Here's what I don't like about drifting:
1) people constantly confuse it with racing and get upset when they're told it's not racing. But the solid fact is this: drift
isn't racing. Racing is a contest of speed (as any
dictionary in the world will tell you), while competition drift, which is what we're talking about here, is based on points. It isn't racing, but that's not to say it isn't a motorsport. It is, and a very skillful one. However, people need to realise that just because something involves cars, it isn't necessarily a race.
2) people frequently confuse what I'll call "show drifting" with four-wheel drift. 4W drift is a driving technique which involves a controlled loss of traction of all four wheels, and in which all four wheels have the same or similar slip angles. "Show drifting", the back-out variety, is quite different - huge rear slip angle, fronts more or less pointing the right way to control the direction of travel. 4W drift isn't used much in modern racing, but before the advent of wings and slick tyres it was a common and often necessary technique for speed through corners.
4W drift has nothing to with show drifting - 4W drift is about balancing the car and maintaining corner speed to achieve a quick exit. From the start of GP racing up until the advent of slicks in F1 in the '70s, tyre changes simply didn't happen unless you blew one. One set would last you for a whole GP, sometimes a whole race weekend. They were almost as hard as normal road tyres and with no downforce (until 1968) and huge horsepower, grip was minimal. 4W drift was necessary to be fast (watch some GPL alien hotlaps - those guys are constantly sideways, but only as much as required - often it's very subtle).
3) Actually, it's not drifting that I have a problem with. It's people from either side of the track who a) are totally fundamentalist about racing/drift and think the other group are a pack of wankers/fossils or b) can't even agree on what they're arguing about (see "show drift" vs 4W drift). The threads that are started on this topic are always ending up in some childish flamewar or circular argument where the terms of reference are confused to the point of rendering any intelligent discussion impossible. I think if people are going to have these arguments then they should at least be in agreement on the terms they're using! Nothing worse than seeing a decent discussion devolve into a frustrating war over semantics.
To conclude: racing is about
speed - first across the line or fastest time wins. Show drifting is about
points - therefore not about speed and therefore isn't a race (I think the term "sport" is definitely applicable though).
To be perfectly clear: I like drifting but I don't do it. I try to avoid it when I race as it slows me down (unless I'm 4W-drifting an LX through a quick turn - remember the difference there). I prefer to race because I enjoy it more. To
me, speed is more fun
I grew up around cars on a big property with miles and miles of dirt tracks through the scrub, so I know how much fun it is to kick a car's rear out and countersteer to avoid trees and livestock
Later, when I hit tarmac for the first time, I loved it straight off and instantly realised that,
for me, speed is a lot more fun than pretty much anything else you can do in a (moving) car
Col, well said :up:
I now have a strange craving for gravy and cheese.