KamaSutra Will it drift, India’s only drifting competition of sorts took place recently. Kejas Shah grabbed first position in his Nissan Micra
A chance to watch local drifting enthusiasts along with Gautam Singhania, CMD Raymonds drift cars at the - Raymond Limited Premises at Thane, is what the invite said. Being a huge fan of Ken block and his drifting videos this piqued my interest.
Drifting as a sport has its origins in Japan when in the 1970’s Motorcycling legend turned driver, Kunimitsu Takahash taught the world the art of drifting. His legacy was followed by Kelichi Tsichiya, also known as the Drift King who further popularized this highly challenging and unique motorsport. Drifting today is a very popular motorsport with professionals competing in events throughout the year.
The Supercar Club with Raymonds were the organizers for this event. In its 2nd edition the number of participants has doubled this year, I was told.
Maruti Swifts, Honda Citys, old Mitsubishi Lancers to name a few made up the mix of cars being drifted at the event.
The event kicked off with Gautam Singhania proceeding to take a few practice laps in his BMW. Noise, smoking tyres and all that drama - this was drifting at its best. Few laps down and he already needed a new set of tyres! Now it was the turn of the participants who went through their allotted practice laps with a certain level of flair. To be fair they were driving regular stock cars which weren’t tuned for drifting so though the difference was significant their effort and enthusiasm was commendable.
During the drifting event, Kejas Shah grabbed first position in his Nissan Micra, followed by Bharat Gopal and Arvaan Joshi taking second and third spots, respectively.
Between laps I took the opportunity to have a brief chat with Gautam Singhania.
He mentioned that drifting as a sport is still gaining popularity. What is heartening to see is the response this year in terms of audience participation and crowd support.
The difficulties for the participant he said is that most of these regular sedans are front wheel drives so drifting in those is extremely difficult. The results and consistency of the drifting is vastly different when done in rear wheel and all wheel drive cars.
He ended by saying his support is always behind such events and hopes for the sport to grow to a level where other associations and companies throw their weight behind this sport.
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