Inspiring Father and Son Drift Duo Open Up About Excitement and Hardships of Motorsports

I experienced mild pain for the next few days, but it was not enough to deter me from getting back inside a drift car at future events. While I haven't been actively involved in the pro drift scene for a few years now, you've probably noticed that I still follow the evolution of this sport year to year.

The beginning is the most important part of the work

I still keep in touch with some of the drivers I've worked with before, and it's fascinating to see how far the sport has gone. And just recently, I realized that the pro driver that was behind the wheel of the E30 with me in it is now more focused on being a coach and team manager.

That's because his 16-year-old son is also a pro today after graduating from the semi-pro category at the end of 2021. I invited both of them over for an interview, and in today's story, I'll give you insights into this father-son drift duo. Gabi Imre and Gabi Jr. are both considered fierce opponents in their little corner of the world.

But you could say that the student has become the master judging by recent achievements. One of Gabi Jr.'s first memories goes back to a time when his father taught him how to shift gears in their van. But it took a few more years before he could get behind the wheel himself.

"When I was six I had my first karting experience. Just one year later, I got behind the wheel of a small Toyota Aygo. It all happened away from public roads, inside of a school course with no oncoming traffic. After getting the gist of it, I upgraded to a Suzuki Swift which was a bit faster."

The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear

"One day dad decided I was fit to move on to the next level: my first RWD car! It was a rusty old BMW E30, and it only had a basic 1.6-liter engine inside. After giving it a refresh over in the garage, we went straight to the track. Needless to say, I had to use the clutch kick technique to drift it. Right now it's sitting in our garage, and it's going to be my first car as soon as I get my driver's license."

Luckily for Gabi Jr., his father is both an experienced driver and a drift instructor as well. But Gabi Sr. knew that he would need to be very careful going about the training program if it was to be successful: "It felt extremely tough for me to switch from acting as a parent to taking on the role of coach."

"Not only that, but he needed to understand that when we're training he also has to act the part. Emotional involvement can be counter-productive in a situation like this. The intense feelings you go through will either determine you to be soft on the pupil or take things to the opposite side of the spectrum. I didn't want our training program to be mentally exhausting for either of us. Other than that I knew exactly what needed to be done. I had worked with 20 other drivers before him. Still, he's one of my Top 10 students of all time!"

Gabi Jr. made his official drifting debut back in 2019. Back then, his license only allowed him to compete on homologated racetracks, which meant no touge action for him! In 2020 he went on to finish second overall in the Semi-Pro championship. In the past four years, he has drifted into four different cars, all of which are BMWs.

A son may outgrow a father's lap, but he will never outgrow his heart

But his main competition vehicle is a BMW E30 that's powered by a turbocharged 4.4-liter V8. The father-son duo is a firm believer that in life you need to improvise, adapt and overcome any hardships you might come across. Having to work with a budget that's nowhere near enough as big as it should be, they've found different solutions to make things work as they should.

"We've got two different maps on my car. At 7.2 psi (0.5 bar) of boost, I'm at about 350 hp, but when I turn the heat up to 11.6 psi (0.8 bar) I've got access to 550 hp. The gearbox and rear axle are both from a 5-Series E39, as these are solid enough to handle the abuse. The car weighs around 1,100 kg and while it's a pretty good setup, it feels quite rudimentary when competing against opponents with $100,000+ cars. I'm a big fan of James Deane, so if we had the budget, I'd probably opt for a 2JZ-powered Nissan S15 instead."

Now, I could go on and on about how talented Gabi Jr. is, but you might want to have a look for yourself. So I've included two short videos of him drifting his BMW as a reference to that. In a way, you could say that this sport is somewhat similar to skateboarding. In the latter, you need to go through a few boards before becoming a pro. You'll most likely wear them out as you fail to land some tricks correctly or just downright abuse them, trying to learn something new. And the same goes for drifting. But when you're initiating at speeds of over 100 mph (161 kph), things are a bit scarier, to say the least.

Gabi Jr. has had his fair share of incidents in the past few years, but in 2022 he has been careful enough to not damage the car. Well, at least that didn't happen on his account. "One of my scariest drifting moments ever happened two years ago, I hit the wall and a stack of tires and the car went airborne almost instantly."

Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence

"I remember bumping my head into the side window quite hard, but the helmet did its job and I didn't suffer any injuries. It's funny to think that this year I was drifting within about an inch away from the same wall, smiling all the way. It's an amazing feeling to be on the limit all the time!"

One of the interesting things about Gabi Jr. is that he first started drifting in Assetto Corsa, and he has been at it for some time now. He's always competing in some international event, and his father has just recently built a custom setup for his sim-racing rig. "I think I'm now up to about 600 hours of drifting in Assetto Corsa."

"I started with a Thrustmaster T300 RS GT which failed me after about 200 hours of playing. I'm now using a much more advanced Fanatec CSL DD with an 8 Nm boost kit, and I feel that virtual drifting has helped me a lot. I always recommend other drivers to try it out, as you can practice anytime you want and there's no risk involved. You can usually find me drifting at Irwindale Speedway, Bikernieki race track in Riga, Sturup Raceway, or even Autodrome Saint Eustache in Montreal."

While being a pro drifter can be a lot of fun, it also requires a lot of hard work. Even though Gabi and Gabi JR. are lucky enough to be part of a team of drivers that also includes a few mechanics, there's still a long way to go to the top. At any given race weekend, Gabi Jr. has to help unload and load the van, set up camp, shoot his vlogs, and of course, there's the physical and mental fatigue that comes with the sport.

A dad is more than just the sum of his parts

Meanwhile, his father has to play multiple roles as well: "I am in charge of setting up both of our cars, but I always listen to his feedback of course. He must be able to report back on how the car's behaving on track, and what he would like me to change on it."

"I'm also his spotter and mental coach, besides all the logistic duties I have to perform. I can't forget his first-ever Pro race, he looked at me with his big bright eyes and told me he was afraid he wouldn't qualify and didn't want to embarrass in front of everyone. I told him to relax and do his thing, and that I was certain he would make it to the Top 32. Any given drift event is a huge mountain to climb for both of us, and there's also the stress of finding sponsors for each racing season."

"A few people are helping us out with that challenge, but if he's to ever race overseas in Formula Drift or at least in the Drift Masters Grand Prix we are going to need some big companies backing us up to achieve that dream." We don't know about you, but looking at this brave drift duo feels quite inspiring. This is the kind of relationship any son aspires to have with his father, and we'll be keeping an eye on Gabi Jr. for the next few years for sure.

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