Irwindale Speedway

Circuit · USA, California

House of Drift. Half-mile of judged tandem theatre.

A short oval north-east of Los Angeles that the world's most-watched drift event commandeers every season finale. The "House of Drift" tagline is partly marketing, partly accurate, Irwindale's outer bank gives Formula Drift the most cinematic chase sequences in the calendar.

The corner where the entries happen has a name (Outer Zone) and the wall has a colour (white, until somebody hits it) and the wall, predictably, gets hit every single round. None of the locals are surprised. The tow trucks come, the tape goes up, the next pair lines up.

For American drift specifically, this is the cathedral. Every championship-deciding tandem in the modern Formula Drift era has come down to a couple of laps under these lights. The cars are louder than they need to be on purpose.