Aussies Take on Japanese in World of Drifting

Drifting has became very popular, from the mountains of Japan to the Big Screen in Hollywood. An Australian company has recently started its own drifting school. From what I know, I already thought that drifting was pretty big in Australia with Holden’s and Nissan’s, but now I guess it is even bigger. The school is based in Japan, which is very interesting, but makes since, because of the already popularity of drifting in Japan.

The queensland based company has deemed its school “Physics in Motion Drift School at the Tokachi International Speedway in Obihiro, Hokkaido.”. Rather than trying to attract Japanese drifters, and racers, the company is leaning towards the thrill seekers in Asia, Safe Drive Training managing director Joel Neilson said. “We are aiming at a high-end group of corporate travelers. Senior executives from Hong Kong or Singapore who often go and charter a boat, or go on a five-day holiday to a tropical island. The school’s courses are in the same price bracket and a bit more unique,” he said.

After outlaying an initial $85,000 in set-up costs, the school is expected to generate an annual turnover of $500,000, Neilson said.

Safe Drive Training, which already operates drifting schools in Australia and Indonesia, decided to crack into the Japanese market after being approached by Microsoft Corp. last year to run a drifting course in Japan as part of a promotional competition for its Xbox 360 game console.

“It was a good opportunity for us and we decided to make it a permanent investment, purchase the cars and set up our own drift school,” Neilson said.

The Microsoft course was run in March, and this month the Physics in Motion Drift School is ready to advertise courses for the general public.

The school will be run by Ross Burbidge, a former Australian race-car driver who is living in Japan and fluent in Japanese, Neilson said.

“We will be open to running courses for Japanese people, but most of the courses will be taught by foreigners in English. Having the English courses will be our core advantage,” he said.

The school has already been liaising with tourism officials in Obihiro who are keen to attract foreign tourists to the area, he added.

Opening the school in the home of drifting was an exciting, but also intimidating prospect, Neilson said.

“When you are over there, you obviously have to make some impression of expertise, but we think we can hold our own,” he said.

Japan has already proved to hold very different drifting experiences than Australia, he said.

[Source: JapanToday]