Drifting Explained - (basic drifting tutorial)

[aj510]

**Disclaimer - i'm not an expert and if you plan on trying to drift then do so at your own risk :)


What Is Drifting?

The absolute bare bones aim of drifting is to get your car sideways(duh right?) around corners and straights. It doesn't really sound like the most complicated thing to do now, the thing is it's not really as easy as simply powersliding round corners.

The whole point is to keep a continuous drift(sideways movement). So instead of trying to correct the car out of a slide the driver attempts to overcorrect in a controlled way to continue the drift.
If you want to practice drifting, you'll need to find yourself a set of corners that are reasonably sharp and in quick succession.

A professional drifter has the skills to be able to link together numerous corners without ever gaining traction - so that is your goal!

There are two main ways to begin a drift.

1. This technique involves making use of the clutch and accelerator. Basically a driver will change down a gear (usually 2nd) rev the car to ~4 - 5000rpm(again depends on car), turn away from the corner then sharply back towards it. At the same time popping the clutch to cause the rear wheels to lose traction. Once traction is lost and the driver has started the drift it's a matter of controlling the accelerator and steering(more of this a little later).

2. The second technique is mainly used by fwd cars (infact it's the only way to drift fwd cars. With this method you need to make use of your hand brake.It's probably the easier method to learn initially. You simply need to pull up the hand brake when you are approaching the corner to break traction.

Once You've Broken Traction (what next?)

Ok so you've broken traction what next?

Keep your foot on the accelerator and adjust the direction of you car with the steering wheel. If you've ever been on a skid pan or slid your car around corners, you'll know that your car will travel in the direction of your front wheels even if you've lost traction at the rear.

Drifting is a bit of an art so you will really need to get to know your car before attempting anything to hairy. Trying to keep your car on the edge with out letting the tail spin right out. As you reach the end of the corner/turn, you'll need to get yourself lined up for the next turn. Again this will involve getting to know your car, how it handles drift etc etc

hope that gives you a good start :)

cheers,
AJ

[rich]

nice read - now we need a little something on the car setup - cos there's no way those guys are running any stock suspension!

[aj510]

that will take a little longer to get ready mate - i'm just starting out in drifting too

but i'll see what i can find

cheers,
AJ

[george]

hmmm to be honest i don't think i'd have the jatz crackers to attempt drifting. I was watching a few vids of the jap guys doing it and although it's impressive, the speeds they get sideways at are freakin insane!

[aj510]

heh pretty much my thoughts - but i just love the feeling of sideways motion in a car :)