We visit the British Columbia Drifting Association

     I’ll be honest, drifting has been the red-headed stepchild of automobile sport for me. I was a teenager in the 90’s and had my license before drifting was considered true motorsport. Really, the only real drifting that was happening was with cookie sheets under our rear tires. As the sport has gotten bigger I have watched a ton of Youtube Vids and whatever has been on T.V. (which isn’t much) but I wanted to understand the sport better. I personally found it hard to understand the criteria for how the sport is scored and judged and really, overall, the rules. 

I have always understood the draw that people have to taking part in the sport I mean -  who doesn’t like burnouts and slidey cars? It just seemed too undefined and unrefined to be an actual motorsport. 

So I saw that the British Columbia Drift Association had some spots free for Media to attend their Drift Night in early July and I reached out to see if I could get one of the spots and was told, yes, come on out. So I went out and left my expectations behind. I just wanted to see in person what the local Drift Scene had to offer. I met a guy named Jordan who gave me a quick safety brief and said I could go out wherever I wanted to take photos. When the event started I quickly understood what these guys loved about this sport. The loud exhaust noise, the smokey tires, the slidey action is all fantastic and so much better in person. It changed my mind about the sport completely, I stood and watched a lot of these people sliding by sometimes at the expense of my photographs because I was getting caught up when somebody would hit a perfect line and drift beautifully through a long corner. It was an eye-opening experience to see the level of skill and commitment from this local scene. I notice a bunch of smiles in the pit area as well which is one of the things that transcends motorsports. The people are there to take part in something they love.

What I loved the most about the BCDA is they were making time for beginners, and the people who paid money to drift got their money’s worth in my opinion. There were very few gaps in the action. People would hit their lap and then go around and line up again, it was awesome. There was also at least one driver who appeared to be new to the sport and he got his laps as well - which is amazing because that’s how you grow your sport, and when I say I got caught up watching, at least on one occasion myself and two other photographers had our camera down and we were cheering when the “new guy” ran his first beautiful line / drift of the night. We had watched this guy spin out on almost every corner but he got progressively better as the night went on and then almost like magic he went full slidey-boi and looked like a seasoned vet around this corner and we all burst out and cheered. I have no idea who the guy was but I’m sure he was having fun. You have to make time for the beginners so they can learn their craft and the BCDA proved themselves as a place where people can do that. If Drifting is something you have wanted to take part in, please visit the BCDA Facebook page ( here ) and check out their rules and whether your car can pass tech inspection and then register for an event. I look forward to photographing more events - drifting is no longer the red-headed stepchild to me. I look forward to learning more about it and photographing more of these events, and maybe even bringing a car to one…