Who hasn’t secretly dreamed of being in an underground street racing gang? We all watched the cars drift through Shibuya Crossing in ‘F&F: Tokyo Drift‘ and wished we had the skill and the guts to do the same. But where do you find likeminded hooligans? Social media of course! Car clubs with the words takeover, redline, or underground in their names are a sure bet. The groups are highly secretive, and they don’t post locations of drift meets online, because they know the cops are monitoring social media.
It started with a meet-up. Late at night, in a dusty, non-descript parking lot next to a coffee shop. Guys just hung out and talked cars while the organizer secretly judged whether the new guys could be trusted. You could tell who was a legit hooligan because they had their license plates removed or blocked. The address was whispered to those approved. Or not.
Anyone driving an unmarked Dodge Charger from the motor-pool was ignored. Those guys would have to chase us across the highway at speed. That would be enough to lose them.
The process was repeated again at the next meeting point. If you didn’t drive fast enough to the airport, you’d miss the next location announcement. After a few rounds of hide-and-go-seek, the organizer was satisfied that it was only the ‘cool kids‘ left in the group. Shortly after midnight, we all lined up on a quiet industrial street, and followed the leader to the spot. It was hilarious; a parade of 2 or 3 dozen candy coloured cars, many with LED underglow, all with rumbling exhausts, trying to look inconspicuous.
Once at the spot, guys put on masks and covered their plates, since the footage would be on social media before morning.
The masked organizer gathered everyone in a circle and shouted instructions through a bullhorn. This event would be run in a safe manner, with cars drifting individually to avoid collisions. Nobody was allowed to stand in ‘the pit’ except the photographer, otherwise someone could get run over. There was even some advice on what to do if the police raid the event, and that the guy in the pit, drifting, is the one the cops will catch first… so know the risks.
Youth gone wild? Hooligans who want to takeover society? Not quite. Until 2:00 AM about two dozen of the friendliest gearheads hung out in the loading zone of a massive warehouse near the airport, taking turns drifting and doing burnouts. Noise from the planes and trains drown out the sound of screeching tires,
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