Professional Drift

[Barbara Fillmore]

Inthis first blog of 2023, I wanted to talk about something that characterised my research in 2022, feeling I was drifting in my career. Before writing this blog I asked myself a few questions:

Looking back the year got off to a pretty rubbish start, I began the year pretty ill, meaning I was out of action for about 2 months and from the start of the year I was on the back foot and I honestly still feel like I am playing catch up with some projects.

For a while I found myself feeling quite detached from research and more specifically academia. We have been through a year of increasing unease due to industrial action, alongside this, colleagues have moved to take up jobs at other universities and several have left academia altogether. So perhaps I was not alone in my feeling of drifting.

The year has felt contradictory, we are more connected than we have been for years due to separation during the pandemic. However, in the long term I have found that although some have returned to on-campus work, it is the minority; on a personal level, I have struggled with conducting my research in universities which feel less vibrant and diverse than they did before the pandemic.

At this point, you are probably wondering if this whole blog is going to be me sulking my way through 2022. In answering my earlier questions I realised that actually, that feeling of drift was not a constant one. There were multiple occasions where actually positive events in terms of progression and while there were significant feelings of being jaded and drifting in research, that feeling in itself gave me a reason to be more proactive.

In my personal life, two very happy events happened. Firstly my nephew was born making me an uncle for the second time. Secondly, my close friend was discharged from the hospital after a long period of illness.

In my research, the feeling of being unfulfilled forced me to take stock of my work and think about what I was missing. I realised that my focus had shifted away from dementia research without me realising it, with more of my work becoming focused on COVID and older people. As I was not funded by a fellowship it was necessary to work on projects I was not particularly passionate about.

I was forced to seek career advice from a wider group. One of the better experiences of the year was taking part in an ARUK ECR career mentoring group. This forced me to think about what science in dementia research I was passionate about making my own. It pushed me to start writing down my ideas and gave me some confidence to be more vocal that I was ready to pursue a fellowship with my own research ideas. Ultimately this resulted in my PI supporting me in applying for an NIHR Applied Research Collaboration fellowship which I will be beginning this April.

I had a fantastic time at AAIC in San Diego, which ironically was probably made better by my mindset of feeling in drift. My PI Fiona told me to go to AAIC with an open mind, fall in love with science again and think about what dementia research I was excited about. This probably resulted in me attending more events than I have in the past and being more proactive. An example of this was agreeing to take part in the Dementia Researcher podcast which was great fun and led me to contribute to these blogs.

Being detached from my day-to-day research has meant I have put my energy into other things. Last year I was asked to be a deputy leader of EDI in our research institute at Newcastle. This is something I have become increasingly passionate about over my time in research.

So in answering my questions to myself. There was actually quite a bit going on in both my personal and work life that contributed to the feeling of drifting through research. Illness setting me back and frustratingly playing catch up and the new normal of blended on-campus and home working is probably the biggest.

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 or a turn. 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 (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa, also known as opposite lock or counter-steering). Drifting is traditionally performed using three methods: clutch kicking (where the clutch is rapidly disengaged and re-engaged with the intention of upsetting the grip of the rear wheels), weight transfer (using techniques such as the Scandinavian flick), and employing a handbrake turn. This sense of drift is not to be confused with the four wheel drift, a classic cornering technique established in Grand Prix and sports car racing.[citation needed]

As a motoring discipline, drifting competitions were first popularized in Japan in the 1970s and further popularized by the 1995 manga series Initial D. Drifting competitions are held worldwide and are judged according to the speed, angle, showmanship, and line taken through a corner or set of corners.[1]

Keiichi Tsuchiya, known as the "Drift King" (ドリフトキング, Dorifuto Kingu), became particularly interested in Takahashi's drift techniques. Tsuchiya began practicing his drifting skills on the mountain roads of Japan, and quickly gained a reputation amongst the racing crowd. In 1987, several popular car magazines and tuning garages agreed to produce a video of Tsuchiya's drifting skills. The video, known as Pluspy,[6] became a hit and inspired many of the professional drifting drivers on the circuits today. In 1988, alongside Option magazine founder and chief editor Daijiro Inada, he helped to organize one of the first events specifically for drifting called the Ikaten (short for Ikasu Hashiriya Team Tengoku). He has also drifted through every turn in Tsukuba Circuit.[citation needed]

One of the earliest recorded drift events outside Japan took place in 1996 at Willow Springs Raceway in Willow Springs, California, hosted by the Japanese drifting magazine and organization Option. Daijiro Inada (founder of the Japanese D1 Grand Prix), the NHRA Funny Car drag racer Kenji Okazaki, and Keiichi Tsuchiya gave demonstrations in a Nissan 180SX that the magazine had brought over from Japan. Entrants included Rhys Millen and Bryan Norris.[7] Drifting has since exploded into a form of motorsport in North America, Australia, Asia and Europe. Grassroots drifting has seen a huge increase in popularity in the 21st century, which has in turn caused prices of FR cars to increase and parts become more scarce.

Judging takes place on just a small part of the circuit, a few linking corners that provide good viewing, and opportunities for drifting. The rest of the circuit is irrelevant, but it pertains to controlling the temperature of the tires and setting the car up for the first judged corner. In tandem passes, the lead driver (in the lead car, Senko) often feints their entry to the first corner to upset the chase driver (in the chase car, Atooi); however, in some European series, this practice is frowned upon by judges and considered foul play, resulting in deduction of points.

The finals are tandem passes called "chases" (追走, tsuisō). Drivers are paired off, and each heat comprises two passes, with each driver taking a turn to lead. The best of the eight heats go to the next four, to the next two, to the final. The passes are judged as explained above; however, there are some provisos such as:

Points are awarded for each pass, and usually, one driver prevails. Sometimes, the judges cannot agree, or cannot decide, or a crowd vocally disagrees with the judge's decision.[8] In such cases, more passes may be run until a winner is produced. On occasion, mechanical failure determines the battle's outcome, either during or preceding a heat. If a car cannot enter a tandem battle, the remaining entrant (who automatically advances) will give a solo demonstration pass. In the event of apparently close or tied runs, crowds often demonstrate their desire for another run with chants of 'one more time'.[9]

Commitment is about how much throttle the driver applies, and the confidence and dedication the driver shows when approaching track edges and barriers. The higher the rate-to-angle, the more speed and angle a driver can carry through the course. In addition, the fewer corrections they apply through the course and the closer they drive to the track edges or barriers, the higher their style score.

The D1GP drift series has been prototyping and fine-tuning an electronic judging system based on custom sensors that record and transmit car data to a computer that judges the run. This system is also being tested in some European series. It is designed to remove subjectivity and/or predisposition of judges. Usually the track for such a system is broken up into several sections (usually three) and the system automatically generates scores based on speed, angle and fluidity of the driver in each section, combining the scores for the final score. In certain situations judges can change or overrule a score, which happens, though rarely.

Formula Drift is the top United States Drifting series. Its judging style for competition is based on line, angle, and speed. When judging for line the driver is judged based on their ability to stay on the line set in place by the judges. Points are allocated to outside zones and inner clips, and are also allocated to touch and go areas. Angle is the drivers ability to maintain a high level of angle that will be set by the angle judge in the drivers meeting. Style is judged based on three areas of focus; initiation, fluidity, and commitment. Initiation is based on how early and smooth the driver initiates into a drift. Fluidity is how smooth the driver drives from lock to lock, high angles of drift, and just overall smoothness on the track. Commitment is judged on consistent throttle throughout, and how close the driver is willing to get to walls and clipping points.[12]The King of Europe Drift ProSeries has developed its own telemetry system, which uses GPS data to accurately measure speed, angle and line, thus leading to a very objective result for the qualifying sessions.[13]

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