From the mountains to the racetrack, the art of drifting began in Japan

You must’ve watched the film Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift which represents the impeccable driving skills demonstrated by Japanese drivers on the mountainous tracks. It is not known if drifting was invented on those curvy roads of the mountains. However, it can be claimed that Japan has played a decisive role because of which drifting has gone international in the present time. For those unversed about drifting, it is the art of driving a car at a swift pace through the edges and, burning the tyres.

Moving on, we look at the history of drifting and how Japan laid the foundation of a different driving technique.

Kunimitsu Takahashi

Kunimitsu Takahashi is often acknowledged as the father of drifting. Back in the time, Takahashi was a motorcyclist who became illustrious for his unique driving style. At the All Japan Touring Car Championship, Takahashi was found performing a trick which astonished the judges as well as the crowds. Takahashi was observed entering the apex of the racecourse at excessively high speed and flying through the corners seamlessly without slowing down. This trick gave not only birth to an unusual driving manner, but also helped him win several championships in different regions of the world.

Keiichi Tsuchiya

Takahashi’s reputation, and legacy inspired several new generations to pick up drifting. Among many great drivers, Keiichi Tsuchiya rose to prominence for making through extreme turns at extreme pace in his 1986 Toyota Sprinter Trueno on the mountain roads. These stunts and actions of Tsuchiya earned him the title of ‘Drift King’. Later on, the drifter took part in the Fuji Freshman race series and the All Japan Touring Car Championship to cite a few. Fun fact- Tsuchiya played a minor role in the movie Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift and helped the actors and stunt directors to nail the drifting scenes of the movie.

Rise in the western countries

While drifting has been a famous motor sport in the nation of Japan for a long time, it reached the shores of California in the 90s. In 1996, the first-ever drifting competition was hosted outside Japan at the Willow Springs Raceway in California. The event was hosted by Dajido Inada, who is another prominent drifter after Takahashi and Tsuchiya. At present, there are several famous drifting events around the world such as the Formula D, NZ Drift Series, Red Bull Drifting Championship and the Nordic Drifting Series.