The Evolution of Drifting

[HORShi]

Kunimistu Takahashi, Grand Prix Motorcycle racer from Tokyo, Japan. In regards of drifting he is considered the "father of drifting". Now me personally, I'm not that knowledgeable regarding this man, as I was introduce to drifting and always thought that Keiichi Tsuchiya was the "father of drifting" and therefore my ignorance of not knowing K. Takahashi is definitely prevalent.

But anyways, here is an excerpt from autoevolution.com article "Drifting Legends"

"Back in the 1970s, while racing cars like Datsun, Nissan Fairlady 240Z or March 73S BMW, he started, out of necessity, using drifting techniques. His most interesting maneuver was entering the apex of a bend (the geometric center of the turn) at high speeds and making the car drift, to allow it to maintain its speed. Of course, this method made him win a few races, but most importantly drew many fans to the sport." So assumingly this "tail-sliding technique" which Takahashi used was actually a form of being able to keep his momentum forward without losing speed.

Now as I'm a rally fan (by any means not a Rally specialist) I do know the "tail-sliding technique" was heavily used in Rally, since...the birth of rally racing. Used in the same manner that K. Takahashi used it. In fact, the most exciting display of this technique is definitely the Group B era of Rally. Group B was HIGHLY known for there "drifting" as a technique as the Group B field was filled with insanely powered, light cars. The extremely sharp hairpins and corners of many of the tracks such as Monte Carlo and Tour de Corse - Rallye de France. Some say that drifting actually started from the Rally era. Which I won't disagree with because the technique was used in that same fashion.


(The first few seconds of the video displays Michèle Mouton's hellified, demon sounding Audi Sport Quattro using the "drift" technique. There is more)

But I do believe that "drifting" as we know it now, was indeed popularized and started from Takahashi...later perfected, defined and refined by K. Tsuchiya. Rally has a different objective and circumstances that makes it an completely different discipline than drifting.

For people who don't...this is Keiichi Tsychiya aka "Drift King"

[HORShi]

Circa 1987

"Pluspy" known as the first drifting video to date, was produced. In collaboration with Tsuchiya, several car magazines and tuning garages, this video was made to display Tsuchiya's "drifting" skills in the mountain passes of Japan.



Interesting enough, he accomplish the task of getting his racing licenses, for only it to be suspended literally soon after this video. He still continued to do illegal street racing during the time. Studying the tail-sliding technique of Takahashi, Tsuchiya (Dorikin) honed and practiced the technique. Thus creating a completely different style of driving, Drifting. From this point on, (which I can only speculate and is up for debate) this is where Drifting, becomes separated into it's own discipline. This is where Drifting as we know it now, is considered "Drifting". It has a different objective, a different purpose, different circumstances and distinguished enough from all other driving disciplines and styles. This is where it becomes more or less a driving art form. I believe drifting during this time of "Pluspy" and real early days was more of the "cool" and "trendy" thing to do, instead of actually taking it to a motorsport-class level (which soon after it would be with the help of Daijiro Inada)

[Goofs]

Originally Posted by HORShi

Onikyan - Demon camber (Crazy camber)...Ole' school stanced

Pure art .