What do you know about drifting?
I've drifted on a swimming pool on a rubber raft.
That's as much as I know about drifting.
I don't have any concept of how they keep
the tires spinning as they go through
and navigate the course that they're on.
[tires screeching]
They're ripping it up.
God dang, man, you talk about hauling ass.
These people are crazy.
Hell yeah.
God dang it.
Holy cow.
I'm Steve. - Amanda.
Nice to meet you. What's happening?
- How's it going? - I'm Steve.
I'm Branden. Nice to meet you.
I had no idea that y'all would be hauling that much ass.
At ages 20 and 18 Amanda and Brandon Sorensen are already
a force in Formula DRIFT.
Super skilled, very hard-working kids who started when they were
knee high to a grasshopper.
Both of them learned the art of car control in cart races
and then moved on to drifting.
I'm one of the few females in the United States
with my pro drift license.
Yeah.
And Brandon is the youngest licensed pro drifter
in the United States.
Well, how'd you pull that off?
Oh, well, you know, I got my pro license when I was 14.
So--
I've been a car fan my entire life.
But I've never really understood the drifting concept.
What are you doing just to keep the burnout going?
Well, it definitely helps that we have 1200 horsepower
under the hood of these cars.
Oh, wow.
When you're at a competition, like,
what's the goal, to get through a course in the fastest time?
Essentially, it's like figure skating with cars, right?
You do two at a time, one lead and then one follow.
As the chase driver, the whole goal is to get
as close as you possibly can.
And then, the lead driver, they give
you, like, certain points on the track
that they want you to head.
It's very-- it's slow down, speed up.
They basically get your criteria and tell you to do that.
And whoever does it best wins.
What's the fan base for this type of activity?
So drifting is the number one millennial motorsport.
There you go.
They just love the action of two cars going sideways.
There's no room for error with the type of competition
that we do.
Well, man, we're talking about it.
What about doing something?
Yeah, you ready to jump in the car and see what it's like?
Who am I riding with?
You'll probably jump in the car with me.
And we'll leave some marks on Amanda's doors.
And they're about to take me to school.
This is going to be a great day at the office.
Let's rock and roll, man.
I'm ready.
[music playing]
Stepping in!
How are you feeling?
I feel like I'm in a sardine can.
If we lay this thing sideways and catch on fire,
I'm out of here.
I wasn't planning on being barbecue today.
All right, let's get this thing started.
1,000 horsepower.
I'm in the drift car.
I'm cinched up about as tight as you can get cinched up.
Ready to go?
And all of a sudden, Brandon pops the clutch.
And we're hauling ass.
Amanda and Brandon are playing chase.
And we're literally three to four inches away
from each other.
I can reach out and touch that car.
It's a thrill of a lifetime.
I'm watching everything Brandon does
because it's so loud in the car, I can't really hear him.
So I'm just trying to take notes as Brandon
is going through the paces.
And every now and then, he'll touch that handbrake.
I know that I'm going to be next.
This is high-speed, high-precision,
driving at its finest by two kids that are only 20 and 18.
It's purely amazing.
All right, how was that?
That was unbelievable.
I don't even know what just happened.
All right, you ready to go do that?
I don't even know what we just did.
I don't even know how to describe
what I just experienced.
You guys were that far from each other.
Yeah, I think we touched her a little bit at one point.
- Holy cow. - Just a little tap.
[music playing]
You talk about insanity.
A little more intense than you were expecting?
That was way more intense than what I was expecting.
I didn't know what to expect.
How was it?
Young lady, amazing driving, young man.
Thank you.
I feel I just drank a gallon of coffee.
What a rush.
You ready to jump in the driver's seat
and kill some tires?
I'll give it hell.
Sick, let's do this thing.
All right.
You gonna fit?
It's a lot tighter over here than it was over there.
Brandon puts on the display of lifetime and says,
are you ready?
I don't think I was because I've never drifted before.
I don't know whether [bleep] or wind my watch.
Crank it up.
Let her pump.
Throw the steering wheel on.
I pride myself on being able to drive anything on wheels.
Throw it in first gear.
Yep, there you go.
And slowly let the clutch out.
I get ready to take off.
I pop the clutch.
There you go.
[bleep].
Are you kidding me?
And kill the motor. OK, now, I got it.
Round two. Round two.
Punch in.
First gear.
And I start the car and pop the clutch.
There you go.
I got a big ass-- oh!
And kill the motor.
I did that about four or five times.
All right, all right. Same thing.
I'll put it in gear.
Same thing.
[bleep].
And I know how to drive a stick.
Have you ever driven a manual?
I know how to drive a manual, young lady.
Last time!
The most embarrassing day of my life.
Watch out, Doug. - Rev it up.
Rev it up.
Once I got it going, I was doing OK.
Good.
Just kind of try and slow it down a little bit.
Push the clutch in.
Go hard left. Rev it up.
Drop the clutch.
Go back to first.
Yep.
Rev it up.
[engine revving]
Oh, [bleep].
So when the cars tend to spin out, if you're not
quick enough on getting on the clutch,
then the car is going to die.
BRANDEN SORENSEN: We're going to do
a tight donut around the cone.
Copy that.
Rev it up and drop the clutch.
Let go of the steering wheel.
Push the clutch in. Push the clutch in.
[bleep].
My feet are so [bleep] big.
Yeah.
Oh my goodness, why are we close to a wall?
BRANDEN SORENSEN: Push the clutch in.
Push the clutch in.
Boy, this is hard.
It is.
It is very difficult. Now, dump it.
But don't forget to let go of the steering wheel.
Oh my god.
Oh, there we go.
That's a nice little drift.
- You're my steering wheel. - That was close.
That was close. - Gotcha.
We're making progress.
OK, that's more like it.
That's good.
He's doing a nice figure eight.
That was the greatest drift ever.
Holy [bleep].
I'm getting the gist or the hang of it.
Yeah.
I think he's starting to understand that these cars,
if you don't use proper technique,
the car starts to drive itself instead of you driving the car.
That was awesome!
They're on the bare thread right now.
All right, that's it. Let's go put her up.
Tires are out. Tires are gone.
Tires are out.
There's a lot of things going on in that driver's seat
that you can't comprehend with as little seat time as I had.
I took this job to put myself in situations that really
I'm quite uncomfortable in.
But I need reps.
This is number one on my cool factor list.
I can say that.
Up here!
That's the honest to god truth.
That's why we do it.
I need a cold beer after doing that.
Hell yeah.
I still got three years, but, hey.