These People Might be Crazy: TLP goes drifting
There’s one kind of automotive event we’ve put off attending for a while now. Not gonna lie, drifting kind of seemed like more of a novelty in the overall pantheon of motorsport. On the drive over to Sonoma Raceway to pull back the curtain on this new to us motorsport we discussed our preconceived notions. Sure, we would have acknowledged that it’s some sort of competition that could be scored…but also something judged on artistic flair or other metric. That it was something other than “real racing” was pretty much how we would have described it. We’ve been around the block a time or two…young guys in slammed late-models, lots of camber, lots of tire smoke, stickers, rev limiters, loud exhaust and lots of pshhhhh…yadda yadda yadda. Been there, done that, wrote the article. (And in our defense, we saw a little of that)
But it was more than that. It was a whole lot more.
Enter Heather Taylor. Long story short, we met Heather at Sonoma Speed Festival this year. Among the many things she does (and there are apparently many) she makes sure that bonehead photographers and gawkers don’t walk on to hot race tracks, and generally helps make sure racing events are safe for spectators as well as competitors. Out of the blue, she sends us an email in her role as PR Manager of Team Faruk telling us about a new Netflix show and a guy named Faruk. We don’t know her real well and we have no idea who this Faruk guy is, but whatever.
Needing another Netflix show to binge like we need another hole in our heads, we binged the Netflix series, “HYPERDRIVE.” It was…well…a lot to behold. Pretty much everything was over the top (crazy) and the color commentary was a bit much, but what emerged as the competition progressed was some pretty impressive driving talent from a bunch of people (some of them well known to others) we’d never heard of. Truth told, we’re still not sure how we feel about HYPERDRIVE. But we digress….
As sure as Heather said, one of the competitors on the show was this Faruk Kugay. Faruk did not win the the HYPERDRIVE challenge, but he did do well, and he drove the holy snot out of his Toyota Supra 2JZ powered BMW M3 putting out over 600HP (We’re no experts, but we were pretty sure that HYPERDRIVE was’t exactly a true “drifting” competition…in fact, it was so over the top, we’re not sure what it represented other than sheer motorsport porn.) The guy’s also a bay area local #represent, and as the google search turned up races in something called Formula Drift (apparently it’s a bit of a “thing,” but again, we’re new to this, #noobs).
So Heather also invites us to come to Sonoma Raceway to meet Faruk, kick some tires and learn about an event he manages called Sonoma Drift and maybe strap into a drift car for some demo laps. What could possibly go wrong, right? Go meet some relative strangers, watch some young guns with flat-brimmed hats hoon around in some home-brewed “race cars” in a parking lot…at night, no less. Then maybe get in one of these things with a stranger and let them do their thing while we sit there and well…hold on and pretend everything is alright (ummm, but it’s crazy). Easy peasy.
Our initial apprehensions were soon relieved when meeting up with Heather and Faruk.
Faruk may be fast in his race car, but he may be just as fast as an event organizer as manager of Sonoma Drift ,which since 2012, has grown to become one of the largest grassroots drifting events in the country. The Wednesday night drifting occurs simultaneously with Wednesday night drag racing, with participants rolling in to race what they brought throughout the evening. Faruk is responsible for ensuring that this, from our outsider perspective, chaos is a safe and as entertaining as possible, with an army of volunteers assisting with the endeavor. He was in a constant state of movement and communication, directing folks and setting up the track configurations, yet made time to give us a tour of the course and explained just exactly what was going to happen once things kicked off. His only currency keeping everyone in line and on program was a fist bump and word of encouragement. Between the drifters and the drags, there were literally hundreds of cars (and a few trucks) ready for action. If this is how many cars come out on a Wednesday evening (as has been the case for the drag cars for decades), the future for drifting is indeed bright.
(We can’t repeat this part enough, Faruk is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and the perfect ambassador for drifting)
The Ride-a-Long:
As part of our visit, we were scheduled to do a ride-along with one of the drift participants. Excitement for the opportunity was somewhat tempered by an incident that Faruk experienced only days prior at SEMA Ignited at the SEMA show in Las Vegas. Putting the “ignite” in Ignited, Faruk had an unscheduled Car-BQ in the drift box outside the Las Vegas Convention Center. A video of the incident was/is all over social media putting the danger of this sport (as exists in any motorsport) on full display, helping us second guess a taste of the full drifting experience. After quickly signing away liability, one of us (Mark) would do some research for the Loud Pedal team and get the full drift experience. Faruk connected us with a participant willing to let a noob sit shotgun and either scream in excitement (or excrement) or cry in fear. A big thank you to Julian Dumay who offered to take our Farouk around the paddock drift course in his Nissan S12 200SX powered by a 350z engine. Below is a compilation of three clips captured during the experience. In the first part, the yelling that can be heard in the background are primal screams of pure joy.
While never getting a completely clean run as each was interrupted by incidents (in which we may, or may not have been involved in) nonetheless it was a grin-inducing introduction to something that we had long misunderstood. Simply thinking about it brings a smile at this moment and the hope to do it again.
Grass Roots:
Drifting as a driving technique has been around since the first person experienced the glee of sliding the rear of their car around a corner successfully. The modern sport of drifting traces it’s origins to Japan and Kunimitsu Takahashi. Takahashi started his racing career with motorcycles and later went on to race cars in the 24 Hours of LeMans, Japanese touring cars and even one Formula 1 race in 1977 at the Japanese Grand Prix. In the 1970s while competing in the All Japan Touring Car Championship Takahashi would overcome the inadequacies of the racing tires used at the time by drifting through the corners to keep up his speed. It was a technique that would put him on the top step of the podium race after race.
What does this history have to with drifting today? Drifting may have gotten its start on the race track but with a little American spin (no pun intended) it has a strong grassroots foundation. Sonoma Drift is a great demonstration of RWYB..Run What you Brung. The paddock was filled with all manner of drifting cars from big American V8s, to vintage and bone-stock rotary-powered Mazda’s. Some came on trailers, but most others were driven in through the main gates. Some owners had a little extra cash for upgrades but generally, the stable of cars reflected the pure passion of the weekend wrench turner sweating and busting their knuckles in their backyards and garages.
And We’re Out…
After it was all done, and we wussed out of spending any additional time because we were cold and tired (#schoolnight…#oldmen) so on the way home we reflected on what we had just learned. First, we learned that hanging out with drifters as not as bad as our parents had warned us about. Drifting is one of the few automotive sports, where even when a failure occurs it’s still as entertaining and mind-blowing as when the proverbial “it” all goes right. Sonoma Drift also reinforces the utter foolishness of folks that do their hooning on public roads and engage in s(l)ideshow behavior that can end up killing people for no reason. With an investment in some safety equipment (and tires…lots of tires) and for less than $50 every Wednesday night, one can burn up their rubber until the late hours of the evening. Sonoma Drift gives participants an organized and controlled (relative speaking, as it is drifting after all) environment to unleash whatever psychotic sideways fantasies one may have.
(Before we close, we would like to extend our most sincere thanks to Faruk and Heather for their time, their hospitality, and their willingness to hold our hands through our first experience with drifting)
We got a taste for drifting as a sport and as a community, though we still have much to learn (other than that these folks might be crazy) about this side of the motorsport road. We’re already hooked and are planning to return to Winter Jam on December 21-22 to get another dose of this crazy. Amateurs ticking off practice laps is quite a different thing from running in direct competition for cash prizes and/or glory. Registration for each event will go on sale one month prior to event date. Register online at: www.sonomaraceway.com/sonomadrift
Spectator tickets available at Gate 1 Main Entrance - $10 (Kids 12 and under are FREE)Gates open at 3pm - Drifting 4:00pm – 10:00pm (Starting time is subject to change without notice).
