Misadventures of a Drift Newbie. Part 1: Introduction.

Hi, my name is Tim, and I am addicted to drifting. It all started back in November of 2018 when I was bored and needed an excuse to get out of the house. Spirit.jp Drift Series was holding their first event at RIR, which just happens to be about 10 minutes away from my house. I hopped in my trusty old itasha-wrapped Previa and made my way to the track to spectate. It was cold and windy, but I took a seat on the bleachers to take it all in. Let me just say, there was a lot to take in! Tire squeals! Smoke! Skids! Turbo noises! It was completely intoxicating, and I was hooked. I couldn’t believe just how much fun I was having, just watching!

That was the moment I knew…

I came back for the next of their monthly events in December, and upon seeing my van the Spirit.jp folks insisted I park it in the VIP show section! It was then that I realized what an awesome and positive group of folks these events are organized by. I’ve been to all of the events they’ve held since then, and my desire to give it a shot myself has grown more and more each time! While it would normally be prohibitively intimidating, everyone I’ve talked to so far has been super welcoming and encouraging. It’s such a positive environment, and social anxiety be damned, I am ready to take part in it as more than a spectator! One of the most appealing things to me is that drifting is all about having fun in a car. I am not a competitive person, so I’d never really gotten into racing. You probably are faster than me, I don’t care. But drifting? That’s like the freestyle of motorsports!

The closest thing to drifting I’ve ever done was ripping around a big grassy overflow parking area late at night in my 73 VW Bug back in Tennessee. That was 2 decades ago. So yeah, needless to say, I am inexperienced. There is going to be a steep learning curve, but fortunately Spirit.jp holds regular beginner’s classes! I plan to sign up for one as soon as I get a drift car together, which makes for a nice segue into my next post: the arrival of Chizuru. Until next time!

2 Comments

  1. Coy dillard on April 2, 2019 at 6:44 pm

    Can’t wait to see you out there man!!

  2. Joe on April 3, 2019 at 8:09 am

    This is so awesome! You’ll be shreddin’ soon!

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