Drifting is a popular sport now. Forget oval racing or hitting an apex so precisely that you scrub off as little speed as possible through a corner. No, no. Drift racing is all about getting sideways and drift cars are exactly the sort of vehicle you’d expect to tackle the task. However, as with nearly every kind of motorsport, things can get a bit messed up when you try them on empty roads and parking lots. 

A drift car took up every bit of its space so well that it broke a brave onlooker’s camera as it flew by

Motorsports and bystander injury are a pairing as old as auto racing itself. Many fans can likely conjure images of rally cars flying by spectators as they catch air at break-neck speeds. However, the danger isn’t unique to rally racing. Spectators at all sorts of racing events, including drifting, are at risk when they indulge in their passions.

However, while fans can expect a bit of safety engineering with professional racing events like Formula 1 and Formula DRIFT drift racing, anything beyond strictly planned and executed racing is a bit risky. It’s a lesson one camera-wielding fan learned all too well as they tried to shoot a drift car sliding past in a cloud of tire smoke.

In this case, what appears to be a modified Nissan S14 slid from one side of a parking lot inlet to another. As it transitioned past one spectator with a camera, the car clipped the camera’s telephoto lens. Unsurprisingly, the drift car vs. camera hit resulted in a broken camera. It’s a bummer for sure. But what a story. 

It’s the goal of drifting to take a car, typically a purpose-built, rear-wheel drive (RWD) drift car application, and get sideways with style. In some drift competitions, officials will often set up targets to get drivers as close to “clipping points” as possible. The result? It’s typically a spectacular, almost dancing-esque series of transitions and drifts performed by a car sliding around shrouded in smoke.

Check out the video of the near miss below!