“Drifting culture in South Africa is inextricably linked to lifestyle, music and fashion,” says Deon Daniels aka DJ Ready D.
Ready D has been a part of the drifting scene since around 2006 and has been at the forefront of its progression in South Africa.
Drifting is one of the most exciting (and fastest growing) disciplines in motorsport, demanding the perfect balance of speed, style and fearlessness from its drivers. By simple definition, the aim is to set the car into a sideways drift through a corner by intentionally oversteering to initiate a controlled loss of traction.
“I was always intrigued by drifting because it came with the same energy and from the same misunderstood, grassroots place that hip-hop did – I always draw that comparison,” says Ready D, explaining how he first saw pioneering driver Faheem Salie hold a drift line at a motorsport event in Cape Town in 2005.
Not long after that Ready D started hosting a weekly car show called Mzansi Ridez. “One day while filming an episode for the show up in Joburg, one of the co-presenters – Vic Pardal – showed me how to do a donut in his Toyota Corolla. After getting the hang of doing the donut that was it for me, I was completely drawn in. I bought myself a Nissan 200SX S13,” he says. According to Ready D he made a lot of smoke and noise in his local neighbourhood, honing his skills in a parking lot.
From out of that humble parking lot Ready D and his crew went to perform their exhibition driving shows at various huge events and festivals and Ready drove as stunt driver in a host of films and TV commercials.
Some of the notable projects he and his Dr1ft Squad worked on include Wheelz of Fury back in 2009, an urban lifestyle and motoring festival which featured multiple world stunt motorbike champ Christian Pfeiffer. He was also instrumental in Red Bull Cape Town Circuit which brought F1 action to the streets of the Mother City. “We provided the local car culture flavour to the event, with our exhibition drifting,” he says, adding that another highlight in his highly decorated driving career was performing a demo at the first Red Bull Shay’ iMoto event with Vic Pardal and renowned South African B-Boy, Vouks.
“Just having the opportunity to do these ground-breaking performances really interests me,” he says. According to Ready, what he is most proud about is the fact that he has been able to use what he and his crew does to drive awareness and road-safety messages. “We’ve developed a programme called SR4A under our NGO GCap. SR4A stands for ‘Safer Roads For All’ and we work with young people at risk, we bring them to the track, we give them the drift experience and then teach them about road safety.”
While exhibition driving rather than competition has always been more Ready D’s focus, he is super excited to have an event as prestigious as Red Bull Car Park Drift being held in South Africa to shine a light on the talent the country has to offer. “Having this event come to South Africa is a huge occasion for drifters and high adrenalin motorsport fans,” he says. “I hope it will continue to grow locally and that we can eventually have the event hosted in Cape Town.”
Red Bull Car Park Drift is a unique event in that it challenges drivers on an obstacle-laden course. The country’s top drifters will once again come together in Durban to face off for the Red Bull Car Park Drift South Africa National Qualifier. The event will take place in Suncoast on the 9th of April 2022.