Drifting Equipment

Brakes
If you want to drift seriously, you better get your brakes upgraded. Minimum requirements need you to have pads all around. Change your brake fluid or better still replace it for complete synthetic brake fluid. Adding braided brake hoses will further ensure that braking disasters are minimized. If you are spending money on the brakes also consider upgrading to bigger brake disks which are vented, drilled and grooved.

Suspension.
Control is the key, so a soft suspension setup will cause a lot of problems and create a rugged ride. The suspension varies from car to car and driver to driver. It is worth getting suspension you can modify yourself so look for ones that permit custom ride height, stiffness and electronic adjustment to the dampers.Get one that you are comfortable with.

Suspension can be supplemented with strut braces for rigidity and also by switching rubber bushes for polyurethane to aid stiffness. Set the front for negative Camber to give the front more grip and help with over steer. The rears should be set with very little negative camber (virtually vertical) to reduce grip in corners.

Steering.
Ensure that your steering rack is in very good condition and has no turn when the wheels are straight when the steering wheel is in its default rotation. A quick lock to lock steering rack is an excellent thing to have. Small steering wheels are actually horrible so get the big ones.

Clutch.
The clutch is one of the most used parts of the car for drifting. For drifting, get the heavy duty clutch. Double and Triple plate clutches are good as are ceramic, brass button clutches but these are not always available for all the cars. Various compounds are available. If you get a heavy clutch and your car has a cable clutch pedal make sure that the cable is heavy duty enough.

Body work.
You will crash and spin off. Impact with other vehicles and barriers is also typical especially as you are starting out. In pro drift championships the bumpers are secured with cable ties so when the inevitable happens the bumper rips off breaking the cable tie and suffers little damage itself.

Tyres.
Have you noticed that the main sponsors of drift championships are tyre companies (call me synical). You will get through more tyres than anything else. You’ll often overhear drifters talking about how many Tyres Per Mile they get through.

If you are starting out stick with cheap part worn tyres.  Some drivers stretch small tyres on a large rim to aid stability. Some drives have different sizes (height and width) on the front to the rear. Look for low profile tyres as these are less inclined to roll off the rims under heavy sliding. Tyre pattern is a matter of individual choice I suggest that you chat with other drivers and see what they are using. Typically hard compound on the back and the rear tyres are what you will use more of. Tyre pressures also can make a big difference - experiment with different pressures to see how handling is affected as this varies greatly from car to car.

Jump Drift

Similar to Dirt Drop Drifting, jump drift is also banned on most tracks. The rear wheels hit the rumble strip at the side of the track. The vibration is enough to upset the delicate balance of grip momentum and traction and the rear of the car slides.

Dirt Drop Drifting

This is a technique banned on most tracks. You allow the rear wheels to leave the tarmac surface into a lower griping surface like dirt, gravel or grass. The cars speed will remain pretty stable through this technique as the rear tyre friction is much lower.

1. Enter the turn at a lower speed that you need

2. Accelerate on the turn and turn the steering in such a way that your rear wheels go off road

3. When your rear wheel goes off the roadway, the low traction surface should cause your wheels to break the traction. Stay on the throttle as your vehicle returns to the roadway to continue the drift.

4. When you feel the vehicle’s rear end kicking out, immediately counter steer the wheels to face straight with the road. Your vehicle will pull in the direction of the front wheels, as long as the wheels are still moving. Keep on the throttle. If you press the brakes or let off the throttle because your vehicle is in an extremely over steered condition, you will spin out or leave the road. So be careful!

5. When you wish to straighten out your car, after completing the drift, let off the throttle smoothly and straighten out the wheels as your vehicle kicks in line behind the front tires.

Clutch Kick Drift

To make the car slide, you press the clutch suddenly which causes the car to temporarily lose traction and starting the rear wheel on a bend. To effectively use the engine brake, make sure that  when the clutch is presses, the engine speed drops so that when the clutch is released the wheel move faster than the lower engine which gets it a  speed that it neededs to cause a pull and a breaking traction.  Blipping the throttle will raise the engine speed so that when the clutch is released the driven wheels spin faster than they should so that the traction is broken.

1. Enter a turn at a speed too high for the vehicle to handle (if you do not drift, your vehicle should experience under steer at this speed).

2. Turn your wheels into the turn and stay on the throttle.

3. At this speed, your vehicle should start to experience under steer. When this happens or right before this happens, clutch in, but stay on the throttle.

4. By clutching in and staying on the throttle, your engine will now rev up to high rpms. As soon as this happens, dump the clutch, causing your rear wheels to break traction.

5. When you feel the vehicle’s rear end kicking out, immediately counter steer the wheels to face straight with the road. Your vehicle will pull in the direction of the front wheels, as long as the wheels are still moving. Keep on the throttle. If you press the brakes or let off the throttle because your vehicle is in an extremely over steered condition, you will spin out or leave the road.

6. When you wish to straighten out your car, after completing the drift, let off the throttle smoothly and straighten out the wheels as your vehicle kicks in line behind the front tires.

Front Wheel Drive Drifting

Go to a large open space. Accelerate and pull the hand brake or use the parking brake. You’ll get over your fears after a few times. Put up a cone in the middle of the lot. Drive until the speed reaches 20 or 30. Smash on the brake and turn the car towards the cone. Immediately after you feel the rear to come around, turn the opposite direction. This is called as the opposite lock. Repeat the same method with higher speeds until you can control your car. After a while, these will become natural to you. Never do these on roads! Gradually increase the speed until they have mastered at a speed that is comfortable. Congrats, you’re drifting on a front wheel drive!

Rear Wheel Cars - Drifting

Rear wheel drive cars are what you should go for if you like drifting. But going for the higher-powered models should be warned against beause of the limited slip diff. A quick burst of acceleration at the right moment is just enough to break the adhesion of the back of the car.

So you want to drift with a rear wheel drive? Head to an open area like a parking lot which is free of pedestrians and motorists. Accelerate and shift to the second gear, which is the best because of the large speed variation possible and is best for using the engine’s torque without overly stressing the mechanical objects inside. Push in the clutch to let the engine pumped. With the engine is revving, flick the steering wheel to the outside of the turn and steer strongly inside towards the turn. Simultaneously, release the clutch. Also, if you feed uncomfortable pull your hand brake to further reduce traction. Remember never to brake while in this state. While that won’t kill your car initially, it is a bad habit to get into. Don’t start now.
Immediately steer the car in the direction of the slide. There you go, you’re drifting!

Car Drifting Theory

The whole theory of car drifting is your tyres adhesive nature allowing the car to slide along the road with the tyres sticking on to the road. Finding the point when the adhesive nature is released is the whole trick.The quality of your tyres and the size of the tyres aids in drifting.

Once a car begins to drift, the control of the car comes into the way the driver handles the streering wheel and the brakes. At precisely the right moment you have to go with the drift with a measure of opposite lock and use the throttle and steering to control the drift. This state sustained is calle Drift Lock.