THE white Nissan Silvia spun round and round the solitary cone on the flat tarmac, creating clouds of thick, acrid smoke.

Its screeching tyres threatened to drown out the loud, thumping music blasting from nearby.

And when the car came to a stop after a stunt, a woman stepped out of the driver's seat.

Those who had just arrived in the audience dropped their jaws.

Meet Amanda Faith, one of the most experienced female 'drifters' in Singapore.

"To me, drifting is controlling the uncontrollable," said the 29-year-old at a drift clinic at an open area outside Punggol Marina last Sunday.

The human resource and administrative manager added: "The car skids and you try to control it to continue driving or bring it to a stop safely.

"I only began learning how to drift nine months ago in drift clinics here and in Malaysia.

"But I have been interested in cars since I was 16."

Her passion in drifting has cost her about $20,000 in modifications to her ride.

"I cannot put a range on how much people usually spend to modify their cars because it depends on the preferences of each driver," she said.

"I've changed the steering wheels, installed bucket seats and a roll cage to reinforce the car body.

"When we drift, there is a lot of force on the car, and it will flex or even crack sometimes if it is not reinforced.

"But I use second-hand tyres, which cost between $30 and $50 each."

Drifting has also cost her another $5,000 to $10,000 for 'injuries'.

"The worst 'injury" my car suffered was when my front bumper dropped off when I was still learning how to drift properly," she recalled.

"For a while, I used a metal plate as a substitute before I got it fixed.

"But the rest are just minor scratches - I never got into a serious accident while drifting."

Her passion also saw her quit her job as an English teacher to expatriate children, to help set up Ris Culture, a five-man operation specialising in drift clinics, demonstrations and static drift car shows.

Crist Seck, Amanda's fiancee

"We held our first clinic last November, but the company was only set up in February this year," said 34-year-old Crist Seck, Faith's fiance.

"So far, we have organised four clinics in Singapore and one in Malaysia.

"And we did a static car display recently at DXO's second anniversary celebrations."

The four-month-old company organises a drift clinic every five or six weeks at the same area outside Punggol Marina.

Seck said: "We get drifting experts from Malaysia and Singapore to come down and teach about 24 people drifting techniques.

TECHNIQUES

"They will learn the theory first and practise the techniques themselves after sitting beside the experts in a demonstration.

"Before we got this place, we used to practise at a car park in Pasir Ris.

"The police came by a few times, but we didn't get into any trouble with them because the area was deserted and we were not endangering any lives."

But isn't it dangerous to let your car go out of control, and then try to control it?

"It may look like it because of all the noise and smoke, but we are actually mostly driving in first gear, or second gear at the maximum," Faith said.

"We teach the newcomers the basic drifting techniques - the 'donut' and the 'figure-of-eight' - during our drift clinics, and they have to wear helmets during these clinics, so it is pretty safe."

Other than the desire to spread the sport of drifting to other Singaporeans,

Faith also has another aim - to change people's perception of women drivers here.

"In Australia, they are very open to women racing and drifting, but a lot of people in Asia think that women cannot make it in motorsports," she said.

"When I first started out, there were some people who went 'Are you sure you can do it?'

"But I eventually proved them wrong," she said, without a hint of bitterness or smugness.

"I want to use myself as an example to show that women can also do well in this sport, too."

One of the newcomers to the sport of drifting is Kenneth Chia, who drives a Toyota Trueno, a cult classic made famous by the Initial D manga and animation series.

"I want to learn how to control my car in a proper manner," said the 28-year-old car sales executive.

"Most people would not know how to control their cars in emergency situations, like if their cars skid.

"They would probably jam their brakes in an attempt to stop the car, but it would only make the car skid more.

"So I see drifting as a form of advanced defensive driving."

But the pragmatic side of the boyish-looking Chia has stopped him from spending too much on modifying his car for the sport.

"I bought the car for about $31,000 more than a year ago and, so far, I have spent about $10,000 on it," he said.

"But half of it went to maintaining the car, since it is an old car and needs more servicing than newer models."

The Initial D manga fan added: "Some people remove their back seats and install roll cages in their cars to make it more suitable for drifting, but my car doubles up as a family car, too, so I cannot possibly do that."

The costs involved to get a car 'drift ready' is also what deters William Lee, a spectator at the event.

"Although the sport is starting to get recognised in Singapore through such drift clinics, I don?t think I would be tempted to get involved," said the 29-year-old civil servant.

"I don't have the spare cash to change the gearbox, wheels and other parts as well."

Looks like there is still quite a way to go before Faith and her community of 30 enthusiasts convince more Singaporeans to 'drift' their way towards their clinics.