Although some of my friends think I’m a ‘numb nut’ or a ‘F….. Bogan’, I love drifting, not personally floating from house to house while not paying bills, but the motor sport ‘Car Drifting’.
Much to the annoyance of traditional motorsport enthusiasts, originating in Japan in the 1970’s, Car Drifting is one of the fastest growing disciplines of motorsport in the world and was made famous internationally through the ‘Fast and the Furious’ films.
Funnily enough Drifting has been a part of motorsport well before the 70’s as disciplines used in dirt rallying and speedway and to put it simply, it’s all about using oversteer to get the vehicle to drive sideways through the corners at high speeds while the driver remains in full control of the car.
I can vouch for the fact that Drifting isn’t as easy as it looks and after numerous attempts at it, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m a far better spectator of the sport than I am participant.
So, I was interested to see how World Champion F1 driver Max Verstappen would go on his first attempt at drifting. But first, his teacher is a New Zealand Drifting Champion who is known internationally within the Drifting fraternity as ‘Mad Mike’ Whiddett whose seen in action here at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed in his ‘Madbul’ RX7:
Mad Mike returns to Goodwood with flame-spitting RX-7 – Goodwood Road and Racing
Let’s see how Verstappen, whose motorsport discipline necessitates him driving as fast as possible whilst his car tyres don’t break traction with the road, which is diametrically opposed to what the sport of Car Drifting is all about, goes at his first serious attempt at Drifting, and he’s doing it in an iconic purpose built 600hp 4-rotor FD3S Mazda RX-7.
Max Verstappen Learns How to Drift – Feat Mad Mike
Images courtesy Speedhunters
