The AE86 series of the Toyota Corolla Levin and Toyota Sprinter Trueno are small, front-engine/rear-wheel-drive models within the front-engine/front-wheel-drive fifth generation Corolla (E80) range — marketed by Toyota from 1983 to 1987 in coupé and liftback configurations.
Keiichi Tsuchiya is a professional race car driver. He is known as the Drift King for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport. In professional racing, he is a two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner and the 2001 All Japan GT Championship runner-up. He is also known for touge driving.
Drifting is a driving technique where the driver intentionally oversteers, with loss of traction, while maintaining control and driving the car through the entirety of a corner. The technique causes the rear slip angle to exceed the front slip angle to such an extent that often the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn. The sport of drifting is not to be confused with the four wheel drift, a classic cornering technique established in Grand Prix and sports car racing. Drifting is traditionally done by clutch kicking, then intentionally oversteering and countersteering.
Kenshiro "Ken" Gushi is one of Japan's top competitors in the sport of drifting. Born in Okinawa, Japan, but raised in Los Angeles, he was taught by his father Tsukasa Gushi at the age of 13 with a Toyota AE86. Ken has become the youngest competitor in both the D1 Grand Prix of Japan and the Formula Drift Championships of the U.S. when he was 16, despite not passing his driving test at the time.
Nobuteru Taniguchi is a Japanese racing driver and drifting driver who currently competes in Super GT and D1 Grand Prix. Taniguchi is commonly nicknamed "NOB" or "The Pimp" as a reference to his S15 Silvia which he is best known for.
Chris Hodgetts is a British former racing driver. He began his racing career in 1979, driving in the Clubman Class A championship.
Philip John Morrison is an English drift driver and businessman from Birmingham, England. He is one of the most successful drivers in UK drifting, having won the 2006 D1 Great Britain series and 2010 British Drift Championship and is co-owner of automotive parts company Driftworks.
Yasuyuki Kazama is a drifting driver from Japan, formerly competing in D1 Grand Prix, well known for using the Nissan Silvia S15. He is also known as Waku Waku and Spin Benz Dokan.
Tengku Djan Ley bin Tengku Mahaleel is the head of Proton Motorsports and is also a Malaysian professional drift driver who has taken part in the D1 Grand Prix racing series and others. He has won the 12-hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance race twice, in 2005 and 2006. Tengku Djan Ley is one of the Kelantan royal lineage.
Manabu "MAX" Orido is a Japanese racing driver who currently competes in the Super GT series for Team JLOC, driving a Lamborghini Gallardo, and in the D1GP for his own team, MAX★ORIDO Racing, driving a V8-powered Toyota 86.
Ryuji Miki is a racing and drifting driver from Tottori Prefecture, Japan. Miki was the 2004 D1 Grand Prix champion driving the Top Secret Silvia S15. Miki also competed in the Net'z Cup, a one make series for the Toyota Altezza between 2005 and its final season in 2006 and is nicknamed Doki-Doki kun due to his drifting style.
Katsuhiro Ueo is a Japanese professional drifting driver, whose currently competing in D1 Grand Prix with a Nissan Silvia S15, well known for formerly using the Toyota AE86 in the series. He is also known as, Therefore, it is.
During its history the Toyota Supra has enjoyed considerable success in a variety of different motorsports.
Kazuhiro Tanaka is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team Orange and Yuke’s.
Hideo Hiraoka is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team Orange and Yuke’s.
Tetsuya Hibino is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for SunRise and Aion.
Taka Aono is a Japanese drift driver currently competing in the American Formula D series in his Toyota Sprinter AE86 Trueno. Before his professional drifting career began, Taka was a successful autocross driver, and was instrumental in building southern California's drift scene. Taka was previously sponsored by Falken Tires, however he has since lost his sponsorship deal due to an unsuccessful season in 2008. Taka is also known to have given up a career as a chiropractor to become a drift driver.
Darren 'D-Mac' McNamara is a professional drift driver from Cork, Ireland.
