This month's feature: The Art of Drifting

From its humble beginning in the twists and turns of mountain passes, to sold out events in today's popular race tracks and road courses, Drifting has captured our collective attention.

So...what is it...who's in it...where is it...? We got the scoop...

Drifting: What IS it?

Thanks to Team Velocity, we got a little insight for you.

Basically, drifting is getting your car sideways down a road. It doesn't sound very hard does it? Sounds a hell of 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.

To put it simply a good definition of drifting is, "Sliding your car through a set of opposed and grouped turns without having rear wheel traction as your car moves laterally through the turns."

Who's doing it?

On the average, the demographic of people that drift are young, Japanese men in their early twenties. There are also many older men that do it, but it is mostly the younger generation. So far the best drifter I've seen is a friend of Velocity and his name is Takashi. He drifts an AE86 Levin (Hachi-Roku) and he's in his twenties. People have been known to throw up after taking a run in his passenger seat because he throws his car around so crazily.

The most famous drifter in Japan, known as the "Dorikin" (drift king), is Keiichi Tsuchiya -- and he's in his fifties. He has been a pioneer of the sport since his early years of touge runs. (Touge means mountain or mountain pass.) He's competed in Le Mans, driving an NSX, and has also competed in NASCAR events.

Many girls are getting into drifting as well. There are all-girl teams popping up all over Japan.

Where is it happening?

A couple of great sites to check-out for Drifting news and events calendar -- besides ours, of course -- is www.drifting.com and www.godrift.com.

You can also attend these upcoming events and experience it live and in-person...but BEWARE! it's instant addiction: