Although drifting is now a respectable motorsport discipline, it evolved from illegal street racing, which is still thriving in some parts of the world.

Believe it or not, almost all modern forms of motorsport are deeply rooted (and related) to street racing, including touge, drag and drift. But in the pursuit of making these activities considerably safe, the location slowly migrated on the track, spawning full-on racing teams with unlimited budget and resources.

Nevertheless, some stayed true to the in-commensurable adrenaline rush of illegally speeding their big chunk of metal on public streets, as Speedhunters documented the lifestyle of a group of skilled late-night drivers running the back streets of Tokyo, trying to keep the drifting culture alive.

The video will kick-start your hunger for illegal-drift knowledge and the Japanese underground culture, although it is fairly short.

It seems that even though times change, Tokyo doesn’t (motoring-wise), still flourishing under the watchful eyes of street racers. Still, we have to say that the behavior seen in the video is illegal and dangerous, so we urge you to not try it yourself.

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