Mark Santa Maria has dipped his toe in just about every form of RC, including drifting. Drifting is only just starting to break the surface in America, but it has been very underground for the last 12 or 13 years. We asked Mark what his thoughts are about RC Drifting….

I think the RC drifting community has the best camaraderie of all the RC communities. Camaraderie is one of the things I love about the RC community, although it's different in drifting because if one car looks bad in the line, the entire line looks bad. They all have to work together to make the coolest drift sequences. Seeing a line of cars drifting together is amazing.

With that said, I think of all the types of RC driving, drifting is the most difficult for me. It's likely because I come from a racing background. While countersteering is second nature for me, I can't countersteer as well as a gyro. That's the hardest thing for me, trusting the gyro. Coming from a racing background, as soon as I feel the rear end come loose I try to self correct. Also, adjusting the slide with the throttle doesn't come easy to me. It's almost the complete opposite. In off road racing, it's all about grip and control. In drifting, grips seems to be your enemy. I think for me it just takes a day for me to dedicate to practicing and getting it right. Unfortunately a full day at the track doesn't come easy for me lately. Someone told me once that trusting the gyro is symbolic of letting go of control in life. I like that.

I always wonder if getting a better car will make it easier. Then I will let an experienced drifter drive my car and I realize it's just me. I’ve been told that this is a common misconception in drifting. A better car won't necessarily make you a better driver. It helps a little, but nothing beats seat time. It's frustrating to those with means to get better equipment.

The best RC drift experience I've had so far was being invited down to The Hobby Shop in Leander, Texas. I'm not sure what the event was called but they flew in influencers from all over the nation. There was a swap meet for sure… that's what originally brought me to the event… I love shooting swap meet vlogs! I got to meet Brad Bollman from RC Supremecy and Vittoreo Santiago. Both Brad and Vit were super cool to hang out with and they let me try out their cars. I couldn't drive their cars either, but I could tell the difference. Between us 3, we reached easily over a million on social media. It gave us the opportunity to cross collaborate and have a really deep dive into the culture.
I haven't actually practiced drifting much on my own. I usually drift when I get a car to review that is specifically a drift car. Most recently, I reviewed the Kyosho Fazer D2 Drift Spec. The AE86 is definitely my favorite drift car body. The funny part is, when manufacturers reach out to me to review drift kits, I make sure to disclose I am not good at drifting.

I recently toured a hobby shop in Del City Oklahoma called Triple Crown RC Hobbies. I thought it was a really cool drift track. There were 2 levels and it was probably the biggest drift track I have seen.

Triple Crown is having their first Matsuri (RC Drift Celebration) on July 25th-27th and it looks like it’s going to be a great time. I’m glad DARC Circuit is always nearby to help me to review and give me a good track layout and surface to test on.

I love the scale aspect of RC drifting. I’ve always loved scale trail rigs. In fact, it's the RC kick I am in at the moment. Not rock crawling but just building a cool looking scale truck and hitting the trails. I was in line when the original Fast and Furious hit the movie theaters. The import lifestyle is something that hits home for me. I’ll probably catch some flack for this, but my favorite movie in the Fast and the Furious franchise was Tokyo Drift. Not just because of the cars but because of the culture it showed in Japan. With that said, I love the looks of scale drifters. It's like living the lifestyle without the risk of wrecking a beautiful car or the cost of burning up tires.

I know I’m not alone when I say this, but my favorite car in Tokyo drift was definitely Han’s orange Veilside FD RX7. I didn't know it was an RX7 at first. I also really like the blue Nissan Silvia S15 Spec-S, "Mona Lisa", they took the engine out of for the hero car.

I do see a difference in the drift community from other communities. Although all communities have camaraderie and a sense of family, the drift community seems more laid back and relaxed. Not overly competitive. There are no elitist mentalities and no smack talk. They just slide and chill.

Just as the drift community wants people from the other communities to try drifting, I think the drift community should do the same. I am starting to see drift people come to my crawl and trail events. Once they get to know everyone, it exposes drifting to the other communities. When people cross into other disciplines of RC, they should bring their other cars to be exposed to the group. For example, if I pull into a hike with my drift car on a trailer, or go to a big RC race with my drift car in my pits, people will ask questions and other people will be intrigued.

With regard to growing the RC community, RC drifting is one of the few RC activities that doesn't take much room and isn't dangerous to the public (high speed and flying cars hurt). It would be cool to see drift setups in malls, events, or any other area that gets a lot of foot traffic.

Mark has several irons in the fire and we’re very thankful for his time and input. Mark has the @MarkSantaMaria Youtube channel as well as the msmvlog.com