Sitting Sideways: Drifting With Matt

When we were out at Pacific Raceways on Friday, it was pretty sweet watching the drifters tackle the wicked S-curves on back section, but going for a ride along was even cooler. I went with Matt Gehr in his ’86 AE86 Coupe, and while he was driving a little too aggressively early in the day—which resulted in a couple of spins—by the time I was strapped into the shotgun seat he had the course totally dialed. Matt has been been drifting for about five years, and looked completely relaxed as he whipped the car through the turns. The sensation of going sideways at 60+ isn’t something I’ll forget, and this experience made me determined to get a ride-along when Formula D makes its Seattle stop this summer. On the last turn, we actually hit one of the candy-striped borders on the race track, which made the car briefly go up on two wheels. For a second, I thought we going to flip, but the little car promptly righted itself. Good times! Eight more pics after the jump.