December 17, 2007 - Well, I am back in Beijing and have actually been all over China in preparation for the first ever competition between drifters from the USA, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. I first arrived in Shanghai, China and immediately made my way to Hangzhou. Hangzhou is a wonderful city and is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in China. The real reason I came to Hangzhou was to conduct the first ever WDS driver search for Chinese drifters. Many of the aspiring drifters need a lot more practice and perhaps some direction from a good teacher. However, there were a few promising drifters that could actually get out of first gear and hold a drift. I chose the five most promising drifters from Hangzhou and rewarded them with a 2007 WDS license. The top drifter in Hangzhou had a very sweet RHD S14.5 that he admitted he purchased from Japan and imported through Hong Kong.

I was very surprised to see so many good drift cars in Hangzhou. There were two S15s and a few A31 Cefiros complemented by a very cool Subaru GDB converted to FR. This was just the beginning of what I was to see as far as the quality of drift car here in China. The quality of the cars far outweighed the talent of the drivers. I left Hangzhou with a good feeling that the drivers from the USA would easily dominate the competition. I returned to Beijing for a day of planning and then immediately was on a plane to the far south of China, headed for the city of Shenzhen. I got off the plane and was whisked away to what I determined to be drifter heaven in China. The city of Guangdong is home to a small karting track that is tucked into the hills and has the feeling of Ebisu in Japan. Here I was able to meet some of the best drivers in China, including the man that would eventually stand on the podium in Beijing and Hangzhou for the WDS events.

I was surprised at the amount of well-prepared cars here, and it was quickly pointed out to me that many of these cars are JDM cars purchased and imported through Hong Kong. I realized this was a peculiar thing because while most of the drivers had really great cars, they knew nothing about how to repair them or set them up. I was amazed at the amount of people who would say that they had built their own car only to find them not able to diagnose the simplest of problems. I laughed out loud as one of the so-called car builders told me that the LSD was going bad because it made the classic thunk-thunk-thunk during a slow turn. I simply walked away, not caring to debate the stupidity of this man who simply spent a boatload of cash on a pre-built car and then claimed to be the builder. I learned that day that while drifting in the States is a poor man's motor sport and most of us are DIY builders, drifting in China is for rich kids and most of them just throw money into cars and have never had to change any parts themselves.



Perhaps this is why they are so far behind in talent, because money can't buy talent. Many of the "drifters" were merely glorified donut kings and thought that doing a donut made them a D1 champ! I was and still am unimpressed with the talent of many of the drivers in China. Worse than just the lack of talent is the lack of knowledge about drifting, drift etiquette, and overall sportsmanship.

I picked the best drifters in Guangdong and headed back to Beijing to start getting ready for the main event. I couldn't wait for the Americans to show up, but first I had to go to the port and unload the first eight cars that had arrived in China. I got a very unwelcome surprise when I arrived at the port and opened the first container. The cars had been improperly loaded and six of them were very badly damaged. I started to have a bad feeling about this event and the ability of the Americans to do well. I spent the next four days working 18 hours a day with my friend Heng Yue, from a local shop in Beijing called EMD, to repair the cars and get them up in running condition again. We were successful and got most of the cars back into good shape.

The American drivers were about to land in Beijing… Stay tuned for info from the main event! Next time in Akuma's World.