Cars X Girl

By the time this gets published, it’ll probably be “old news.” Despite that fact, I still feel that it’s important to bring it up.

Through the wonderful blog Risky Devils, I found this article, announcing several arrests of street drifters in Tokyo. The article saddened me deeply, but some of the comments simply infuriated me. Instead of writing back a heated comment that won’t get me anywhere, I’m outlining my grievances here.

All racers aren’t created equal.

While I enjoyed The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift, I feel it did the sport way more injustice than it did it any good. Why? One easy fact: After watching the movie, everyone felt like an expert.

People who had never heard of drifting before suddenly thought they knew what it was all about. Kids thought it looked easy, and probably cracked up a bunch of cars doing it. Nobody seemed to get that drifting takes intense levels of skill. It’s car control on the very outer limits of control. It’s control where all control should just be lost, and you can tell it’s a blurry edge when you see the results of crashes in D1 Grand Prix competitions. Professionals put their cars into walls all the time, so what makes average Joe think he can go out and do it first time?

He can’t. Period. But everyone thinks they get drifting… They don’t.

What it is here isn’t what it is everywhere.

Here’s a fun fact for ya: Drifting was invented by Keichi Tsuchiya, but those who don’t know their drifting history sure believe that the “Drift King” was the one who created it. No, really, he just brought it mainstream… And the nickname “DK” was given to him on his JGTC victory lap, after he drifted every single corner of the track.

In reality, drifting has more humble roots, in the mountains of semi-rural Japan. Where people would go out and race up and down mountains in togue battles, and realized that, well, going sideways was fun. It was great to watch. It showed amazing talent when you can control the car at the edge of all possible control. After Tsuchiya brought it more mainstream, drifting slowly took off. Still, today, I feel that the Japanese are the best at drifting. They just understand it and have the dedication for it, plus the support.

Get your facts straight.

I am seriously glad that some commenters defended the drifters. Because the rest, to me, show an extreme level of ignorance that only exists because people can hide behind a screen name on the internet.

I have a great disdain for American street racers, because they’re extremely ridiculous about the whole thing. While many go to “deserted” places to set up drag races, many don’t. Many feel the need to race on the highways, well past the limits of their cars. But not all street racers are the American punks that have discolored the term so much.

The drifters referred to are, indeed street racers. Basically, they race on the streets… Empty streets. Extremely late at night and early in the morning, when nobody else is around. And they don’t race against each other… They race for the fun of it. The thrill of drifting around a corner in the middle of a sleepy city with ten other guys behind you and ten more in front of you doing the same thing.

The guys know what they’re doing. The cars are more than capable of doing it. And, my own feeling, is that many of them just can’t be professional drifters. Not everyone gets to do that… But to call them wrong for following their passion?! Hardly justified.

Age is just a number.

For people to bag on the guy for being 40 is just completely unreasonable. For me, if I could be 40 and enjoying my passion, I’d be loving life! Society seems to enjoy beating you down… Everyone tells you that you can be anything and do anything when you’re young, but once you’re an adult you’re expected to do certain things.

Sorry, us 20-somethings can’t build the cars that 30-somethings can. We just don’t have the funds. What you have is a guy who still has his passion, and finally the funds and the time to devote to it. That’s great, but nobody else seems to want to realize that.

I think a lot of people get jealous. They find themselves disenchanted with life and seem to feel that everyone else should be stuck in the same type of rut as themselves.

Is Ken Block any less a great driver because he’s 41? Any less of a capable racer because he didn’t start at 18? I don’t think so, and I can’t imagine anyone bagging on him for his age.

There’s a fine, fine line between calling someone out based on age and based on legal or illegal activities. I don’t condone illegal activities, but before people are so quick to caste the first stone, they need to look at their own lives. We all, at one point or another, do something illegal. Whether that’s drifting, excessive speeding or doing drugs. Nobody’s in a position to take the higher moral ground on that topic, because just about everyone’s guilty.

Chill out there…

Maybe I’m a bit too defensive, I’m sure that’s fair to say. I don’t exactly know the very nature of these arrests, nor do I know all of what the guys have done in their lives.

All I want is to point out that these are the very people for which I have to thank for drifting existing. They embody the passion of the sport, it’s very heart and soul and it’s roots. It’s great that drifting still exists in such a pure form… For the pure fun of it.

Just a shame that some people can’t get over what they don’t understand.

Meg

In 2007, Meg began learning about cars. Two years later, she had a very modified '97 Miata and a '90 240SX project car, as well as the Rookie of the Year autocross title. Life now completely revolves around cars and she wouldn't have it any other way. CarsxGirl is her way to encourage others to get into racing (it's not horribly expensive!), to document & share her car builds, an outlet to share & improve her automotive photography skills and to show that real car girls do exist!

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