While I was watching The Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift, I wondered why anyone would go through the tedious process of making such a dreadfully weak movie that is essentially an excuse to show off the growing worldwide phenomenon of drifting. Why not just make a documentary and save the money you would have spent on actors who have no presence and a script that my 11-year-old nephew could have written when he wasn’t feeling too inspired?
For one thing, the sort of people who are interested in drifting, street racing or any such underground activities are hardly the kind of people who would watch anything narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
So, you would end up with the usual doccie crowd who would ever have watched, enjoy it and walk away feeling more sussed about street racing culture and that’s where it would end. They wouldn’t get into their cars and wonder what would happen if they installed a turbo-charger or if Recaro seats are more comfortable or if nitrous oxide would really make their cars faster.
And so the doccie would have educated people, but the doccie makers wouldn’t have had any excuse for the not-so-subtle branding, the completely pointless, anorexic girls wearing less than Brazilians wear on the beach and they couldn’t possibly justify wrecking all those expensive cars.
At least the first Fast and Furious was watchable for the simple reason that it had Vin Diesel in it and because it had a half-decent story line. I thought the second movie was a complete waste of time (I fell asleep halfway through) and while there are no real stars and no real story in the third movie, I must admit to having enjoyed the drifting sequences.
So, what’s drifting you may ask? Simply put, when the rear wheels of a car are slipping at a greater angle than the front wheels, the car is drifting or power-sliding. Drifting has become so popular that there are international drifting championships and even a D1 Grand Prix with races held in Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
I sometimes play Need for Speed, Underground 2 on my PlayStation2 and drifting is one of the most difficult things to get right without crashing into everything in sight. Straight-line racing doesn’t take much talent, but maintaining the correct revs, knowing when to pull the handbrake and counter-steering at the right time to get the perfect drift is a difficult task indeed. And that’s just me trying to get it right in a game — in reality, it’s a million times more difficult.
The plot of Tokyo Drift revolves around a cocky American teen who gets in to trouble for illegal street racing and his mum packs him off to Tokyo, Japan, where he stays with his father to avoid jail-time back home.
He gets into the street racing scene in Tokyo and makes an enemy of the chief bad guy before he has even lost his first drift race. In the next 90 minutes, he learns how to drift, starts winning races, steals the bad guy’s girl and has to ultimately (you guessed it), race for his life.
Do you need to know who the stars of the movie are? Well, there’s this dreamy-looking, silver-grey Nissan 350Z, an absolutely fabulous red-hot Mitsubishi Evo 9 and a beautiful 1967 Ford Mustang.
The actors? Can’t remember I’m afraid.
Watch this movie if you are into cars because the drift scenes and the souped-up rides are great to watch, but don’t watch this movie if you’re expecting a regular flick with a decent plot and any semblance of intelligent movie-making.
DIY: How to drift a car
This tutorial is not to be tried anywhere other than on a racetrack or in a controlled environment where no one is at risk of injury.
First, you must have the right car. To drift successfully, a rear-wheel drive car is a good idea. It is possible to drift a front-wheel drive car, but it is a lot more difficult.
The first step in all drift techniques is to make sure your engine RPMs are at 4 000 to 5 000 before entering into any drift.
The power over technique:
As you near the corner, turn into it.
Once you’ve turned into the corner, momentarily kick in the clutch and release. This causes a break in traction on the rear wheels.
Once the car begins to drift, control the throttle and countersteer, by turning the steering wheel in the opposite direction.
Control the line and angle with the countersteer and throttle. Gradually straighten out the car as you exit the corner.
The handbrake technique:
As you near the corner, turn into it.
Push in the clutch pedal and pull the handbrake simultaneously. The handbrake should only be pulled up long enough for the rear end of the car to swing outwards.
Once the desired angle is reached, release the handbrake and clutch. This should break traction and initiate the drift.
Exit the corner as in the power over technique.
The feint drift technique:
Once you are almost at the corner, slightly turn the steering wheel so that the car is turning away from the corner. This will momentarily transfer the vehicle weight outwards.
Immediately cut back towards the turn, and at the same time, release the clutch, which will cause the rear wheels to spin. You will feel a hydroplane effect in the car as you slide around the curve. Do not let the drift go, because it will give you momentum for the next corner.
Keep your foot on the accelerator to keep it from spinning out.
As you approach the next turn, cut your steering wheel in the direction of the turn. If you were too slow on your first drift, kick the clutch in again to get the wheels spinning.