Cars
Usually, drift cars are light to moderate weight rear-wheel-drive coupes and sedans over a large range of power levels. There have also been AWD rally cars that have been converted to RWD.
Despite the export of Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) vehicles to continents outside Japan, drifters in other countries prefer to use local examples as drift cars.
A high volume of JDM imports were brought to countries such as Australia, however it is not unusual to see Australian domestic vehicles such as the Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon utilised in drifting competitions.
The American market enjoyed a relatively high volume of JDM cars being imported over the last decade, despite Japanese domestic vehicles being right-hand-drive only. Locally sold imports such as the Lexus SC and Nissan 240SX feature heavily in American drifting, however they are usually modified with JDM engine transplants to mirror their Japanese domestic equivalents (usually with a Toyota 1JZ-GTE/2JZ-GTE or Nissan CA18DET/SR20DET respectively).
In the UK there are a high level of Japanese imports used within the drifting scene, due in part to the UK sharing a right hand drive layout with Japan. However these cars often command stronger premiums over UK market cars, partly due to import costs. There are plenty of UK and European models used as drift cars as well, older BMW's are particularly prominent due to cost and availability, with Volvo 300 series and Ford Sierras also proving popular.
As an example, the top 15 cars in the 2003 D1GP, top 10 in the 2004 D1GP, and top 10 in the 2005 D1GP were:
| Car | Model | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nissan Silvia | S15 | 6 cars | 5 cars | 3 cars |
| Toyota Levin/Trueno | AE86 | 3 cars | 3 cars | 2 cars |
| Mazda RX-7 | FD3S | 2 cars | 1 car | 2 cars |
| Nissan Skyline | R34 | 1 car | 1 car | 1 car |
| Nissan Silvia | S13 | 2 cars | ||
| Toyota Chaser | JZX100 | 1 car | ||
| Subaru Impreza | GD (RWD) | 1 car | ||
| Toyota Altezza | SXE10 | 1 car |
The top cars in the Red Bull Drifting Championship:
| Driver | Make | Model |
|---|---|---|
| Tanner Foust | Scion | tC |
| Ken Gushi | Nissan | Silvia 240SX S13 |
| Rhys Millen | Hyundai | Genesis Coupe V6 |
| Samuel Hübinette | Dodge | Charger |
| Chris Forsberg | Nissan | 350Z |
Read more about this topic: Drifting (motorsport)
Famous quotes containing the word cars:
“Cuchulain stirred,
Stared on the horses of the sea, and heard
The cars of battle and his own name cried;
And fought with the invulnerable tide.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Billboards, billboards, drink this, eat that, use all manner of things, everyone, the best, the cheapest, the purest and most satisfying of all their available counterparts. Red lights flicker on every horizon, airplanes beware; cars flash by, more lights. Workers repair the gas main. Signs, signs, lights, lights, streets, streets.”
—Neal Cassady (1926–1968)
“I looked, there was nothing to see but more long streets and thousands of cars going along them, and dried-up country on each side of the streets. It was like the Sahara, only dirty.”
—Mohammed Mrabet (b. 1940)