How Drifting Conquered The World

It is believed that the first recorded instance of drifting in modern motor-sports took place in the mid to late '70s when Japanese driver Kunimitsu Takahashi started over-steering on purpose to create a sideways drift that enable him to speed through tight corners on the race-track. While Takahashi was the first to use drifting in the race-track, he was not the first ever person to perform the drift manoeuvre - there is plenty of apocryphal evidence of drivers drifting around corners in performance vehicles going back to the '40s.

Originally a motorcycle racer, Takahashi found fame in 1961 as the first ever Japanese rider to win the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix on a 250cc Honda. A serious injury in 1962 cut short his motorcycle racing career and made Takahashi switch to racing in cars. While racing the Japanese circuits Takahashi began using various drifting manoeuvres out of necessity to take on tight corners while maintaining speed. Not only did it help Takahashi win races, drifting on the speedway also won him many followers among the fans. Fans were excited by this brand new style of racing and Takahashi's crowd-pleasing antics on the track filled the stands.

ambitious young street racer, Keiichi Tsuchiya was a devotee of Takahashi's drift techniques. As an up-and-coming racer in Japan's Formula 2 circuit, Tsuchiya sought to refine Takahashi's techniques of drifting around corners during races. In doing so, Tsuchiya created something wholly unique, elevating drifting from a mere racing technique to a complete sport in its own right. Tsuchiya's early practice runs on Japan's twisty mountain roads have become the stuff of legend - the Japanese term for mountain pass, Touge, has entered street racing vocabulary in countries and languages all over the world.

In 1987 Tsuchiya and a few partners would team up to produce a video featuring footage of him drifting through mountain passes. The video, called Pluspy, was a huge hit generating a massive amount of followers in Japan's racing scene. A year later Tsuchiya and his partners would organise the first ever drifting tournament, the D1 Grand Prix, which took place at the Ebisu Circuit in Fukushima, Japan. Thanks to the buzz created by Pluspy, the D1 Grand Prix was also a huge success and has been held annually ever since. Today the D1 Grand Prix remains the world's leading drifting tournament where the top drifters from Japan and the world compete.

Since debuting in the late '80s, competitive drifting has left an indelible mark in the racing world. Drifting is now a part of the modern motor-sports culture, with races taking place in speedways and highways all over the planet. The ease and relative low cost of modifying one's car for drifting has unfortunately lead to a vibrant, yet illegal, underground drifting scene in many countries. Unlike other forms of competitive motor-sports, it is fairly easy for the average muscle car owner to add a few mods to his vehicle to transform it into a drift racer. While great for attracting new fans, this also leads to the surge in illegal underground races held in public roads.

D1 championship events are now held all over the world, with major events taking place in Japan, the United States, UK, Malaysia and New Zealand. Outside the D1 Grand Prix umbrella there exists a number of highly successful local drifting organisations in many countries. These home-grown drifting associations hold their own tournaments and events that cater to the local drifting scene. Some of these influential organisations include the D1NZ and NZ Drift Series in New Zealand, Pro-Drift Mania in Canada, Formula-D in the US, Superdrift in Italy, and the British Drift Championship in the UK.