CHINA: Group of car drifting fans compete to perform skillful skids and tyre-bursting slides

Record ID: 537572

  • Title: CHINA: Group of car drifting fans compete to perform skillful skids and tyre-bursting slides
  • Date: 28th May 2009
  • Summary: CAR TYRE MOVING METER REACHING EIGHT AND RETURNING TO ZERO CAR DRIFTING ONLOOKERS TAKING PHOTOS WITH MOBILE PHONES FRIEND OF CAR DRIFTER SONG JINGYI GETTING OUT OF CAR (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) FRIEND OF CAR DRIFTER SONG JINGYI, SAYING: "I felt the earth was spinning. It was more exciting and faster than I had thought" CARS DRIFTING QIAN DRIFTING CAR AND WAVING AS SMO
  • Embargoed: 12th June 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA7RHS6VA090RRHJBZD72OLYSAU
  • Story Text: Wealthy Chinese racers in Beijing compete to perform dramatic skids and spins, turning their tyres to pulp and putting holes in their wallets in a time of financial crisis.
    Qian Huiming, a 47-year-old car drifting enthusiast, is in full gear.
    Fast and furious, he skillfully slides his car across a practice yard around the size of a professional basketball court.
    Qian is a member of a Beijing car drifting club, where a dozen wealthy Chinese racers compete to show off their skills.
    Drifting, a practice relatively new to communist China, is a driving technique in which the driver over-steer at high speed, causing the car's rear wheels to lose traction while maintaining control of the vehicle.
    Having taken up the hobby about one year ago, Qian has become the best in the exclusive group.
    He and the other club members meet on the outskirts of the capital every weekend to indulge in the costly sport, though not everyone can afford to destroy six tyres in an afternoon and push their engine to its limits every week.
    "Drifting is like burning money. For me it's fine, because I can afford it. But many of the young guys simply can't. Some of them bought second-hand cars, remodeled them, played for a while, then gave up because it was too expensive. The tyres cost four to five thousand yuan (about 500 to 730 U.S. dollars) everyday. Where can they get that kind of money? I am doing business, so I can afford it," said Qian.
    But some fanatics with tighter budgets have signed deals with a local tyre dealer, from whom they buy second-hand tyres at just 60 yuan (around 9 U.S. dollars) each.
    Most of their cars come from the second-hand market, though the cost for remodeling for the sport ranges from 50,000 to 300,000 yuan (around 7,299 to 73,795 US dollars).
    But it is definitely worth it, said 25-year-old boy racer Li Fu.
    "When drifting a car, you feel in control. If you can operate a car smoothly when it is out of control, it really makes you feel like the master of the vehicle," said Li.
    Song Jingyi, a friend of one of the racers, did not drift herself but was happy to go for a spin.
    "I felt the earth was spinning. It was more exciting and faster than I had thought," said Song.
    While the world struggles to survive the worst economic downturn in decades, some groups, such as these drifting enthusiasts are not afraid to burn their money and tyres, for a good time.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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