driftsession.com Blog

Caught a bit of this year’s Formula D coverage on ESPN this past weekend and it’s good to see drifting on more basic cable channels (rather than Speed TV or G4). The coverage looked pretty good, but I’m not so much into the whole lifestyle aspect of promoting the mad phat JDM tyte lyfestyle yo! Why do they keep doing that with drifting and import cars? The typical drifter lifestyle I know is more like eating $0.10 ramen noodles 3 times a day, and falling into massive credit card debt to fund a hobby.

For the guys producing the show, keep it coming. Tone down the lifestyle aspect unless it’s to introduce cool new electronic products, parts, and clothing. I’m guessing things that would be of interest for drifters to see featured on the show would be stories of privateer guys trying to make it in the big leagues, budget breakdowns for competing at local and national levels, drifting related video games and website reviews, and chicks.

I hope all of you out there had a good Thanksgiving. Now on to the Christmas season and buying all those gifts. I looked through the black Friday ads yesterday and didn’t see anything too amazing for car enthusiasts. However, if you feel the need to upgrade your car stereo and in-car entertainment center, there were a few things on sale at Best Buy, Circuit City, and Car Toys. One of them seemed to have a pretty good deal on in-car navigation systems. Pick one of those up so you’ll have an easier time driving between states for your next drifting event / competition. Happy hunting.

Once again it’s time to reflect on all the things that we’re thankful for:

1. Be thankful you haven’t killed yourself or any of your friends yet with your driving, car tuning, etc. It’s easy to forget how quickly things can go from good to bad to totally fucked up in an instant.

2. Thanks for all of the drifting events in this country, regardless of the entry price. It was only 6 years ago that mainstream drifting events did not exist in the US.

3. Thanks to drifting for bringing like minded weirdos together. It probably wasn’t too long ago either that everyone you knew thought you were ridiculous for “power sliding” your car and buying a “rice burner.” At least now we all have friends who are as ridiculous as we are.

4. Thanks to our families, girlfriends, and wives that allow us to continue our hobby. Keep them away from calculators because if they ever add up the amount of money you’ve spent on tires, spare parts, and entry fees over the years they’re going to kick your ass.

I got an email the other day from the people over at Wrecked Magazine. It’s an online drifting magazine that’s done in a pretty cool format. It feels as though you’re looking at a real magazine, but on your computer screen. You can even flip through their virtual pages to see all of their drifting related content and advertisements.

I think this is a great concept for the drifting market. Most drifters I know are too cheap to purchase magazines so they just camp out in the magazine section of your local Borders or Barnes & Noble, reading magazines for free. If this is the case anyways, an online magazine is much more accurate to track how many actual readers (and unique views) you’re getting for your publication. All they need to do now is to add a comment section on their pages so every douche bag out there with an opinion can post up like their opinion matters.

All in all, two thumbs up Wrecked Magazine; cool concept. I hope that you can persuade all of the advertisers out there to advertise in your publication rather than sticking with archaic print media. For those of you that want to check things out yourself, go to Wrecked Magazine.

The weather reports say that it’s going to start snowing soon here. For those of you drifters out there, here’s a good opportunity for you to practice your skills. Especially for those of you out there that have never really drifted before, low traction weather conditions like snow and rain can provide some unique practice opportunities.

Snow on the ground will allow you to induce oversteer much easier than on dry ground. Get out to a private area (where you have permission to operate) and start with simple e-brake 180’s and donuts. The snow on the ground will allow you to break traction much easier, with lower speeds, and without having to rev the hell out of your motor. It won’t take much throttle to induce excessive wheel spin when the ground is slippery.

I just received a few copies of the Getaway in Stockholm DVD series in the mail and I must say, that is an entertaining video series for those of you into freeway type street racing. Some amazing cars they have access to over there in Sweden. Big mahalos to the guys at Getaway in Stockholm for putting out these amazing DVDs. If you’ve never seen one of these videos personally, get over to YouTube and just search for “Getaway in Stockholm.” If you like what you see look them up on Amazon, Ebay, or Buy.com and purchase one of their DVDs; you be glad you did.