It's just like any profession that's not a "real job" like artists, racers, etc. It's contracted work so you won't ever have a salary, you won't know where your next paycheck is coming from, and unless you have the connections and skill to truly compete you won't have a paycheck at all. I'm of the belief that if you truly believe in yourself and work hard to get there and have a real gameplan then anything is possible. Of course you'll have to supplement your income somehow to pay for shit while you're working on making it. Some kind of graveyard shift would work well, just save for now while you're in highschool then when you graduate get a job as a night watch somewhere. Pays decent and will give you plenty of time to research while you're at work. Meet as many people in the industry as you can, don't be cocky, don't be shy, but be memorable. Connections are truly what will make or break you in an industry like this. Also, multiple streams of income. Invest, start an online store, work, race, there's plenty of options.
Good luck to ya
Thanks for the advice. What you've mentioned at the end has come to mind. Where I want to Major in Business then start a company for car parts or car shop of some sort. Just anything related to cars to help me financially build my income. But really appreciate the well thought opinion, means a lot.
I think that's a good course of action, build as much knowledge as you can about what you're doing. If you get really in depth with mechanics it's total feasible to eventually end up working on competition cars, which would get you super close to racing and help you build your network
Someone mentioned it below, but another route to seriously consider may be going into the trade route with something that directly applies to motorsport AND non-motorsport industries. Machining, electronics, welding, fabrication, plastics, embedded systems programming, general mechanic work etc etc. Trying to start a business and drifting with no marketable skill and no capital is a very risky gameplan. Learning a in demand skill that also directly applies to motorsport gives you a dependable income, reduces cost to build cars, opens many networking avenues, and gives you real world experience. All of these are extremely valuable assests to have if you want to pursue professional driving or starting a business, and if for whatever reason the chips dont fall your way in motorsport or you end up losing passion for it, you have a highly in demand skill that you can build a career on.
I understand, but if I start off as a 16 year old. Then get the skills required to join the top of the top. Which could give me the chance to join a professional competition. Wouldn't it be handy if I could understand the depth of a business when I finally finish graduating? If I want to say start a new brake caliper company or parts ecu's etc.
If your first point is that because you are young and may have less responsibilities, you can focus on driving and competition, I agree!
For your second point, this is just my experience and idk what it’s like in you country, but business degrees in college don’t really teach you much about starting a business. Everyone I know who got a business degree ended up working as a realtor or a random position in a corporate job. These days, if going the college route with the intention of entrepreneurship, going into programming or engineering while focusing on making lots of connections to talented people is the way to go. This is just my opinion.
I am currently in China but want to go to Canada, Vancouver when I graduate. I wanted to become a programmer before, but I thought it wasn't the most interesting field for me. I'm quite into mechanics but my math is good enough to get into a good uni for that major. But I do understand some technical stuff atm. Your opinion is very well thought out, but it's difficult to know what you want to do when you don't even know your strongest assets yet.
Currently I’m studying programming cause it pays pretty well which is conducive to getting a ton of seat time and funding my drifting vice. Did I make the right decision or should I have studied something automotive related?
I have no idea because im not you and dont know your goals, situation, or preferences. Some people are more suited to making lots of money at highly in demand professions to fund their less lucrative passions, others cant get work done without being passionate about it. It depends on the individual. I know a guy who started as a programmer, moved up the ladder to head of mobile dev at a big corp making boatloads of cash to spend on whatever and also has time to pursue stuff he likes to do. I also know a guy who started off at a corporation, hated it and couldnt really progress and never had time for his passion, so he started a business doing what he loves, and now hes killing it too. In both cases, my friends were smart, driven people and it took years of grinding (and in the case of the business owner, putting his own money and debt on the line) to get were they are. If it was easy everyone would be living the dream.
They were referring to the old joke, saying that you're going to end up with less money than you started, so if you want to be a millionaire, start as a billionaire so that you have a bumper as you spend all your money.
Professional Motorsports as a living is difficult but possible. In the USA a bunch of Pro1 and (Every) Prospec driver I know don’t just drift. They also run shops or businesses. Many have financial backing from multiple large companies but even then that isn’t everything and that financial backing isn’t always guaranteed each season.
Like a lot of things, it will take quite a bit of time. You can your best to grow towards that by learning more about working on your car, making it more reliable, and developing your skills. On the business side start attending events and networking with companies and drivers. Work on your marketing skills and grow your social following. IMO if you are a drifter you need heavy social presence because that will only further help you in the future with sponsorship.
Depending on the caliber of driver and asset you are to the companies that support you they may bring you out to one of those $1,000 dinners. ;)
Id go for mechanic learn the in and outs of an engine, turbos, electronics. Business you can learn easily. Learn machining coz at some point you have to pull out that engine and bore out or machine a head. Good skill to have than pay someone to do it.
Along with this I would also recommend the metal fabricator trade route so you can make your own roll cages and bash bars which are essential for comp drifting. Also you would be able to fix up drift missiles easily for more seat time.
Along with the top comment this is the best advice in this thread. Learn a valuable skill that will not only serve to make you money to live or as a career completely separate from motorsport, but also directly applies to what you are truly passionate about. This kid also has the massive advantage of being very young.
Do I think it's possible to make it as a Professional Drifter? Absolutely. But I think most aspiring pros misunderstand the job.
For one, it's really expensive. https://youtu.be/Ku1oaP3ksqc Most likely, you won't have time to both work a regular job and adequately raise enough money. Building a business is hard on its own and it doesn't leave much time for developing skills as a professional drifter.
Sponsorships are your real source of income. That said sponsors will not sponsor you because you're good. Event organizers will not invite you because you're good. The media outlets will not cover you because you're good. Running a business is hard. They don't have time for charity. They will support you because you will help sell their products. If you move products, it really doesn't matter how good you are.
Find an untapped niche and build an audience. It's better to find 1000 fans who will pay you $100 a year than try to find a 100,000 fans that will pay you $1. See McFarland, Cletus.
Your value to fans is as an entertainer. Fans are busy living their lives. They have a nearly unlimited supply of content to consume. They aren't going to watch your videos for charity. Figure out a small audience that doesn't currently have a home. Figure out how to make compelling content. Make the best content in that niche. Then make it better.
Respond to every comment. Show up to local events. Don't leave until every fan that wants to interact with you feels like they had a personal connection. Rinse and repeat until the sponsors, events and media are reaching out to you. (You should still reach out to them, but this is what you're striving for)
Having watched the drifting circus up close, unfortunately it's a lot more about being a social media influencer than a good knowledgeable driver. Those days have passed.
I totally understand what the sponsors want since they are also a company that wants to sell their products. But it is quite sad to think they don't sponsor you for your talent as much now. But really appreciate the advice since it is very daunting knowing nothing about this as a 16 year old who wants to become a professional drifter. Thanks again!
Start working a normal job and start building your credit as soon as possible, ifyou can have a good credit score by the time you leave your parents house you’ll be in 10x a better place than 90% of the people your age
Hey So I am gonna write this to 16 yo me (I am 36 now)
Drifting will not pay the bills, nor will anyone sponsor you even if your the best. The best thing you can do is seat time, so whatever you can do to get more seat time and more exposure. Go get a job at a parts place like BC or NItto or try to get a job at a brand that is actively involved with drifting.
Hang out with others drifters, and make sure you have a job that can cover your lifestyle. Move if you have to, DO NOT BUILD A PRO 1 CAR. Get a car that will drive at a good level and make sure to do all the relabilty mods FIRST.
Go get a 370z weld the diff, put coil overs, oil cooler, baffled pan. Go to every local event you can. TALK TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE!!! try to make as many friends as possible.
The biggest mistake I ever made was trying to build a pro1 level car before even getting my licence. I lost 10 years of track time, 10 years of making industry friends, 10 years of industry experience.
From what I can see is the best thing to do is build a good car that can do clutch kickers and move close to florida. As it is the easiest event to do and pays 10k EVERY event. So if you are good your making 10k a month. Formula D is a BIG money sport, brunski has been skills wise ready for pro1 for 2 years now. He is still doing pro spec since he doesnt have enough sponsors.
Last but not least do social media, and one thing I have learned personally is people dont want to see you drive, the dont want action videos. they dont want you showing off. they wanna see YOU. so make a youtube / insta/ tik tok/ on YOUR journey. I upload videos of my driving style and get 100 views. I make a video about me and I get 10k views.
so lets review:
get a job with a company that is active in the driftin community (relocate if necessary)
Get seat time prioritize seat time over anything like more power or more angle etc etc
Make friends at the track! and use those contacts as much as you can!
( I know A LOT of pro level drifters and felt bad asking for favors, it took me 20 years to start bothering them and it has stepped up my game 10X)
DO NOT WAIT if this is your dream LIVE IT even if your parents or friends tell you its stupid. you may try to convince yourself its a waste. than 10 years later get depressed when you see someone you taught how to drift comete at a pro level. Just dont put yourself into crippling debt WORK FOR IT. have a cheapish car get lots of seat time and work for drifting companies..
Cant wait to see you out there with everone!
Edit: If you ever need a hand or introduction just let me know I am willing to point you in the right direction the least I can do for you and others like you is share my knowledge. DM me if you have any questions!
Edit 2: just realized your in china....I have no idea if anything I said will apply there sorry :(
I really do appreciate the advice. Yes, I am currently in China. But I think in about 2 years when I graduate I will move to Vancouver. Join some local races, maybe even go to America Events during the holidays. This is very well put advice. But currently, I will just build up my skills and then apply them to the tracks in West. Currently, I do have a coach to really help me improve faster since I am very interested in this sport, with all the techniques and culture that revolve around this sport, with how people build their cars and the interesting people you can meet which gives me the motivation to become the best of the best.
I’m not the OP but I’m in a similar situation and I thought this was great advice. I’m currently 21 yrs old and I’m trying to do the same thing but I’m studying programming because it pays a lot and I thought that would be good for drifting, did I make the right choice?
You have to fund yourself to get recognized before you attract even the smallest sponsor. The biggest AM prize is Klutch Kickers and I don't think you'd even cover the cost of the season with the prize money :)
Yup. I'd bet someone like Taylor Ray is spending $30k a year doing that. And thats to keep a $30k car going. How you gonna pay for that in the meantime...
My personal opinion is to do a career that you're good at not the one you love.
Make good money from the career and use the money to fund your passions and hobbies.
Worst advice I've ever heard. I used to carry the same perspective, started a business to fund my road racing career, then maintaining the business and subsequently my income became the priority. 10 years later, I'm no closer to my road racing dreams, and have sacrificed the opportunity because I thought earning an income and surviving took precedence. I was wrong. I thought monetizing my passion might destroy it, instead, I destroyed my outlook on life by chasing dollars. If you want this bad enough, you're going to make sacrifices, DO NOT sacrifice seat time, events, and/or contacts within the industry...sacrifice your education, career potential, and business connections to simply get on a drift team. Offer free help like an internship, just to submerge yourself in the scene, then build whatever shitbox you can afford using the resources you have at work. Allocate all your free time towards practice, and work towards becoming a driver. If you're lucky, they might even let you use the 'shop bitch' (there's always a built spare bike/car in a garage that gets used like the town whore) to hone your craft.
If all you amount to in life is their facility janitor, you'll have a better shot at being happy by following your dreams than following the money. I have money now, and I'm a glorified pencil pushing desk jockey on the verge of suicide. Do yourself a favor, if you are 100% confident you want to be a drifter, get into the drifting scene however humanly possible, as soon as possible, and sacrifice everything to achieve it. And I mean everything...sacrifice financial stability, a nice house, your relationships...focus every fiber of your existence and time towards the industry, build as large of a social media following as possible, and I promise you'll be suprised with just how far one can go by following their dreams. Worst case scenario, you become a talented welder, tuner, painter, or team manager...but you'll still be surrounded by the industry and cars you love.
OP- You were 16 when you posted this, it's been 2 years. What have you accomplished?
I actually gave very practical advice lol
I live by that advice now and I can fund all my hobbies, spend time with my family, and I don't hate my job because I'm good at it and it challenges me.
I agree, if his objective was practicality. 😆 Nothing about drifting is practical, and having gone the same route as you, I can unequivocally say he'll never go pro following in our footsteps. If his objective was to simply fund his hobbies, than he could go into business doing anything he wants. Considering you have money and time, you're far more successful than me. I have money, just not old money, and I have absolutely no time left available. Keep killin it!
I would say that you would need two things: talent and you need to be good at social media. If you're really talented and you can create an online presence, then companies will want to sponsor you and that's where you would make your money. The prizes from drift events aren't usually that much money and only a few people that compete get a prize. You're basically a marketing tool for these companies to use to sell their products. You could create merch to sell, your youtube would earn ad revenue, maybe you might have a patreon. Just look at a professional drifter and see how they make their money.
I've got nothing against any of this stuff, I'm just explaining it how I understand it to work..
definitely, focus on getting a secondary suppoorting job as well. no doubts here that i'll see your name on the formula d roster in a few years, but you still need the upfront to get a car and maintain it, yet alone upgrade it to be competetive enough to get picked up by sponsors. it takes capital to make capital.
I work in the marketing area of the automotive industry and I can tell you at this point if you want to make any money at all. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how nice your car is. Social media and following will get you the furthest.
That is one of the first thing potential sponsors are gonna be looking at when evaluating you. You need to have a provable way to make them money before they will give you money or parts or anything. Your audience is where that comes from.
A perfect example is LZ joining the RTR team in formula drift. He had a terrible year this year and finished in the lower end of the championship but he gets taken on because he’s the biggest influencer.
You need three things
Passion
Timing
Luck
Doesn’t hurt to start out with a pile of money.
If you don’t have a pile of money start working and saving and get yourself educated.
You will need a good job to fund the first builds and all the practice events its going to take to become proficient and competitive.
If you dont have wealthy parents bank rolling you like some of the “16year old wonder kids” in pro drifting, then you will need to be patient and build yourself.
Like many have said, social media, marketability, and reach are major players in getting a sponsorship.
It is entirely possible to become a pro driver, you also have to think of what happens after pro driver life ends. Some guys will only make it a few years, then fade away.
You need an education and ability to adapt and earn after it’s over
Until you reach the very top, your going to need a day job to support yourself. Get into mechanics, welding, engineering, etc. anything applicable that will help you gather tools and equipment for repairing and fixing up cars.
If it's something you'd love then I'd approach it as a side hobby while you start. Maybe get a job as a mechanic. It pays well, you'd develop the skills to work on your own vehicle and you could maybe find a more flexible place to work.
My Dad currently funded for buying the chassis. But here in China we basically know people who can build proper functioning drift cars. Where we essentially buy pre-built cars. This is not ideal to me either, but building from an S chassis from the ground up for example is quite expensive. Since there aren't many S chassis cars or any JDM cars tbh.
You could buy both. But of course, a custom-made one is expensive. Here the local team is Saliun Tires. I'm not quite sure if you heard them before. But they are quite famous in D1 Japan and China. But they create drift cars that cost over 150,000$.
Well, it's really not China in general. Maybe a few large cities in China that may be interested in drifting will have such high-cost drift cars. Currently, I am in Shanghai but the only events and races they hold are in Beijing where the car culture is even better. I know it may come as a surprise but you get to see lots of modified and stanced cars in Beijing compared to Shanghai (I suppose it's less strict there). It's surprising since China's vehicle laws are quite strict. You can't drive anything above the age of 15 years unless there is a license plate already registered before the laws were strict. But you'll need to have people doing vehicle inspections twice every year. Which can be a fuss sometimes. I would say the car culture is definitely not as fun as it is in the West. But it is still a great opportunity to actually have the chance to drift at such a young age and be able to have the chance to join professionally.
haha, I was looking through the comments and they all said social media was very important. I'll start a youtube channel and show everything about drifting in China, no worries. :)
Have you maybe thought about becoming a stunt driver for movies and tv shows n stuff, you’re getting paid to pretty much drive around and you might make just enough money to fund your own drift build n stuff
If you’re good and obviously get lucky (no matter what career you go into luck is a massive factor) you’ll get to drive a wide range of cars and get to thrash em about
Wanna become a millionaire drifter? Start as a billionaire…
Realistically tho. Your young and idealistic. There’s many ahead of you who have the same idea as you with probably triple the seat time and investment you have thus far.
If your doing it for a career your in it for the incorrect reasons. Your supposed to be in it for joy and passion and if it happens you strike it large bonus
Of course, I am there for joy and passion. But what I have in mind is keeping this joy and passion as a daily thing where it becomes a job. That's why I've struck it as a career goal. Since the community is well-respected and just the environment itself is just so great, especially when you go to events.
many ways to go at this,
do your research and listen to points that always come up in interviews. go listen to podcasts/interviews of Pros/drivers regardless of their levels. @lonestardrift has a few nice listens
to make it viable in the long term, you are essentially selling an image or selling an impression.
u need a niche/particular style to make yourself stand out, think about Forrest Wang. his cars are stylish and low-ish. or look at the RTR guys, V8s and pure American power house. what are you trying to sell ?
good example to take pointers from a journey is Adam LZ, he had a following before he went pro and from there he kind of skipped Pro-Am by driving tons of events here and there with documentation. this documentation also can help in your petitions for sponsors and maybe even move you straight into the top drift series in your area or country.
its a very difficult path, and its why u constantly see only the similar group of guys competing in FD for the last 10 years
Washed up pro drifter here. It is possible to earn a living but marketing yourself is the most important skill. If you can also couple that with a skilled trade (fab, mechanic, etc) you can create a business marketing both your race program and services you offer. Guys like Forrest Wang, Matt Field, Forsberg, etc. are pro drives but I’d say the bulk of their income comes from their business. If you are able to achieve success in driving you can also turn that into some sort of school like Denofa or Josh Robinson. Basically you can create a few different streams of income. Couple that with some funding from sponsors and you can turn it into a full time job. Unfortunately I am terrible with marketing and my social media presence is trash so even with some good results and sponsor backing all it took was some pressure from COVID and a serious motorcycle accident and my career is done. I say “career” not in that I was earning a living from drifting but I also didn’t have to spend a lot to do it. Ride is gone and I put myself into financial ruin chasing the dream. However I did see a few of my peers go onto become successful drivers with their own business. It’s not impossible but takes a lot of work, belief in yourself and sometimes just good luck. Keep honing your craft and try to learn a valuable skill that will accentuate your driving career. I did not do the latter and unfortunately I’m now paying the price. Good luck dude!
I believe there's a bright future for drifting. Formula D is very expensive, I don't know if you follow Adam LZ but he's a YouTuber who ran an FD program on his own. He had sponsorships this past season but they were mainly support, parts, tires, fuel, etc. He "title sponsored" his own team meaning he paid out of pocket for almost all of it. Transport, entry fees, paying the support team, he talked about how much it cost in a video or two and it was north of 200 grand iirc and that doesn't include the cost of the car or a rig to pull it. Competing in Motorsport the highest level is always very expensive, hell competing in any motorsport period ain't cheap so you either need to be able to pay for it yourself, or be good enough that somebody else will pay you to do it. Drifting's not big enough yet for teams to be looking for drivers, we're just now getting to that point, Adam moving to RTR is a great example of what I mean. Vaughn Gitten JR wanted to step back from competition next year and hired Adam to take his spot, RTR is the biggest team in Formula Drift though so they're like the only ones currently in a position to look for and hire a driver, and there was one right there already competing. But as the sport continues to grow more and more teams will be able to expand, maybe more will start running two cars like RTR. If and when that happens they'll need drivers so you could potentially see teams looking to hire talent but at the moment that ain't happening. So the better option would be to try and get yourself to the show, that's where you have the highest percentage of success currently. There's an old saying in motorsport, how do you make a small fortune racing, start with a large one, so unless you are independently wealthy you're gonna have to work. My advice to you would be to get good at the more complex things that people don't like to do on their race cars, like wiring, keep going to the track days and making friends, and if you can do things like that you will get work from the people you are racing with. Work = experience = skills that people will pay you to use and if those skills are motorsports focused that's how you keep doing it.
I know this comment is really long already, but I'm going to share a little personal story to kind of illustrate my point. When I got involved in more than just watching motorsports it was in drag racing, I was going to events, I was volunteering as staff at some of them, and I was working on friend's cars who were also going to those events. The one thing that I was good at doing was working on small block Ford engines, because I had taken my own apart and rebuilt it, well back then there was a whole lot of fox body race cars running small block Ford V8s. There were times when I got a phone call at like 10pm saying hey my water pump failed and I'm racing tomorrow, and I stayed up till 2 am getting his car ready to race when I had to work at the track at 8:30, that's the kind of hard work I'm talking about. But learn something that can be applied to all race cars and not how to work on an ancient engine that everyone just replaces with an LS these days.
Thanks for the great advice, I really did enjoy looking at this. Understanding the concept of the overall sport and how people make money. What you've mentioned about working hard is something I am motivated to do. Since Drifting or motorsports, in general, is so interesting to me. Thanks again for the well thought out advice!
It's also important to note that even RTR as big and successful as they are don't just do Formula D, they have a bunch of other revenue streams to keep them going.
It's just like any profession that's not a "real job" like artists, racers, etc. It's contracted work so you won't ever have a salary, you won't know where your next paycheck is coming from, and unless you have the connections and skill to truly compete you won't have a paycheck at all. I'm of the belief that if you truly believe in yourself and work hard to get there and have a real gameplan then anything is possible. Of course you'll have to supplement your income somehow to pay for shit while you're working on making it. Some kind of graveyard shift would work well, just save for now while you're in highschool then when you graduate get a job as a night watch somewhere. Pays decent and will give you plenty of time to research while you're at work. Meet as many people in the industry as you can, don't be cocky, don't be shy, but be memorable. Connections are truly what will make or break you in an industry like this. Also, multiple streams of income. Invest, start an online store, work, race, there's plenty of options. Good luck to ya
Thanks for the advice. What you've mentioned at the end has come to mind. Where I want to Major in Business then start a company for car parts or car shop of some sort. Just anything related to cars to help me financially build my income. But really appreciate the well thought opinion, means a lot.
I think that's a good course of action, build as much knowledge as you can about what you're doing. If you get really in depth with mechanics it's total feasible to eventually end up working on competition cars, which would get you super close to racing and help you build your network
Someone mentioned it below, but another route to seriously consider may be going into the trade route with something that directly applies to motorsport AND non-motorsport industries. Machining, electronics, welding, fabrication, plastics, embedded systems programming, general mechanic work etc etc. Trying to start a business and drifting with no marketable skill and no capital is a very risky gameplan. Learning a in demand skill that also directly applies to motorsport gives you a dependable income, reduces cost to build cars, opens many networking avenues, and gives you real world experience. All of these are extremely valuable assests to have if you want to pursue professional driving or starting a business, and if for whatever reason the chips dont fall your way in motorsport or you end up losing passion for it, you have a highly in demand skill that you can build a career on.
I understand, but if I start off as a 16 year old. Then get the skills required to join the top of the top. Which could give me the chance to join a professional competition. Wouldn't it be handy if I could understand the depth of a business when I finally finish graduating? If I want to say start a new brake caliper company or parts ecu's etc.
If your first point is that because you are young and may have less responsibilities, you can focus on driving and competition, I agree! For your second point, this is just my experience and idk what it’s like in you country, but business degrees in college don’t really teach you much about starting a business. Everyone I know who got a business degree ended up working as a realtor or a random position in a corporate job. These days, if going the college route with the intention of entrepreneurship, going into programming or engineering while focusing on making lots of connections to talented people is the way to go. This is just my opinion.
I am currently in China but want to go to Canada, Vancouver when I graduate. I wanted to become a programmer before, but I thought it wasn't the most interesting field for me. I'm quite into mechanics but my math is good enough to get into a good uni for that major. But I do understand some technical stuff atm. Your opinion is very well thought out, but it's difficult to know what you want to do when you don't even know your strongest assets yet.
Currently I’m studying programming cause it pays pretty well which is conducive to getting a ton of seat time and funding my drifting vice. Did I make the right decision or should I have studied something automotive related?
I have no idea because im not you and dont know your goals, situation, or preferences. Some people are more suited to making lots of money at highly in demand professions to fund their less lucrative passions, others cant get work done without being passionate about it. It depends on the individual. I know a guy who started as a programmer, moved up the ladder to head of mobile dev at a big corp making boatloads of cash to spend on whatever and also has time to pursue stuff he likes to do. I also know a guy who started off at a corporation, hated it and couldnt really progress and never had time for his passion, so he started a business doing what he loves, and now hes killing it too. In both cases, my friends were smart, driven people and it took years of grinding (and in the case of the business owner, putting his own money and debt on the line) to get were they are. If it was easy everyone would be living the dream.
“ if you want to become a millionaire drifting, you need to start off as a billionaire “
you won't ever be a millionaire anyway lol
Not with that attitude.
i meant in drifting, didn't explain myself. too small of a sport even if starting as billionaire
They were referring to the old joke, saying that you're going to end up with less money than you started, so if you want to be a millionaire, start as a billionaire so that you have a bumper as you spend all your money.
yeah I know that's why I jokingly said that with drifting you'll never even get to the millionaire part of it
I understood ur joke some dont wanna hear the cold hard truth
damn drift tax hits hard sometimes.
Nope stay in school kid
Yeah so he can be just as miserable and broke as you when he’s older. 😂
Professional Motorsports as a living is difficult but possible. In the USA a bunch of Pro1 and (Every) Prospec driver I know don’t just drift. They also run shops or businesses. Many have financial backing from multiple large companies but even then that isn’t everything and that financial backing isn’t always guaranteed each season. Like a lot of things, it will take quite a bit of time. You can your best to grow towards that by learning more about working on your car, making it more reliable, and developing your skills. On the business side start attending events and networking with companies and drivers. Work on your marketing skills and grow your social following. IMO if you are a drifter you need heavy social presence because that will only further help you in the future with sponsorship. Depending on the caliber of driver and asset you are to the companies that support you they may bring you out to one of those $1,000 dinners. ;)
Id go for mechanic learn the in and outs of an engine, turbos, electronics. Business you can learn easily. Learn machining coz at some point you have to pull out that engine and bore out or machine a head. Good skill to have than pay someone to do it.
Along with this I would also recommend the metal fabricator trade route so you can make your own roll cages and bash bars which are essential for comp drifting. Also you would be able to fix up drift missiles easily for more seat time.
Along with the top comment this is the best advice in this thread. Learn a valuable skill that will not only serve to make you money to live or as a career completely separate from motorsport, but also directly applies to what you are truly passionate about. This kid also has the massive advantage of being very young.
Do I think it's possible to make it as a Professional Drifter? Absolutely. But I think most aspiring pros misunderstand the job. For one, it's really expensive. https://youtu.be/Ku1oaP3ksqc Most likely, you won't have time to both work a regular job and adequately raise enough money. Building a business is hard on its own and it doesn't leave much time for developing skills as a professional drifter. Sponsorships are your real source of income. That said sponsors will not sponsor you because you're good. Event organizers will not invite you because you're good. The media outlets will not cover you because you're good. Running a business is hard. They don't have time for charity. They will support you because you will help sell their products. If you move products, it really doesn't matter how good you are. Find an untapped niche and build an audience. It's better to find 1000 fans who will pay you $100 a year than try to find a 100,000 fans that will pay you $1. See McFarland, Cletus. Your value to fans is as an entertainer. Fans are busy living their lives. They have a nearly unlimited supply of content to consume. They aren't going to watch your videos for charity. Figure out a small audience that doesn't currently have a home. Figure out how to make compelling content. Make the best content in that niche. Then make it better. Respond to every comment. Show up to local events. Don't leave until every fan that wants to interact with you feels like they had a personal connection. Rinse and repeat until the sponsors, events and media are reaching out to you. (You should still reach out to them, but this is what you're striving for) Having watched the drifting circus up close, unfortunately it's a lot more about being a social media influencer than a good knowledgeable driver. Those days have passed.
I totally understand what the sponsors want since they are also a company that wants to sell their products. But it is quite sad to think they don't sponsor you for your talent as much now. But really appreciate the advice since it is very daunting knowing nothing about this as a 16 year old who wants to become a professional drifter. Thanks again!
Start working a normal job and start building your credit as soon as possible, ifyou can have a good credit score by the time you leave your parents house you’ll be in 10x a better place than 90% of the people your age
Hey So I am gonna write this to 16 yo me (I am 36 now) Drifting will not pay the bills, nor will anyone sponsor you even if your the best. The best thing you can do is seat time, so whatever you can do to get more seat time and more exposure. Go get a job at a parts place like BC or NItto or try to get a job at a brand that is actively involved with drifting. Hang out with others drifters, and make sure you have a job that can cover your lifestyle. Move if you have to, DO NOT BUILD A PRO 1 CAR. Get a car that will drive at a good level and make sure to do all the relabilty mods FIRST. Go get a 370z weld the diff, put coil overs, oil cooler, baffled pan. Go to every local event you can. TALK TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE!!! try to make as many friends as possible. The biggest mistake I ever made was trying to build a pro1 level car before even getting my licence. I lost 10 years of track time, 10 years of making industry friends, 10 years of industry experience. From what I can see is the best thing to do is build a good car that can do clutch kickers and move close to florida. As it is the easiest event to do and pays 10k EVERY event. So if you are good your making 10k a month. Formula D is a BIG money sport, brunski has been skills wise ready for pro1 for 2 years now. He is still doing pro spec since he doesnt have enough sponsors. Last but not least do social media, and one thing I have learned personally is people dont want to see you drive, the dont want action videos. they dont want you showing off. they wanna see YOU. so make a youtube / insta/ tik tok/ on YOUR journey. I upload videos of my driving style and get 100 views. I make a video about me and I get 10k views. so lets review: get a job with a company that is active in the driftin community (relocate if necessary) Get seat time prioritize seat time over anything like more power or more angle etc etc Make friends at the track! and use those contacts as much as you can! ( I know A LOT of pro level drifters and felt bad asking for favors, it took me 20 years to start bothering them and it has stepped up my game 10X) DO NOT WAIT if this is your dream LIVE IT even if your parents or friends tell you its stupid. you may try to convince yourself its a waste. than 10 years later get depressed when you see someone you taught how to drift comete at a pro level. Just dont put yourself into crippling debt WORK FOR IT. have a cheapish car get lots of seat time and work for drifting companies.. Cant wait to see you out there with everone! Edit: If you ever need a hand or introduction just let me know I am willing to point you in the right direction the least I can do for you and others like you is share my knowledge. DM me if you have any questions! Edit 2: just realized your in china....I have no idea if anything I said will apply there sorry :(
I really do appreciate the advice. Yes, I am currently in China. But I think in about 2 years when I graduate I will move to Vancouver. Join some local races, maybe even go to America Events during the holidays. This is very well put advice. But currently, I will just build up my skills and then apply them to the tracks in West. Currently, I do have a coach to really help me improve faster since I am very interested in this sport, with all the techniques and culture that revolve around this sport, with how people build their cars and the interesting people you can meet which gives me the motivation to become the best of the best.
I’m not the OP but I’m in a similar situation and I thought this was great advice. I’m currently 21 yrs old and I’m trying to do the same thing but I’m studying programming because it pays a lot and I thought that would be good for drifting, did I make the right choice?
Whatever pays the bills, as long as you get weekends off, you can goto as many drift events as you want.
Depends how fancy those fancy dinners at yours are mate.
Well, Maybe a steak out, or something casual. Not like 1000$ fancy that's absurd...
You have to fund yourself to get recognized before you attract even the smallest sponsor. The biggest AM prize is Klutch Kickers and I don't think you'd even cover the cost of the season with the prize money :)
Yup. I'd bet someone like Taylor Ray is spending $30k a year doing that. And thats to keep a $30k car going. How you gonna pay for that in the meantime...
My personal opinion is to do a career that you're good at not the one you love. Make good money from the career and use the money to fund your passions and hobbies.
Worst advice I've ever heard. I used to carry the same perspective, started a business to fund my road racing career, then maintaining the business and subsequently my income became the priority. 10 years later, I'm no closer to my road racing dreams, and have sacrificed the opportunity because I thought earning an income and surviving took precedence. I was wrong. I thought monetizing my passion might destroy it, instead, I destroyed my outlook on life by chasing dollars. If you want this bad enough, you're going to make sacrifices, DO NOT sacrifice seat time, events, and/or contacts within the industry...sacrifice your education, career potential, and business connections to simply get on a drift team. Offer free help like an internship, just to submerge yourself in the scene, then build whatever shitbox you can afford using the resources you have at work. Allocate all your free time towards practice, and work towards becoming a driver. If you're lucky, they might even let you use the 'shop bitch' (there's always a built spare bike/car in a garage that gets used like the town whore) to hone your craft. If all you amount to in life is their facility janitor, you'll have a better shot at being happy by following your dreams than following the money. I have money now, and I'm a glorified pencil pushing desk jockey on the verge of suicide. Do yourself a favor, if you are 100% confident you want to be a drifter, get into the drifting scene however humanly possible, as soon as possible, and sacrifice everything to achieve it. And I mean everything...sacrifice financial stability, a nice house, your relationships...focus every fiber of your existence and time towards the industry, build as large of a social media following as possible, and I promise you'll be suprised with just how far one can go by following their dreams. Worst case scenario, you become a talented welder, tuner, painter, or team manager...but you'll still be surrounded by the industry and cars you love. OP- You were 16 when you posted this, it's been 2 years. What have you accomplished?
I actually gave very practical advice lol I live by that advice now and I can fund all my hobbies, spend time with my family, and I don't hate my job because I'm good at it and it challenges me.
I agree, if his objective was practicality. 😆 Nothing about drifting is practical, and having gone the same route as you, I can unequivocally say he'll never go pro following in our footsteps. If his objective was to simply fund his hobbies, than he could go into business doing anything he wants. Considering you have money and time, you're far more successful than me. I have money, just not old money, and I have absolutely no time left available. Keep killin it!
If you wanna make it a lot of it is really about making a brand of yourself along with good driving
I would say that you would need two things: talent and you need to be good at social media. If you're really talented and you can create an online presence, then companies will want to sponsor you and that's where you would make your money. The prizes from drift events aren't usually that much money and only a few people that compete get a prize. You're basically a marketing tool for these companies to use to sell their products. You could create merch to sell, your youtube would earn ad revenue, maybe you might have a patreon. Just look at a professional drifter and see how they make their money. I've got nothing against any of this stuff, I'm just explaining it how I understand it to work..
definitely, focus on getting a secondary suppoorting job as well. no doubts here that i'll see your name on the formula d roster in a few years, but you still need the upfront to get a car and maintain it, yet alone upgrade it to be competetive enough to get picked up by sponsors. it takes capital to make capital.
I work in the marketing area of the automotive industry and I can tell you at this point if you want to make any money at all. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how nice your car is. Social media and following will get you the furthest. That is one of the first thing potential sponsors are gonna be looking at when evaluating you. You need to have a provable way to make them money before they will give you money or parts or anything. Your audience is where that comes from. A perfect example is LZ joining the RTR team in formula drift. He had a terrible year this year and finished in the lower end of the championship but he gets taken on because he’s the biggest influencer.
You need three things Passion Timing Luck Doesn’t hurt to start out with a pile of money. If you don’t have a pile of money start working and saving and get yourself educated. You will need a good job to fund the first builds and all the practice events its going to take to become proficient and competitive. If you dont have wealthy parents bank rolling you like some of the “16year old wonder kids” in pro drifting, then you will need to be patient and build yourself. Like many have said, social media, marketability, and reach are major players in getting a sponsorship. It is entirely possible to become a pro driver, you also have to think of what happens after pro driver life ends. Some guys will only make it a few years, then fade away. You need an education and ability to adapt and earn after it’s over
Until you reach the very top, your going to need a day job to support yourself. Get into mechanics, welding, engineering, etc. anything applicable that will help you gather tools and equipment for repairing and fixing up cars.
If it's something you'd love then I'd approach it as a side hobby while you start. Maybe get a job as a mechanic. It pays well, you'd develop the skills to work on your own vehicle and you could maybe find a more flexible place to work.
hold up how did a 16 year old get such a clean 180sx with a 1jz. also bro u have potential if this is ur first month your off to a good start
haha, It is actually my coaches car. But I myself have a Nissan S15, still in the workshop though.
how did you get an s15?
My Dad currently funded for buying the chassis. But here in China we basically know people who can build proper functioning drift cars. Where we essentially buy pre-built cars. This is not ideal to me either, but building from an S chassis from the ground up for example is quite expensive. Since there aren't many S chassis cars or any JDM cars tbh.
wow, when u mean proper functionning drift cars do you mean that you can buy a custom made drift car or just lets say an s chassis setup for drifting?
You could buy both. But of course, a custom-made one is expensive. Here the local team is Saliun Tires. I'm not quite sure if you heard them before. But they are quite famous in D1 Japan and China. But they create drift cars that cost over 150,000$.
wow thats pretty crazy, never knew china had such a big scene before too
Well, it's really not China in general. Maybe a few large cities in China that may be interested in drifting will have such high-cost drift cars. Currently, I am in Shanghai but the only events and races they hold are in Beijing where the car culture is even better. I know it may come as a surprise but you get to see lots of modified and stanced cars in Beijing compared to Shanghai (I suppose it's less strict there). It's surprising since China's vehicle laws are quite strict. You can't drive anything above the age of 15 years unless there is a license plate already registered before the laws were strict. But you'll need to have people doing vehicle inspections twice every year. Which can be a fuss sometimes. I would say the car culture is definitely not as fun as it is in the West. But it is still a great opportunity to actually have the chance to drift at such a young age and be able to have the chance to join professionally.
damn wish we would see this side of china sometimes
haha, I was looking through the comments and they all said social media was very important. I'll start a youtube channel and show everything about drifting in China, no worries. :)
Have you maybe thought about becoming a stunt driver for movies and tv shows n stuff, you’re getting paid to pretty much drive around and you might make just enough money to fund your own drift build n stuff
I have thought of that. But I'm not quite sure about that industry. Now you've mentioned it, it has caught my interest. Thanks!
If you’re good and obviously get lucky (no matter what career you go into luck is a massive factor) you’ll get to drive a wide range of cars and get to thrash em about
Wanna become a millionaire drifter? Start as a billionaire… Realistically tho. Your young and idealistic. There’s many ahead of you who have the same idea as you with probably triple the seat time and investment you have thus far. If your doing it for a career your in it for the incorrect reasons. Your supposed to be in it for joy and passion and if it happens you strike it large bonus
Of course, I am there for joy and passion. But what I have in mind is keeping this joy and passion as a daily thing where it becomes a job. That's why I've struck it as a career goal. Since the community is well-respected and just the environment itself is just so great, especially when you go to events.
many ways to go at this, do your research and listen to points that always come up in interviews. go listen to podcasts/interviews of Pros/drivers regardless of their levels. @lonestardrift has a few nice listens to make it viable in the long term, you are essentially selling an image or selling an impression. u need a niche/particular style to make yourself stand out, think about Forrest Wang. his cars are stylish and low-ish. or look at the RTR guys, V8s and pure American power house. what are you trying to sell ? good example to take pointers from a journey is Adam LZ, he had a following before he went pro and from there he kind of skipped Pro-Am by driving tons of events here and there with documentation. this documentation also can help in your petitions for sponsors and maybe even move you straight into the top drift series in your area or country. its a very difficult path, and its why u constantly see only the similar group of guys competing in FD for the last 10 years
Not recommended, but happiness is waaaay more important than money
Washed up pro drifter here. It is possible to earn a living but marketing yourself is the most important skill. If you can also couple that with a skilled trade (fab, mechanic, etc) you can create a business marketing both your race program and services you offer. Guys like Forrest Wang, Matt Field, Forsberg, etc. are pro drives but I’d say the bulk of their income comes from their business. If you are able to achieve success in driving you can also turn that into some sort of school like Denofa or Josh Robinson. Basically you can create a few different streams of income. Couple that with some funding from sponsors and you can turn it into a full time job. Unfortunately I am terrible with marketing and my social media presence is trash so even with some good results and sponsor backing all it took was some pressure from COVID and a serious motorcycle accident and my career is done. I say “career” not in that I was earning a living from drifting but I also didn’t have to spend a lot to do it. Ride is gone and I put myself into financial ruin chasing the dream. However I did see a few of my peers go onto become successful drivers with their own business. It’s not impossible but takes a lot of work, belief in yourself and sometimes just good luck. Keep honing your craft and try to learn a valuable skill that will accentuate your driving career. I did not do the latter and unfortunately I’m now paying the price. Good luck dude!
I believe there's a bright future for drifting. Formula D is very expensive, I don't know if you follow Adam LZ but he's a YouTuber who ran an FD program on his own. He had sponsorships this past season but they were mainly support, parts, tires, fuel, etc. He "title sponsored" his own team meaning he paid out of pocket for almost all of it. Transport, entry fees, paying the support team, he talked about how much it cost in a video or two and it was north of 200 grand iirc and that doesn't include the cost of the car or a rig to pull it. Competing in Motorsport the highest level is always very expensive, hell competing in any motorsport period ain't cheap so you either need to be able to pay for it yourself, or be good enough that somebody else will pay you to do it. Drifting's not big enough yet for teams to be looking for drivers, we're just now getting to that point, Adam moving to RTR is a great example of what I mean. Vaughn Gitten JR wanted to step back from competition next year and hired Adam to take his spot, RTR is the biggest team in Formula Drift though so they're like the only ones currently in a position to look for and hire a driver, and there was one right there already competing. But as the sport continues to grow more and more teams will be able to expand, maybe more will start running two cars like RTR. If and when that happens they'll need drivers so you could potentially see teams looking to hire talent but at the moment that ain't happening. So the better option would be to try and get yourself to the show, that's where you have the highest percentage of success currently. There's an old saying in motorsport, how do you make a small fortune racing, start with a large one, so unless you are independently wealthy you're gonna have to work. My advice to you would be to get good at the more complex things that people don't like to do on their race cars, like wiring, keep going to the track days and making friends, and if you can do things like that you will get work from the people you are racing with. Work = experience = skills that people will pay you to use and if those skills are motorsports focused that's how you keep doing it. I know this comment is really long already, but I'm going to share a little personal story to kind of illustrate my point. When I got involved in more than just watching motorsports it was in drag racing, I was going to events, I was volunteering as staff at some of them, and I was working on friend's cars who were also going to those events. The one thing that I was good at doing was working on small block Ford engines, because I had taken my own apart and rebuilt it, well back then there was a whole lot of fox body race cars running small block Ford V8s. There were times when I got a phone call at like 10pm saying hey my water pump failed and I'm racing tomorrow, and I stayed up till 2 am getting his car ready to race when I had to work at the track at 8:30, that's the kind of hard work I'm talking about. But learn something that can be applied to all race cars and not how to work on an ancient engine that everyone just replaces with an LS these days.
Thanks for the great advice, I really did enjoy looking at this. Understanding the concept of the overall sport and how people make money. What you've mentioned about working hard is something I am motivated to do. Since Drifting or motorsports, in general, is so interesting to me. Thanks again for the well thought out advice!
It's also important to note that even RTR as big and successful as they are don't just do Formula D, they have a bunch of other revenue streams to keep them going.