I'm sure some of you are excited about this year's Formula Drift Singapore 2011, which will take place this weekend at the F1 Pit Building.

Well, some of us at sgCarMart are too. Hence the extensive coverage you see on our site.

Before the event kicks off proper, the organisers held a pre-event press conference, with a small surprise for the media.

Aside from the usual interviews and buffet spread, the media were given a chance to ride shotgun with the drifters along the track course that will be used during the event.

(The buffet didn't seem to be such a great idea after all...)

The driver I was allocated to ride with was Charles Ng, who was part of the four-strong Spark Motorsports team that also included big-name drifters Daigo Saito and Robbie Nishida from Japan, and Ken Gushi from America.

Charles hails from Hong Kong, and has had 20 years of experience in racing. Which is impressive considering that his home country isn't exactly well-known for motorsports.

I decided not to distract him with my paltry Cantonese, and let his driving do the talking.

Charles did try to take it easy, but even still, the acceleration of these cars are brutal. You can feel your head moving back and forth, and sideways, against your will. The G-forces that your body is subjected to are immense.

It's something you have to mentally prepare yourself for, otherwise you'll just be caught off guard, and find yourself screaming in panic and fear. It most definitely is not for the faint-hearted.

After a while, it does get addictive though, and you just want to keep going again and again.

Unfortunately, there were only limited runs allowed for us, so the fun was over before we knew it.

I thanked Charles at the end of the run, and I hope he does well this weekend.

I was a bit of a sceptic about drifiting before this event, but after having experienced it first hand, I can appreciate the art and skill that goes into it. It's not an easy thing to do, and some of the drivers are truly the masters of this craft.

Hopefully they give us a good show this weekend.