I Chose Drifting After a Highside Crash Changed My Life

In 2019, I started working on a project to help young, aspiring motorcycle racers pursue their dream of racing in a safe environment. One after another, parents started calling me to enroll their kids into the team. I've met some amazing people through this program and enjoy seeing their progress over the past five years. One of those kids was Luca, who is now 20 years old. I watched him advance from the 300cc class to the 600cc one.

Everyone encouraged me to continue racing

And I was there for his first day on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R. He pushed things a bit too far at one point, spelling disaster. My GoPro camera was on the bike when he crashed, and it's a scary video. But before I reveal what it felt for him to go through those moments, let's dial things back and start with the beginning. Talking about his childhood days, I'd almost label this a rags-to-riches kind of story.

While he isn't rich, I consider him to be, as he has managed to pursue his lifelong dream of living through motorsports. "I grew up watching MotoGP on TV and was shocked to see Rossi going all out. I was about six years old, and I soon convinced my mom to buy me a scale-model Honda CBR 1000RR Fireblade. I must have bought 20 more over the next few years, I still have them stashed away somewhere around the house."

"Two of my cousins were active racers: one competed in open-wheel racing, and the other was a rally driver. When I was eight, I tried karting. I found myself outrunning all the other kids who had been training for years from the first event I went to. My dad and I had to find used tires in the back of the parking lot (the "racetrack") so I could line up on the grid."

"Everyone encouraged me to continue racing, but we couldn't afford it, sadly." Luca recalled seeing an ad for the "Junior Racing School" when he was 16. He told me how shocked he was to receive an invitation to test a bike the following weekend. "I only had my gloves and helmet. So I quickly found someone to borrow a full leather suit and the boots. I had been riding a KTM 125cc motorcycle for less than 1,200 miles (~2,000 km), and suddenly, I found myself trying out the CFMoto 300SR on a proper race track."

I had to stop racing motorcycles, or else

The team manager recognized Luca's potential from his first outing on the 300SR. And he soon moved to a proper race-spec motorcycle from a championship in Asia. It was on the Yamaha R25 that Luca first experienced the "knee down" feeling. He started competing in International events, scoring podiums on almost every occasion. For his 600cc debut, the young lad was already 15 seconds faster, around the same track that marked his racing start.

Accelerating out of the final corner, he was too ambitious with the throttle and suffered a high side at a speed of over 74 mph (120 kph). It left him with a column crack and a warning from his doctor. "He told me to stay away from racing for at least a year, but I didn't listen. For the next two years, I continued pushing my bikes harder and harder, and I inevitably fell several more times. That aggravated my condition, and I also had to deal with a twitch in my right eye because of an affected nerve."

"Doctors prescribed shark cartilage to improve my condition, but it hasn't brought significant improvements." After buying a modern YART-built Yamaha R6, Luca could keep up with all the big boys in the European league. On his first outing at Brno, he won the 600cc Cup, which is still one of his proudest moments. I'm unsure if I will ever experience the thrills he has felt on two wheels, as he has gone to a place that simply seems surreal. But it wouldn't last for him as the doctors gave him one last warning.

"I had to stop racing motorcycles, or else I could've ended up in a wheelchair. And I just couldn't take that risk. But racing is my life, so I needed to find a way out of this situation. I initially thought about endurance racing but realized I couldn't afford something like that. And then I realized drifting is much more affordable and perhaps even more exciting. I will always miss racing motorcycles. Maybe I'll try some less intense track days in a few years from now, but I don't think I will ever try riding bikes on the street again. It's just not exciting enough."

I was as happy as a kid on Christmas Eve

I was happy to hear Luca wanted to give the sport that was so close to my heart a try. So I spent hours telling him about the ins and outs of the game, showing him videos of drivers like Daigo Saito, Masato Kawabata, James Deane, and Chelsea Denofa, among others. He didn't take long to sign up for MyWay Drift School, bent on mastering the sport as soon as possible. I gladly tagged along for the ride, knowing I'd be there for his first drift. And his excitement was visible from the moment the school cars started coming in from their secret hangar.

"It felt like a scene out of Top Gun, with the fighter jets blazing through the sky. The yellow E46 caught my attention right away. And when I saw the IIWIIs, I knew there had to be a way to drive one." Coming in with a motorcycle racer's mindset, I knew the chances of him controlling the slides right away were slim. It looked like Luca was doing his best to avoid drifting at the start, still thinking that it could cause a crash. But he started getting the gist of it after just two sessions.

"I was as happy as a kid on Christmas Eve when I drifted through my first corner. On the second day, I managed to link the entire layout, which was even more satisfying." Luca spent four days improving his drifting skills while dealing with what goes on behind the scenes: media work. Doing interviews and photoshoots when everyone else was relaxing wasn't easy. Still, he fully understands how important it is if he's ever to reach the highest peaks of motorsport.

Potential sponsors care less if you won an obscure race than they care about your online reach. Right now, the ex-motorcycle racer is contemplating his future in the sport, and that all starts with buying a new car. Keen to get an RX-7 at the start, he is contemplating the idea of a Nissan S15. But time will tell which way he decides to go next. Ultimately, I asked him about his advice to any young person aspiring to make a career out of motorsports.

"You have to realize it's a full-time job. You need to practice and find the budget; the right mindset will propel you forward. If you're relaxed while racing, you can handle emotions a lot better. I'm not saying that's easy; it took me two years to understand. I would throw up before the start of each race; that's how nervous I was."

"If I was fast on Friday with a certain pair of socks and flunked on Saturday with a different one, I used the Friday pair on Sunday for the main event. Last but not least, believe in yourself and do your best to overcome any obstacle, no matter how impossible it may seem to you at first." I can already see myself reporting back on Luca's first major victory in 12 to 24 months from now.