I'm bumping this for 2 reasons.
1) any time someone uses the word "accoutrements", it's cause for a thread not to die.
2) I wanted to clear up some things. So here goes.

Drifting...within itself....IS teh quickest way around a corner. It's done in every single motorsport sans NASCAR. Drifting as a sport, however, is a completely different animal. Drifting, as a sport, is a contest in style and finess. It's not about the fastest speed so what is done at drift days and drift events isn't exactly a perversion of the term but more of a different interpretation.
The act of drifting around a corner is faster because it allows you to maintain more speed without giving up acceleration.
Often the two are confused. Look into rally and road coarse racing; even F1 and Time Attack. You'll see A LOT of drifting. It won't be the tire smoking abrasive angled stuff that's shown in pop culture, but you'll notice it.
As far as drifting an auto, the G35's have plenty of power to Fient drift or Scandanavian flick (doing a power over or literally flicking the car in one direction then quickly changing direction to "flick" the car into a drift). Another great thing about the G35'S is that you have 100% removal of traction control. That makes things immensly easier.

 

youre kidding right?

 

about what sir?

 

oops

 

Drifting is probably the slowest way around a corner.

Edit: And most expensive at that.

 

HA. spoken like someone who doesn't know anything about rally, F1, roadcourse, autoX, Time Attack...racing in general. I mean, do you know that drifting is done in every major (and most minor) motorsports involving 2 or more wheels. From dirtbikes to open wheel racing. Takahashi-san did not start drifting to look cool. He did it to be faster. Sebastian Loeb, the WRC Rally champion since 2004 (youtube some of his races), doesn't drift to look cool. He does it to navigate a corner quicker.

I'm well aware that many only know drifting as the tire smoking spectator sport or a good way to create mischief in a parking lot, but perhaps you should do some road racing or even look into where drifting began to understand it. There's the act of drifting and drifting as a sport and they are mutually exclusive.

 

The only possible way drifting is quicker is in a very tight autocross/gymkhana or a very very tight road course or touge. Rally is an exception considering that most of the time it doesn't even take place on pavement and when it does, it is, like I said, is very tight.

F1, find me a video of a man who drifts his 800hp open wheel vehicle on slicks around the track the entire time. Auto cross I've already mentioned above. Time attack, like I said, find me one single video of a fully built Time Attack car thats sliding around to produce the quickest time of its class. Drifting a car with slicks defeats the purpose of slicks doesn't it? Slicks are meant to grip and stick and not lose grip.

Also, a MotoGP bike sliding around a corner to be quick? You've gotta be kidding me...

Go youtube JGTC and show us a video of somebody purposly sliding their car to pass a guy on the corner. I dare you.

Edit: And by the way, don't be quick to judge somebody which whom you've never met before. I'm not the all knowing, but I sure do pay some attention to the motorsports world.

Edit2: By the way, explain to me then, if drifting is used in every professional motorsport, explain to me why most fully built race cars have half the steering degree as our normal street cars do? F1 racers don't even turn their wheel all the way around once. How're they going to drift something if they can't counter steer enough to compensate for it?

 

There. I fixed it for you. I didn't take the liberty of reading the rest of it because I assumed it was just unimportant filler. And since all I said was that it was done in major motor sports and you just agreed, i didn't find the need to waste time with the rest.

EDIT: If I did miss anything of importance tho, just quote it or something and I'll be sure to look into it.

edit2: shhhhhh. don't tell anyone that this ever happened.

edit3 this was more about showing off for the cameras...i mean cuz they were there.

 

So you're telling me that that one guy was "drifting" his motogp motorcycle the entire time and won first place?

 

Entire time? HA!!! That's just not neccessary. Some corners you wouldn't even have to slow down thru. So I doubt anyone would drift an entire race. That would be a bit extreme...don't you think? Yeah. You think that. As far as one guy drifting...about 13 of them did it and one of them that did happened to take 1st place. But I'm sure it's because everyone else did what he did that allowed him to take a corner slower and still win. Had everyone else slowed down, turned in, an accelerated through the apex, he probably would've lost.

 

Thanks, for the info driftsucky. I was surprised to see this thread momentarily revived. It makes sense to differentiate between "exhibition" drifting and "practical" drifting.

*LOL*

 

Like I've said before, find me some video or something and maybe we'll be convinced.

Edit: By the way, I think I remember a quote by that Tsuchiya guy who said something along the lines of Drifting is not the fastest way around a corner, just most exciting or something. So the guy who basically invented it said it himself.

 

I did some research. YOu were right. My bad.

 

 

The first video is rallying which we've covered as it is indeed faster anyway due to lack of grip in the first place and the tight turns usually involved in rallying.

The second video of the Roger Clark Motorsport's Subaru, let me put it this way, there is a difference between drifting and a car that cannot put the power to the ground. That thing has 850hp, which is pretty darn difficult to put to the ground so it's almost garanteed for traction loss but at the same time it is AWD so it still sticks some. In a way its like rallying on pavement. Drifting for speed in RWD is not the same as AWD considering that the vehicle dynamics aren't similar. I can still garantee you if that Subaru's power went to the ground without tracton loss, it'd be so much quicker than it is sliding around like that.

MOST professional motorsports (which were used as examples above) are dominately RWD.

Let me be more specific. find me a video of a professoinal motorsport which involves RWD where a driver drifts to first place.