10 steps for drifting's recovery

P.Haire · Post by **P.Haire** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:43 pm

i'd watch it.

Ryosuke · Post by **Ryosuke** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:32 pm

I totally agree with this guy. I think the most important point is the cost creep of the professional series which I attribute to the manufacturer sponsors. In Japan there are no manufacturer sponsors in D1, therefore the teams don't have to shell out crazy amounts of cash to compete with a manufacturer built car engineered for racing. Also the American capitalist mindset is affecting the sport: too many people want to make money too soon. D1 didn't start off making serious profit and drifting had been popular in Japan since the 80's. Why would it be any different here?

Also I don't think enough people are taking drifting seriously on the East Coast, but I can't think of any way to change that. Do you think more people would get involved if we had a nice dedicated drift/ grassroots race track like Ebisu or Buttonwillow that people could drive on inexpensively?

icantdrift · Post by **icantdrift** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:43 pm

Ryosuke wrote:Also I don't think enough people are taking drifting seriously on the East Coast, but I can't think of any way to change that. Do you think more people would get involved if we had a nice dedicated drift/ grassroots race track like Ebisu or Buttonwillow that people could drive on inexpensively?

likely yes, but it's hard to say. drifting tends to be expensive even on a grassroots level. travel costs money, so do tires, and then entry fees. if a track like ebisu were to exist, it still can't fetch those who don't have the money to play regardless.

if it were highly accessible, open year round, and extremely reasonable then i'd bet it would pull a fair share of new people... but a venture of that sort unfortunately just doesn't work in america and those who try tend to fail. it could be done, but would likely operate at a loss for a long time before it were to make any money (if ever). even if it were built out in the sticks away from everything, it's only a matter of time before some developer comes in and builds a subdivision right next to it or some tree huggers decide that the noise from the track are affecting the local wildlife and it's over. these are the kinds of problems the dirtbike/atv communities have been fighting for years, and those types of places would make less noise and general impact on the environment than a drift track.

Post by **andysapp** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 9:45 pm

Ryosuke wrote:too many people want to make money too soon.

This powder keg is probably American drifting's darkest element.

shawn shawn · Post by **shawn shawn** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:01 pm

icantdrift wrote:
Ryosuke wrote:Also I don't think enough people are taking drifting seriously on the East Coast, but I can't think of any way to change that. Do you think more people would get involved if we had a nice dedicated drift/ grassroots race track like Ebisu or Buttonwillow that people could drive on inexpensively?
likely yes, but it's hard to say. drifting tends to be expensive even on a grassroots level. travel costs money, so do tires, and then entry fees. if a track like ebisu were to exist, it still can't fetch those who don't have the money to play regardless.

if it were highly accessible, open year round, and extremely reasonable then i'd bet it would pull a fair share of new people... but a venture of that sort unfortunately just doesn't work in america and those who try tend to fail. it could be done, but would likely operate at a loss for a long time before it were to make any money (if ever). even if it were built out in the sticks away from everything, it's only a matter of time before some developer comes in and builds a subdivision right next to it or some tree huggers decide that the noise from the track are affecting the local wildlife and it's over. these are the kinds of problems the dirtbike/atv communities have been fighting for years, and those types of places would make less noise and general impact on the environment than a drift track.

Plus ebisu has like 7 tracks for all kinds of racing not just dependent on drift. They have stuff for dirt bikes, time trials, blah ditty blah....

plus they have a zoo haha! Theres a money maker right there.

but your right it would be so hard to build a track in america for drifting that would survive or even be allowed to operate.

rhythmnsmoke · Post by **rhythmnsmoke** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:14 pm

I totally agree about the whole making money thing. I love how you can get into drifting so easy, but making it to the pro's like in Formula D, and competing against Factory Sponsored vehicles... How are you suppose to compete with that, unless you somehow get on board and get scooped up by some big wigs like GM.

They already caused some uproar when they built their Cobalt Time Attack car by dumping a crap load of money into it.

Are American car manufactures trying to take a stab back at Asian/Import Car manufactures, by trying to dominate Asian populated Automotive sports?