Drift origins
From its start until now
- This is a bit before 1950 that the drift was born ... in Europe.
- 1950s : Enzo Ferrari credits the Italian driver : Tazio Nuvolari as being the inventor of the four-wheel drift.
![](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0533/2290/7806/files/Tazio_Nuvolari_man_600x600.jpg?v=1695403463)
![](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0533/2290/7806/files/Tazio_Nuvolari_drifting_bugati_600x600.jpg?v=1695403675)
- 1960s-1980s : Drifting became popular in Japan thanks to Kunimitsu Takahashi.
- 1987: Keiichi Tsuchiya, known as the "Drift King", made a video clip "Pluspy" (link to the video), what became a hit and inspired many of the professional drifting drivers on the circuits today.
- 1988 : Tsuchiya helped to organize one of the first events specifically for drifting called the "Ikaten".
![](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0533/2290/7806/files/Ikaten-drifting-2008-Mouse_600x600.jpg?v=1695404001)
- 1996 : One of the first drift events outside Japan took place at Willow Springs Raceway in California.
- 21st century : The drift discipline has became popular worldwide. This caused prices of FR cars to increase drastically.
Present: Drifting has evolved into a competitive sport with professional leagues and competitions held all over the world, including the D1 Grand Prix in Japan, Formula D in the United States, and the British Drift Championship in the UK.
![](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0533/2290/7806/files/Logo_D1_professional_drift_grand_prix_series_240x240.jpg?v=1695404288)
Movies that helped the discipline to become popular
Drifting has been featured in a number of popular movies, including:
- Initial D (2005) with the Toyota AE86, that you'll find here !
- The Fast and the Furious : Tokyo Drift (2006)
- Need for Speed (2014)
- Overdrive (2017)
- Baby Driver (2017)
These movies helped to introduce drifting to a wider audience and have helped to make it one of the most popular motorsports in the world.
![](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0533/2290/7806/files/drift_wallpaper_2048x2048.jpg?v=1695380495)