WEEKEND EDITION: Anti-missile missile

August 16, 2009 10:56 pm Published by

Does anyone else have the problem of not being able to read the large blocks of text that some people tend to write on their blogs? It might be some sort of computer-related attention span issue, or it could be that a majority of what people think is carefully constructed prose is in fact like rubbing your eyes with razor blades. With the risk of going Gilette on your pies, here’s an all-text post!

When working at Auto Salon Magazine before I came to Japan, making sure that what you wrote was at least somewhat interesting was the entire reason you were getting paid, and even then, there were at least three other people who read it with a critical eye before it went to print. I recall making a reference to Matt Damon wearing swimming shorts in “The Talented Mr Ripley” in an article I wrote once. Needless to say, that paragraph never made it to print.

Just a quick aside for any Aussie readers, Auto Salon is organising a guided tour of the Tokyo Auto Salon this year. If you’re looking for a pain-free way to see the 2010 show, I recommend giving them a call. You’ll probably meet me at some point on the trip too. Wow, incentive or what!

So, I was pulled up recently by a local driver who reads my site (Japan is the third biggest viewer of Noriyaro, behind the USA and Australia, believe it or not), who had a bit of an issue with how much glorified coverage I’ve been giving to missile cars. You see, there’s actually a fairly strong divide between the people who love the demolition derby-style missile cars, and the people who can’t stand them.

“The reason to have a missile car is not so you can smash into things on purpose. They’re just meant to be cars to practice in, and if you crash, it’s not so much of a problem.” he said.

When a Japanese workshop holds a track day, famous drivers will often be invited to enter for free to give the spectators something to watch and the other drivers something to study. Often, shop owners will attend each others’ track days out of courtesy, and bring their D1 cars with them, often using the chance to shake down any new mods they have done, or check engine tunes or similar.

At one particular day, that was the first ever drift event held at this particular circuit, a group of drivers (you may be able to guess who, considering my past coverage of missiles) turned up in their junkers and proceeded to rip up the grass the edge of the circuit. The workshop owner wasn’t too happy about this, since the circuit manager was annoyed, and these guys were banging around in ugly cars that weren’t much to look at.

Personally, I’ve never been the type who enjoys breaking things for the sake of it, nor do I like crashing, mostly because you end up with a jerked neck and a lot of work to. Isn’t part of the fun of drifting knowing that you’re toeing the edge, and could wipe out your beloved car at any second? Who is more hardcore if they’re pulling off the same crazy lines and angle? The guy in the car that looks like a piece of crumpled newspaper, or the one with fresh paint and expensive wheels?

So, let’s start the campaign against junk missiles!

Kiss the wall tenderly, don’t give it a black eye! Damage is a side effect! Keep it straight when sideways!

Anyway, since there are no pics today, here’s some other blogs you can look at!

hachiroku.com.au/blog
Written mostly by Garth from Sydney, who drives a JDM Trueno hatch that should be running soon, right?
It should be first on your list if you dig AE86.

beeoneoneoh.wordpress.com
Written by Chris from New Zealand, who drives a rad Datsun 1200 truck in mustard.
It’s about Starsharks and smelling of petrol.

omgpancakes.wordpress.com
Written by Chops from Jersey, who drives a Scion xB in yellow.
It’s van, wagon, micro and truck stuff that’s enjoyable to read for people who aren’t into vans, wagons, micros or trucks.

riskydevil.blogspot.com
Written by dudes from Chicago who drive all sorts of things.
Reading it is like eating a bag of Skittles in a cloud of tyre smoke.

bhworld.wordpress.com
Written by Brian from California who will probably stop driving his 180SX soon.
It’s about stickers, events and hate. There’s also too much damn hockey stuff in there.

I really should update the cryptic introduction on the “About” page too…

Categorised in:

This post was written by Alexi

34 Comments

  • GenJi says:

    .. i got that text problem too >.>
    .. god how i’d wish to own a 180SX .. or a 200sx ………. or a 240sx !! 😀

  • SoSideways says:

    BH’s site isn’t about hate.

    It’s about love….

    of hating hahahahaha

  • leongsoon says:

    Actually, a few months down the road and I still think that paragraph in the “About” section of yours is one of the coolest I’ve ever read. Can’t really get more straightforward than that 🙂

  • mike says:

    the mustard datsun site link is broken

  • Adam says:

    Alexi , this hopefully, has put many nondescript, defunct and ill timed views to rest…

    A comment with much grit at the heart of the matter.

    “The reason to have a missile car is not so you can smash into things on purpose. They’re just meant to be cars to practice in, and if you crash, it’s not so much of a problem.” he said.

    My car is not a missile. I use it as a means to train Why should it look the way others deem to see it as an object for destructional purposes?

    I really wanna know who said that to you… not like you didn’t think that anyways…

  • Adam says:

    While my memory is fresh, Naoto Suenaga commented to me just before taking me out for the liveliest 15 minutes of sideways thrashing I have ever experienced that his car was “Not a missile” and I couldn’t help but think the same.

    “Neither is mine”, I told him.

    When did the concept of junked missiles piled into the wall on purpose become come the thing to do anyways?

  • Alexi says:

    @Mike
    Fixed, thanks.

    @Adam
    I think it’s a bit more tactful to not to name-drop if unnecessary, so they shall remain anonymous.

  • kOOpA says:

    i’m completely against the whole missile movement. pulling out panels all weekend after you get back from an event is not my idea of fun..

    everybody makes mistakes, but why would you wanna hit something on purpose? that isn’t cool.

  • Anton says:

    my eyes are bleeding…. nooooooo
    cant beleive i read all that took me 30 mins i kept falling asleep

  • Brian Harte says:

    Aw man……. haha

    I’ve been trying to be nice recently. 🙂

    I’ll post some more drifting stuff.

  • Rob says:

    probably my least favorite trend on noriyaro is missile coverage. i understand being broke (!!!!) but it almost seems like these guys are wrecking their cars just to wreck their cars. i don’t wanna see missiling become the new cool. Japan breaks enough cars with Shaken laws, i don’t wanna see some brat in an 86 wreck another,

  • drift kid says:

    Ive been viewing this blog for a while now, and when the spring/summer/etc. matsuri’s happen, all the pics seem to be of missiles, and almost glorifying them, i’m begining to get the idea that the majority of the cars that enter the matsuri are in fact missiles and that the true drift cars are becoming the minority, I hope that this is’nt the case, becuase it seems to be such a great event which I would love to experience one day soon.
    -Ben.

  • Minto says:

    interesting.. I can see your point on this, However I feel Missle Drifting is just another means for people to enter the sport without the hassle of worrying on damaged bumpers and what not.

    As for those who go out to act as if its a bumper car bash up, then yeah right enough thats fair play. Hmm its an interesting topic tbh.

  • Fury-S12 says:

    maybe we need a different name for cars/people who are deliberately trying to destroy the wall with there car.

    i love watching clips of people getting millimeters from a wall like the famous meihan wall im sure we’ve all seen but ive never got the whole deliberately aiming to scrap the car along the wall itself just seems stupid to deliberately wreck the back of your car missile or not.

  • Benny says:

    Missles are funny to me, i dont mind seeing beaten up cars slide and love seeing people getting close to walls.
    Can i request a review on ueos corolla wagon and/or motorFIX 😀

  • MeZ says:

    The funny thing is though,
    If the driver is trying to get there car sideways as close to the wall as possible. Of course they’re going to overshoot it one run and slam the back of their car.

    I dont think EVERYONE with a missile car is going out there with the intent of wrecking their car just because they can…

  • dylan says:

    ok, not one to hate against everyone, but missile’s imo are what make drifting what it is, i mean, sure the blitz r34 looks good going sideways, and sure chaser’s with wide bodys and 13inch of dish look amazing when smokin up side ways, but i doubt that anyone who reads this blog is going to go “man i really hate missile cars”. I mean, some of the coolest pictures are not from a JZX90 sliding, or a 32 four door spinning out, but they are from missile 180’s and missile rx-7’s hitting the wall and still going, i mean, sure they look like they would be better off sitting at home rusting out the rest of their life. There is a picture on this blog that Alexi posted and i think its two s14’s and a R32 missile train..

    now i want to see anyone with a paint job, full kit etc to get as close to eachother and have as much fun as they did.

    missile <3

  • martin says:

    i think its pretty funny to watch actually. and i think all this nice stuff and this and that is just marketing to try and make money. the more time i spend in japan the more i realize its mostly about the money.

  • s0apgun says:

    only cool missile car video

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzr0AIsPilY

    but even those don’t look as beat to shit as some of these missile cars

    ending is funny too lol ricky martin

  • Hundredpercent says:

    i read it all an i think you have also alot of german viewers

  • Muzaffar says:

    Haha, BH writes too much about hockey these days alright. =P

    Well as for the topic, I know I might get a lot of hate by saying this but I’m all for “missiles”, “junk”, “boro boro” or whatever you guys would like to call it. Some people just can’t afford to repair their cars, so they choose to drift the car until it is completely unusable. I mean who cares how the car looks, as long as you can still drift in the car and have fun, why not? Even if the car looks completely totaled, doesn’t mean its the end of the life for the car…. =)

  • Adam says:

    @ Martin – since when was it ever about anything else? 😛

    @Alexi – keeping things anonymous is cool – I respect that.

    OT, I dont care all that much for missiles to be honest ( Dino does huge posts on these junk heaps hitting the walls and people love it because like reality TV they want to see carnage and mayhem. )

    I view a cheap junker as a pretty easy way to go drifting at these events. Spent 60k – get a car with the sauce and thrash the guts out of it. You dont need to crash to cal yourself a racer. Crashing is part of the deal but is nothing to gloat about and search for.

    Basically If you crash it should be because either;

    a) You made a mistake.

    b) You suffered a mechanical failure.

    or

    c) Because you were hit by someone else.

    Since when did crashing actually become “cool” or the “thing to do” ? The perceptions here are severely warping the way this sport is being viewed and I agree with Alexi completely.

    I understand NEEDING to get that little bit closer to the wall, but seriously, do you have to hit as well to be satisfied?

  • Akatski says:

    Hmm.. I, myself, dont usually like tons of written stuff on websites, but however, its Noriyaro, and if its that amount of text then it sure has meaning. 😉

    The topic is really interesting..) Well, definetly, seen a completely trashed car, isnt something to pleasure my view, even if it goes with crazy angle. However I can easily understand that this way allows to go all out, since you dont have to take care of wide body kit etc.. Im from. khm. Russia, and you know, here I wouldnt mind to have a missile car, parts aren’t something you may call cheap, and prices for used cars are crazy. :/ (180sx brought from Japan – around 15k USD now (was around 6-7 before new law came out)… @_@)

    After all you take part in tournament and find yourself on speedy track with no particular knowledge in how to mantain drift at over 100 kmh, or any will to get closer then 1,5 metres to the concrete wall. =) Having a missile would seriously help gaining useful experience without any fear to completely stop training for continiues time.

    So, yeah, they re ugly, but helpful, the more drifting become more skillful, the more you need to catch up with the others, usually with your own pocket. 😉

    Thanks if you overcame hatred to hords of text and made it to the end… 😀 My few cents. Cheers.

  • azrain says:

    if its to improve the drifting skill,why not??whats the point of having a super cool drift cars but too chicken out to whacked the thing out of it….u might as well be a “poser” instead…

    keep up what ur doing alex!!

  • ygoslo says:

    Thank you. Glad someone finally said this. The growing trend of people actually trying to smash shit is really troubling. I’m not looking at anyone in particular (well, I am actually, but anyway) but all it looks like to me is a bunch of spoilt rich kids being douchebags.

    And I don’t care what anyone says, a nice clean car being driven hard is a million times more impressive than a junker being driven hard.

  • Fury-S12 says:

    i think this thread over at hardtuned is a sad outlook to the future of drift the opening line says it all
    http://www.hardtuned.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=402437

  • luke fink says:

    its called fun people

    missiles are cheap and disposable means of fun

    maybe thats were you guys are going wrong being emo about it

    some people would rather or only have the money to buy tyres and fuel and dont really care what they look like

    i drove at the matsuri just gone in a super cheap s14 non turbo and it did end up looking like a bit of a missile but with that said i learnt so much over that weekend that i would never hope to learn in my race car or my street car

    i think there fantastic so the real dig is not at missiles but the fact that they are getting coverage…..

    myself and lee pidwell for one cannot wait to get some practice cars for local practice days to save fuel money and general stress of taking our better cars out and saving the main cars for comps or demos….

    its got nothing to do with rich kids especially in japan were a non turbo s14 like i had can be had for less than a set of 18 inch rims

    just a bit of common sence to help you cut costs and become a better driver

    reg luke fink

  • Fury-S12 says:

    it sounds like you used your missile for the good reasons i think the beef here is with people deliberately going out to reshape there missiles not learn/ practice without worry

  • ram says:

    if i had a missle i’d run into shit all the time

    letter boxes, shopping trolleys, grandmas etc

  • Daniel says:

    love missiles! love the fact people who drive them have SO much fun in them! and id really rather not be driving a car at a track (grip) with a nice paint job and all, let alone actually drift with a nice car, i dont like the idea of people using these cars specifically to demolition derby (been to chicago and saw the real deal there 😛 ) but i really respect people having fun and learning lots and lots in a car that wont cost them the bank or their heart to fix..

  • Derek says:

    I personally have found the missile coverage refreshing. I like seeing all sides of the drift culture. You can see pics of stickered up drift cars damn near anywhere. Seeing the other side of the coin has been a nice change.

    I wouldn’t say crusade against missile coverage, just find that healthy balance.

  • Josh says:

    how many of you actually know thoes people are out there just to wreck the car on purpose? seems to me there used as practice or cheap thrash cars for FUN, thats what makes it soo cool to look at, people driving balls out

    my desktop is a missle 180 scrapping along the wall at ebisu with the passanger holding the jesus handel crapping himself

    thats quality :D:D:D

  • Matej says:

    Yes, great.
    I hate missile cars.
    Although at least it seems that in Japan people use cars that were previously nice but were one day crashed beyond the point of repair.
    Here people start out with a perfectly good chassis thinking they have a missile car. It is depressing.

  • Uookaa says:

    lulz too much hockey stuff on BH’s site for real…. hahah

    yeeee anti-missile campaign! but it’s cool to have a missile car to practice with, as stated in the post. lol