Since Americans first laid eyes on Best Motoring, Initial D, and Pluspy, we’ve wanted nothing more than to slide ’90s JDM shitboxes through the mountains of Gunma. But why spend all that time yearning for the touge roads of Japan, when we’ve got mountains aplenty right here at home?
That’s the ethos of Drift Appalachia, an organization that sets up events for drivers to safely and legally drift their way through the Appalachian Mountains. Hert stopped by the organization’s Stage 3 event in West Virginia, and published a video showing we’re really not so different from those drifters across the Pacific.
Drift Appalachia’s Stage 3 event was a high-profile occasion, with a smattering of Formula Drift drivers found among the invite-only roster. But while Dai Yoshihara may have showed up with a 1,000-horsepower BRZ, plenty of the cars and drivers in attendance maintained that grassroots feel that we all associate with the world of drift.
Drifting is about hanging out with your friends, linking some corners on a twisty road in you beat-up rear-driven car, and inevitably blowing that car up from the abuse. In keeping with that tradition, Hert nobly spun a bearing in the Twerkstallion’s V8 to ensure the event wouldn’t pass without a major mechanical failure.
Videos like this remind me how much I need an absolutely beat to hell S-chassis to drive further into the ground. Someday, I’ll make that dream a reality. Until then, though, I may be stuck with the trikes.