Four people were hurt during a ‘drifting’ event in the Terramall shopping center on the east side of San Jose.
According to the manager of the mall’s marketing department, Pamela Rodriguez, the four people injured during the event, when one of the drivers lost control of his vehicle, required to be taken to hospital.
Among the injured were three visitors and one event organizer staffer.
Rodriguez said the drivers are professionals and the event had all the required permits. “The administration informs that the event held today in our facilities has more than 6 months of planning and since then it has all the permits it requires. On the other hand, all the drivers are professionals, before the date they carried out practices,” said Rodriguez.
“As well as the foreign champions in the sport that visited us today, the organizer Do It Motors, presented to the administration all the (insurance) policies that were requested, extinguishers and contracted ambulances, etc”, added Rodriguez.
The manager said that spectators were asked to keep their distance. The security measures included a rope to divide the spectators from the vehicles.
For its part, the Asociación Deportiva Drift (Adrift) – Drift Sports Association – said it strongly opposes this type of event without the necessary guarantees or professional supervision, so as not to jeopardize the safety of the public and drivers.
The association said the Terramall event is different from drifting.
What is drifting?
(Wikipedia) Drifting is a driving technique where the driver intentionally oversteers, with loss of traction in the rear wheels or all tires, while maintaining control and driving the car through the entirety of a corner. Car drifting is caused when the rear slip angle is greater than 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).
As a motoring discipline, drifting competitions were first popularized in 1970s Japan, and today are held worldwide and are judged according to the speed, angle, showmanship and line taken through a corner or set of corners.
