Well, what you guys gotta realize is that in drifting events, the way that the car car looks is included in the overall score. Even though aerodynamics play a role in all forms of motorsports, drifing event drivers (and teams) don't really use aerodynamics as a factor when setting up a car. Mainly in part that the car spends most of it's time sideways which would prove to be very ineffective for adequate aerodynamic performance. The reason that they put the goofy wings is for the overall appearance of the vehicle; hence the flashy colors, goofy wings, the strange body kits, and so on. You can take ANY RWD car with stick and decent horsepower (min. of 200) and drive the hell out of it at a drift event, but if your car is not good looking (by the judges standards) while doing it it would be VERY hard to win. I have been following drifting becuase it's really fun to do. Ken Gushi is a really good driver and I'm sure that with the new '05 GT (powered by a '03 Cobra motor) they will get more domestic cars into the drifting scene. Based on how we have all grown up with the Mustang, the new '05 GT may be ugly to some but in reality, it's only a wing and (like someone said in an earlier post) those graphics are gonna really help in the scoring based on the fact that (as far as I know) no one has ever used that. And the "racing stripes" are a clever idea for a tire company. I hope that maybe some of you might attempt to embrace this sport, it's really cool, trust me! Go to one event and you'll be hooked, I promise; and if not, that's cool too. Laterz.
-Mike
-Mike