I must start this with a quick explanation as to why I decided to write this.
I got this Speed Hunters post the other day and its been pissing me off ever since.
Not Speed Hunters, just the rule change they where discussing. The idea that the things I love ultimately get raped by the ones who only want it for its profits.
note- majority of the photos in this article have a car that would no longer be seen in the drift scene if this rule was to take place across the board. Just a thought.
Over the years I have been blessed enough to get the chance to shoot drift events from all scales. Some grassroots stuff in the mountains of japan and at small tracks in Okinawa. I have even been blessed to shoot the Formula Drift events in the states.
One of the biggest issues I have found over the years is, obviously this sport is still nowhere near as popular as NASCAR. Mainly because it’s hard to profit off of it.
Because of this, most people believe it keeps its purity. It still feels like a raw untainted fuel enraged bad-ass sport.
One that doesn’t feel like it can get too fucked up over having the sexiest purdiest things or a car that has to cost a million dollars just to compete. A sport that can’t be manipulated because any driver could spin out. One day Vaughn Jr. is on top, tomorrow Dean Kearney. Both guys started from nowhere 10 years ago. From their own garage, with there own tools.
So we see new drivers on top of podiums all the time. It doesn’t feel like it has a limit to achieve equality.
I have met drivers in the formula drift series who have been able to compete with cars built in their own shop that they live out of, cause they don’t have the money for a home too. They loved every second of it. I have also met the Millen family on the other end of the spectrum. They were enjoying themselves side by side.
Both of which have made it to the top 16.
My point is the game has great equality. The fact that anyone can have that “moment” that “chance”. It gives us all dreams and hopes to achieve greatness.
Until recently when it became all about the 1000hp cars, but that’s okay because they made a pro 2 series. So no one has been left out. That makes since.
But this new change that speed hunter magazine is writing about-
“The Drift Allstars series, which runs large-scale competition events across Europe, recently put forward to its driver base (not publicly, yet) As of the upcoming 2016 season, cars originally made in 1996 or earlier are to be phased out of the Drift All-stars rule book. It doesn’t matter if production of said chassis continued on past 1996 – if your specific car was built before then, it won’t be allowed in the competition. The change is to be brought in gradually, so that next season the series will allow one-time or part-season entries in pre-1996 chassis, but no full-season campaigns.”
(I must add it doesn’t affect the FD yet and might not ever)
saying it’s necessary for aftermarket parts in the car industry is true.
But it will also change the way the game is played.
It will change who can afford to play.
It will push out the everyday Joe who has a talent for driving.
It will change the reason why we drift.
worst of all… It will shape the fans of drifting.
It will become a spectator sport and nothing more.
Speed hunter is right. We all love a couple of really fast 1000hp cars dragging cumulonimbus clouds of smoke behind them. making god choke on rubber. We all love it. But sometimes we enjoy the finesse it takes to keep up with a 1000hp car when you only have 600.
I enjoy watching a guy with a single slammer ka24 slide threw a 4th gear turn by pure speed alone.
knowing there are guys out there with little to no power on there back wheels and they can keep a car sideways for days with just talent alone proves to me ‘initial D’ was real.
I have more respect for someone with no power touge’ing a mountain top faster with less smoke but pushing the car past its limit seamlessly swaying the back end around like a pendulum. I rather that than loud and smokey. Maybe I am getting old.
Yes it might streamline the sport for sponsors and for TV viewers but it will push out the die hard fans.
Killing off any classic car (car older than 20 years) from being able to compete for the full season or championship is bullshit.
I am a bit sour on this because to me… Watching an sr20det powered s13 smoke some jackass in a brand new camaro is what keeps me watching the sport. It’s what lets me sleep at night. It’s what allows me to masturbate without the internet.
It keeps that David and Goliath feel going. It makes me want to stream the events live so I can watch the little guy destroy the over sponsored ass-hats.
I love that part of this sport. Sometimes poor kids are better drivers than rich kids. In this sport it used to be about driving. not about being as big as NASCAR.
Don’t get me wrong, I want progression. But stating that old cars can’t join the race based off of sponsorship money alone is bullshit.
It has nothing to do with safety or anything like that It’s purely money driven.
Well I guess drifting might be a big sport one day just like formula 1. Where only rich people can compete.
Sorry for the rant, but It’s sad watching this sport grow up and turn into a cash cow for the same assholes who said 10 years ago it would never be a real sport.
Good buy early 90s cars from japan. Thank you for creating a sport that the rest of the world wants to steal from you 20 years later after bashing you for 20 years and telling you that you were not a sport.
It’s a sad day.
Everyone I know and like drifts one of these cars.
Good bye you beautiful bitches.
Written by Robert “Fisch” Fischer III
Fisch is an angry old man who doesn’t like change and would rather see the world filled with rat rods than brand new lexus’. If he had his way no one would spell check and mashed potatoes would be called Mershed perderder.
*their
But more relevant:
Butthurt, much?
It’s not like this rule will affect too many drivers at all, nor will it cause all other driftcars and events to suddenly disappear off of the face of the earth. Getting the pro level of the sport more publicity will have a positive effect on drifting in general.
Also, i believe non sponsored drivers can be asshats too. No need for all the Hate.
Cheers from germany, where even pro level drifting is basically grassroot.
Love, Skully
Old and low budget can be a lot of fun – having a year cutoff seems very arbitrary and would rule out many cool cars. *1986 El Camino we built cheap and ran in FD once upon a time http://www.BubbaDrift.com
This affects the majority of drivers. This drives up the cost of the sport which is already expensive.
In the same sense, imagine colleges and universities telling all students that everyone has to live on campus. They make some bullshit statistic about how students who live on campus get better grades than commuters. They call it progress.
Same shit here.
Reality is that the people who organize the events, the corporate people AKA people who do not directly participate in the sport, want to make more money. They call it progress.
Look at healthcare in the US. Before it used to be about actually helping people. Now it is one of the most profitable industries in the world. I have not met one US citizen who pays for their own healthcare tell me that they are happy with this “progress”
If you still want to compare it to the automotive world, think back to the early 2000’s when all the Japanese parts were super expensive. I don’t recall anything going down in price until the knockoffs started showing up. People naturally want to spend less money so they flocked to the knockoffs and then the major companies lowered their prices a little but it was just too little too late. Think about how many knockoff companys exist today that are so ingrained as quality that we don’t even recognize them as knockoffs anymore.
I just hope they realize what the consequences will be before its too late. They will shoot themselves in the foot by doing this.
Was this article written by a child? Not sure why the necessity of using FD pictures either as if it has anything to do with the subject. Also the fact that you immediately assume that drivers with more sponsors are ‘jackass-es’ compared to low budget drivers shows how ignorant you are. Yes the ruling of banning these cars is dumb but it only applies to this single drift competition. It wont shape drifting in europe in any way. People like you are whats wrong with the geberal drifting community nowadays. All you do is act like a bunch of purists and pull out nonsensical arguments out of your ass.
This is utter garbage. I got two paragraphs in and couldn’t follow the incoherent rambling and pre-school spelling any longer. You’ve missed the point by a mile too – this doesn’t affect FD, it doesn’t affect drifting as a whole, it’s one series out of many, many to choose from and follow. All you’ve talked about is America and used images of America-based cars.
Stop trying to piggyback off Speedhunters to get views and find your own discussions to debate – I’d recommend ones that you actually have a modicum of knowledge about to be a good starting point.
As some of the other people commenting in here said that there are many other competitions for you to follow, it is not like Vettel or Hamilton or Räikkönen would have started in Formula 1, no, they worked their way to Formula1.
Even though Drift Allstars might do this rule change they might become the Formula 1 of drifting, but you have to start somewhere you know. It is not like people start at the top.
In my opinion it actually might be good for the sport if it starts getting noticed by corporations. You still have to be the best of the best to compete in Formula 1 and even though you are poor but a good driver and win your national series or some smaller series you will get noticed by someone or if you can sell yourself right to the sponsors that old s13 might turn into an s15 or whatever you prefer.
Sorry for the bad english but I think you catch my drift.