Miami Herald article on Dec. 5th competition
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Miami Herald article on Dec. 5th competition
Here's the link to the article:
[url]http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/10348238.htm[url]
The piece they ran in the actual paper was a bit shorter
Posted on Mon, Dec. 06, 2004
HIALEAH
Fast and furious 'drifting' arrives as a motor sport
BY REBECCA DELLAGLORIA
rdellagloria@herald.com
The smell of exhaust fumes and burnt rubber wafted through the crisp night air. The streets buzzed with the sounds of revved-up engines and tires screeching across asphalt.
But this wasn't your father's auto-racing competition.
A new breed of young, gutsy drivers took their souped-up sports cars to the Hialeah Speedway Sunday to brave a daring new motor sport known as drifting. Developed over the past several decades on the curvy, mountainous roads of Japan, in recent years the sport has made its way to Hawaii, California and now Florida, where it's beginning to catch steam.
''It's not about speed, it's not about who gets there first. It's about who looks the best,'' said Sean Love, 23, a competitor from Boynton Beach in Sunday's South Florida Sideways 2005 event.
Instead of straight-on, all-out acceleration, drivers careen sideways as they whip around turns, swinging the car back and forth like a clock's pendulum. All at an insanely high speed.
Think about when the road is slick and your car begins to slide. Now magnify that about 10 times, add a dose of nausea and, well, you get the idea.
''Going 100 miles per hour sideways -- there's nothing like it,'' said Tim Moceri, co-owner of Ter-Tech Inc., a car product supplier based in Lantana that organized the event. ``It's probably the most fun you'll have behind the wheel. Ever.''
If not the most frightening.
Perhaps more so than other forms of auto racing, drifting requires a tremendous amount of control. Often described as the ''figure skating'' of motor sports, it requires a keen sense of precision -- timing the use of the clutch, gas and brakes to fishtail off the back wheels and force the car sideways into the slide. When done correctly, the look is as sleek and elegant as a Baryshnikov ballet. Done wrong and the results could be tragic.
Of the 25 participants, competing in intermediate and advanced class, several mistimed their turns, spinning out into circles. Others blew out tires, overheated their engines or caused flames to fly out from underneath. One driver crashed his Nissan 240 SX -- by far the most popular and well-suited drifting vehicle -- into the wall. Twice.
''It is dangerous. That's why it's so popular,'' Moceri said. ``It's going against everything you're supposed to do with a car.''
The more the drivers whipped and whirled, stirring up clouds of smoke, the more the fans cheered. Participants were judged on style, technique and speed -- and overall impression. Ultimately, it was the crowd support that made the difference.
Bill ''Hachi Bill'' Sherman, a driver from Bradenton, came in first in the advanced category -- winning a goodie bag of expensive car toys and gift certificates. His handling of the car while simultaneously waving to the crowd gave him the edge over local favorite Juan Henao, a 24-year-old from Pembroke Pines. Despite his stellar performance early on, Henao spun out in the final round.
''Basically, Bill just put up a better show,'' said Jose Gonzalez, editor of Automundo and Tuning Mundo magazines and one of the judges. ``Juan is something of an underdog. He's coming up pretty hard in the scene -- he's definitely somebody to keep an eye out for.''
For less than a year of practice time, Henao did well. He came in second -- above professional driver Blake Fuller and one of the few Japanese drivers in Florida.
''It's the ride of my life,'' said Henao, getting out of his 1992 240 SX after a whirlwind lap around the track. ``When you go sideways on a big oval, you become one with the car. For just a little bit, you become the king of the world.''
Picture and caption on side of article:
PRIDE & JOY: Erick Mahle of Miami with the 1991 BMW 300 series sedan he drives in the growing sport of rifting. The competition originated in Japan. MARIANNE ARMSHAW/FOR THE HERALD
I liked the course layout and overall the event was awesome. Best Hialeah event so far, best course layout ever used there and best organization especially considering most of us had been up for 30+ hours.
I made it to final 4 with 3rd in points. They paired me against Bill and was gonna forfeit if I would make top 3 because I was so tired and could feel that I was way off my game. I was told if I forfeit I would take 4th so I went out, was very sloppy and on the front big turn I nearly got the wall when I missed my line. The car was not mine so I decided to call it quits. Had I done a 2nd lap and made a clean pass I would have been 2nd place minimum and I would have faced Bill in the final round. Oh well...
Congratulations though to everyone, especially Bill who drove near flawlessly all day and Juan who rocked it hard, plus Taka tearing it up WAY better than I thought he could.
Big thanks to Blake Fuller for coming out and hooking up the gift certificates and batteries, too bad he didn't make it further before the car broke a halfshaft and then later the engine let go just doing some demo runs.
Next time there will be sleep for me!!! Blown up BMW's be damned!!
-Sean
[url]http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/10348238.htm[url]
The piece they ran in the actual paper was a bit shorter
Posted on Mon, Dec. 06, 2004
HIALEAH
Fast and furious 'drifting' arrives as a motor sport
BY REBECCA DELLAGLORIA
rdellagloria@herald.com
The smell of exhaust fumes and burnt rubber wafted through the crisp night air. The streets buzzed with the sounds of revved-up engines and tires screeching across asphalt.
But this wasn't your father's auto-racing competition.
A new breed of young, gutsy drivers took their souped-up sports cars to the Hialeah Speedway Sunday to brave a daring new motor sport known as drifting. Developed over the past several decades on the curvy, mountainous roads of Japan, in recent years the sport has made its way to Hawaii, California and now Florida, where it's beginning to catch steam.
''It's not about speed, it's not about who gets there first. It's about who looks the best,'' said Sean Love, 23, a competitor from Boynton Beach in Sunday's South Florida Sideways 2005 event.
Instead of straight-on, all-out acceleration, drivers careen sideways as they whip around turns, swinging the car back and forth like a clock's pendulum. All at an insanely high speed.
Think about when the road is slick and your car begins to slide. Now magnify that about 10 times, add a dose of nausea and, well, you get the idea.
''Going 100 miles per hour sideways -- there's nothing like it,'' said Tim Moceri, co-owner of Ter-Tech Inc., a car product supplier based in Lantana that organized the event. ``It's probably the most fun you'll have behind the wheel. Ever.''
If not the most frightening.
Perhaps more so than other forms of auto racing, drifting requires a tremendous amount of control. Often described as the ''figure skating'' of motor sports, it requires a keen sense of precision -- timing the use of the clutch, gas and brakes to fishtail off the back wheels and force the car sideways into the slide. When done correctly, the look is as sleek and elegant as a Baryshnikov ballet. Done wrong and the results could be tragic.
Of the 25 participants, competing in intermediate and advanced class, several mistimed their turns, spinning out into circles. Others blew out tires, overheated their engines or caused flames to fly out from underneath. One driver crashed his Nissan 240 SX -- by far the most popular and well-suited drifting vehicle -- into the wall. Twice.
''It is dangerous. That's why it's so popular,'' Moceri said. ``It's going against everything you're supposed to do with a car.''
The more the drivers whipped and whirled, stirring up clouds of smoke, the more the fans cheered. Participants were judged on style, technique and speed -- and overall impression. Ultimately, it was the crowd support that made the difference.
Bill ''Hachi Bill'' Sherman, a driver from Bradenton, came in first in the advanced category -- winning a goodie bag of expensive car toys and gift certificates. His handling of the car while simultaneously waving to the crowd gave him the edge over local favorite Juan Henao, a 24-year-old from Pembroke Pines. Despite his stellar performance early on, Henao spun out in the final round.
''Basically, Bill just put up a better show,'' said Jose Gonzalez, editor of Automundo and Tuning Mundo magazines and one of the judges. ``Juan is something of an underdog. He's coming up pretty hard in the scene -- he's definitely somebody to keep an eye out for.''
For less than a year of practice time, Henao did well. He came in second -- above professional driver Blake Fuller and one of the few Japanese drivers in Florida.
''It's the ride of my life,'' said Henao, getting out of his 1992 240 SX after a whirlwind lap around the track. ``When you go sideways on a big oval, you become one with the car. For just a little bit, you become the king of the world.''
Picture and caption on side of article:
PRIDE & JOY: Erick Mahle of Miami with the 1991 BMW 300 series sedan he drives in the growing sport of rifting. The competition originated in Japan. MARIANNE ARMSHAW/FOR THE HERALD
I liked the course layout and overall the event was awesome. Best Hialeah event so far, best course layout ever used there and best organization especially considering most of us had been up for 30+ hours.
I made it to final 4 with 3rd in points. They paired me against Bill and was gonna forfeit if I would make top 3 because I was so tired and could feel that I was way off my game. I was told if I forfeit I would take 4th so I went out, was very sloppy and on the front big turn I nearly got the wall when I missed my line. The car was not mine so I decided to call it quits. Had I done a 2nd lap and made a clean pass I would have been 2nd place minimum and I would have faced Bill in the final round. Oh well...
Congratulations though to everyone, especially Bill who drove near flawlessly all day and Juan who rocked it hard, plus Taka tearing it up WAY better than I thought he could.
Big thanks to Blake Fuller for coming out and hooking up the gift certificates and batteries, too bad he didn't make it further before the car broke a halfshaft and then later the engine let go just doing some demo runs.
Next time there will be sleep for me!!! Blown up BMW's be damned!!
-Sean
drift unit mechanic
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 265
Likes: 0
above professional driver Blake Fuller and one of the few Japanese drivers in Florida.
taka!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
go bill.............................
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V8 S13
Joined: Nov 2003
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Actually they did, on the page there is a link to see a few more pics and one of them is you. It's also the picture they used in the print version.
Here:
GETTING THE DRIFT: 'Hachi Bill' Sherman flaunts his first-place trophy Sunday at Hialeah Speedway. MARIANNE ARMSHAW/FOR THE HERALD
And:
THE WINNER: Bill Sherman of Bradenton takes a victory lap after winning top honors in the advanced in the drifting competition at Hialeah Speedway on Sunday. MARIANNE ARMSHAW/FOR THE HERALD
-Sean
Here:
GETTING THE DRIFT: 'Hachi Bill' Sherman flaunts his first-place trophy Sunday at Hialeah Speedway. MARIANNE ARMSHAW/FOR THE HERALD
And:
THE WINNER: Bill Sherman of Bradenton takes a victory lap after winning top honors in the advanced in the drifting competition at Hialeah Speedway on Sunday. MARIANNE ARMSHAW/FOR THE HERALD
-Sean
