Tengku Djan in action

Is It Illegal?

Yes and no. It's kind of like a don't ask don't tell thing. The Kesatsu (police) usually ignore it unless it is done in a public area. The docks which is a very popular drifting spot is about half a mile from a police station but they very rarely bother coming down and passing out tickets.

What Cars Do They Use?

There are seven cars most commonly used for drifting. The first is the AE86 Levin/Trueno (referred to as a Hachi-Roku), because of it's rear wheel drive lay-out and the fact that it's relatively inexpensive it is probably the most common drifting car. The second and third are the Silvia S13 and S14, which come in two different models: the turbocharged K's and the non-turbo Q's. Because of their high horse power and free-revving enginges they are excellent drifting cars. The third is the 180SX, related mechanically to the Silvia, the only difference is in the body style and the fact that is lighter and has a better front/rear balance ratio. The fifth is the FC3S RX-7. I believe that this would be a more popular pick among drifters if it was not as problematic as



it is. The Cefiro is another excellent drifting car. It has a powerful RB20DET engine and good handling characteristics. The last is the Laurel which is also powered by the RB20DET. . Another good drifting car is the Skyline GTS-T which you don't see very often. It has a rear wheel drive layout and boasts a 260hp engine. A car you also don't see very often, but is the epitome of a drifting car, is the Sil-Eighty. It is a hybrid of a Silvia and a 180SX, either with a Silvia S13 front end and a 180SX back or the opposite. Because of their rising popularity Nissan started manufacturing the Sil-Eighty last year.

Where Do They Drift?

There are three places where drifting occurs. The first and probably the most popular is in the mountains (Tohge). Drifters flock to them because they are realtively desolate with few people and they have perfect groups of S turns to test a drifters abilities. This is usually where you will find the hardcore drifters driving Hachi-Roku's without bumpers. The second is what I like to call the docks, but it is also done in isolated parking lots. This is where drifters learn or warm up for the mountains. Last but not least is the circuits. This is where competitions are held and contestants are judged on a specific group of turns on a 100 point scale. Circuits are very popular but are usually only open one day a week (Sunday or Saturday) and you have to pay to get in.

How is it Done?

There are two ways to start a drift. The first is the clutching technique. When approaching a turn the driver will push in the clutch and shift his car into second gear. Then rev the engine up to around 4000-5000 rpm (it all depends all the model of the car being used) and then slightly turn away from the turn and then cut back towards it hard while at the same time popping the clutch and causing the rear wheels to spin. At this point the drifter has a loss of traction and is beginning to slide around the curve. Now comes the hard part. You have to hold the drift until the next turn. To do this you must keep your foot on the accelerator while at the same time adjusting your car with the steering wheel so you don't spin out. It's not as easy as it sounds. Then as the drifter reaches the end of the turn and approaches the next turn which is in the opposite direction he must cut the


wheel in that direction and in some cases, if the previous drift was to slow and they start to regain traction, they must pop the clutch again to get the wheels spinning. And that is how you drift a rear wheel drive car.The second technique is used by a few drifters in rear wheel drives, but is the only way you can really drift a front wheel drive. You have to use the side brake. A front wheel drive can not whip it's tail out because the tires are being driven in the front as opposed to the rear. So when approaching a turn you pull the side brake to cause traction loss. And the rest is pretty much the same except that it's much harder to take more than one turn with a front wheel driver

What Is Drifting?

Basically, drifting is getting your car sideways down a road. It doesn't sound very hard does it? Sounds a lot like power sliding huh? Well it isn't. It's much more complex. Instead of a drifter causing a drift and then countering to straighten out, he will instead over-counter so his car goes into another drift. That is the reason many drifters do it in the mountains, because there are many sharp turns strung together. So in essence a good drifter has the ability to take five or six opposing turns without having traction at any point in time.

Rally Car

McLaren kembali menyinar.

Tahniah kepada pasukan McLaren kerana awal pagi tadi menjuarai GP Monaco, di mana Alonso menjuarai GP tersebut buat 2 tahun berturut2, disamping pemandu kedua mereka iaitu Hamilton turut menaiki podium. Kemenangan 1-2 ini cukup manis bagi Mclaren kerana dapat juga menyaingi kehebatan pasukan lain spt Ferrari , dan BMW. Beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini Mclaren mengalami kejatuhan, namun tahun ini mereka berjaya membuat "comeback" dengan begitu cemerlang, tahniah sekali lagi.
Bagi peminat F1 tempatan mesti mengharapkan pasukan tajaan Petronas iaitu pasukan BMW Sauber Petronas dapat menyaingi pasukan handalan yang lain, tapi setakat ini belum ada lagi pencapaian yang dapat dibanggakan. Pencapaian terbaik tahun ini adalah hadir dari Nick Heidfeld yang menduduki tempat keempat di Australia,Malaysia, dan Bahrain. Tetapi kita harus bersabar,kerana kejayaan pasti akan hadir.

Berita GP Monaco

MONTE CARLO, Monaco – Pelumba McLaren Mercedes menyapu bersih kedudukan 1-2 untuk menguasai sepenuhnya perlumbaan kereta Formula Satu (F1) Grand Prix Monaco di sini, semalam.
Dengan diketuai juara dunia dua kali, Fernando Alonso yang muncul juara, rakan sepasukannya, Lewis Hamilton pula memastikan penguasaan dengan menduduki tempat kedua diikuti pelumba Ferrari, Felipe Massa ketiga.
Alonso meninggalkan Hamilton 4.095s di belakang manakala Massa lebih jauh iaitu 1min:09.114s pada perlumbaan 78 lap di atas litar jalan raya sepanjang 3.34km itu.
Ini merupakan kejuaraan ke-17 yang dicipta Alonso sepanjang kariernya dan yang kedua musim ini selepas GP Malaysia.
Kejayaan Alonso itu juga melebarkan rekod kejayaan McLaren kepada 150 kemenangan dalam sejarah F1 dunia.
“Tidak pernah saya tinggalkan pelumba di tempat ketiga (Ferrari) lebih satu minit. Pastinya ia antara kejayaan paling mudah dan manis setakat ini.
“Memang menakjubkan apabila anda muncul pelumba terpantas, berada di petak depan dan kemudiannya muncul juara di sini.
“Ia satu hatrik. Saya begitu gembira memandu 78 lap dengan kereta sesempurna ini ,” kata Alonso.
Dengan kejayaan itu, Alonso merampas kedudukan pendahulu keseluruhan daripada Hamilton walaupun mempunyai sama 38 mata daripada lima perlumbaan musim ini.
Massa di tempat ketiga keseluruhan dengan 33 mata.
Hamilton juga terus mencipta sejarah menjadi pendatang baru yang berjaya lima kali menaiki podium berturut-turut dalam lima penampilan pertamanya dalam F1 pada tahun ini.
Bagaimanapun, pelumba Britain berusia 22 tahun itu masih belum pernah naik ke podium selaku juara setakat ini.
“Saya tidak mahu membuat sesuatu yang bodoh. Cukup ia satu pencapaian 1-2 yang terbaik kami. Apa yang penting adalah mata bagi pasukan,” kata Hamilton.
Alonso yang memulakan perlumbaan di petak depan di sini sama seperti tahun lalu ternyata tidak memberi ruang apabila pantas memecut ke depan sambil diikuti rapat Hamilton yang mengawal pergerakan Massa di belakangnya.
“Biar saya pamer persembahan 150 peratus sekali pun, ia sukar mengubah keadaan. Mereka (McLaren) memang pantas kali ini,” tegas Massa.
Selepas 10 lap, Alonso mudah berada empat saat di depan sebelum pada lap ke-20 sudah mula memintas kereta-kereta lain dan mengekalkan kedudukan itu sehingga tamat perlumbaan.
Pelumba Renault, Giancarlo Fisichella mencatat pencapaian terbaiknya musim ini apabila menduduki tempat keempat diikuti Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber) kelima dan rakan sepasukannya, Nick Heidfeld keenam
Seorang lagi pelumba Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen yang terpaksa bermula di petak ke-16 kerana menghadapi masalah stering pada kelayakan kelmarin, hanya mampu menduduki tempat kelapan.
Selepas dua perlumbaan di Eropah, semua pelumba akan terbang ke benua Amerika untuk GP Kanada pada 10 Jun dan GP Amerika Syarikat seminggu kemudian.