'Drifting' refers to a driving technique and to a motorsport where the driver intentionally oversteers, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels through turns, while maintaining vehicle control and a high exit speed. A car is said to be drifting when the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle prior to the corner apex, and the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa), and the driver is controlling these factors. As a motor sport, professional drifting competitions are held across the world.

Initial D is celebrating the ten year anniversary of the anime series this December 2009 with the release of Initial D: Extra Stage 3: Tabi-Dachi no Green. The new Initial D OAV focuses on the lives of Mako Sato and Sayuki – two girl racers that form the racing team Impact Blue with their blue Nissan Sil80 (sileighty) drift car. The girl racers are known to dominate the Usui Mountain touge and have already been featured in the Initial D Extra Stage OAV released in 2000. Reports say that Extra Stage 2: Tabi-Dachi no Green is not a direct sequel, even though Shuichi Shigeno wrote the script back in 2001. The new DVD is available December 5th in Japan and has already aired once on SkyPerfectTV.

When talking about the recent wave of JDM trends, drifting definitely can't be left out. Drifting has been one of the front runners of the JDM craze ever since the beginning days of Initial D and JDM option videos, but it seems to have cooled down since D1's US debut back in 2003. At first everyone exposed to drifting was drawn into the amazing display of controlled chaos which brought new people into this booming new scene, but now it seems the shock value has worn off leaving everyone to wonder what's next.

Drifting's main appeal was its grassroots and underground following. Now that drifting has become mainstream, it seems every kid out there is looking for a good "drifter" asking the question "which is better, FWD or RWD?" The Fast and Furious 3 didn't exactly help either. To me it was a sign that the end was near. At this point, drifting has moved away from the main stream and back to the original small group of true fans, but the next big thing has definitely taken over - Time Attacks.

The main difference between drifting and time attacks is the level of subjectivity. Drifting wins are based on the completely subjective decisions by judges. Time attack wins are a little more concrete. There is nothing subjective about transponders recording lap times down to fractions of a second. This definitely puts more focus on the car being built and its capabilities rather than driver skill alone and making an impression on the judges. This is the reason most tuner shops don't build competitive drift cars. In drifting, a more skilled driver with less of car can beat out a superior car piloted by a lesser driver. Take a look at the 200HP Corolla AE86 taking down 500+HP beasts.

Personally, I think drifting has come and gone. Every EBay and knockoff part claims JDM or drift spec. All the talk of mass media, major network coverage has died off, and the latest FF installment may have been the nail in the coffin. Do you think drifting has died?

2009 Formula Drift champion Chris Forsberg took his NOS Energy Drink 350Z to South America to take part in a first-ever international drift demo held by RPM Motorsports. The event featured four drift champions — Samuel Hubinette, Tanner Foust, Ryuji Miki and Forsberg — and two international drivers from France and Japan. Held in the center of downtown Santiago, Chile, the demo event exposed the sport of drifting to well over 15,000 Chileans. Forsberg and the other drivers were treated to fine Chilean hospitality and were featured in several national news broadcasts and even a late night variety show. Check out this newly added highlight video from the demo.and then

Chris Forsberg takes the win in front of a record crowd in SeattleDruf

Chris Forsberg won the fifth of seven rounds in the Formula Drift Pro Championship last weekend. Forsberg extended his lead in the Championship to 47 points ahead of fellow MMI client Ryan Tuerck.

“Our goal going into the event was to have a good finish and hopefully add a few points to our championship lead,” said NOS Energy Drink Team Owner and Driver Chris Forsberg. “We are could not be happier the way the event went.”

The next round in the Formula Drift Pro Championship will be held at the infamous Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA on August 20th – 22nd coinciding with the Indy Racing League (IRL) opening the sport of drifting to thousands of new race fans.

Who is not familiar with Nissan, a Japanese automotive industry. Manufacturers of four-wheeled vehicle has been established since 1932 and is headquartered in Japan. Many variants of the car that has created one of them is a nuanced kind of sports car that is Datsun 204Z first produced in 1970. The latter is the Nissan 350Z which came out in 2006. Nissan 350Z is the fifth-generation Nissan Z-car line, this car is sporting one. This car has been designed to attract the attention of sports car lovers. It is not possible each time you see this car will be scratching your head in amazement that there will be details, both exterior and interior.

2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X - Monster Massive

Our last trip to Japan proved that one thing is clear: simple is back. For as long as the Japanese have become known for turning fantasy cars into reality, the unstoppable force that is known currently as the shitty global economy, took its turn this year and as a result, lighter mods and a step back to simplicity kicked in. Fortunately, that means street-friendly and a more realistic way of building cars for those of us without balling budgets to look towards for inspiration. Though the Monster Sport Evo X looks like a multi yen/dollar project, the spec list is shockingly short (but distinguished), kind of in the way Goose described his Johnson being like. Here, it's clearly not the length or the width, but the way the Evo works it.

Featured prominently at Signal Auto's booth, it was clear there's a partnership between the famed tuners, as well as Maziora, the paint company that has become synonymous with Signal's Show-Up division of body shops due to its color changing properties. You might've seen it on a few Signal race and drift cars over the years. Here, generous coatings of the company's own blend of Kandy Red paint has made its way onto the body and RS aero kit from V2 Champ, giving it a very familiar look that we've all come to love and enjoy. Monster Sport custom valved a set of Ohlins DFV coilovers to their specs, giving them a nice ride for the streets and at the same time drops the chassis conservatively over the 18-inch CE28N wheels from Volk.
2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Spoiler 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Side View 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Front View

You may be thinking the name Monster Sport isn't new to the US and you're right. For years they've been campaigning a Suzuki race car at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb with driver Monster Tajima who has no trouble breaking records many times over, and so it should come as no surprise that they've carried their racing expertise to the enthusiast level, offering a variety of performance parts to the market, including the Evo X. On this demo car, they bolted on as many Monster Sport parts as possible, including the intake, exhaust and intercooler while also integrating a new induction system and blow-off valve, and boost levels can be adjusted with a HKS EVC 5.

Though the days of aggressive tuning in Japan may have taken a short break, Monster Sport shows that quality can be achieved through simplistic means. Take it as a cue to follow suit but if the Japanese have also proved time again it's that they can't leave simple alone. Who knows? This could come back harder as an updated demo and with Monster behind the build, there's no telling how far they'll take it.
2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Engine Bay 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Intercooler 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Rear


Engine Monster Sport PFX300 Power Air Filter, titanium muffler, titanium exhaust manifold, suction pipe kit, front pipe, intercooler piping and high-flow blow-off valve

Engine Management HKS EVC 5 POWER 450hp

Suspension & Chassis Cusco front Power Brace; custom Monster Sport-spec Ohlins DFV coilovers; JSpeed Super Sujigane-Kun

Wheels & Tires 18-inch Volk Racing CE28N wheels; Toyo R1R 255/35R18 tires

Brakes Image brake pads

Exterior Maziora PLREADES II Kandy Red Paint; V2 Champ RS Original aero kit and 3D carbon rear wing; Cecil Sports carbon electric mirrors

Interior Takata racing harnesses; Bride Zeta III (driver) and Artis III (passenger) seat

Audio Pioneer navigation system

As the motorsport of drifting expands and matures in the United States, the range of cars competing at events has grown beyond the stereotypical Nissan Silvia (240SX) / AE86 Toyota Corolla / Nissan Skyline / Toyota Supra contingent.
The first we heard of a Lexus IS300 entering the drifting scene was in 2004, when Chuck Goldsborough's Performance Engineering, Inc. (then doing business as Team Lexus) set up one of his cars for drifting, and entered it in several U.S. Drift series events that year.

Early the following year, Super Street magazine's February 2005 issue featured a cover article on the HKS Drift Altezza that competed in the D1 Grand Prix series. Then, in mid-2006 came word of Team Lexus' return to the drifting scene, with their third-generation car now running under the aegis of the Formula Drift series. And this past April brought us word that Team Falken decided to put together a Lexus IS350 drift car to be driven by Hiro Sumida which would eventually compete in the aforementioned Formula Drift series.During all that time, another Lexus IS300 drift car had been flying under our radar. It now comes to the forefront, however, with an unprecedented double 1st-place win (both in the Drift Showoff, where he beat out 28 competitors, and the Best of IS Showoff) at the Falken Tire Drift Showoff held on Saturday 9 June 2007 at Gulf Greyhound Park in Houston, Texas. This double winner is a highly-modified 2001 Lexus IS300 owned by Bernard Chaung (better known to the my.IS community by his Badman Forever screen name) and driven in the Drift Showoff by Casey Quillen.

Indeed, this IS300 is a unique combination of clean beauty and pugnacious toughness. Bereft of any badging and body-side moldings and with a barely-there grille, but with a body kit and "eyelids" over the headlights and wearing a beautiful warm-gray-with-a-hint-of-green that Bernard describes as "camouflage-like", this stunner's looks are far from ordinary. And the highly prominent intercooler is part of an SRT Stage 2 Turbo Kit. This car is also something of a trailblazer, having been the first Lexus to compete in a Pro-Drift series (Formula Drift 2004).

new-is300-drift-king-img_1409.jpgOf course, you wouldn't expect the owner of such an extraordinary car to choose an ordinary driver, either. Casey Quillen is no drifting newbie, having driven this IS300 during both the 2004 and 2005 seasons of Formula Drift. The Driftmasterz Lexus IS300's (as Bernard's car is officially known) drifting debut in Houston in 2004, driven by Casey, so impressed HKS drifting driver N.O.B. Tanaguchi that, shortly thereafter, HKS switched their drift platform from the S15 Nissan Silvia to the Toyota Altezza for D1 Grand Prix. Coincidence? We think not...

Casey and the DMZ IS300 (a commonly-used abbreviation for Driftmasterz) also competed against another prominent Lexus IS300 during the 2005 Formula Drift season, the former Team Lexus drift car (driven by James Bondurant). And, to complete the Lexus drifting "circle", the Team Falken Lexus IS350, driven by Hiro Sumida, also participated in the 2007 Houston Falken Tire Drift event, albeit as one of several Falken drift exhibition cars and not as a Drift Showoff competitor.

The Driftmasterz Lexus IS300's double-barreled victory almost didn't happen. As its owner Bernard Chaung tells it, "The DMZ IS300 was retired from the show circuit at the end of 2003. It entered the drifting scene in late 2003 until mid-2005 and was retired from that as well. After the hiatus in 2006, I felt my hometown scene could use a boost so it was decided that I enter the car into its first show competition in nearly 4 years. The day before the event, I was approached by Casey and decided to also allow him to use it in the drift competition. Having the car win both in the show category and the drift contest was more than I could imagine."

new-is300-drift-king-img_1562.jpgSadly, Bernard informs us that the DMZ IS300 will not be competing in any further 2007 Formula D events. You can, however, see it at select Southern Regional car events with the Team Nextstage crew.

Officially, Bernard and Casey's prize for winning the Drift Showoff was $500, a 6-foot-tall trophy and a set of Falken Azenis Tires, but, in fact, they've won much more than that, namely, the respect of their competitors and the admiration of the my.IS community.

Bernard, in turn, would like to thank Falken Tire for the FK 452 drift tires, Meguiar's for the special car care products, TeamShiftPoint for the mechanical work and pit crew support, and RCC Autosports for the excellent job on the customized bodywork and paint.

Finally, we'd like to thank Liang-Shi for graciously allowing us to use her pictures for our story. And, if you care to view a 30-second clip of Casey's award-winning drift.

Drifting is a driving technique and a racing sports car race using these techniques. In competition, the driver tried to make the car is in a position and slid sideways as long as possible. But Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the body in charge of sports activities of international racing, drifting is not recognized as a sport of professional racing.