Drift Fest: A serving of adrenaline

Roopak Ramachandran Nair

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Sept. 22 saw the 3rd drifting competition organized by Car Porn Racing. It was bigger and better than ever.

BOLDER, FASTER, STRONGER: JAGUAR Drift Fest set the benchmark for all other drifting competitions and events. Photos and videos by Roopak Ramachandran Nair

MANILA, Philippines – Local drifters gathered at Kings Playground in FTI, Taguig City on Sept. 22, Saturday, for the 3rd Drift Fest organized by Car Porn Racing.

The first one was held on March 17 at the Clark International Speedway; the second one last June 23 at Kings Playground.

From the success of that June Drift Fest, I was almost sure that the next one would be bigger and better.

And I was right: this time around, Drift Fest was supported by Jaguar Philippines and Monster Energy Drink, along with Victoria Court.

The Drift Fest team — spearheaded by Ian King, Struan Wallace and Kim Garcia — made noticeable changes to the circuit and the format of the competition, to make sure that everyone who was there, be they spectators and drifters, had a helluva good time.

The addition of concrete stanchions right in front of the bleachers set up for the spectators promised them a better view of the adrenaline-pumping action. The drivers tried to get as close as they could to the stanchions while drifting.

Here’s a clip of an individual drifter from the competition:


The closest distance that a drifting car made to the concrete stanchions without hitting them was one of the factors considered in judging the individual drifting competition for both Novice and Pro categories.

Jaguar power

The Jaguar car brand is no longer boxed as just a “luxury sedan.”

Since they came out with “R”  and “R/S” spec cars like the XFR, XKR and XKR-S (among others), Jaguar and drifting have since become a perfect fit.

Those who attended the June Drift Fest might remember the rubber marks the Jaguar XFR-S left all over the track.

This time around, the “drift toy” Jaguar lent to Ian King was the sportier Jaguar XKR.

Ian showed us how the massively torquey, V8-supercharged 510BHP mill of this machine can handle drifting like a breeze.

Watch expert Ian King drift in the Jaguar XKR:


Drifting — rain or shine

Heavy downpour midway of the event caused some delay, but it definitely did not scare the drifters off.

In fact, the wet and slippery track made it even more challenging for them to drift.

Trickier, too.

There were some drivers who lost control of their car, resulting to minor wrecks. But there were definitely no major damages or casualties.

MEET THE JUDGES: MELYSSA Grace (middle) with Kim Garcia and Kevin Tayao

The presence of Miss Formula Drift 2010 Melyssa Grace as judge definitely lit up the show.

She came all the way from the US and sat alongside fellow judges and pro drifters Kim Garcia and Kevin Tayao.

Watch a clip of the exciting tandem drifting here:

 

Winners of the 3rd Drift Fest will be announced at the awarding ceremony in Opus, Resorts World Manila on Sept. 27 at 8 pm. – Rappler.com


Roopak Ramachandran Nair is an IT professional whose client is a multi-lateral development bank based in Manila. He is also a gadget and motoring enthusiast who blogs in www.gearheads.in and www.teambhp.com.

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!