Rep Power: 0

(Note: this was written for clubsi.com way back at its start... [well its MAJOR start, it was smaller and on Yahoo before that] back in 1999.)

Well since I became the third member of Club SI back in Yahoo people have been asking what is Drifting. What does it mean? How do you do it? Can I do it in my FWD Honda? How? What is the best set up? Where can I read more about it? Well Today I hope to answer all of these questions and more. So, grab something to drink and sit back and enjoy some great reading.



[Writers note: As I began writing this I realized that it would be impossible to put everything in one article. Therefore, I am going to give the basics. Future articles will include more details on each area. So, keep your eyes open.]



First of all Drifting like any other driving skill takes a great deal of practice and should not be attempted without a great deal of practice and safety. The part that most spectators or people hearing about Drifting do not understand is just how difficult it is. Drifting is much more than doing a burn out or uncontrolled donut. NO one jumps in a car and starts Drifting with style and skill…and in fact, if they try to do so they may end up in a ditch or pole. I did the earlier. I spent the better part of 6 weeks (5 hours a night every night) practicing and learning from Kodasan, who is probably the most skilled Drifter in all of Okinawa Japan, before I felt comfortable Drifting in a group. There were many people who helped me in both tips and support Richiiiii, Hirose, Bazaru, Yasu, Hama, Yoshitomo, Shinjo, Naoki, Scott, Scott, Chagerkun, Tim, Pipo, Nori, the rest of Fancy and Murder, the Fancy/Murder support crew, but most of all my co-pilot Michi and my daughter Lisa)

I will start with some simple terminology and general information.



What is Drifting? This question has two basic answers. The first is the old Tech term definition. The second is the modern definition.



The tech definition--as brought to light by a couple of members here is that "Drift or Drifting" refers to the sideways motion experience in a turn that is the result of inadequate traction or friction between the road and the tires. This is not always a bad thing but is usually considered dangerous and undesirable. However, if a driver learns to recognize this and control it, it is not a major issue.



The second or modern definition of Drifting is what I will address now. It is in the very basic sense a controlled sliding of the rear end of a vehicle through a turn or succession of turns for the sole purpose of pleasure or entertainment.



Terms: FF-Front engine Front wheel drive FR-Front engine Rear wheel drive

4WD-front engine all Wheel Drive MR-Mid engine Rear wheel drive

Side Brake -- emergency brake handle



OK…So why Drift?



Is it a senseless waste of time, money, and tires? Is it some nut cases way of taunting death? Well all of these may be true. I like to think that most people Drift for the same reason that I do. I Drift for the pure enjoyment of it and as a demonstration of my driving skills. I also Drift for the entertainment of those who gather to watch. I believe that if a person can Drift well that it is a very enjoyable and entertaining thing to watch. Of course, most of the spectators get more enjoyment out of the unavoidable accidents that will surely happen.



So what can you expect if I start Drifting?



First…EXPECT TO WRECK YOUR CAR!!! When I bought my first AE86 to Drift I spent $2000 and knew that I was going to wreck this car. I just hoped it wasn't going to be too bad. Well, less than 6 hours after I bought it…I tried to Drift and having no skill, instruction, or experience I soon found myself being towed out of a very steep drainage ditch. Lucky for my I knew a body guy, Bankin Bill, who hooked me up with a little quick repair. After all of my training, one trip into a trailer, minor body damage, and one trip into a curb, bent lower control arm. I have watched many accidents happened. A few were caused by spectators or idiots, a few more by mechanical failure, but the majority were by drivers exceeding the limits of their driving skill, the cars capabilities, or the current surface conditions. Even the best wreck. I have overheard many say that you are not a true Drifter until you have wrecked once… well I have that out of the way. Second, expect that you will need to spend some money. It may not mater what your car looks like but you need a few good parts to Drift and to Drift well. Last, expect to go through tires. We used to get ours from the local tire shops, all those used ones. I suggest that unless you have a lot of cash that you get hooked up with access to free tires. I used to go through one or two sets of tires in a night and as many as three sets in a weekend.



What do I need?



Obviously, a car and one that you wont mind wrecking. The next most important thing to have if you want to Drift WELL and not look like some idiot out there sliding your car around like a 16 year old in the high school parking lot after school…is a LSD (Limited Slip Differential). This device allows both drive wheels to turn under the same amount of power. In a FR and MR this helps to induce the slide and in a FF it allows you to pull through the slide hard and keeps you from bogging down from major wheel spin. What else do you kneed? Well go out and get a really sticky pair of front tires the wider the better. The most import aspect of Drifting is CONTROL. Without it, you will spend more time spinning and crashing than Drifting. The last thing you really need is a good stiff suspension. You want to limit the amount of body roll you experience. This allows the car to transfer energy to the rear tires and force them out in a slide. A few other good things to have…a strong clutch (carbon fiber is best) and a good set of breaks. One other helpful item is a Spin Turn **** or Drift Button. This allows you to pull the side brake handle up and it will fall down without you needing to hold the button in and without the risk of it sticking up causing the back breaks to stay locked. Now of course any further mods that give you more power or better control is great. A note on alignments… The more camber…the more control.



So now I know what Drifting is and what I need to do it, the question is how do I Drift.



The best answer to this is to start by telling yourself that no matter what you may think…Drifting is not easy and you cannot do it. If you remember this when you start you will do much better. I learned the hard way…see story above. There really are five basic ways to induce a Drift. Once you are in the Drift there are four things that keep you there. All of these techniques will work for both the FF and FR/MR but some will be better suited to one or the other. Methods for maintaining a Drift will follow this section. This section is focused on the FR/MR techniques…FF notes will follow. Remember: Practice Practice Practice!!!



1. Gear Lock/Diff Lock This is my favorite method and is actually the easiest to learn. The theory behind it is that you approach a corner at a high rate of speed, usually near the RevLimiter. As you near the Apex of the corner you press in the clutch and stay off the gas. Do not try to keep the RPMs up, you want them to fall. As you feel the weight of the vehicle transfer to the outside wheels dump the clutch. The engine break will cause the rear wheels to rapidly decrease in speed and slow the rear end of the vehicle. The result is the rear end sliding out. Timing is every thing. Follow this with immediate counter steer to avoid spinout. For FF this will cause the front wheels to slow making the rear want to pass it…it is similar to what happens with Lead breaking.



2. Faint/swerve This technique works very well in combination with others but is very difficult by it self. The concept is that as you approach the turn you faint away from the apex or dive away from the apex of the turn. As you near the initial point of the turn, you quickly cut hard into the turn. The immediate and violent transfer of weight from the turn will cause the rear end of the vehicle to slide thus inducing a Drift. This technique requires very quick hands as it involves a lot of violent steering actions. It as always must be followed by very quick and decisive counter steering.



3. Power ON This technique works best with modified N/A cars and turbo cars. It is used a lot with the SR20DET. The object here is to dramatically increase the power applied to the wheels right as the weight transfers to the outside wheels. This excessive rotation will cause the rear end to slide out. You approach the corner with power at about 60%. As you reach the start of the corner you turn hard into it and immediately apply power to 100%. This works very well with Boost. If you approach the turn right as boost is building and slam the gas the boost should be enough to break the back end loose. Counter steer and throttle control is needed to maintain this type of Drift. This does not work the same for FF. Power on in FF allows you to pull the front end around quicker. You may notice the same results but for different reasons.



4. Lead Braking This technique works well in areas of unpredictable corners but is difficult to master and does not work as well. The concept here is to slow the front of the vehicle before the rear slows. It works something like this. As you approach the corner, it is important to have enough speed. Then right as you enter the turn a quick hard jab at the breaks will cause the front to slow…however being in the turn the weight and momentum of the car will want to continue straight and try to shift…with the weight moving out and away from the front wheels a Drift will be induced. This technique always works best when combined with others and actually works well in panic situations.



5. Side Brake This technique involves the yanking/hard pulling of the side brake to lock the rear wheels forcing them to slide. The technique works as follows. As you approach the turn you cut hard into it…as the weight of the car moves to the outside of the turn you rapidly and forcefully yank the side brake. As soon as you feel the rear start to move you release. The duration of the hold can change depending on several factors. One modification to this technique is to hold the brake longer and counter steer into the slide to make a long sideways slide then hard on the throttle to drive out of it. This type of move can help you to slide around an object you may otherwise hit. In a vehicle that is Rear Wheel Drive, it is important to remember that the Clutch MUST be in when you pull the brake.



Keeping the Drift: This is just as important as being able to start the Drift. Just inducing a Drift is not enough to be able to Drift. You have to keep the slide going and to put it together with other Drifts to create a sort of routine or show. The objective of Drifting may change depending on the type of Drifting you are doing. One or more of three things mat happen if you do not maintain a good Drift. First you may and probably will spin out. Next, it is possible that the Drift will not hold and you will simply straighten out and fly off into a ditch or other object and the third is that all Hell will break loose.



The four methods for maintaining a Drift.



1. Throttle Control. The continued feathering of the throttle will allow you to keep the rear end in a position that will keep forward motion and keep you spinning. Too much power and the rear end will surely spin around on you. Not enough and the rear end will stop sliding, grip, and send you flying straight into something bad. This will take a lot of practice to master. This has different results for FF…see notes at the end of this section.



2. Clutch Control. You may notice at times that the Tach is falling and you need to bring the RPMs up. Your car may not have enough power to do this on its own. One way to do this is do put in the clutch while holding the accelerator down. Then by letting the RPMs clime and then dumping the clutch again you should keep the Drift going. In addition, you may notice that too much power has been added or that you are in danger of spinning. By putting in the clutch, you can remove power to the wheels and this will allow the traction to return. The results will be different for FF, see notes at the end of this section.



3. Counter Steer. This is the most important aspect of Drifting. The object is not just to slide the rear end out but to keep it out there while you maintain forward motion. The way that you do this is to steer into the slide or counter steer. This usually requires continuos steering corrections. Too much counter steer will cause the vehicle to straighten and not enough will cause a spin. This may be the hardest part to learn. This is not something that can be easily taught and every car will be different. In fact, set up of the car will play a major role in its steering behavior.



4. Side Brake. This technique is a good one to learn and master. For a reason that I have not been able to figure out yet this technique can enable you to slide past an object that you would have otherwise hit. It can also allow you to stretch the length of the slide both for looks and to allow you to connect to longer turning points. Once you see this move, you will understand what I am talking about. This is a very important technique for FF as it is one of the only ways for you to keep a slide going. In a vehicle that is Rear Wheel Drive, it is important to remember that the Clutch MUST be in when you pull the brake.



Notes for FF.



First of all, the behavior of a FF vehicle is very different then that of an FR/MR. A key issue is that by applying extra power to the wheels you will turn out of the slide…this is great if you are about to loose it, A.K.A. crash. The Gear Lock technique on a FF car will behave similar to the Lead Brake technique. The side brake and the Side Brake techniques become your best friends as they give you the most ability to slide the rear end. Drifting a FF is much harder and therefore more attractive to watch if you are a trained Drifter. Give credit where credit is due. However, it is important to note that to the average observer it may look silly or boring.


Notes about 4WD.



I have not mentioned the 4WD vehicles here. The reason. It is cheating. My teacher, Kodasan, started Drifting a long time ago. He started FR then moved to FF and was exceptional at it. He has been Drifting 4WD for about 2 years now. He has a stock LSD in the front and a Cusco MZ LSD in the rear. In this configuration, his car behaves like a FF and FR. This means that he gets all the benefits of the FR styles and looks and is able to save himself using the FF pull through ability. It is extremely difficult to master 4WD Drifting and to the trained observer gives you goose bumps. To the casual observer it looks cool but somehow odd.



All the rest of my notes.



There are many different slang words used in the Drift scene. Learn them on your own. Many of them are regional so it will depend on where you live. Most of the Japanese words used by Americans attempting to Drift are mispronounced anyway. In my opinion, and I am not trying to insult anyone or doubt their abilities, but Americans have not yet come close to mastering this art. If anyone else out there is interested, I may be able to make road trips later in the summer or next year.

 
Rep Power: 401

IMO, the definition of drifting still stands, of which it's something a FF car can't do. (FF do powersliding. while in todays' modern drifting, FF powersliding gets thrown in with drifting, IMO it's still powersliding)

Drifting: The sideways slide of a car beginning before the apex of a turn, in which the sliding is controlled by power to the wheels.

This is why you see those guys in drift competitions hold a hand and foot out the door, to show that they are controlling the drift completely by engine power.

One might ask who cares what it's called. I care, because it requires two completely different techniques. Not to mention that a RWD car could drift almost endlessly in a circle, a FF car will have to stop once there is not enough inertia to continue to carry the back end around.

 
Rep Power: 382

Drifting, Power sliding.... how ever you say it, it's still a controled state of oversteer.

 
Rep Power: 340

didnt read the whole thing, but powersliding is just a part of drifting.... certain rear drive cars still understeer at the limit (ie Pontiac GTO), but can have oversteer by mashing on the throttle, power (or power oversteer), hence powerslide.... a more proper way to of drifting would be when a car is turning into the apex and the rear wheels lose traction before the front tires and the car is controlled by throttle and steering input..... NOT by handbrakes.

 
Rep Power: 382

Actually, the only time FWD oversteers naturally is under braking... IE. as you are coming in to a turn. The problem with FWD is trying to maintain that oversteer (past the Apex), and thats where you'd need to force a loss of traction at the rear end ala-handbrake.

 
Rep Power: 340

^^^ yes, exactly, I was trying to point that out... I know your car is set up to have oversteer during turn in without handbrakes, is that right?
I pointed out the no handbrake thing so ppl wont start going to parking lots in their Civics and trying this stuff.

 
Rep Power: 401

right. it's just that the control is being done by a different mechanism. and IMO controlling it with engine power is probably easier and more stable.

 
Rep Power: 0

No. Its called lift throttle oversteer. If you let off the throttle mod apex the rear end of a FWD car WILL come out. Especially those with larger rear sway bars. Hitthnd the brakes to induce lock is wedodid.

 
Rep Power: 382

Throttle lift can be considered a form of braking (Engine braking that is). and it has pretty much the same effect as actually being on the brakes and turning. but any way, like I said, getting a FWD car to oversteer isnt the issue, its maintaining that oversteer.

 
Rep Power: 0

No its not.

Engine braking is slowing the car down by using gearing. even if you put it in neutral you will still get the rear end to come out if its mid corner because the only variable is weather or not power is going to the drive wheels (read: front).

If you get on the BRAKES to bring the rear end out, it痴 because you are locking the wheels up, preventing them from spinning and therefore defeating traction.

What you just said made no sense.

 
Rep Power: 382

Do I really have to explain how lifting off the throttle has a simmilar effect on weight transfer as hitting the brakes mid turn?


seriously, I just finished explaining how anti-roll bars work over on clubRSX, do I have to get in to another techincal argument here...

 
Rep Power: 401

zzyzx is right. engine braking has the same effect of weight transfer that braking has. (braking with the brake pedal, not the e-brake)

I think you are talking about e-braking while zzyzx is talking about braking with the brake pedal which is mostly done by the front wheel brakes, and certainly does not lock up the back tires like the e-brake would.

 
Rep Power: 0

if you are talking about initiating a "4 wheel drift" by tapping the brakes, then you are going to be getting a much different arc of movement then when using lift throttle or the e brake.

Indeed, this is only useful when trying to xtend the length of the "drift" in a car incapabe of power on oversteer.

 
Rep Power: 0

Is there not another definition of a drift that is defined as the action of losing traction equally on all 4 wheels, thus being a true sign of a perfectly neutral car and a much desired state for road racing?? And is this not where the sport of drifting came from, just going beyond the point of effiecentcy and crossing the line of sanity??

 
Rep Power: 401

you are talking about a 4 wheel slide, and unless you have an AWD vehicle, it's not something desireable.

even then, on a road course, you do not want ANY sliding or loss of traction if you are trying to get around corners as quickly as possible.

 
Rep Power: 382

Sigh... Yuo'll have to excuse my temporary absence... just getting my thoughts together before I get in to this one.

 
Rep Power: 0

All good road course drivers have moments of temporary loss of traction. If not then they are not pushing hard enough. What I am saying is that drifting is a term that describes a car, when pushed to the limits that reacts in a neutral way. This makes the limits much greater becuase to break the car lose you now have to break all 4 tires free vs. 2 (front or back depending on the setup).

 
Rep Power: 340

have you ever driven a Corolla or Sentra and tried to get those things to oversteer by dropping the throttle? NO, not all FWD can swing it's tail out....

Have you ever seen a 4 wheel drift outside of rally? In order to pull a 4 wheel drift ( have all 4 wheels break loose), the car needs to be going at speeds that are really really dangerous and can be pretty scary.

 
Rep Power: 401

No. A good road course driver knows how to push his car to the limit WITHOUT losing traction. Loss of traction = slower time.

I'm not sure what you mean about the car reacting in a neutral way. it's not neutral. it's oversteer. I'm confused here??

 
Rep Power: 0

they can and will. you might want to amend that to say "If YOU drive a corolla or Sentra..."

I promise you, lift throttle oversteer can be induced in ANY FWD car.

 
Rep Power: 382

You need some learnin on some vehicle dynamics...

why does lifting off the gas mid turn have the same effect as applying the brakes mid turn 101.

First off lets look at the dynamics of whats actually happining to the car durring those two instances.

1. throttle lift. Imagine a car mid turn, weight has fully been transfered to the outside tires, the car is balanced front to rear, and the car is cornering at or near its limits. now, you lift off the gas.... you now have an instance where the parisitc drag of the engine and drive train is forcing the front tires to slow down, sort of like a brake. This "braking" action forces more weight to be shifted to the front of the car and reducing the weight on the rear of the car, increasing the front ends traction and decreasing the rear ends traction. at this point the nose tucks in more and the *** end starts to slide out... Oh Look, Oversteer. (You stated that even if you put it in nutural the same would happen, and it would at a much reduced ammount, du to the transmission allone having much less parisitc drag then the engine and tranny combined)

2. Same situation, the car is balanced, weights been transfered mid corner, at or near its limits. Now you apply a little brake..... The braking action, forces more weight to transfer off of the rear of the car and on to the front, increasing front end traction and decreasing rear end traction.. and once again, the nose tucks in and the rear end starts to slide... Be aware taht if you over do it with the brakes and start to cause understeer due to exceeding the traction limits of the front tires you will end up in a 4 wheel slide (weight is still off the rear end allowing it to slide, but you also have the front end slidging due to too much brake). but then thats driver error. Also, you could Left foot brake to create an instance of oversteer or to correct for understeer, but thats pretty much only usefull for turns where you dont have to down shift for. ( i use it alot when I'm autocrossing, as you can play the brakes off the gas and get the car to do pretty much what ever you want, simply by adjusting weight transfer...)

So, Given that the two instances do the same thing to the chassis (they both force weight off the rear and on to the front) how are they not simmialr?

 
Rep Power: 319

alright I'll use an example with go-karts to explain this further. Go karts are easy as hell to drift, expecially the cheap ones at like "speedzone" lets say.

A driver that drifts through the turn swings wide while a driver that doesnt drift brakes before the turn and accelerates out through the apex. I was at speedzone last night and I lapped half the field.
A good driver never drifts ever.. If a driver pushes his car so that he looses traction in the apex causing the car to drift, hes not a very good driver or he doesnt know the true limits of his car.
Drifting is never a good thing, well unless you want to "look cool"
At fontana speedway the drifters are known as "The clowns" to the other race car drivers.

 
Rep Power: 319

you never cease to amaze me with your endless knowlege of racing

 
Rep Power: 0

I knew that I read this somwhere, This is taken from Mike Kijomas suspension tunning page. This is what I am talking about. And yes all good road racers do break the tires lose from time to time, it just happens and if it does not then you are not pushing hard enough. There may be a select few of amazing drivers that know there car well enough to drive on that fine line, but they have only gotten to this point from the feed back of their cars breaking lose when pushed to hard.

Neutral: This is the fast way around a turn where all four wheels slide evenly. Since the total friction circle traction of each tire is being used, all the available grip that the tires have and the car possesses is being put to the ground. Racers call this "drifting". This not to be mistaken for the idiotic Japanese Option Magazine video/Stupid Street Magazine stuff that makes a mockery of proper driving technique. Neutral is the fast way around a corner most of the time. Neutral is also the hardest handling mode to achieve for the suspension tuner.

 
Rep Power: 382

Its a pratical impossibility to tune a car to allways be Nutural... different turns, different speeds all require different setups to acheve "nutural" handling. so on any given track, a car will want to understeer trough some turns, oversteer throug others and maybe be nutural every once and a while... Key to fast lap times, tune the car to be able to take the most important turns the fastest.... (Knowing which turns those are is another matter all together). The rest of the time its up to the driver to maintain the cars balance through different driving techniques.

 
Rep Power: 401

What you are talking about is completely different. They are referring to the "drifting" the contact patches of the tire do hundreds of times per second as the car corners. This is different than what we call "drifting" or "sliding".

And regardless, it doesn't change the fact that the fastest
way around a corner is with the wheels firmly planted and the car following the line. "sliding" to the outside of a or outside of the ideal line of a corner is NOT the fastest way through a turn.

 
Rep Power: 0

I would agree, but I think that the theory behind a neutral car is that the car is as neutral as possible (it is true that all corners are different and the surface material, angle ect all play a big part). Being that in a corner where the car is being pushed to hard it will lose traction as equally as possible on all four tires. However this would be absent of any driver induced techniques such as trail braking ect. I guess the proper term would be "nominally neutral". I will say that I am very suprised how close to neutral I have been able to get my car lap or two autoxing just by messing with the tire pressure and how extreamlly crappy my car can feel with the incorrect pressure.

 
Rep Power: 0

Yes S2k I never said it was the same I mearly said that it was the same term. I do know the fastest way around a corner, but what I am saying is that EVERY car slides to some extent no matter how unnoticable it is on the track. If you go to the road track or an autox event you WILL hear variations of squeeling tires on most corners and it is not always the drivers with the slowest times making those sounds sometimes it is the fastest. I guess to prove my point every car that races wears the outside edges of the tires, some wear the front more others wear the back more. This is from the tires breaking lose to some degree and can be good feed back on driver technique and car tendencies. I guess we are getting off topic so that may be what is confusing you.

 
Rep Power: 283

^They do not really break traction,IE slide, do not know why you brought that up earlier. If they did not squeel and were on the right line they would be even faster. The reason they do is because you need to go to the cars limits, and it would be better to try and do this,having a little squeeling from time to time, then worry about a little squeeling, not taking it to limits.

car that does not squeel and has perfect traction>car that squeels sometimes but has good traction overall>car that keeps traction all the time because he does not go to limit therefore overall is slow

My point is drivers do not squeel to go faster, this is not mario cart where you need the orange smoke for a boost!!!

The other night i was messing around and went into a corner too fast, front end started slipping let off gas, back end came out a little gave it some gas and kinda recovered. Really fun with smoke and such, safe or fast? Not at all.

 
Rep Power: 0

I have no idea what you are saying, but it makes no sense