Imagine being given the chance to do everything you have ever been scolded for doing before and then praised for it. Basically, everything that you know is bad is now good. If it were life we were talking about it would probably mean drinking beer all day and never getting fat, or having as many women as you like and never catching anything or getting in trouble. Well, I’m sorry to blow your airbag here, homes, but there’s really nothing we can do about the beer and women; but if it’s driving that you love, you’ll wanna try drifting.
Drifting is basically the bad boy of motor sports. It is that fleeting, yet glorious moment you see in WRC (World Rally Championship) where the car slides into the corner with the wheels pointing the opposite way of the curve while leaving a rooster tail of dirt or water spray behind them. We have been told countless times by racing instructors to avoid doing this in any timed sport because it only slows us down. Well, so does beer, but we all love it anyway, right? Because let’s face it, there’s something very addicting about being in control while out of control.
In other words, if you can’t be good, be good at it. At least that’s what the folks of DMF motor sports and the aftermarket mafia seemed to think when they invited a large group of the somewhat jaded motoring press up to the abandoned Expo Filipino car park in Clarkfield, Pampanga, for an afternoon of totally sideways action.
I say jaded not because we don’t love our jobs, but basically because most of us have been burned before with events that drag you 2 or 3 hours out of town just to patronize you with yet another person showing us how to hold a freaking steering wheel. You get to drive for five minutes in first gear around a course no bigger than my bedroom and are expected to come out breathless. It’s all in the name of safety, sure, but usually, trying to use the portalet ends up to be more dangerous.
But these guys had something else in mind for us. Trust me, you will get your fill here. After a brief introduction to the theory of drifting, we were divided into groups of four; each group was given one car and one instructor. DMF drift school believes that groups shouldn’t really exceed four people so that everyone gets enough seat time. Seriously, you can stare at a whiteboard ’til your eyes roll back into your head and your chair grows roots into the floor, but you will not learn a fraction of what you can in just 15 minutes behind the wheel.
Just ask Atoy Llave from Atoy bodykits. Here’s a guy that has built an empire on all show and no go. “Before, I used to spend all my money on the bodywork and interior of my cars. The engine would always be stock. I thought it was a waste of money until I tried drifting,” the animated body kit guru tells me. “I even sold all my show cars and have converted what I have left into drift cars. I’m hooked,” he confesses with a big wide smile framed by his trademarked cropped bleached hair.
And after just six months or so of getting into it, Atoy has already managed to make his own mark on the drifting scene, finishing in the finals of round three of the Glade Sport Lateral D drifting championships in Greenhills last Sunday. “I want to infect everyone with this bug.” He admits, like he was after world domination or something.
But this explains why he, along with long time friend, Sammy Luison of Concept One and Avon tires teamed up with David Feliciano from DMF motorsports to introduce drifting to the media in this awesome event at Clark. “We just want to promote the sport here,” David Feliciano explains.
Known as the Godfather of drifting in the Philippines, David also stumbled across drifting by accident. “I used to compete in slaloms before. I was never the fastest guy there. But I used to get a lot of cheers from the crowd. Then someone came up to me and told me that what I was doing was drifting, and that if I stopped sliding around, I would be more competitive. So I stopped. Being more competitive, that is,” he says with a grin.
Sammy Luison from Concept One wheels also confesses to getting bitten by the drifting bug. “I brought in Avon tires initially as high performance tires that could match the size of my rims. But we unveiled a hidden talent with these tires once Atoy started drifting with them,” Sammy says, somewhat surprised. “They are awesome; they last long, wear evenly, plus you can generate a lot of smoke – which gets you extra points in drifting,” the San Juan based businessman continued as his boys rolled out yet another set of Avons to bolt on to the back of an A31 Cefiro.
The beauty about drifting is that it is a very visual sport. As a spectator, you don’t need to know what is going on to be able to appreciate it. Just seeing them sideways with smoke pouring out of the wheel arches is enough to get anyone’s juices flowing. Plus, because you don’t need that much space for it, it can be held in high visibility areas like the Greenhills car park in San Juan, which attracts record crowds and makes it more appealing to sponsors, who, as we know, are the lifeblood of motor sports.
After a full day out, just about everyone walked away with being able to sustain at least a full J turn drift. The advanced groups were able to do figure 8 drifts, which require changing direction in the middle of a drift, while the real newbies were at least able to do a 180 degree power turn. Alex Perez, the Glade Sport Lateral D undefeated drifting champion tells me that he can teach anyone the basics in just one session. The rest is simply fine tuning, which comes from practice.
We capped off the day with a fabulous meal at C Italian restaurant in Fields avenue, right outside the former military base. The beers flowed freely, as did the pizza, pasta and authentic Italian cuisine. We swapped stories over dinner and all agreed that the most addicting part about drifting is that it gives you instant gratification. Once you feel the rear end kick out and you dial in just the right amount of counter-steer and find yourself sailing across the asphalt completely weightless, you’re hooked. Just like all of us, who had that glazed look in our eyes and smiles wider than the pizzas we were enjoying.