The first sensation is not speed, but defiance. Tires screech against asphalt, the car swings deliberately out of alignment and, for a suspended moment, it seems as if control has been abandoned. But inside the cockpit, control is absolute.

The wheel over-steers, the car reaches the extreme corner of the roads, but the angle, direction and line accuracy remain sharp.

This is drifting: the art of losing traction without losing authority.

Drifting is a fast-growing motorsport subdiscipline — and, like the broader sport, it remains heavily male-dominated. Women and girls represent around 10 percent of participation in motorsports across all levels, according to More Than Equal, an organisation co-founded by former Formula One (F1) driver David Coulthard to develop female F1 talent.

Dina Patel grew up watching her parents race across Pakistan’s desert terrain. Now 22, she has become the country’s first female ‘drifter’ — and she is only picking up speed

Dina Patel grew up watching her parents race across Pakistan’s desert terrain. Now 22, she has become the country’s first female ‘drifter’ — and she is only picking up speed

It is also an expensive sport, requiring investment and risk-taking — a privilege rarely available to girls and young women, in Pakistan or elsewhere. But it is changing, albeit slowly.

Dina Rohinton Patel, a 22-year-old from Karachi, typifies that change. She has already been crowned the country’s first female drifter in an event in Islamabad — even if it was at a makeshift circuit as part of a small festival, in a country with no dedicated racetracks.

Dina inherited her love for motorsports. Her mother, Tushna Patel, is a lifelong racing enthusiast. In 2013, she became the first Pakistani woman to compete in the Jhal Magsi Desert Challenge,........

© Dawn (Magazines)