{"id":46225,"date":"2016-09-16T08:48:58","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T07:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/?p=46225"},"modified":"2022-06-14T12:08:14","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T11:08:14","slug":"driftland-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/driftland-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"Generation Drift: Five things we have learned"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drift culture was born on the high, twisty pass roads of Japan.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The scene was particularly popular in the highly populated central strip of the country between Tokyo and Nagano. It was generated and nurtured Hashiriya<\/em> – the mostly young, amateur street racers who began to rule the Japanese roads in the 1980s. Their drifty racing style developed precisely because of the switchback turns that comprise these pass roads. The cars were simply modified, accessible hot everyman motors. At the top of the list was, of course, the Toyota AE86<\/a>, but everything from Celicas, MR2s, Silvias, Skylines and Z-cars could regularly be scene on the touges as they are known. These street races have become the foundation myth of the global drift scene. Though Drifting has become a much wider, more legitimate sport – it tips its hat to its street racing roots.<\/p>\n

\"hakone\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

The Drift scene was created from the ground up.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It wasn’t created in some marketing agency. It may have been amplified by manga cartoon Initial D, but this video proves the legend. Apparently, this was filmed around 1989 in the Hakone Nanamagari Touge. This is a notoriously twisty section of mountain road near Mt Fuji and the beautiful mountain retreat of Hakone. The guy in the driver\u2019s seat is obviously stoked. It\u2019s not often appropriate to use the surfer\u2019s term for \u2018very excited, filled with joy\u2019 but,\u00a0in this case, it is bang on. This is despite the fact that he barely manages to get in more than a couple of slides before traffic grinds to a halt. The road we see scrolling past his window is a conveyor belt of period drift cars. There are Silvias. There are RX-7s. There are three box Lancers. There are AE86s of course, but also a whole constellation of Corollas and MR2s. Japanese car culture, especially the sideways sliding variety, crystallises here.<\/p>\n