Wow, it is always so difficult to start an article. Even more if to take into account my bad habit of creating an article right in the dialog box on the site, instead of using Word or some other text editor – I just hate the idea of fixing and rewriting all those thoughts that just come from my mind to my keyboard. And add this – I have been considering this article for 6 months already… Well, anyway, with all this agonizing nonsense I finally do start this text.

Why 6 months? Probably just because I was not ready. I remember how inspired I was, back in the times when this blog was created. I was drowning in the mass of information about matt, roberts, tako aono, yuta and many others. I was so deeply impressed with all this process at that time. It was really cool that Matt is a great guy, because I could picture some guys come to him and say – “Hey, Matt, take all this money and go kick their asses in Formula Drift!”, but he pushed them away, spit on them and said – “NO, you can’t buy me!” All this perfectly fit our own reality here! And I thought – if I am to take part in all this culture, then this way of thinking is what fits me right. But, as I can see now, I had to take things much easier than I was taking them then. And on the way to this understanding I got rid of dozens of ideas for all those articles I wanted to write – as they lost any sense for me. But not some of them, and not this one.

This idea has a name – Brian Harte. We had a chance to have a friendly relaxed chat with him those six months ago. And if to face the facts, he has no idea of where Ukraine is, what is Odessa, and definitely does not know, who is responsible for “drifting_is_about_drifting” culture in this part of the world. For him it was not an interview for a blog which gets thousands of viewers, and he wasn't choosing words to sound cool and see that hundreds of people put those “you are aaaawesome” comments to it. He just shared with the people from another side of the planet his concept of who he is in all that. A really small effort can bring you any basic information on this person from all those extremely popular blogs. And as to us…we just want to bring you our conversation, and his answers, constantly illustrated by the pictures from his personal collection – pictures of his blue S14 and his present 180sx.



And it is as fantastic as trite to start from the roots.

“I first saw drifting back when I was about 16 years old. I saw a magazine article about this American drift team, Slide Squad. You bet, I thought this looked so cool, sliding these cars around the mountain roads. I soon started searching the internet during my high school computer classes. I would try and find anything and everything about drifting. This was probably year 2000 or 2001”

He searched and found short videos of Japanese drifters, saved them and watched them every day. Some time later he found a Japanese store nearby and there he found Option, Option 2, Drift Tengoku magazines. And there it began. Next step was to try it, drifting.

“My first was white S14 with an automatic gearbox. But that was a useless waste of time and effort. Then came a very nice black S14 with a manual gearbox. It looked almost like a normal car, but had all sorts of suspension parts, LSD, bucket seat, nice brakes. And then came first attempts – on parking lots near malls and in areas, where cops were not a threat. And then first trip to Irwindale Speedway. During all this time it changed color twice.”

From metallic:



To the color, with which it became known worldwide – yes, that blue S14 of Pink Godzira team:



Now, that I finally finished working on Altezza’s stance, after being busy with it for about a year, I believe I have the right to give competent judgments – and I can say that Brian is really very low. People like him provide confidence at times when I think of how my wheels are going to crash my flares and kit when I finally come out for a practice. I mean, when you look through web-albums, you see the first picture – just when he enters the track for the first time and the car looks perfect, and then, some 10 pictures later you see him slide with some part of the aero-kit missing. It seems that he had to replace bumpers more often than tires.

There’s nothing special about the engine, though. Not even a common swap to SR20DET. Just a usual KA24DE. Another proof that drifting is actually not about the power.

“After many years of trainings S14 was worn out. I just took parts from it and sold them out. Most of them. Oh I loved the 14. I miss it quite a lot! It was so low and I would always buy 2 whole body kits and have them painted. Because I knew I would break them quickly, so I needed another body kit at home waiting to be put on. I don't like when the drift cars are super beat up and broken. Yeah, I think that’s how low drift cars should be.”




Now Brian drives an S13 hatch.

It drives very similar to his S14, it was built with lots of the same parts. He says he tried to built it to look like the cool 180SXs from Japan. And he decided to try some risks with the color.









When you talk to a person who is one of the grassroots drifting culture founding fathers in the USA, you are more interested in things other than his car’s speclist – and he did not keep us waiting. And his speech is true as it is.

“I have never drifted in a professional event. I do not like professional events either. I think they are nonsense for the most part. A majority of the top guys came into the «sport» of drifting after it became popular. They changed drifting. They changed it into racing and about having big sponsors that will give you tons of money. There is no LOVE of drifting by these guys.

It seems like they never started drifting for fun. They only started when a big company built them a drift RACEcar. The number one priority of them is to win the race, rather than to have fun at drifting.

To me, that is the opposite of what drifting is.

And the way they build their car is to perform like a race car. They do not care how it looks. The professional drift cars are some of the ugliest things I have ever seen. No effort is put into making the car look good. This is just sad.
Becuase of this, I made it a point to never go to a professional drifting event again. I have no desire to see that crap.









I have had professional drifters want to fight me because I said their car is ugly. :-) I have also had pro drifters call me and tell me I have no right to say they have ugly cars and shouldn’t be drifting.
Hah!
I don’t want to mention names… although at least one of them is probably THE BIGGEST name in pro drifting in the USA. ;-)”




I guess this article would never appear if my thinking wasn’t so similar to the thinking of the person we are talking about here. Someone can take things differently. But that is a point of view that he has for many years, and nothing can change it – and it is worth respect! And the subspecies of humans that he describes here fit the situation on our territory too!) Ironic. Some are busy making up appeals against the judges' decisions, and others are much more worried about where to put another sticker for it to look cool on a car, or where to hang a keychain that is a friend’s present.





“One of my prized stickers. I mean, it's hard to get one of those, I think. They don't sell them in America. That is a really cool drifter from Japan, his name is Tezuka. I had to have a friend get it for me when he was in Japan.”



Probably this conversation could be boring and kind of tight, because of such a big distance between us and him, and what we know comes from the internet, and for him it is his own reality. But Brian easily picked up any question, just as if we were out there sitting next to him, speaking the same language, thinking the same thoughts. Some things that we see from here as outstanding and impressive could be completely nonsense for him, but still we decided to ask about Risky Devils, C’s Garage, ASB. And it appeared that these names are very dear and meaningful for him.

“Some of my favorite people in drifting right now and friends who I have drifted with for years… Pink GodziRa — The team I'm on. Good friends who have built the coolest drift cars for 7 years now. We seem to have paint jobs on the cars that are very popular and set trends in the US. The silver paint with sparkles was so famous I think. Lindsay and Aaron then both had bright red Ferrari paint on their next cars. I had the bright blue.

Risky Devil — Really cool and NICE guys. Some of them came out to California to All Star Bash this summer and it was one of the coolest times I've been drifting ever. They all have really cool cars and drive them everywhere! Tons of street drifting in Chicago too. It's always so cool to see what videos and photos they put out. I went out there to Chicago in Oct. to hang out with them and see their scene out there. It was really cool and they are so nice and humble.

Drift World Max has such a cool website that he always updates with thousands of photos of the coolest drift cars in the world. I love it. He has a really cool car that he is building up too.

I love what the C's garage guys do in New Zealand. Adam and Joel have some of the coolest drift cars in existence right now. I can only wish my car will be as cool as Adam's someday. I enjoy seeing people out there having fun drifting and keeping it all about cool style and looking good. Let's keep drifting cool!!!

All Star Bash — I saw drifting becoming less and less about having fun and looking cool, so I wanted to make an event where Looking cool while drifting was a priority, and having fun of course. I didn't want people there who are mad and take drifting too serious, like a real racing series. I think All Star Bash has done so well over the last couple years. We've had people come from all over the United States, Canada, Japan, etc. I cannot believe it has been so popular! it's so amazing. Charlie from Just Drift has been so important with all of this. He has been doing great things for drifting for years at Willow Springs racetrack, so they have been so nice in letting us use all the tracks to drift on. I think All Star Bash is what the USA needs to keep drifting alive and real."





Something like that. Some kind of Part One of an article series, telling about foreign drivers, devoted to drifting without stupid urge of victory as a way to earn money and “fame”. My personal emotional sensation on that matter is gone now, and I have no wish to blame ones, and worship others. They are from two different classes of people. But my choice between them is obvious ;).

Huge thanks to Brian Harte for this dialog. You are the man! And forgive us for taking it so long to write this. But there’s perfect time and place for everything.