Today drifting is considered a sport and there are
competitions taking place all over the world. The
competitions are not based on time, but are based off of
how well the driver does drifting around the track. There
are judges that judge each driver as they maneuver their
vehicle around the track. According to formulad.com the
judging criteria has four main factors: speed, angle,
line, and style/impact. The drivers each complete one lap
and the top 16 drivers with the best score move on to the
next round. The top cars then take two more runs, but they
are in tandem runs, which
means two cars competing in the same run. Each driver gets
a chance to be a lead car and the driver with the best
score moves on to the next round. And the driver with the
best runs will win the competition in the end. There are
also other types of competitions where the driver just
gets judged by drifting a certain corner. The driver with
the best scores for that corner wins.
Here is a link to a drift competition in Japan.
I was amazed when I watched this video for the first
time. It almost seems like the vehicle defies the
laws of physics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uW6iGxcNqQ