*Formula D Pro Am drivers navigating the turn 8 and 8a complex at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on October 21, 2023*

Watching a Formula Drift car descend five and a half stories through Laguna’s turn 8 and 8a complex is violent. The turn is nicknamed The Corkscrew because it requires a quick left-right maneuver while also unfolding vertically. On Saturday October 21st for the first time in the racetrack’s 66 years of operation drivers were invited to drift the circuit, including turn 8.

Drifting on a normal track is about as destructive as racing gets. Tires are burned off for drift angle. Bumpers, engines, and drive-line components are all considered wear components. Spectators protect their ears and lungs.

For the drivers it’s a whole other experience. One driver I spoke to said, “It’s a rush. As soon as you’re at the bottom, it’s full throttle all the way through to turn 10 for the handful of cars that have that kind of horsepower and speed.”

As the driver enters the top of turn 8 the track starts rolling out from under their car while simultaneously switching from a left to a right turn. “So we turn in left, while transitioning back right — and you feel it get light. As soon as you feel the car not so light you have to lay the throttle on heavy because the compression at the bottom wants to grip the car up.” And this sums up the whole point of drifting - managing that lack of grip.

Laguna Seca opened its gates on Nov 9, 1957 after public road racing got out of hand. These Pebble Beach Road Races began only 7 years earlier, but they soon became problematic necessitating a closed course. The track was constructed on a piece of land formerly used as a military target range by Fort Ord. The Army post operated until 1994. Today this land is part of the Fort Ord National Monument, and the portion where Laguna Seca is laid out belongs to Monterey County Parks Department.

Drifting as both a racing discipline and subculture has been broadly on the outskirts of motorsport, although this has been changing for decades at this point. Perhaps it was drifting’s outlaw origins that cast its mold for arriving on the outside looking in. How did a track like Laguna Seca, which is a monument to traditional circuit racing, come to host a youthful, brash, and loud event like GridLife? Adam Jabaay of GridLife says “We actually were approached, sort of, by the track. I believe our first meeting was at PRI in Indy, in 2017, maybe 2018? It blurs together!”.

As someone who adores drifting, I think this acceptance bodes well for the sport overall. The drivers are often younger and have less financial advantage starting out than more long-standing institutions of motorsport. I often think about the early days of snowboarding as a way of contextualizing history. We are decades away from drifting’s creation, popularity had grown exponentially and so has the funding from major players. But sometimes, like at GridLife Laguna, I’m reminded it’s just a bunch of kids out there trying to express themselves.

-Eli Blanton

Drifting, Laguna