But some how this isn't rice http://www.leeauto.com/parts/graphics/rc32.gif

or this http://i.cnn.net/nascar/2003/kyn/his...99/gordon1.jpg

 

I thought the term "rice" stood for things like wings and such that aren't even close to being needed for the use of the vehicle....not to mention the ghey "sport" they're being used for...

I understand the need for sponsorships, (pathetic arguement BTW) but this ain't even close to being a "sport".

Are these rice too?

http://www.fscpictorial.com/g/gr11/Steve_Kinser.jpg
http://www.autoreview.ru/new_site/ye...rt/800/irl.jpg
http://www.grovecreek.com/images/cars/mod.jpg
http://www.havoline.com/racing/image...es_081003c.jpg

 

I understand your arguement with the giant 200mph+ wing and gfx, but the paint job isn't rice is all I'm saying, race cars have always had crazy colorful paint jobs. The ground effexts do look nice though.

 

I don't follow the ghey thing either. Looks like a race car of sorts, added a few things to get some kids attention. I could think of a lot worse things they could do to that car. Drifting is getting popular quick. Not to mention I'm sure it's fun as heck. Same thing I used to do on dirt roads back home.

I'd love to be able to drive a car on a drifting track!

 

It's also ignorant to say drifting requires no skill, is it not?

For what they do, of course NASCAR drivers have skill. But you can't take a great golfer, put him in a baseball diamond or a hockey ring, let alone a football field, and expect him to be able to do well. To me NASCAR is the "golf" of autosports. Nice, safe, predictable with the occasional blue moon upset. There's skill involved, but heck, paralell parking requires skill. j/k

Drifting is an expansion of automotive competition, that involves being able to completely control your car in controlled slides. Something that most definately has a practical use off the track.

I had the same reaction as you did when Drifting first started. When you try to explain it to someone, it sounds incredibly stupid (exactly like driving around an oval without crashing ). But it's actually pretty cool to watch. The skill involves use of your of your steering, braking, throttle, and shifting abilities.....often at the same time!

If GTO is competing in this area, it's a demonstration of GTO's handling, steering, clutch & shifting ability, as well as it's torque. IMHO, Drifting is a form of drag racing.... just one at a time & sideways.

Basically, the winner is the person who handles his car the best in powerslides. And just like NASCAR, wild graphics is all part of the show.


Good PM article on the sport:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/auto...3/10/drifting/

 

I never questioned their skills, you brought that up....figure skating takes skill, but I couldn't care less about something that is done purely for the "style" of it all....skate boarding or any other of the "Xtreme sports' bore me.....no points scored, no finish line crossed, nothing but someones opinion of how "purty" you did it....

Guess you didn't see Jeff Gordon and Juan Montoya swap cars here in Indy (Speed Channel exclusive) and watch Gordon easily run laps within competitive F1 qualifying times...when he had never even sat in an F1 car before...

Gee NASCAR drivers do that too....except at 200+ mph....go to a Sprint Car race sometime and you'll get your "drifting" and an actual race too!

I'm sorry, does someone actually have to cross a finish line or do they just need to impress the judges?

But WTF are the CF ***** and ground effects for? Do they really need them at 50 mph?

I think NASCAR is it it's best at the road courses and I love the SuperCar / Trans AM / IMSA / SCCA stuff....but at least there's a point....guess I'm just old...it takes more than a burnout to impress me....

 

I'm probally just as old as you, so don't feel so bad.

I'm not a fan of NASCAR, but anything having to do with a road course & a track that has more to it than just left turns and cars that at least resemble what I can drive & I'm all over it. Every other autosport you mentioned are the same ones I'm intrested in. I'll also say that the day NASCAR starts getting back to where it was in the 70s or even the 80s (they are now talking about standardized engines for chrissake!!! ) or adopts much of the Aussie supercar guidelines, I'll probally be a fan again.

I just appriciate all things involving performance cars and competition. Drifting requires RWD, practical skill, and appeals to the young crowd. I checked it out & actually like it.

As for some of the graphics and spoilers, as a teenager in the late 70s & early 80s, I can relate to all that easily. Remember all those cars with the jacked up rear end, big rear tires, stp, hooker, and a whole host of other stickers on the side windows, and "race stripes"? Now we look back and realize how ridiculous & useless those things were (did we really need L-60 tires & rased rears on '74 Nova 350s?). Same with some of the things kids are doing to their cars today.

As long as they keep enthusiasm for performance cars (especially RWD), I don't mind.

I don't know about you, but I get a kick out of blowing off some of these cars with my "boring" Z28 and SC.

 

then how do you take two of the top drivers in NASCAR, put them in Daytona Prototypes and a road course veterain, and have them dominate the 24 of Daytona. Either there is a Ton of skill needed in Nascar to produce drivers like these, or Nascar has a bunch of drivers with more talent than the sport requires. I choose option one, but what do I know

 

Drifting is dumb to me because, much like figure skating (an analogy that applies so beautifully here) there is no clear-cut winner...you've got a couple of backwards hat-wearing 20 year olds deciding who "wins"....errr, ok. Real sports have a winner and a loser, and not by opinion, by numbers.

 

i hope GM supports this with $$$$ because this is what we need.

 

AMEN to that. Pontiac is off in the weeds right now with their racing marketing strategy... hopefully someday they will dump 'drifting' ( Gawd even the NAME of that sport is ghey ) and get back into some real sports....

 

Someone gets it

It doesn't matter if you don't like drifting, what matters is the people that go to these events associate Pontiac with performance. Who goes to these events? Young males. Who would be most interested in performance? Males. But! can young males afford a GTO? Probably not. But all Pontiac has to do is get them into the show room, let them look at the GTO, then direct them to the Grand Am. It looks like a GTO right?

 

I agree with GM using the sport to attract young buyers. I just think the GTO isnt the car to do it with. Like I said earlier, the Solstice or Curve would be PERFECT for this sport. Its a car that young peeps can go out and actually purchase with a decent paying job.

Also I think RICE goes towards big wings, stickers, etc. The paint job on the GTO is a racecar paint job, no rice there. I just dont see the point of the 4 ft. wing. I mean, why do you need a tall spoiler when you're sliding sideways??? (obviously sprint cars use them but this is a standard ole touring car wing)

In reference to NASCAR, Im not a huge fan of the sport anymore. I still kinda like it for the competition involved. And some of the old time drivers and nearly ALL the young drivers are very talented in many forms of racing. Jeff Gordon for instance. The man succeeds in sprint car racing, dominates stock car racing, is competitive in indy car racing and the other day on Speedvision (probably taped but anyway), he was racing in an all motorsport all star Rally race. The funny thing was, he was whooping the full time Rally racers

Dale Jr. is also another one. Very good stock car driver and jumps into a GM ALMS car with hardly any experience and is very competitive. Call NASCAR what you want, I'll probably agree with you but the drivers are truly some of the best out there.

 

At least in NASCAR the cars are RACE cars, rolling advertisements never meant to roam the streets...Yeah they may share headlights, tailights and grills, at least in appearance...but that's all.
AND, that's one of the reasons I quit watching NASCAR, it has become so commercial it's not even funny..
But somehow getting out of NASCAR for Drifting, feels like pulling a baseball team out of the MAJOR LEAGUE and competing in College Baseball...

Drifting is a FWD sport, although you can drift a RWD vehicle, it's hard to accelerate when your drive wheels are spinning w/o traction...know what I mean..

And that GTO "IS" Rice, look at the Greddy, Yokahama etc import/Sport Compact stickers...It looks like it came off of the F&F Movie Set..
At least it has the power to back up the talk...a small consolation..
I think this arena would be better left to Sport Compacts, Cav or G/A maybe??

 

American cars own tracks across america. Go to any of your local dirt race ovals and you'll find much closer competition and much more sideways action. These wuss's run 1-2 at a time. Real guys dice it up with 25-30 cars on the track, 800 hp, and dirt in your face at well over 100mph.
Drifting did not originate in Japan, they just thought of a different damn name for it.

I like this much better... Enough power to pull the left front tire off the ground in a full sideways drift

-Shannon