast?'

Me - 'Not at all, just curious. I figured you knew what you were doing.')

April 29

Back at the tracks I find Braden, an Aussie who last night made a drunken offer of a passenger’s seat of his track tool. Moments later I’m fully strapped in and off we go. Halfway around this track we go a bit slow but once over the crest he yanks the small steering wheel, floors it and the rear end goes right, then left, right-left-right, my helmet banging against the roll cage until I get the hang of the centrifugal forces and shakes and abrupt braking involved. Repeat eight or ten times.

This serious fun, akin to my motocross ride in an MZ sidecar many years ago. Filming it didn't go well, though. Must've pushed the wrong button or something:

[Will have somebody edit what I got, and post the results eventually]

Happy Hours with a bunch of drifters after the first day of driving.

Braden and one happy Dane efter eight or ten rounds.

The seven tracks are of different length and placed at different elevations in 

Fukushima's beautiful countryside.

Later Andreas tells me of the bliss of getting close enough for a 'love tap', where two cars make contact so light it can only be seen on the paint, if at all. There's also some prestige in having marks from other cars' from tires rubbed onto ones' doors and fenders, best at the whole length of the car. Some cars are immaculate, like the large Lexus with a driver looking like 60-ish executive, who’s hammering it sideways around the tightest bends, again and again. Other cars, probably more than half the ones present, are beat up in varying degrees, bumpers missing and particularly right hand side rear corners having taken a good beating.

Andreas bemoans the decline of drifting. Years ago this place would be crammed with people and cars, he says, and there'd be a lot more Japanese participating. Today usable cars have gotten too expensive for youngsters entering the sport, and a weekend of drifting can easily eat $2,000 worth of tires. Youtube could be to blame, as watching it online, instead going to see it live, is so much easier.

I thought watching a train of nine cars drifting together with half a meter between each was the most impressive sight today, but later, when we go back to the track for the barbeque, and to watch nighttime drifting, I'm even more impressed. They're going as fast as they did in daytime, but it looks way, way better. And there's the added attraction of flames blowing out of the large diameter end cans on the overrun, and some times even sparks from front wheel tires worn down to tires's steel belts.

Three days of this, and I think that by now I’ve inhaled enough tire smoke to make up for a lifetime of not smoking cigarettes.  

Dad and son, going as fast on the track as anyone else out there. Child rearing at its best…..

Loud exhaust, loud graphics.

Andreas (right), Rasmus (center), Japanese coffee machine (left).

American Rory, Rasmus in his drift car and Andreas in front of his.

Installing the roll cage.

Car on parking lot on the way to Fukushima. Apparently the DMV over here accepts it as a vehicle in working order, as long as the lights work and a magnet will stick to it. Note stanced front wheels.

Six wheeled ELF Tyrell Formula 1 car replica with Suzuki Haybusa engine. 

Not made for drifting, though.