The Mettle Games 2010 was Singapore’s first attempt at an action sports extravaganza. The event took place over the course of two weekends at various locations all over the island, and involved all sorts of extreme sports, like wakeboarding, aggressive inline, skateboard and mixed martial arts. There were also spectacular spectator attractions like a drift exhibition and 200m drag race (which we will focus on).
Over the span of three days, the F1 pt building and Turn 1 were converted into playgrounds for drag and drift. Today, we focus on the sliding and save the gripping launches for the next instalment. The drift exhibition was just that – an exciting showcase of the skill and excellent technique required to do well in the sport. Various drift teams were sent in by companies like Liqui Moly and Stamford Tyres, coupled with the ten drifters selected from the D Experience 102 event earlier this year.
Needless to say, the event was heart-pounding as drifters continuously tsuiso-ed and ran close to each other. They stuck close to the barriers entering their drifts, and gave spectators much to scream about. Sadly, bad management saw a lack of attendees to the event altogether, so at many a time the boys were shredding their tyres to a small crowd. Nonetheless, they performed with gusto and showmanship!
Besides our local drifters, there were also many drifters that came from overseas to take part in the action. Here, Formula Drift Asia driver Wong Ah Fai seriously lights up his 180SX! He was definitely pushing the envelope with his drifting, initiating WAYYY earlier than everyone else and drifting the wheels off the car!
Formula Drift USA pro Ryuji Miki was also on hand in a Mk IV Supra! The 2004 US D1GP champion was working in collaboration with SPARK Motorsports and kindly showed Singapore a huge dose of his talent. When he and Ivan went out on track, it was like ballet on wheels! They crissed and crossed each others’ paths and made no contact at all! Later on, they also offered taxi rides for passengers so they could experience drifting first-hand from the passenger seat.
He ended his sessions with some impressive tyre wasting on Sunday!
So in essence, the Mettle Games was a fine showing by our local boys, marred only by poor event management and marketing. We hope next year it gets better!
Watch out for the drag racing next!
- Brendan
