mr2peak wrote: You don't try to hot tub. If you try to hot tub, you are a loser.
Whoawhoawhoawhoa...hey now.
Some of us take our Hot Tubbing seriously around here.
mr2peak wrote: You don't try to hot tub. If you try to hot tub, you are a loser.
Whoawhoawhoawhoa...hey now.
Some of us take our Hot Tubbing seriously around here.
But seriously folks...
Nobody loves and/or envies skillful tail-out hoonage more than this guy. I aspire to the level of car control even the worst pro drifter displays. Seriously.
But, as an organized motorsport event, I feel like drifting is akin to a masturbation contest. (In this way it's similar to air guitar playing. Or real guitar playing, for that matter (and I'm a guitar player).) What you do in the privacy of your own room/an empty parking lot for your own enjoyment is all well and good. Upside down, sideways, LHD/RHD, it's nobody's place to judge what works for you. But when you start getting together with your buds over the weekend to compare techniques, it starts getting...weird.
BigD wrote: But saying something isn't a sport just because it doesn't tickle your fancy is really petty, even when disguised as jest.
Yeah. Petty. Sure. Guys tell me playing Xbox is for nerds. That's petty. Still true. 
I won't mention my shameful Dungeons and Dragons past. (cough) 37th level Ranger (Cough)
I have respect for drifters but it's just not my thing. It especially wouldn't be my thing if some judge hated me because I was wearing nikes and I lost an event because of that. Could happen in any sport I guess but the subjectivity of drifting would seem to foster that.
Remember that "Road Racers" think "Autocrossers" are wasting their time.
I like participating in drifting events, I like autocross, rallycross, going to the drag strip and even circle track racing. If I had the resources I would have at least one of each. Really.
What I like is taking a device made for the pedestrian task of commuting to and from work and having FUN with it.
Like the wise man once said "Lighten up, Francis!"
If we are counting drifting as a motorsport can I count my bus roadeo trophy? It was a timed and objectively scored event. ie points off for hitting cones.
Yes Wally, Bus Rodeo is RACING which is a form of Motorsport which should get equal coverage in GRM. The problem is YOU don't submit the pictures and write the article with the correct format so it never gets put in the magazine.
I blame you for the lack of bus rodeo coverage.
John Brown wrote: I blame you for the lack of bus rodeo coverage.
Dang right! Step it up Wally! Let's see some Bus Rodeo coverage!
It was the first thing to go in the budget cuts last year.
I wanna see some bus rodeo coverage too.
In all fairness though, some of the best motorsport I have EVER witnessed involved buses.
See... if they would have had national press this wouldn't have happenned... I hope you are happy on your little vacation Wally... I hope you are happy.
I think drifting is a blast, but I dont see it as a sport. I see it as a competition. Its judged, therefore a competition. Plus Matt Powers isnt exactly the most broke guy in Formula D... He's sponsored by Need for Speed / EA Games. Or so I thought. And if I remember correctly he may have had a couple other sponsors... Not saying he isn't a grassroots kinda guy. I guess in the grand scheme of things he really is at heart because I'm sure he put a lot of work in to get to where he is today so I do give him a lot of credit...
Dude certainly isn't broke anymore, well he might be, but thats because he spends every last dollar on his car and FD effort, and it is more his transition from grassroots to professional that is the story, he started in FD in 2009 with that same car running an ebay turbo ka24 with more style than speed or competitiveness. 2010 saw him get some sponsorship which fixed his suspension so he could consistently compete but he had no pit crew and broke lots of E36 M3, and 2011 see him with a $20K crate motor, drop spindles, trick driveline, a professional car.
Will wrote:ReverendDexter wrote: It's part of the reason that it's MUCH harder to win at the professional level with a domestic car; the crowd just doesn't like them.Someone had better tell Sam Hubinette and Rhys Millen, since they swept the first season of D1GP (maybe FD, I can't remember) in this country in American cars. I'm not going to try to convince people who don't like drifting out of their position. But for the sake of information, I do think people should know that the judges use a radar gun to determine corner entry speed and factor that speed into overall score. I worked the radar gun at FD Atlanta in 2009. All I'm saying is that the judging is not entirely subjective.
I understand that - one of my best friends runs the NorCal qualifying series for FD ProAm and I've spent a lot of time at his events. I'm pro-drifter here, hahaha.
Watch the runs of a professional drift event, though, and tell me that guys in domestic cars don't have a harder time. I'm not saying they can't win, but I've witnessed first-hand many a time when the driver of a Corvette or Mustang drifts noticeably better but still looses to a Nissan (Tony D vs some guy in a V8 G35 - the G35 spun out when following but Tony lost). I've also seen unpopular drivers have a win revoked for a supposed technicality when they bumped out a favored driver in the first round (Calvin Wan vs Chris Forsberg at Infineon and that-guy-that-runs-the-nitrous-powered-hachi vs Tanner Foust up in Seattle).
Yeah I dont doubt he started from the ground up. I could have swore in 09 his KA was built up to handle more boost and reliability and be competitive against all the factory backed V8 cars.
He reminds me of a hipster, or a bro, or maybe both. Either way its a marketing persons wet dream. Those crowds spend lots of money, and are definite sucked into great ad campaigns. I mean E36 M3... did you see his prior paint job? It looked awesome.
It was funny when he would wreck it and he'd be fixing it in the pits just to get out for more when other drivers buggered off, and left it to their own factory backed teams (followed him a little bit on speedhunters)...
Its because of all this factory backed nonsense that I feel drifting may have burst its own bubble. I mean yeah its great that automakers are wanting to branch out into different fields other than strictly nascar or NHRA, but that just makes it harder for those people like Matt to get to that point.
Well his engine probably was but he seemed to go through more than a few axles.
I don't know if Matt is so much a hipster or if drift fans just wanted him to be, and now as he "sells out" they freak out because they wont have a good hopeless person to root for with aasbo driving a RWD TC (at least it is a 4 pot) and Powers switching to a V8
oh and re:judging, the $20XX has a freaking car show factored in
Wally wrote: It was the first thing to go in the budget cuts last year.
You just floundered a drift thread I think.
takes two gulps
If drifting is the thing that is getting more people interested in cars these days, I'm all for drifting. We want more automotive enthusiasts of all stripes, not less.
Likewise, I really don't care if they're taking old Nissans and dorifto-suiciding them into walls. The cars are getting used, and odds are good they saved at least a few of them from the junkyards. In any case, their money, their car, glad they're having fun.
Another interesting (anti-american) point is that you will never see a fox mustang (maybe not even SN-95) in FD because the chassis is not allowed, 80s and 90s imports are allowed but no 80-90s ponies :(
imirk wrote: Another interesting (anti-american) point is that you will never see a fox mustang (maybe not even SN-95) in FD because the chassis is not allowed, 80s and 90s imports are allowed but no 80-90s ponies :(
Isn't there an 80's GMC Cabellero (El Camino) in FD? So why no Mustang?
imirk wrote: Another interesting (anti-american) point is that you will never see a fox mustang (maybe not even SN-95) in FD because the chassis is not allowed, 80s and 90s imports are allowed but no 80-90s ponies :(
Are you sure on that? What series does Dan Pina run the "Drift Patrol" foxbody in?
I stand corrected
The rules between the two major organizations are different... so the fox may not be legal in one of them.
I know at least one of them doesn't allow cars that started out as FWD anymore.
That would not be FD then
God no it's not a sport... anything that has a "judment" throw in with it is not sport... style does not count in sports, the only way they could make it a sport would be to mandate tires/alignments then have it be a times race end of story, force them into an alignment where grip style driving is no longer a realistic option, but style has to be taken out as a component...
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