Kings of drift rule a world gone sideways

This new motor sport is not about racing for the finishing line but about how well you slip and slide through the curves, says Richard Fleury

Grip is God and quick times are everything. These are the first principles of motor racing and have been since the first driver said: "My horseless carriage is faster than yours..." Yet, here I am at Silverstone, home of British motorsport and soon to be former F1 venue, watching a new sport where grip is to be avoided at all costs and times are about as relevant as the colour of the drivers' socks.

Headlamps blazing on full beam, a silver Nissan 200SX dives headlong into the first bend at, I'd guess, somewhere between 90 and 100mph - which, from where I'm standing, looks way, way too fast. Then, just as an excursion into the gravel trap looks inevitable and the tow-truck driver could be forgiven for turning his ignition key in anticipation, the Nissan pitches sideways into a long, lurid tail-slide which continues deep into the following straight, raising a roar of approval from the grandstand.

Welcome to the sideways world of drifting, where stylish sliding, not crossing the finish line first, is the name of the game. The idea is to impress a panel of judges by linking a series of bends in a single, dramatic, fluid sweep. Regain traction or inadvertently point your car in the right direction at any time and off come the points. Think figure skating on four wheels. Only noisier. A skilful run is accompanied by a slaughterhouse soundtrack of unsettling, tortured tyre squealing.

Although still relatively obscure here in the UK, drifting or "Dorifto" is huge in Japan, its birthplace, where star drivers such as Ken Nomura and Kunny Takahashi enjoy celebrity status. And it has recently been embraced in the USA where major events draw crowds topping 100,000.

Dorifto began in the 1980s when it developed from the unofficial Japanese sport of "touge running". Touge means mountain pass, a place where illegal street racers would exercise their tuned Nissans, Mazdas and Toyotas. Among them was Keiichi Tsuchiya, a gifted young driver who became known as "Dorikin", or "Drift-King", for his remarkable sideways flair.

As drifting grew into an organised sport, Dorikin became a sort of guru, making millions of dollars from videos and DVDs expounding complex techniques with kung-fu-style names such as Choku-Dori (Swaying Drift). The movement even spawned its own manga cartoon, called Initial D.

If the emerging UK scene has its own Drift King, it is 29-year-old Kiki Nana, founder of the UKD1 championship. He is the organisational brains behind the 2004 season, culminating in today's finals here at Silverstone; the first official drifting series to be held in this country.

Kiki hails from Thailand, where he raced saloon cars. When he came to Britain to study at Oxford Brookes University, he brought his Dorifto dreams with him."We started with a very small group of friends in England in 1997 and every year it has doubled," says Kiki, who now runs his own car-tuning company. "Double the drivers, double the spectators and double the sponsorship."

Today's final sees 33 cars competing in the clubman class and 22 in the pro category. Pro is something of a misnomer; nobody is about to give up their day jobs, although some sponsorship money is already flowing into the sport. The majority of pro drivers campaign in various versions of Nissan's 200SX sports tourer. But anything front-engined with rear-wheel drive and enough power to unstick the tyres (over-inflated up to 45psi to reduce grip) can be drifted.

"In England 200SX is a very cheap car," says Kiki. "For £10,000 you can get a really like-new car. So with a little bit of money like £5,000-£6,000 on top, you can compete. It is not cheap for normal people, but for motorsport there is nothing cheaper than that."

Participation in the clubman class comes even cheaper. Entry costs just £75 and since drifting is not technically racing, no competition licence is required; this makes it one of the most accessible of UK motorsports.

Tyre fitter Simon Horner, from Cambridge, is among the first-timers taking to the Tarmac at today's UKD1 finals. His stripped out Nissan Silvia S12 cost him the grand sum of £190 and he says: "It doesn't matter if I completely destroy it, because I've got another one I bought for £100. It's the first time I've driven on a track. I thought: 'That looks easy - I'll have a go!' But when you get out there, it's really hard, as I've found out."

The action takes place on the same sequence of three curves - Priory, Luffield and Woodcote - where Michael Schumacher repeatedly spun off while testing for this year's British GP. Judges, including British Touring Car driver Phil Bennett, look for speed, extreme drift angles and smoothness. They award up to 25 points for each corner, with a further 25 up for grabs on the straight for a stylish transition between drifts. The don't actually hold up score cards but if they did, Simon Horner's performance would spell out 0-0-0-0-0-0... However, he is not the only competitor to score an ignominious zero.

Not all of the novices struggle. Steve Evans built his 240bhp Toyota Starlet for drag racing and has never tried drifting before. But that doesn't stop him putting in a bravura performance, winning the clubman crown and outscoring several serious pro drivers in the process. Asphalt-surfing at a daunting speed and an even more improbable angle, he opens the driver's door and waves at the crowd. They love it.

"What a showman!" gushes the commentator as Steve milks the applause by smoking his tyres in front of the grandstand. A show-off, certainly.

'Where did you learn to drive like that?' I ask Steve, back in the pits.

"Street racing,' he says, unapologetically. "I'm on first-name terms with the local police and it got to the point where you've got to move on. You get a bit wiser."