- #DRIFT STREETS JAPAN WHEEL DRIVERS#
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“It's been a long time since 2001 and professional drifting has grown well beyond Japan's borders,” noted Benson Hsu, a former licensed Formula DRIFT and D1GP competitor.
And although there was once a time when Japanese touge’ style cars (or street style cars) were prevalent in the competitive drifting culture, the tests of time, customization, and the automobile revolution have influenced it otherwise. Of course, one of the most influential Japanese aspects of the drifting scene has been its vehicles. Through their guidance and education, it has become the fastest growing motorsport in the world. If it weren’t for visionaries such as Tsuchiya, Takahash, and others, the sport of drifting may never have hit the mainstream. He provided technical guidance on the set of The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift, has judged the D1 Grand Prix (D1GP) international drift series, and has been the host of the Best Motoring International television series.Īll of these productions have - in some form - contributed to what the drifting industry has become today. Many other areas of the drifting world would also be touched by Tsuchiya’s master expertise over the years. This led to the formation of several grassroots drifting teams, as well as the present-day professional drifting circuits.
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The series focused almost exclusively on the drifting aspect of touge’ racing and is credited to be the most accurate and engaging touge’ fiction ever made.Īs interest in Initial D soared everywhere in the world, it sparked a great fascination with the sport of drifting cars in the United States and other countries. Tsuchiya would go on to influence J-Pop culture as a technical director on the Initial D manga television series, which ran steadily for nearly 20 years.
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That said, a few circuits still cherish them, and they strive to incorporate more of the old-school Japanese driving ways into their programs than we typically see in the top pro drifting event circuits. Nevertheless, drifters of these rear-wheel-drive cars would soon be challenged by a growing number of faster front-wheel-drive vehicles that had a greater advantage for passing on the straight-aways.Īlthough touge’ was definitely an early influencer of today’s competitive drifting world, most Japanese racing techniques are no longer utilized in contemporary drift settings.
#DRIFT STREETS JAPAN WHEEL DRIVERS#
It didn’t take long for drivers to learn the technique of drifting could give them an advantage if they could hold a position in the corner that blocked the passing area. Throughout a touge’ race, drivers must fight for position while negotiating difficult s-curves at treacherous speeds. It would trigger a race, and soon, a trail of touge’ racers would be seen coming off the mountains. They popularized it as an underground sport in the late 1980’s, with races often getting clandestinely initiated by drivers simply flashing their car’s high beams to cue opponents. The popularity of touge’ racing grew quickly in Japan, with street racers aspiring to drive the mountain roads just like the Drift King and others did. This video had a huge influence on the car and racing culture worldwide and inspired many of today’s professional drifters. It was a goal that earned him an iconic racing crowd reputation, and a feature video called Pluspy. Intrigued by Takahashi’s early drifting style, Keiichi Tsuchiya (also called the Dorikin or Drift King) set out to master the technique. In the 1970’s, professional motorcycling and race driving legend Kunimitsu Takahashi started using a technique of hitting corners at the apex (the point closest to the inside of the curve) at a high enough speed to initiate a controlled slide through the corner, while still maintaining the highest exit speed possible. Touge’ Racing is a particular form of Japanese auto racing that involves driving cars at a fast speed up, over, and then down the curved roads (or passes) that cut through Japan’s steep mountainous areas (think Mount Usui and Mount Gunma). Touge’ (峠, tōge) is the Japanese term for the word ‘pass’.
What Is Touge’ And How Does It Relate To Drifting?
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