OMG, that's worse than the GTO-Drift car..!
They may put technology in it BUT IT SURE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE IT!..
Rice with a Capital "R"!...
Oh Yeah, the PRICE is up there with an F1 too!...
You can't get power to tires with NO traction either...
Drifting = Syncronized Auto Ballet...9...8.5...9.5...and the German judge says...7.5...

 

Tee hee!
I guess it ain't classically "pretty", like a 1962 FERRARI GTO is, but it is cool in a "form follows function, by about a mile and a half!" kind of way. Anyhoo, lots of folks confuse the DTM cars with "rice".

There we go again with "names", though! Call it what you will, but "rice", to me, implies the mutant ugly FORM of what some non-engineer non-fabricator THINKS is race tech, but with NONE of the function or technology. TO ME, DTM are about as far removed from "rice" as you can get, though the look may be vaguely similar.

You CAN and DO get a goodly portion of power down while spinning the tires on dry pavement. Maybe 50% or so? Anyway, a lot more than NONE.

I'll try to get me to an Auto Cabbage event this year just to check it out. Will report back here so that you all may mock me

 

I think it looks a little like the V8Supercars. The rear wing looks similar.

http://theofficial.v8supercar.bigpon...id=8304&pnum=1

http://theofficial.v8supercar.bigpon...id=8303&pnum=1

 

Remember these guys get paid BIG BUCKS to paint K-Mart graphics ALL OVER their cars, no-one on the street does..
I guess the point of "Rice" is when you see one of these things coming at you on the street, ALL BARK and NO BITE!...Smoke & Mirrors...Stickers, wings and 6-inch mufflers......with a basically stock to mild car, or worse an stock or mild econo compact car, and a driver that thinks he's Vin Diesel..

 

dude do you think before you type? everything thats come out of your mouth has either contradicted something else youve said or its pure stupidity.

where to begin? first off who cares if drifting is called a sport or not? last time i checked drifting points were awarded for length of the drift. the longer you slide, the more points you get. how is that like free style sports? thats right it isnt.

next, rice can be a multitude of things. fart tip on a stock honda? maybe its rice. some of those actually add hp just like a catback for our cars. now most you come across wont have an actual catback.

rice is generally the attitude of a lightly modded civic being faster than everything on the road. ill agree with that.

German Touring Cars are rice? again, think before you type next time. they have some of the most sophisticated computer controls in the world in them. sure they cost a lot. what top performance race car doesnt?

lastly that GTO on the first page is FAR from rice. it has a big wing on the back. i think i remember reading someplace that the GTO will be used in some sort of Le Mans style race coming soon. maybe thats the car and they decided to drift it a little? that car is also as far away from a stock street car as you can get. notice the full roll cage? the gutted interior? how bout the racing seat? that car to me looks like a body in white thats been made into a race car.

but it has stickers and a wing on it. must be rice.

 

I love drifting. I watch Initial D (*** animation centered around drifting), and i find it exciting. It's about finesse and control, and puts an artsy type spin to this form of motorsports.

I would much rather watch that than Nascar.

Then again, i was born in 82. It seems the people who are against it are mostly in the older crowd.

 

Good year to be born in

 

Can you actually read?? You sure aren't sounding like it, and you sure CAN'T TYPE...dude..
Even b/c you call me dude I can see those young hormones are talikng before thinking...and dude, I was born in the 60's when cars WERE REAL, AND MOTORS SPORTS WERE TOO!..
If you like your "Auto Ballet", good for you...I love to drift my IROC all the time, especially when an Import tries to tail me in any type of curve or turn...BUT It still isn't much of a "SPORT"..sport..
To me it's a little more, like:
*more stickers and vinyl than paint
**putting the name of your car in 3 FOOT + tall letters on the side of you're car...as if we can't tell what the "H" it is..
***putting $3,000 + wheels on a $2,000 car...(like putting a $100 saddle on a $20 nag..)
****putting a $5,000 stereo in the same vehicle
*****putting a 150mph+ wing on a car that rarely goes 100mph.
******backwards-cap-wearin'-nose-up-at-everyone-you-ain't-$h!T-attitude...b/c of all of above..
("The typically Over-Stated, under-powered, under-achieving, suck-@$$ attituded Car..and..Driver..")You can quote me if you like...
I WILL N-E-V-E-R, N-E-V-E-R, WARM UP TO THIS NEW TREND, FAD, OR WHATEVER, PERIOD!...GIVE ME SOME REAL CARS, REAL RACES, AND REAL PEOPLE ANYDAY!...
(I've probably been in this longer than you've been alive, so don't talk to me like I'm ignorant, OK...DUDE...)

 

Oh, man I scored a 2 out of 6 on the ricer scale (star ratings 3 and 6 if you're curious). Oh well, maybe I'll go get that 91 Accord I've had my eye on.

 

So you're definately not the market Pontiac is targeting, is that what you're trying to say? I don't know if you noticed, but Pontiac is trying to establish a brand image of cooler, powerful cars that young people WANT to buy, now or more likely in the future. Support of an event such as drifting can help them.

Need proof american cars need an image face-lift?

At the D1 competition, the Pontiac GTO was BOOed when it was introduced. Simply because american cars are veiwed as overweight pigs that can't handle worth a darn. I applaud Pontiac for having the ***** to try and change the way people think, and for realizing todays dreamers are tomorrows buyers.

 

You've hit the nail on the head there. And by and large they are right about american cars being big overweight non-handling pigs. Both the GTO (3500lbs+) and the f-bodies (3300-3600??) are waaay too heavy for their size. I personally don't think either should weigh more than 3200. However, some of my friends (RX7 freaks) consider anything over 2800lbs porky, so you see where the imports attitude towards american cars start.


BTW, for any of you think the DTM cars are rice, I'd like to see a Nascar try and beat it on anything resembling a roadcourse. Daytona(ALMS) or Indy(F1 course), that way there's even part of an oval for ya'll. Or if you're feeling adventurous, the Nurenbourghring in Germany

-Steve

 

What's funny is that ,"stock for stock" the "big overweight non-handling pig F-Bodies", out-handle the feather-weight import compacts...and I'm not talkin' about some RS, before you start saying I'm nuts again, but a Z28!...or Firebird with the WS6 suspension...(= stiffer spring rates, stiffer shocks, large roll bars etc)
And if you put the same upgrades on both, the story doesn't change..
The same can be said of putting a riced DTM on a long NASCAR track, these 750+hp smallblock NASCAR vehicles are speed limited to just under 200mph, remove the limiter and the DTM will lose on the long oval...moot point..
Nope...what do you think the New American Revolution is about, they were past due..But American cars haven't been getting into the "Sport Compact" scene as the imports, in there lies the image misconceptions...NOT the larger F-Body sports cars...It's more about the aftermarket for the "Import Sport Compacts" and the lack of one for the American Compacts..
Getting into drift is NOT going to help their image, getting into an EXTENSIVE Performance Parts & Accessories buisness for the Sport Compacts WILL...
(I'm done with this thread, my opinions, are my opinions, and I've made them clear...)

 

 

It is true that America has yet to produce a decent sports car, beyond perhaps the Vette. I'm disgusted by the overweight monstrosities they produce. Dont get me wrong, I love the LS1 series motors, they are phenominal, and I love the C5 Vette even if it is a bit portly, but for the love of God GM, Ford, and Chrysler, make something under 3000lbs and RWD! Every time i get in a car that weighs more than that, I feel like I'm at the helm of the Titanic.

If you've ever driven a sports car that weighs less than 2500lbs, or especially one under 2000lbs, you know that weight is EVERYTHING when it comes to handling. I got the chance to drive a Lotus Elise once, and after that, every car I've driven has felt like I'm driving a Greyhound bus. Everything is sooo immediate with a sub-2000lb sports car. I really dont understand why this is not a big focus with American cars, considering not only does it improve handling, but it improves acceleration, braking, gas mileage, treadlife, and pretty much every other area of performance.

If American car companies start getting rid of these stupid bean counters that decide its 50 cents cheaper to use cast iron rather than make it 10lbs lighter with aluminum or fiberglass, and start producing some GOOD handling, sub-2500lb, rear wheel drive sports cars with some decent power levels for a reasonable price... I think we will quickly see a LOT of so-called "import guys" buy American cars. Because really, what does America have to offer someone who wants that? Absolutely nothing! But you look at Japan, they have the RX-7, MR2, 240sx, Miata, S2000, etc... Some of you may not like those cars, but try to look at the situation from a non-biased perspective. We have nothing to offer over here to compete with those. NOTHING. Sure we can beat them in the straight line, but thats only one element of performance.


And as for drifting, I love sliding sideways, its one hell of a lot of fun. Its also entertaining to watch. I just hate all the stick-on graphics, bigass wings, and gay bodykits that go with it.

 

Sorry to bring this back from the dead but I can't believe some of the stuff I'm reading here. I'm offended! First of all, drifting is a sport. Look up "sport" in the dictionary and you will see that three things are required for something to be considered a sport. It must be a 1. Physical activity that is 2. governed by a set of rules or customs and 3. often engaged in competitively. As far as I can tell, drifting fits right in there with the english definition of a sport. FYI there is a set criteria that the judging is based off. The real debate should be, is drifting a show or is it a race (but I'm not gonna touch that one). To understand why the cars look the way they do, you have to consider the types of racing done in Japan. I know people automatically associate bodykits and wings with "rice", but consider the many different racing leagues in Japan. One of them is the JGTC, a very serious grip roadracing series. The "Drift King" brought drifting into the spotlight in Japan when he was losing one of his JGTC races and decided to drift for fun instead of grip racing to catch up. Like these guys have said, he did it because it was FUN. Nowadays a lot of the style you seen in the D1 drift competitions derives from types of racing like JGTC (similar to DTM but different regulations I'm sure). If you compare a Japan Grip Circuit car to one of these D1 Drift cars they look very similar and they are built very similar. So why do they still have this stuff if they are "going too slow" to use it? Well for your information, a lot of the D1 pro's reach speeds over 100 mph while drifting, so aero products would start making a difference, but thats not the reason they use them. Drifting is a judged sport based on multiple criteria. One of them is appearance, so the look of your car plays into your score. I'm guessing they put that wing and GFX on the GTO in hopes of getting more points with the judges. Judging a drifting competition covers a bunch of different aspects of the sport and the judges are all ex-professional drivers (both grip and drift). How much power you have or the 1/4 mile performance dosn't matter in this sport. In fact think of it like this: The best vehicle tune in the world will not win you any drifting competitions. The most horsepower will also not win you any drifting competitons. Driver input will determine if the car is going to drift or not. Drifting is a drivers sport. The goal is to award the best drifter, not the best car. This is why drivers are judged and not timed. If the winners were based off of times, then the type and tune of the car would play a much more important role. So why dont they all use the same car with the same tune? Well the car part has to do with how the sport started. Drifting started on the street, so everyone uses street cars. Even in today's professional competitions, they are using street cars. It states in the D1 Rules and Regulations: "Each car must maintain the OEM unibody." So in essence, they are all using the same type of car (street cars), its just that they can use whatever make / model they desire. Different drifters choose different driving platforms based off their preferance (which is derived from their technique). This is why you see big sedans (example, Lexus SC300/400) out there battling with smaller cars (example, AE86). Some cars have 700hp while others have 150hp. Is it considered an advantage or a disadvantage? Nope (and its your choice). This is also why the younger crowds identifies with this sport so much, because a lot of them own the same types of cars being used in the competitions. If the domestic crowd just talks crap about drifting, then we will never be represented in the drifting scene. How about instead of talking crap we all decide to participate. Show all those Import guys that domestics can handle too, and they can also drift good. That will probably be a better use of your time than complaining about it on a messageboard. Here's a pic of me drifting my 89 IROC-Z Camaro on May 30 2004. Notice no GFX or big wing, but still ALOT OF FUN!!! The only reason the sport is filled with so much flashy GFX and wings and stuff is because none of the domestic guys are getting involved. Instead they are all hating on the sport without even giving it a try.