It’s midnight, the shoppers have left, and the Phoenix Marketcity parking lot looks deserted. The sound of tyres screeching against the tarmac bursts through the silence, and smoke billows. Spectators emerge and hold their breath, as a car swerves sideways, skims past barriers, as bass heavy music fills the air. Welcome to Chennai’s new night sport — drifting.Over the past year, Chennai has hosted a handful of drift shows, aimed more at introducing audiences to what organisers say is a misunderstood sport.“People equate drifting with rash driving or stunts on public roads,” says Suriyah Pillai, founder of Madras Driven, a car community that has been organising drift showcases for two years. “These perceptions are one of the biggest hurdles for the sport’s growth in Tamil Nadu.”Drifting traces its roots to Ja pan’s mountain roads in the 1970s, where drivers slid cars through extreme hairpin bends called ‘touge’, maintaining speed and control. It since evolved into a global motor sport.Interest has grown steadily in Tamil Nadu especially after Madras Driven hosted its first major drift show at Broadway Mall in Coimbatore in March 2025. The team later brought similar shows to Chennai, using Mayajaal and Phoenix Marketcity parking lots as temporary drift pits.But drifting is expensive and difficult to practise, in a city with no dedicated motorsports infra structure or permanent tracks. And Chennai has very few drivers. “For drifting, you need specific surfaces, either pavers or tarmac,” says Suriyah.
Velan P C K, a Chennai-based drift racer, says there are only a handful of drifters in the city, while cities such as Delhi, Pune and Mumbai are much ahead and already have a couple of drifting academies.
Drift vehicles are heavily modified: with lowered suspensions to prevent toppling, bucket seats to keep drivers secure, hydraulic handbrakes to initiate slides, and tyres designed for controlled loss of grip. Rear-wheel-drive cars are preferred, often older luxury sedans such as Mercedes C-Class models, which are also easier to convert.“In other countries, these cars are widely available. Here it is Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for the car and Rs 6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to build and modify it,” says Suriyah.Despite limited infrastructure and high costs, the shows draw crowds. Each event runs for around three hours, combining drifting demonstrations, doughnuts, figure eights, wall runs and tandem drifts with music performances, food stalls and auto-motor merchandise. “We will be organising another large-scale drifting event in Chennai this March, with more drivers from across India,” says Suriyah.Velan P C K, a Chennai-based drift driver, who has been in the sport for about seven months, says practising is the biggest challenge. “There are only a handful of drifters here. Delhi, Pune and Mumbai are much ahead and have a couple of drifting academies, with the most prominent one being Bad Boi Drifts in Delhi,” he says.Velan heads to Delhi almost every month to practice, staying for a week at a time. “Parking lots are not ideal. I’m preparing to take part in the Generational Speed Festival, a drag racing tournament in Lonavala, in Feb.” City-based drift driver Ajay Marcus says the absence of competitions in Chennai makes it harder for drivers to justify the high costs of building and maintaining drift cars.
Bad Boi Drifts has no immediate plans to open a Chennai facility, but it continues to attract southern enthusiasts to its Gurugram and Bangkok locations, offering cars, tyres, fuel, instructors and accommodation.
“We train a lot of people from Tamil Nadu, 14-year-olds to those in their late 40s. We curate the course based on their intent: whether they want a one-time experience, a hobby, or pursue motorsport seriously,” says Mugdha Grover, co-founder of Bad Boi Drifts.“All they need to know is how to drive a manual transmission. We take care of the rest,” Mugdha says. Courses run from one to three days. No licence is re quired unless drivers plan to compete in officially recognised events under bodies such as the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs India (FMSCI).Drifting, Mugdha adds, is re source-heavy and unsafe on public roads, which is why safe facilities are crucial. “Rear-wheel-drive cars are expensive here, and people still think drifting is street racing.”While Bad Boi Drifts has no immediate plans to open a Chennai facility, it continues to attract south ern enthusiasts to its Gurugram and Bangkok locations, offering cars, tyres, fuel, instructors and accommodation.“Drifting is still emerging in India, but more championships are on the way,” says Sirish Visa, chairman of the Four-Wheeler Cir cuit Racing Commission. “FMSCI has guidelines for the sport, covering technical modifications, safety standards, and how it can be practised officially. With proper promotion and regulation, drifting has the potential to grow from a hobby into a recognised motorsport discipline.”
