[1]While drifting may have its origins on the mountain roads of Japan, the sport has hit American shores with a vengeance. All of the Big Three now send representatives to the Formula Drift competition, and smaller drifting competitions are cropping up in every corner of the U.S. This means that some odd and extraordinary drift battles are taking place almost every day.
That includes this rather ridiculous competition found by CarScoop [2], which pits a Corvette-powered Mazda RX-7 against a Kawasaki ZX-10 street bike. Seems like an unfair battle, but you might be surprised at who comes out on top.
Now the Mazda RX-7 is among the most popular sports cars for V8 engine swaps ever made. This is because, from the factory, the RX-7 had a rotary engine. While the Wankel is capable of producing startling power from a beer-keg-sized package, these engines can be high-strung and failure prone, and must be spun to the moon to make power.
To overcome these limitations, many gearheads opted to instead install an engine they knew, the LS. These engines give the RX-7 remarkable weight distribution and a lot more power than the stock rotary motor. This particular ‘93 RX-7, driven by Jim Guthrie, has a 375 horsepower Corvette engine under the hood. But is that enough to take down the race-bred ZX-10 motorcycle of Nick “Apex” Brocha?
The video itself is awesome. There are great camera angles, excellent production values, and it all seems like a whole lot of fun to us. Both drivers are absolutely daring in the corners, and the race is always close. We don’t want to spoil the ending, but you’ve got to watch this video.