Drifting, time attack and hillclimb: judged or timed, not raced for position.

Drifting

The FIA defines drifting as deliberately triggered oversteer and says it is judged rather than timed. Judges score a run on four things: line, angle, style and speed. Our page on understeer and oversteer explains the underlying car behaviour.

How a drift competition is scored

The FIA's international events show how the format works. At the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games Drifting Cup, the organizers say, solo qualifying runs were scored out of 100:

After qualifying come tandem battles. The Motorsport Games preview describes each pair running twice, swapping between lead and chase. The chasing car tries to stay close and copy the leader's angle and line. If the judges cannot separate the two drivers, they can call a "One More Time" rerun.

The FIA's account of the 2019 Intercontinental Drifting Cup gives a similar structure: a panel of three judges, two solo qualifying runs, then a knockout battle tournament for 16 drivers.

These FIA sources date from 2019 and 2022. The research behind this page did not cover national series such as Formula DRIFT, or how grassroots drifters get started, so check with the organizer of any event you are interested in.

Time attack

Time attack is competition against the clock for a single fastest lap. World Time Attack Challenge (WTAC) describes cars going out on track at intervals, each looking for one perfect lap. WTAC traces its own origins to Superlap Australia, which Ian Baker launched in 2008 at Oran Park, inspired by the time attack scene in Japan. The event is now held at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Time trials in the US

In the US, both national clubs run time trials, which are also scored against the clock. SCCA Time Trials states plainly that time trials are not wheel-to-wheel competition: drivers pass carefully, in passing zones, after a point-by from the car ahead.

NASA's Time Trial program, as NASA describes it:

• Scores each driver on their fastest lap of each event day.
• Treats the first session of a weekend as a warm-up that does not count. Sessions usually last 15 to 30 minutes.
• Accepts street cars, with a TT Street designation for street-registered cars on tyres with a treadwear rating of 200 or more.
• Groups cars by adjusted weight-to-power ratio, from TT1 (6.00:1 or higher) to TT6 (19.00:1 or higher), plus TTEV and TTU classes for electric vehicles.

Getting there takes track experience first. NASA says a driver must complete an HPDE 4 event before applying for a Time Trial licence, and that a NASA competition licence also qualifies. Its licence application asks Time Trial applicants to pass a check ride and upload their HPDE Passport, or to show an extensive history of open-passing track days or time trials. HPDE is NASA's instructed track day program.

Hillclimbs

A hillclimb times each car's run up a closed road. Rules vary by organizer. The FIA's Historic Hill Climb Championship rules, from its 2021 season page, required standing starts, at least one timed practice run, a course at least 3.5 km long, and, on courses of 3.5 to 8 km, two timed runs added together.

SCCA classes HillClimb as a type of Time Trials event on a closed section of mountain road. It says there are roughly 10 events a year, mostly in Pennsylvania with the Pennsylvania HillClimb Association. SCCA also says competition cars need at least a roll bar and a racing harness, and drivers need approved flame-retardant suits. Check SCCA's current rules for exactly which standards it accepts.

Pikes Peak

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado is nicknamed the "Race to the Clouds", as the City of Colorado Springs notes. The race's own history page says it was first run in 1916 on a course of 12.42 miles and 156 turns, now fully paved, climbing from 9,390 ft to the 14,115 ft summit. It gives the overall record as 7:57.148, set by Romain Dumas in the electric Volkswagen I.D. R in 2018.

DailySportscar reports that Dumas won again in 2026, his sixth overall win, in 8:18.202 in a Ford Super Mustang Mach-E over the full course. In 2025 the course was shortened: KOAA and Pirelli report that high winds moved the finish down from the summit to Glen Cove, which is why Simone Faggioli's winning time that year was only 3:37.196. Reports differ on how strong the wind was: the organizers' official results release cites gusts over 85 mph in the upper section, while Pirelli cites gusts above 100 km/h (about 62 mph).

How people get into it

For time trials, NASA documents a clear path, and it runs through instructed track days. NASA's route, set out above, goes from HPDE to HPDE 4 and then to a Time Trial licence. NASA's HPDE page lists the entry requirements for that first step: NASA membership, a valid driver's licence and a minimum age of 18 (or 16 with parental consent). Our track days page describes what an HPDE involves, and autocross covers an even lower-key way to drive against the clock.