Drifting AwayCar enthusiasts love seeing feats of car control, and while any self-respecting driver can correct a skid, holding a car in a controlled oversteering drift is something else. For that reason, Sport Auto runs the Drift Challenge as an integral component of the Tuner GP.
The Drift Challenge takes place at Sachs Kurve, a slightly banked 180-degree bend in the stadium end of the circuit. Its constant radius makes it ideal for power-sliding a rwd car. The idea is to see for how many seconds you can hold a clean slide. For many in the crowd, the Drift Challenge is the most exciting part of the Tuner GP.
As a spectator sport, the Drift Challenge beats Formula One hollow. Perfect slides raised loud and sustained cheers and applause, while some of the contestants ran out of opposite lock and spun. Those with quick presence of mind turned their spins into burnouts that would have done a Guy Fawkes Night proud, pirouetting around with clouds of rubber smoke pouring from their driven wheels. The crowd loved it, resulting in extra cheering, extra applause and points for style.
The BMW M3 and M5 are classic Drift Challenge cars. They have balanced and adjustable chassis with plenty of power to initiate and hold a slide, as contestants in both the Amateur and Pro Divisions showed off to good effect. Needless to say, BMW dominated the first three places of both divisions.
The crowds at the Tuner GP get bigger every year, as the event has now achieved wide recognition. This year more than 7,000 car enthusiasts turned up to watch the Tuner GP, which now has participants coming from as far afield as Japan.
Forget Silverstone, forget Le Mans. For dyed-in-the-wool car enthusiasts, the Sport Auto Yokohama Tuner Grand Prix is the event of the year! Here you can see a day's serious competition for free, paying just a few euros for nearby parking. Where else can you walk through the pits and paddock and talk to the makers without some officious FIA person telling you that you don't have the right pass?
Hockenheim is near the autobahn A5, just a few minutes by car from the picturesque city of Heidelberg, between Frankfurt and Stuttgart. I strongly recommend you put next year's Tuner Grand Prix in your 2003 diary. See you there! -IK