Was a blast for sure! Im actually building the Supra to mess around with drifting and maybe even bring it up to par for amateur level competition someday.
For those wondering, here are the rules of the competition. You have 32 cars in a bracket system. 2 cars go out at the same time as a battle. One car will lead and one will chase. Both cars are scored based on corner entry speed (95 mph sideways entries is the norm for these guys), drift angle, corner line, and "style" points. They also receive points for getting as close as possible to designated "clipping" points. The lead car earns points for pulling away from the chase car, while the chase car has to mimic the leader's line and angle while getting as close as possible to him. Its not a race and you cannot pass unless the leader makes an error that would prevent you from staying behind them. After the first run, they switch positions and the leader will become the chaser and etc. Despite looking like simple "power sliding", drifting is much more technical than simply jamming on the throttle and holding on, and a lot of work goes into both the cars and the driver to prepare them.
My favorite drivers are Dai Yoshihara who actually managed to pull out 1st place this round like a boss, and Mike Whiddett (who drives a 3 rotor turbo RX8), but he failed to qualify for Atlanta.
It also has a very personal, grassroots level feel to it unlike other major racing organizations. You can walk around the paddock, talk to drivers, engineers, and etc. Its like a big party down in the paddock, DJ's, tons of cars (not just the drift cars themselves, but also just well built cars that are brought in by other people or companies), umbrella girls, and free swag/vendors. Also, during the race the announcer does a great job with the audience, and he often speaks directly to members of the crowd and cracks jokes with them. One group in particular "Team Rowdy" had him going back and forth with them the whole night.
I actually got to sit and talk to one of the drivers I like a lot, Matt Field for a good bit and the Engineer for Dai's team Mike Kojima for 20-30 minutes. That was one of the cooler parts since I've looked up to Mike for a long time because of his involvement in the auto industry.
Anyways, was a lot of fun, the entire event is on
if you're interested.
