Japanese Drifting Vs. American Drifting

[lost240soul]

i also believe FD is killing drifting..it sucks to think that all those people are after money and not the love of the motorsport..also alot of the us drifters have HUGE egos were as most of the japanese drifters are very humble .. even grass roots drifters are humble, well most of them lol... u can also see the differances in jpn drifting their always alot more closer to each other were as FD drivers are like a few car links away .. i think if their was a hp cap it would make things alot more interesting rather than watching a 700hp v8 mustang vs. 180hp corolla o_0.. thats just my opnion to

[drift freaq]

Originally Posted by usdm180sx

^This all day every day

Japanese drifters have the finesse that no other drifters have

To a certain extent true but you guys really need to watch Super Modifieds. Not only do they get Super angle but they do it in 700LB 750HP cars, all the way around the track on dirt.

Don't get me wrong I totally respect and think the Japanese are bad ass. Though this whole Japanese invented drifting thing is really just not true. They just turned it into a Seperate Sport. Racers were drifting in Pro Rally, Super Modified, Midgets etc.. for years.
The Japanese were just smart enough to realize they could turn it into its own seperate event.

The other reason a lot of American drifters suck is because most of the never learned to drive a road course. I know people will get pissed about this statement but its true.

A lot of Americans that call themselves drifters never practiced driving a fast line on road course or did road racing. A few have, Rhys Millen, Tanner Foust for example, but a lot have not.


Most all Japanese drifters have either practiced road course driving or come out of or driven in JGTC.

[Urbanite714]

Originally Posted by One_love_silvia

This! Exactly this. Japanese drifters and there for the fun and for the crowd. They're not there abt money and all that jazz. Hell, even the commentators are better than ours. Sure, our guy can be funny, but that's only when the drivers r taking a break. Get excited! These guys are going all out door to door, and all u can do is sound like a golf commentator?

As for being jdm tyte, its not abt that at all. Its the fact that the heart of drifting started in the mountains of japan. Its about huge angle. Its abt the shear thrill of being sideways in a car! Why do we need to try and 'make it our own' with less angle and faster speeds.
Hell, I know that if england or some other country tried to take football and change it around a little. Maybe no pads but its 2 hand touch? I'd be pissed. They wud be making a mockery of football. Hell they alrdy do because they're so bad at it. But that's another argument.

The point is, why adopt a sport, or anything for that matter, from another country and change it? Its obvously as popular as it is for a reason. If they bring it here because that's what americans wana see, its cuz we wana see japanese style of drifting. Not some american washed version of it. Ya, formula d is still fun to watch. But only because they don't air japanese drifting here much, if at all. I'm pretty confident that formula d's viewing audience would be much smaller if they showed all of the drifting they do in japan. I personally probably wouldn't even watch formula d.

Its cool to watch because its drifting, but itd be so much cooler if it was more jap styled. I personallly know a lot of people who don't even watch fd because of how lame the usa has made it. I love my country, don't get me wrong. But if it aint broken, don't fix it.

lol i was talking about english soccer fool
football=soccer.

[Urbanite714]

Originally Posted by Michael Nolan

I personally think FD is slowly killing Drifting... I'm really young and am already starting to ignore FD just because of all the BS and Drama Dramz that come with it. The tracks are pretty lame and every car has a V8. Cool and good sounding, but I mean come on, most US motorsports are all V8's anyways.

I like grassroots drifting a lot, (most of you guys) just because there's no bs and the cars are much better, either in Japan or the Coastside. Before coming to this site a couple months ago, I thought Japans drifting is a lot better than it is state side, but after a couple days on here my thoughts changed. I never knew how many "underground drifters" there are.

thats what i'm talking about,
what does it matter what motors are in the cars?
haha everyone is just worried about supporting japan this and japan that and japan is so great,
japan is great, yeah but its not everything
especially since we're not japan.

AND FOR YOU FOOLS WORRIED ABOUT HOW MUCH THE FD DRIVERS MAKE and all they care about money and shit,

they barely make any money,
they are not rich dudes,
alot of the guys are actually pretty normal guys
joon maeng actually works in a grocery store part time,
and taka aono works in a shop to support his drifting,
even vaughn gittin poonior doesnt make alot of money.

who cares how much money they make?
jeezzz.....
youre making something thats not important, important.

AND BTW AN LS1 IS VASTLY SUPERIOR TO ANY SR20 OR KA,
i dont care what you say about how many american motorsports have v8's
bottom line an ls1 does the job better then a japanese motor.
who cares about the politics of AMERICA IS THE BEST AND EVERYTHING ELSE SUCSK BLAH BLAH BLAH

LOL YOU NOOBS, have you ever even driven a v8
i drove my dads sc t bird, that shit was crazy,
so much torque, i didnt even know what to do with it,
i had to watch how hard i stepped on the pedal just so i wouldnt spin the tires taking off

[Teddy]

In drifting, there is Japan... and then there is Fredric Aasbo.

[singlecamslam]

Japanese dont use V8's haha. And still better than drifting here? Therefore proving you dont need a v8 to be cool? Teddy?

[DataXUnknown]

"It doesn't matter if you win by a few degrees or a few MPH, DRIFTINGS DRIFTING."

[Toi]

Originally Posted by Urbanite714

AND BTW AN LS1 IS VASTLY SUPERIOR TO ANY SR20 OR KA,
i dont care what you say about how many american motorsports have v8's
bottom line an ls1 does the job better then a japanese motor.
who cares about the politics of AMERICA IS THE BEST AND EVERYTHING ELSE SUCSK BLAH BLAH BLAH

LOL YOU NOOBS, have you ever even driven a v8
i drove my dads sc t bird, that shit was crazy,
so much torque, i didnt even know what to do with it,
i had to watch how hard i stepped on the pedal just so i wouldnt spin the tires taking off

If you want racing with drifting, you run the togue, if you want drifting you get out on a track and make it a pretty as possible. Getting 20 degrees of angle and some white smoke isn't impressive at high speed is more like NASCAR wrecks, considering they both last about as long.

[One_love_silvia]

Originally Posted by Urbanite714

lol i was talking about english soccer fool
football=soccer.

i know that. i was just using american football as an example of a sport that originates in a certain country, and is played in another country but with diff rules/style.

@urban they may not make a ton of money drifting, but they still make pretty good money for doing something as fun as drifting. not to mention they do it for the fame. listen to JR talk. hes a total sell out. he cant say a single god damn sentence without saying "ford mustang", "monster energy drink", or "falken tires".

ya i get drifting costs alot of money, and its hard to do it professionally without sponsors, but you can still have sponsors and retain ur own style. dont give in so easily. sponsors are there for a reason. they want to be known. if people didnt give into sponsorship demands so easily, the sponsors wouldnt have any choice but to give the drivers more choice in what they drive.

im sure i sound really ignorant, but it would take a lot of cooperation from everyone in the drift scene. just like the drivers need sponsors, sponsors need drivers.

as for not being rich dudes, ive read about a lot of the drivers in FD, and quite a few of them are rich as fuck. Dmac for example (pretty sure thats who it is) owns like 7 freaking cars.

as for rally cars "drifting" long before the japs, thats a whole different story. its a shit ton easier to get sideways in dirt because theres hardly any traction. drifting wouldnt be nearly as popular as it is, if it was easy to do. people like challenges. being successful at something difficult is much more rewarding than being good at something easy.

drifting in dirt is like riding out a wheelie on a bike. sure itll take time to learn how to do it, and do it right, but its not like its as hard as doing a backflip.

[DJPimpFlex]

Didn't read the whole thread, but I thought I would add this.

Tanner Foust Backward Entry on Vimeo

Blu808 Spec Front Suspension Conversion 2010 Camaro

^^ Camero knuckel mod that Conrad uses. 51 of angle. American guys can do angle.

[One_love_silvia]

interesting with the knuckle mod. too bad anyone with a camero in FD is bad. not saying i could do better, but theres plenty of other people that could.

as for tanner...he never fails to impress me lol.

[deolio]

well the two kinda took off in completely different ways. drifting in japan really came from the street whereas in america barely anyone knew about it till a large organization with big sponsors "imported" it and put it on cable tv. in america it kinda "blew up" all of the sudden. i think it's just going to take some time for american drifting to catch up to japanese drifting which has had time to mature and become an accepted motorsport.

[mr_eh]

plz rename thread japanese drifting vs american sideways drag racing

[sr20d's2k]

i just want to throw my .02 in and say i dont care which one is better.

[Schassis707]

Originally Posted by One_love_silvia

interesting with the knuckle mod. too bad anyone with a camero in FD is bad. not saying i could do better, but theres plenty of other people that could.

as for tanner...he never fails to impress me lol.

Yea tanner really is a good driver, i really like his touge run he did. If anyone else can find it and put it in, that would be a great attribution.

But the tc he drives breaks normal FD rules with the modified firewall. Most amature drifters cant even getg past regulations but these professionals can...why? Because they bring in revenue. Thats all.

[Schassis707]

I found it! Here is an amazing Tanner foust video. americans going back to the origins, but with highly modified car.

Anywho... enjoy..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHtwUr-IkHM

[drift freaq]

Originally Posted by One_love_silvia

i


as for rally cars "drifting" long before the japs, thats a whole different story. its a shit ton easier to get sideways in dirt because theres hardly any traction. drifting wouldnt be nearly as popular as it is, if it was easy to do. people like challenges. being successful at something difficult is much more rewarding than being good at something easy.

drifting in dirt is like riding out a wheelie on a bike. sure itll take time to learn how to do it, and do it right, but its not like its as hard as doing a backflip.

That was one example and oh if you think because they just do it on dirt sometimes they don't have skill you really are clueless about Pro Rally driving.
Rhys Millen brought his full drift EVO out the RSR event back in the day and ran the full course sideways lifted! Guess what, the Japanese would not even let run as a competitor in the event because he owned everyone. The ruled his run a exhibition run.
Seriously dude, you are 19, unless you are out racing now, you have not a clue as to the skill level of Pro Rally driving.
Or the skill level of Super Modified drivers who push 750 HP 700LB cars around a track completely sideways and passing each other in drift.

Like I said before I am not trying to hate on the Japanese I have mad respect for a lot of them. They are excellent drifters. Though to say they invented the concept, to say they are the only ones in the world that can do it well?

Well that is speaking out of shear ignorance of this types and history of motor sports in general.

seriously take a trip to Finland and watch the Finnish drivers. There is another country that turns out drivers that can drift like no tomorrow. The only difference is they either go into Pro Rally or Formula One.

Oh and I would pretty much say most any F1 driver could drift really well if he chose too. They are the best drivers in the World.

[ericcastro]

So many of you are so wrong in here.

To statements about Japanese not using V8's to the fact that someone said Japanese dont brake check.

Shit is so wrong its laughable.

I also think a lot of you are comparing drifting from 5 years ago or more.
Everyone is putting on deep angle.
Maybe most of you havent seen the long entries at the last asb, or the missle cars the pros use for fun outside of contest.
What about the crazy angle in tandem within Formula D this last year??

From Aasbo last week to Mike Essa on his entries (fucking backwards in contest)




I think this argument has no ground anymore and its out dated by 5 years.

[Banana_Cute]

how come i cant drift my sister TC like that??

[theboy]

Japanese drifting = little guys/big cars

american drifting = big guys/even bigger motors

[silsx13]

Originally Posted by ericcastro

So many of you are so wrong in here.

To statements about Japanese not using V8's to the fact that someone said Japanese dont brake check.

Shit is so wrong its laughable.

I also think a lot of you are comparing drifting from 5 years ago or more.
Everyone is putting on deep angle.
Maybe most of you havent seen the long entries at the last asb, or the missle cars the pros use for fun outside of contest.
What about the crazy angle in tandem within Formula D this last year??

From Aasbo last week to Mike Essa on his entries (fucking backwards in contest)




I think this argument has no ground anymore and its out dated by 5 years.

Going on that this thread and its argument could be about 5 years past due, I think the question that needs to be asked about the whole state of drifting (Japanese, American, etc.) in general is:

Evolution OR Regression?

What say you all?

[Wake]

I only read like half the first page of this BS but its really really simple.

Japan = Technique

America = Power

so The result is more power and higher speeds on easier tracks in America.

Japanese start with smaller, lower powered cars on tighter more technical tracks. Resulting in different driving styles and the Japanese being more technically sound and better at adapting to new tracks.

I mean seriously have any of you ever seen gunsai touge or kartland?
One is for bicycle racing and one is for go karts. try learning to drift on one of those.


There are also societal differences to consider between us and Japan. One being the fact that the drifters over there usually started as motorcycle guys, thats why they were already hanging out on the twistys, then the cops started harrassing groups of people on bikes so they switched to cars.
And you also have to remember that they are suuuper polite in japan as opposed to the assholes here.
In america we each drive like we own the road and nobody else has a right to be on it.
What Im saying is if people in japan see people drifting on a public road they will just wait. Whereas in America, if some fucking bloated soccer mom sees me drifting in a completely empty parking lot she going to hop on her high horse and call the cops because Im putting her kids in the back seat at danger while she drives and talks on her phone.









aaaaaand ASB is the savior of American drifting, All american events should copy brian.

[fckillerbee]

Originally Posted by Brian

I invented All Star Bash to try and keep drifting cool.

and one day brian...i will attend....just when "i" think my car is cool enough for asb.



and castro..i'm talking about the respectable drivers not brake checking the fuck. Team burst...you don't see those guys purposely slamming on the brakes to fuck up someone behind them. Now toyo tires on the other hand...that's different. Anything to win.

And for the record...vaughn gitten is an amazing driver....so is tanner, aasbo, pawlak....they just got a full ride to drive. I'm sure if they could choose, Gitten would drive something else, pawlak would drive a rotary, aasbo would rock another import, and tanner would drive something that "should be hard" to drive. That's why he converted a fwd tc....he made the chassis work. That right there is impressive, to take an origianally fwd car, and modify it soooo much, to make it top class in drifting. That is fucking amazing.

and yes castro....we are talking about d1 5 years ago...cause now...money too has gotten too much. Lets make asb legit huh!

[North]

I'm siding with Drift Freaq and ericcastro on this one, and the Evolution/Regression comment was spot on as well...

I'll add a few comments too. First, the reason cats like DMac, Rhys, etc have money, multiple cars, etc. is because they don't rely solely on drifting as their income. DMac has MCN Motorsports (his shop in Ireland) to put extra money in his pocket, and Rhys comes from a racing family/background, he does Rally, Hill Climb, etc. That's just to name a few.

To call JR a sellout is retarded. If you have companies like Ford, Falken and others backing you, dropping names when giving interviews isn't a big deal. The money and R&D to build a car like his doesn't come out of thin air. And whoever said that if you put some of the Americans and the Japanese drivers together, and that the Japanese drivers would always come out on top obviously didn't pay attention to the last 2 times D1 was at Irwindale when JR was killing it. Dude has more heart and dedication to the motorsport than most, and is always representing drifting in a positive manner.

Another thing is saying that FD is killing drifting because of the big V8s and money being thrown around. D1 is no different. Kuroi was pushing a 600hp RB26 back when Ueo and Yoshioka were still rocking 180~something hp 86's. And 800hp out of Saito's Chaser is more than I've seen any FD car have, let's not even mention the 1000+hp Laurel Kumakubo's been building... The money hungry aspect of D1 part of the bigger whole as to why Inada and Tsuchiya left D1 and are creating a new series, you've had to notice the sponsor's list that's identical on EVERY car that competes in D1... Some of you are just throwing things out at FD when D1's been doing the same for years, but either you're too blind/biased to realize it or are just naive.

Finally, it's true that when you see a lot of the big names in D1 that they're excellent drivers, no doubt about it. But you also need to take into account that guys like Nomuken, Orido, Taniguchi, etc have been drifting for going on almost 10-15+ years now. And all this about "massive angle" etc. is just for show; If you've ever seen how they drive on the touge (and I've lived in Japan and experienced it), it's not how they drive. Massive angle and backwards entries aren't the safest, fastest or smartest things on barely lit roads where there's not much room to maneuver and mistakes could send you flying off into the darkness.

Just food for thought....

[Wake]

Leave it to the old guys to shut this thread down lol


Its amazing how different the opinions are between +/- 25 years old.

[ericcastro]

Originally Posted by North

I'm siding with Drift Freaq and ericcastro on this one, and the Evolution/Regression comment was spot on as well...

I'll add a few comments too. First, the reason cats like DMac, Rhys, etc have money, multiple cars, etc. is because they don't rely solely on drifting as their income. DMac has MCN Motorsports (his shop in Ireland) to put extra money in his pocket, and Rhys comes from a racing family/background, he does Rally, Hill Climb, etc. That's just to name a few.

To call JR a sellout is retarded. If you have companies like Ford, Falken and others backing you, dropping names when giving interviews isn't a big deal. The money and R&D to build a car like his doesn't come out of thin air. And whoever said that if you put some of the Americans and the Japanese drivers together, and that the Japanese drivers would always come out on top obviously didn't pay attention to the last 2 times D1 was at Irwindale when JR was killing it. Dude has more heart and dedication to the motorsport than most, and is always representing drifting in a positive manner.

Another thing is saying that FD is killing drifting because of the big V8s and money being thrown around. D1 is no different. Kuroi was pushing a 600hp RB26 back when Ueo and Yoshioka were still rocking 180~something hp 86's. And 800hp out of Saito's Chaser is more than I've seen any FD car have, let's not even mention the 1000+hp Laurel Kumakubo's been building... The money hungry aspect of D1 part of the bigger whole as to why Inada and Tsuchiya left D1 and are creating a new series, you've had to notice the sponsor's list that's identical on EVERY car that competes in D1... Some of you are just throwing things out at FD when D1's been doing the same for years, but either you're too blind/biased to realize it or are just naive.

Finally, it's true that when you see a lot of the big names in D1 that they're excellent drivers, no doubt about it. But you also need to take into account that guys like Nomuken, Orido, Taniguchi, etc have been drifting for going on almost 10-15+ years now. And all this about "massive angle" etc. is just for show; If you've ever seen how they drive on the touge (and I've lived in Japan and experienced it), it's not how they drive. Massive angle and backwards entries aren't the safest, fastest or smartest things on barely lit roads where there's not much room to maneuver and mistakes could send you flying off into the darkness.

Just food for thought....

great post

And maybe you guys are watching to much "media", and not drifting.
Heres some of those FD guys in their own cars having fun.


And speaking of Formula D,
Check out these runs from last weeks FD,
Watch how hard Tanner and Aasbo throw those cars in.
And those Aasbo/Forsberg runs are so good !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=-AAHVSWGVUY


Last ASB, we got entries
(and this is a straight, not the long curved track entries in Japan.)


Also, I think everyone talking about Japan must not have watched Road Atlanta Entries this year.

[ericcastro]

Originally Posted by WakeBHR

Leave it to the old guys to shut this thread down lol

Funny, I called it talking sense, lmao!



Oh yeah, Rhys and Tanner make all their money doing stunt driving for commercials.
FD doesnt pay much.
Hence the reason Tanner quit, so he could have a successful career in the biz and own more then a 3 bedroom house in the OC, lol.

[One_love_silvia]

Originally Posted by drift freaq

That was one example and oh if you think because they just do it on dirt sometimes they don't have skill you really are clueless about Pro Rally driving.
Rhys Millen brought his full drift EVO out the RSR event back in the day and ran the full course sideways lifted! Guess what, the Japanese would not even let run as a competitor in the event because he owned everyone. The ruled his run a exhibition run.
Seriously dude, you are 19, unless you are out racing now, you have not a clue as to the skill level of Pro Rally driving.
Or the skill level of Super Modified drivers who push 750 HP 700LB cars around a track completely sideways and passing each other in drift.

Like I said before I am not trying to hate on the Japanese I have mad respect for a lot of them. They are excellent drifters. Though to say they invented the concept, to say they are the only ones in the world that can do it well?

Well that is speaking out of shear ignorance of this types and history of motor sports in general.

seriously take a trip to Finland and watch the Finnish drivers. There is another country that turns out drivers that can drift like no tomorrow. The only difference is they either go into Pro Rally or Formula One.

Oh and I would pretty much say most any F1 driver could drift really well if he chose too. They are the best drivers in the World.

In no way did I say rally drivers have no skill. Those guys have immense skill. Hell. Ken block and tanner both do rally in their rockstar cars don't they? All I said, was that its much easier to loose traction in dirt than on gravel. And I am well aware that japs aren't the only ones who can drift well. But its too hard to talk abt all the other countries that drift, because its so international now.

I mean, aasbo is one of my favorite drivers. The way he throws the car sideways with so much
angle shows that he can be competitive, and have a great time doing so. He knows he takes chances when he goes for big angles, but he does it because its what the sports all abt. Its much more impressive when he's way more sideways than the guy he's chasing, yet he's still door to door with him.

Tanner is another one of my fav. Drifters due to how gd agressive he is. He's always got a shit ton of smoke behind him nd kissing the qrt panels of the lead cars.

Forsberg is another favorite. He's a great drifter. A two time champ at that. But the main thing that attracted my vote for him, is how cool and down to earth he is. When a friend of mine and I met him, he was the chillest guy there. I feel that he really represents the grass root level drifters the most. Sure he has a huge sponsorship with nos, but he's one of the only fd drivers who has an only drifting background. And just by meeting him u can totally tell he's in love with drifting and does it for the fun of it. Not for the fame.

[Wake]

So what was this thread about again?

[North]

Actually, the vast majority of the drivers in FD come from a drifting-only background. The guys like Rhys, Tanner, Sam, and Stephen Verdier are the minority.