Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Genesis Coupe Drift Car

It's not like you think. It's not busy. Or rushed. Or frantic. There's no chopping at the wheel, no exaggerated stabs at the pedals. In fact, it's just the opposite: small, highly calculated and immensely precise inputs direct the Genesis Coupe's trajectory. Rapid but relaxed steering suggestions translate into dramatic changes in direction and speed. Subtle, deliberate prods at the throttle and shifter blur the scenery on one side, then the other.

This is cool control. This is engineered elegance. This is drifting done right. This is what it's like to ride in the world's most advanced drift car: Rhys Millen's 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe.

Of course the calm, collected ride inside is in ironic contrast to the violence outside. But we're not surprised. We've ridden with Millen before, during practice for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb years ago and around various rally stages back in American rallying's glory days.

Since then he has won the 2008 Red Bull World Drift Championships, the Formula D series title in 2005 and two Tires.com Triple Crown Drift Championships. Not to mention multiple titles at Pikes Peak. That this guy can drive is not the surprising part.

What is surprising is the level of preparation it takes to make a drift car competitive in 2009.

Not So Niggling Details
Today we're being chauffeured by Millen around the asphalt airfields of El Toro Airbase, a long-ago-closed military facility in El Toro, California. It's the car's final test before its debut at the first round of the 2009 Formula Drift Series up the freeway in Long Beach.

El Toro is the perfect place to test a new drift car. Endless stretches of flat pavement. Nothing to crash into. Damaging the car now, with the LBC FDS event just days away, would mean disaster. Millen's team may be funded by Hyundai and sponsored by Red Bull, but this is no Sprint Cup team. Pulling another identical Genesis Coupe from the truck is not an option.

Besides, this is the world's most advanced drift car. It would be a shame to wad it into a ball on its first day out.

Oh sure, from 100 feet away it looks stock. From there it tells our brain that these are the now-familiar lines of the Korean coupe we've come to love. But up close, the finer points begin to shine.

First, there's the hood, which is only partially painted — a subtle giveaway that the front bumper, front fenders, doors, side skirts, rear quarter panels and roof are all made of lightweight material. Around the rear of the car we witness the details that scream racecar. First there are the huge fender flares with open rear exits and a huge diffuser with an elegantly integrated center exhaust exit. The fenders even have small carbon lips or "Gurney strips" attached to their rearmost horizontal surface to throw tire smoke and increase downforce.

So, in addition to the mostly carbon-fiber body, dive planes and huge rear wing, there's a carbon-fiber rear diffuser — a device designed to further increase downforce and increase cornering speed.

But Isn't It All About Sliding Sideways?
Yes, it is.

But the less obvious part of that equation is that it's also about going as fast as possible while you're sliding sideways. Formula D's new format introduces tandem drifting from the round of 32, so speed matters sooner in the competition. In other words, there's no "coasting" to get to the finals. And being able to drive away from your competition is a huge advantage.

Millen points out that more grip translates directly to more speed. This is why the car has been so significantly lightened and utilizes road racing and time-attack go-fast tricks. It's also why he's using the stickiest tires allowed in the series — Toyo's Proxes R1R. Drift rules mandate competition tires have no less than a 140 tread-wear rating, which is exactly what the R1Rs provide. They're also not small — 265mm (10.4-inch) section width in the rear and 245mm (9.6-inch) section width up front.

Under the Hood
Here's a little test for those of you who might only see this car from behind the ropes at a drift event paddock. Look carefully at the large vent in the hood. Very carefully.

Notice the fans filling its exit? Those aren't there for decoration. They're sitting on top of the horizontally mounted intercooler. The two front ducts route air to a V-shaped radiator/intercooler arrangement (intercooler placed horizontal on top, radiator almost vertical below). Air exits through the underbody or through the hood vents. The NACA ducts above the front splitter route air to separate destinations — one to the power steering cooler and one to the intake. This sort of heavily managed airflow is rarely found anywhere but top-level motorsport teams drawing on huge resources. But it's indicative of the effort made on this Genesis Coupe.

Walking around the coupe, we can't help but wonder out loud, "all this just to go sideways?" Millen has an adequate answer. "There will be 10 or 12 cars in the series this year with this level of preparation" he says, referring to the other factory teams fielded by Ford, Mopar and Scion.

It continues under the hood where a Nissan 4.0-liter VQ-based V6 will power the car for the first two or three Formula D events of the year. A Hyundai Lambda-based V6 will replace the Nissan mill by mid-season. The VQ uses 10.5:1 compression JE pistons, Crower rods and a Crower crank. A complex exhaust manifold routes spent gases to a single Turbonetics turbo that sits on the driver side, supported by an intricate bracket built off the engine.

There's a dry-sump lubrication system and an oil cooler housed in the floor behind the driver seat — cabin pressure creates airflow to the exterior. The whole mess is controlled by an AEM Universal Engine Management System and pumps out 560 horsepower and 542 pound-feet of torque at the wheels on a Dynojet chassis dyno. And it requires only 14 psi of boost to do so.

An HKS five-speed sequential transmission, Winters quick-change rear end and Driveshaft Shop axles comprise the remainder of the powertrain.

Other Technicalities
Extensive custom fabrication work has been executed throughout the coupe's suspension. All the pick-up points must remain stock per the Formula D rules, but every control arm and trailing link has been custom built to allow for fine-tuning of alignment settings and steering angle. The coupe's stock rear suspension uses non-concentric springs and dampers. Millen's car has been converted to use a conventional coil-over spring/damper assembly. KW units originally designed for a Nissan 240SX were adapted to fit front and rear.

The brake system is minimal to save about 70 pounds versus the stock Brembos. Up front, Wilwood calipers are charged with stopping 11-inch-diameter, quarter-inch-thick rotors. Out back, similarly small, thin rotors are clamped by two sets of Wilwood calipers — one for the foot brake and one that works on an override circuit via a hand lever to initiate drifts.

A Tilton master cylinder and pedal assembly is in place inside, as is an AiM digital dash. There's also more carbon fiber in the form of a custom dash and switch console.

Other road racing tricks? There are four air jacks built into the floor and a fuel cell above the rear differential.

Making It Possible
Being a Red Bull athlete has its benefits. Namely, access to the cubic-megadollar empire that campaigns two Formula 1 teams, two WRC teams and one NASCAR team as well as sponsoring multiple riders in Moto GP and World Superbike. In other words, hit Red Bull and you've hit the big time.

The Millen/Hyundai effort is every bit representative of this kind of resources — at least as they apply to drifting. There's a tractor with small living quarters, a trailer, a crew, spare parts and a car — oh, what a car — to make those who measure value for the big Bull happy. Millen tells us that Hyundai and Red Bull split the effort 50/50.

Part of the package, Millen says, is that the car will compete in select time-attack events throughout the year to demonstrate the diversity of the chassis at multiple temples of motorsport. Naturally, one of those will be the Pikes Peak time attack where last year he set the two-wheel-drive time-attack class record in his Pontiac Solstice drift car — one he hopes to reset this year in the coupe.

And at Long Beach? Well, it could have gone better. Millen said the car felt solid and that it consistently produced the field's fastest entry speed going into the first turn. Then a mistake on the first pass led to a second judged run where he was eliminated — in the round of 32.

That, Millen says, "is one of the things about the sport that's frustrating. You can drive well and have an excellent car and this kind of thing will still happen." Maybe, but if our seat time tells us anything, it's that the combination of Mad Skills Millen and the high-tech coupe will see better results soon enough.