“Drifting? What’s that?”

It should come as no surprise to me that a good number of people still don’t know what drifting is. Although when I try to explain what it is the inevitable reaction to the unfamiliar ends up being, “Oh! Like that Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift stuff, right?”

The fact that a Hollywood movie defines drifting and the stereotypical wholly overexaggerated subculture that follows it, shows that this is one motorsport that has a long way to go in terms of maturation.

It’s been three years since I’ve spectated the FormulaD: Streets of Long Beach competition. Can’t say too much has changed at least from the spectator side of the fence. It’s still a little cozy circuit setup on borrowed track from the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach surrounded by dozens of double fences that make taking proper shots of sideways action a bit challenging.

In conjunction with the Formula D Long Beach event, Ford gave me a great chance to see the action up close, and their man, Mr. Vaughn Gittin made it all the way to the top 8 in his spankin’ new 2010 Mustang. If you’re a Mustang fan, Ford is taking submissions through their “10 Unleashed” site. Go on over, tell them your Mustang dream and it might just come true. There are only 6 slots left, so slide over and fill it out.

On another note, I came disappointly close to enjoying some highly rated Kogi goodies at Formula D only to be told they were privately contracted. The next time someone privately contracts Kogi at a hugely public event and doesn’t give me a pass, there will be bloodshed.