drift
A Volvo Geography Teachers Don’t Drive
Yep, Gargling Gas has a massive love of powerful wagons, especially ones that can slide and kick up a load of smoke.
Take this Volvo 240 Wagon, for instance. What was once a vehicle fit for families or corduroy and tweed clad teachers has been modified into the beast you see above. This creation was thought up and built by Marc Huxley, who operates as Huxley Motorsport out of Worcestershire, England.
Take a look at the article and excellent pics and understand what it takes to turn something innocuous into something completely evil.
More Wagon Action
A Little Education, Culture & Total Carnage
If you are able to sneek away from the Saturday night Rom Com with your significant other, grab your mobile device, kickback on your bed or hide in the toilet, and behold this 94 minute movie on the origins of drifting.
Outsiders Japan Movie is filmed by the guys at Driftworks – and they know a thing or two. With 10 years sliding cars, Phil Morrison and James Robinson hit Japan and soak up the culture, the filmmaker Al Clark capturing the vibe through his discerning lens.
If you want to go straight to the action, start the vid at around the 30 minute mark. After watching the entire movie, it only makes me want to go to Japan even more. It looks like quite an intense and surreal experience, and I think a couple of weeks would probably be enough… but, then again, they feature a hi-tech heated toilet, so maybe a little longer?
The Fastest Way To Find A Parking Space
Whilst I’ve been moaning about something as mundane as parking for the past few days, I thought I’d add a little excitement to the subject. Here we see a BMW 325i drifting the entire height of a multi-storey carpark. If you are stupid enough to try your luck in finding a space on a weekend, execute a drift and ask your partner to keep a lookout for any spaces as you rocket to the top.
A Coupe That Isn’t, Drifting And Dogs
For those of you following my blog you’ll know I like drift cars and wasting many many hours of my life surfing (window shopping) for cars. I also love small technology that produces big power. Well today I stumbled across a car that first grabbed my attention because of its suspiciously low price. Further investigation and my attention transformed into incredulity as I learned of its stats. This then led to total excitement as I read and watched reviews – had I found the perfect drift car that I could pop to the shops in with my girls (dogs) in the back?
So what is it, I hear you ask.
The Mazda RX-8
Before you snub it as just another Jap sports car, I beg you to stay with me for a little while. It doesn’t boast the same twin-turbo bhp as the legendary RX-7, but nevertheless, its displacement, power and redline numbers are beyond impressive.
This is thanks to its 1.3-L Wankel engine. That’s right… 230-bhp from a 1.3L engine that revs out at 9000-rpm. Sounds too good to be true, and in a way there is a draw back that attributes to its cheap second hand pricing. This 1.3-L unit doesn’t just drink fuel; it downs it as though in a drinking competition. You would expect an average 1.3-L engine to do around 45+mpg (combined) but the RX-8 will only do 24-mpg – that’s less than my 2.0-L turbo Subaru!
Apart from its thirst, the rest is all good. Due to the RX-8’s unique doors, it appears to be a coupe on the outside, but pull a catch hidden on the inside and rear doors open like suicide doors, albeit small (enough room for the girls though). The power is fed to the rear wheels via a (LSD) Limited Slip Differential, perfect for drifting.
So, all in all, this car offers looks, the right set-up for drifting and enough room for my dogs.
And before any animal lovers start complaining, my dogs like drifting – I had a lot of practise in an icy car park earlier this year and they loved it. They told me so…
Cars Should Drift Before They Go To Heaven
When an ageing car finally gets to that point where you seriously have to consider the pros and cons of paying out to get it through its MOT, sensible (most) people will bite the bullet and have it scraped or sell it for parts.
However, this was before the drifting phenomenon made it out of Japan and into the movies, and even forming its own race series (Formula Drift). Because drifting cars is the coolest spectacle on the planet, its vibe sliding (excuse the pun) comfortably into the BMX and Skate culture, everyone wants a go at it.
This is where you can save a car from the crusher and send it out in style – the equivalent of an elderly person discarding their walking frame and hopping onto a skateboard.
Of course, if you are looking for a learner drift car under £1000, it will need to be RWD and have some power. Cars like old Mazda MX-5s, Toyota MR2s and Nissan Fairladys are perfect and can be found very cheaply if work needs doing. If you type “drift car” into eBay you’ll also find BMWs and old Mercs, also good because of their modest power and RWD.
The car will definitely meet its maker whilst learning how to drift – either burning the clutch out or crashing – but at least it will enter the Pearly Gates backwards and in a cloud of tyre smoke.
World Record: Toyota GT86 134.8-mph Drift
Lunatic, Jakub Przygoński not only broke the world record for having the biggest testicals, but he has also just set the world’s fastest drift in his highly-tuned 1068-bhp Toyota GT86. With a mental entry speed of 159mph, the madman threw the car into a drift and slid sideways at 134.8mph at Airport Biala Podlaska near Warsaw, Poland.
Watch the clip – don’t blink or you’ll miss it!
I wanna Drift… Maybe
There’s a part of me that respects the JDM scene – for those unsure, JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) is buying a Japanese import and maintaining or modifying it with 100% Japanese parts. I also like the Japanese culture and their car scene that goes hand in hand with keeping a car JDM. There’s something almost geeky about it, and I fear this is what appeals to me. It means surfing for parts and being strangely satisfied the car’s heritage remains in tact.
I own a Subaru Impreza WRX, although it isn’t JDM. This led me into considering an import but didn’t fancy ragging a daily driver, also the WRX’s 4WD system doesn’t really allow for drifting. Keeping my WRX and what is essentially a toy separate is what I thought the best solution.
So with that little dilemma dealt with, I then considered a good drift car – I’ve always liked the look of the retro Nissan 200SX, especially when they are transformed into drifters.
Although drifters make it look fairly simple, it isn’t. A lot of people think you just floor it, over-steer, and then hold it, but there’s more to it than that. There are a handful of ways to initiate a drift too, but once you’ve managed a drift, it has you… for life.
Talking to drifters online, I’ve learnt a thing or two, and the most common problems they face is A. Money and B. No social life.
I’ve taken these points into consideration but am not (as yet) deterred. I get that I’ll get through more tyres and clutches than I’ll eat hot dinners, but it’s still cheaper than some hobbies, I guess.
If anyone reading this is a drifter or a Nissan 200SX owner, tell me your woes in the comment box; I’d love to hear them.
Gargling Gas 