I get paid £20k a year to drift 3/4 days a week! 48 weeks a year in a fully maintained LS powered GM saloon. Am I very good? No! Am I sponsored? No! The other few days a week I manage workshops and logistics. Puts me closer than most i suppose
I have "sponsors". The reality of that is a two way street. They assist with parts/wheels/tyres, but I give back by doing cheap/free fabrication, pushing their products as much as I can etc. I can't imagine an easy to get to situation that involves actual money and not just parts/skills exchange.
I really dont get the attitude people have on here like"im gonna get a sponser means im gonna be winning loads of moneyz and getting tons of bitchs etc etc" When realistically its more like "right so instead of paying 10 grand to do this seasons bdc its going to cost me 7k instead" Besides regardless of what WE think, 99% of the country hate drifting/drifters, hell most dont even know what it is, i meet tons of ordinary people through my job, when they ask what i do in my spare time, the most common reply is "what like those teenagers do in car parks?" Or "whats the point in that" Where as ask them about f1 and 99% of people have a clue about the sport and have watched it. End of the day this is not a mainstream sport regardless of what we think, and thanks to the morons that continue to go do "mad skidz on roundaboutz blud" i dont think it ever will, as the general population will always view us a cunts, and tbh how big is a sport ever going to be when most people hate it?
Not wanting to start an argument, But my job means I meet alot of public as well and in 10+ years I have seen a significant shift from the responses you mention with only 10% knowing what drifting is and half of those thinking its a chavfest, to probably over half having heard of drifting and actually at least an idea that its NOT just chavs in a car park at MaccyD's which I see as a major PR groundshift. As for the actual topic... Sponsorship in my eyes isn't 10% discount for a sticker - thats just supporting those who are art of the sport and a useful helper to non lifestylers - sponsorship is either a significant discount of at least 25-35% or more (ie trade or less so its actually not profiting the company "sponsoring you" directly) or goods or services for free in exchange for media coverage, advertising space on the car, using you and the car promotionally or a mix of all of that. I was lucky that I had a lot of very good and loyal sponsors in the past, some of whom are helping me with getting myself and the car ready for returning to competitive drifting, I wish I was slightly healthier this year so I could acheive some of the targets for this year but I know they understand and know me well enough that they will continue to support me and are not being pushy or fed up with my slower than expected progress. THATS how these relationships should work and it relies on you being honest, communicative and delivering on your promises over a period of longer than a single season. J.
I remember one of the big US drift documentaries a couple of years ago... KDF maybe? Interviewing various drivers. Even people like Chris Forsberg were pumping all of their own money into it just to keep going, and he's one of the 'top' FD drivers.
Thats fair enough bladerider, in honesty most people i meet ar3 probably slightly older so may not pay ad much attention, the majority of people that i know that are aware of the sport and know what it is are younger generations.d But i do honestly believe that drifting will never have the kind of rep as btcc/f1/rally does simply due to the attitude alot of people have, yes some of the events are brilliant, but if you attend a practise day over half the cars are unroadworthy and smashed up cars that would look at home being crashed into, with some of the drivers looking like they belong there too.
I think drifting has the potential to make lots of millionaire's The only problem is you have to start off as billionaire's lol
I will put it in perspective for those who know and love Lydden........ Lydden is primarily famous for the Rallycross that has been competing there for years, infact it is operated these days by the Doran family, Pat having begun at the start of rallycross and his son Liam also getting into the sport and both becomming legendary in that scene, with Monster energy sponsorship as well as a host of other sponsors, tie ins and media coverage on mainstream and satellite tv over the years, which has led to the worldwide rallycross events that take place now with the top boys all being part of the "Monster Massive" with Ken Block, Baggsy and many many more. The top flight rallycross boys like the Dorans, Scott and others are running somewhere around £1million a year budgets of their own money to be competitive PLUS sponsorship !!! As Rhys alludes to, the oldest addage in motorsport is "To make a small fortune in motorsport you need to start with a large one !!" lol
I would have even more issues with getting paid in any way, because the drift scene in my country is even smalller than yours. Getting some Parts and Tyres 4 free would be more than enough payment for me. but even that is nearly impossible without spending many of my own money before. I'm already happy to have no 8 hour drive to get an nice location without 92db limit. argh! so I just try to have as much fun as I can afford and I want to get better and better for myself. If I want to go pro I have to sell my family first and/or I have to go to another country. both no option. I'm just hoping to become someone like Naoki Nakamura in my next live. if some more people think like this the scene grows and maybe the next generation will have a easier time getting paid while having fun.
I dont think there will ever be a driver in this part of the world (Ireland and the UK) that'll get a fully paid sponsorship to drift in there own country, hopefully I'm wrong and people will stop associating it with joyriding and view it as an actual sport. You are lucky to have as many tracks as you do over in the UK, over in Ireland we are still using carparks. I would love to see a full season of IDC ran using Mondello and some of the Go-Kart tracks around the country and no carparks. But sure they just have to make the best with what they have and are doing a pretty good job at it too.
