As for the drifting, somehow that sounds worse than what I had imagined they did.
IIRC, the very first event (from 200...9, I want to say? It wasn't called the Intercontinental Cup then) was won by Rhys Millen, which wasn't a surprise that year considering that he was literally taking everybody to the cleaners. The first event (and only event that year) actually had a pretty decent turnout and a lot of top talent from all over the world, but the hype for the event was kinda killed when Rhys won.
I think the FIA's problem with drifting, and I never thought I'd say this, is that they're *too* serious of an organization to really grasp what makes drift events great, and have no understanding of how drifting differs between locations.
Despite the heavy presence of manufacturer and aftermarket support, even top-level drift events tend to not give out huge stacks of cash, relative to other forms of motorsports. Budgets for many teams are both very small and very tight, teams tend to have few personnel relative to other disciplines, and the cars a built in a way where grabbing parts doesn't completely destroy the team depending on the region. That's why Formula D tends to have a bias towards V8s and SR engines, European Drifting tends to see a mix of BMW and 2JZ-based cars and D1GP is the land of the 2JZ, RB and Rotary. With few exceptions, the cars are garage- or shop-built as well.
Very few drifters are richy-rich guys who are rolling in dough and can go to each event without moderate worry. The only real exceptions I can think of are Daigo Saito, and in particular Vaughn Gittin Jr., who is basically the poster boy for Ford, Nitto Tires, his own RTR brand
and Monster Energy. Most professional drifters do not fit in that very small club, and even those guys still aren't at the level of say DTM or even WTCR drivers and teams in terms of disposable income (probably sans JR, he got Ford GT money apparently), which affects how many cars a driver or team can field, and their ability to move their cars all over the world. Things get especially tricky if you wreck, and your next event is somewhere where parts for your particular vehicle are not a dime a dozen.
All these factors make convincing drivers to manage both their regional championships
and an international series a very tall order indeed. That's not even considering things like the different event formats per series, the different rulesets for each series, each series' fan followings, the different judging styles for each series
coughD1GPsucksrightnowcough, lack of car class structure, etc. I don't know what the FIA could do to better this, but as a fan, any ideas I can think of range from unrealistic to plain stupid.
Also, as an aside, it's
really weird seeing Jean Todt at any kind of drift race.
Granted, this is from 2017, but still.
