Thursday, April 20, 2006

Touge & The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Tokyo-Style Touge 峠 Drifting to a Theatre Near You

Watch the the trailer for Tokyo Drift!

Ever heard of Touge (pronounced toh-gay)? Doubtful, but the chances are you've heard of drifting. If not, you're about to get a crash course a la Hollywood: Fast and furiously. Quickly catching on in the States and abroad, this new racing craze's roots run deep through the twisiting, turning, roads of Japan. Touge itself refers to the mountain passes that wind their way through the mountainous terrain of the Japanese archeapelago.


Drifting is the controlled loss of traction, causing a car to appear as though it is out of control. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. A good drifter is in control of his car at all times, easily taking on five or six opposing turns without traction, at speeds of over 80mph, cutting angles of 45 degrees or more. As if that isin't potentially dangerous enough, in tougue, this is all done with the loving embrace of a wall of rock to one side and the comfort of a sheer drop off a cliff on the other. In a battle, the lead car wins if the gap between the cars increases -- the following car wins if the gap stays the same from start to finish.

"How?" You ask? In the words of Keiichi Tsuchiya, the one and only Drift King, and inspirational model for the main character in the popular manga series, Initial D (Kashiramoji D):

"You brake and then turn the wheel, step on the clutch, and pull the e-brake. Release the e-brake, go into countersteer mode, then wait. Wait until you know the car is facing the corner exit direction. then you smile and slam on the gas as you exit the corner."

There you go. Easy as that!

Thus the mission to infiltrate the scene begins...

5 comments:

Luke and Yuko ELLIOT said...

I like to think that I was a real daredevil as a young man, but I almost wet my pants reading about "drifting" :P

Anonymous said...

I hope we`r not planing too learn touge tokyo DRIFT !!there are people wanting to see YOU AGAIN !!! non- golfer

Lindizzy said...

too gay? hahaha

Anonymous said...

The fast and the furious is "too gay." that is the biggest horse crap I have ever seen. So not Japan.

Anonymous said...

The car in your photograph is not Touge, its Meliss'a driving test in Japan !