Drifting in controlled over-steer of the vehicle. Making the car slide, kicking the rear of the car out away from the corner. Drifting is done in a Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) Car, while Power-Sliding is done in a 4-Wheel Drive (4x4) or All-Wheel Drive (AWD) Car. If you want to know more about what drifting is; watch Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift.
There are many types/methods of drifting:
Kansei Drifting (Japanese Drifting) - Racing into the corner quickly, lifting off the throttle while cornering and controlling the drift.
Brake Drifting - Racing into the corner too quickly and hard braking, causing the car to slide, then controlling the drift through the corner.
Faint Drifting (Rally Drifting) - Starting on the same side of the corner, then steering away from the corner, and then quickly hard steering back towards the corner, making the weight of the car onto the back of the vehicle, then hard throttle to keep control of the drift. (best with soft suspension)
Handbrake Drifting - Quickly entering the corner, and ripping the handbrake, causing the vehicle to slide. The far easier way of drifting, but takes the least amount of skill.
Power Drifting (American Drifting) - Entering the corner slower than racing speed, then hard throttle around the corner, kicking the back end out. Technically, doing a long burn-out. You need a heavy car with a lot of horsepower and ability to spin the wheels at speed.
It doesn't really matter what RWD Car you start with, you can upgrade to your style. I recommend having a lighter car with around 350 - 450 Horsepower, with stiff suspension and roll bars.
On the other hand, I like to use a heavier car with around 600 - 1,000 Horsepower, soft suspension but with stiff roll bars. (Yes, I like to Power Drift with American Muscle Cars)
Tuning is the most important part of a drift car, here are the basic;
Alignment - Toe Angle - Toe Angle is the angle in which the wheels are angled horizontally. Toe In will make the wheels point slightly inwards, and Toe Out will make the wheels point slightly away from the car. Toe In on the front wheels will help for turning into a corner. Toe In on the rear wheels will give you more control on the exit of the corner, while Toe Out on the rear will help with the rotation of the car while drifting.
Alignment - Front Caster Angle - Caster Angle is the angle in which the front steering wheels are angled from the steering column. Making the angle low will allow you to turn the wheels lock to lock faster between drifts; the higher the angle, the more the wheels want to wander around turning into a corner.
Springs - Having soft springs will allow you to shift the weight of car around more easily. While stiff springs keep the car rigid and better for Japanese-Style Drifting.
Ride Height - A high ride height will help with weight transfer with soft springs, with a low ride height, it lowers the centre of gravity of the vehicle.
Aerodynamics - Downforce - If you don't know what downforce is, downforce is the force of air over the vehicle at speed. The faster you gone, the more downforce you have pressing down on the car, which improves grip of the tyres with the road, too much downforce will increase drag will makes the car slower. I recommend having more downforce on the front of the vehicle, this is because it will force the front wheels down causing the vehicle to over-steer and drift better.
But of course, all of tuning is tailors to you and your style of drifting. You need to play around with settings to find what style and what adjustments work for you.
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| Mazda RX-7 Veilside - 2005 (Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift) |
