- 3,159
- Livingston, Sco
- BkS-y0
- APX BkS
So your new to drifting huh? And whatever you try, you keep spinning in the corners? Well this guide is for you newbie!
Questions:
"I keep spinning in the corners, and I can't seem to "master" how to drift. Can anyone help me?"
Advice: Try "feathering" the throttle, you don't have to be on it all the time. Watch some in-car videos of real drivers, you'll notice they aren't always on the throttle. Make sure your assists like Traction Control, Stability Control & Steering assist are all turned off, and that you ARE NOT using Automatic gearing. Manual shifting is very important when drifting!
You should only use manual gearing for drifting as it plays an important role of drifting. Automatic gearboxes were designed to help the drive keep control of the car and maximize grip. When using manual shifting, you'll be able to control the amount of power being sent from the crankshaft to the differential, helping you understand if you need more power in one's situation. Think about it this way: Your coming up to a turn with a long bend, and your in 3rd. You know 3rd gear will easily make the turn flat out on the power, but your rev gauge will bounce off the redline zone. By shifting into 4th gear, you allow the car to generate more power and torque to keep the wheels spinning, gain the advantage of having more angle going round the bend, but also able to stay inside the "torque range" without bouncing off the rev limit. This in turn will require less input from the drivers foot, meaning you will only have to feather it, instead of keeping your foot down.
Whenever you drift, you'll realise that you won't shift gear much, rather you'll stay in one gear for a period of time and then shift if you require that extra "oomph."
Try finding a technique that suits you! Here's a list of some techniques you can try. I have sorted them from easiest to hardest.
Over-power at exit of corner - As the title suggests you simply turn in, and apply a little more power at the exit of the turn. Once the car has broke traction, maintain your drift by countersteering in the opposite direction and apply some more throttle in short burst.
Handbrake initiation. - This technique involves the driver to use the handbrake or "E-brake" to lock up the rear tires to break traction. However, using this technique it's important your timing is correct and your able maintain the drift, as the car will tend to want to spin-out. Using the E-brake to lock-up your rear tires should be done in short-bursts. This way you don't upset the cars momentum, and cause it to go rearing into the tire wall. By using the handbrake in short-burst it locks-up the rear tires "gently" making it easier to break traction AND maintain the drift. You may also want to use the handbrake to extend or correct a drift.
Feint or "Scandinavian Flick" - To do this technique, you quickly turn in the opposite direction of the turn, and then turn back towards it. This forces the car to transfer it's weight from side to side, allowing the back wheels to break traction. Once you've broken traction maintain your drift by feathering the throttle, and countersteering in the opposite direction.
You may also want to try tuning your car. It's best to start of with something light, perky and low budget. You don't need much HP to start drifting, usually 300HP is about correct for low-horsepower drifting. The advantage of having a low-horsepower car is that you can get to understand how the car works. You'll be able to find out how tuning camber will effect tire contact with the track, and how your prefer your LSD. Tuning your car to your preference is key, and will give you a better understanding of the car. When tuning your car, you should keep in mind the following:
Drifting on different elevations.
When drifting on different tracks, you'll notice your car will handle slightly different to how it would handle on another track. This is called "elevation difference", meaning there are certain points, where the track will:
To get by the issue(s) of not spinning out on these conditions, there's somethings you should perhaps take note of. Tuning for these elevation differences will help eliminate these handling deformities. For instance:
Say I was in a Toyota Supra RZ, weighting around 1200kg with 600ish HP and I was drifting on a custom track with lots of bankings, steep hills both up and downhill and maybe even the odd bump on the track I would have to tune the Supra so that the tires stay in contact with the ground and that I don't go spinning into a fence or into a wall. But I would also have to make sure I tuned it right so that it's not to stiff that I can't transition properly. The key to these types of elevation differences is by tuning the suspension. If it was I, I would tune the "bound" & "rebound" settings first, as these control what the shocks do. I would want a medium-soft shock so that it can absorb the differences from changing in longitude. So if your on a 45* banking, say bending right, the left hand side of the car will compress a lot more than the right handside, because:
A) The car is transferring it's weight to the left because you are going in that direction.
and
B) With the weight transferring to the left hand side, it gives those tires more grip thus helping you maintain some traction and not spin out.
Running this kind of setting for your bound & rebound would also help you transition a lot more easily as you can shift the weight far more easily because the shocks are absorbing the kinks that the tires come up against.
In accordance with tuning the shocks, I'd then move onto tuning the springs. Now depending on the weight of the car, this is where transitioning and weight transfer play a key role. If you have a heavy big saloon type car, i.e. BMW E92 M3, you'll want some nice stiff springs as this would balance what the shocks would be doing, and visa-versa for a small light car, i.e. Toyota Corolla Trueno (AE86). Your anti-roll bars would also play a part of how you want your car to drift on different elevations, all it would do, would be countering weight transfer to help keep it at a minimum. However sometimes you will want to have soft ARB's, sometimes you will want "not-to-stiff, but stiff-enough" ARB's. These also help with inertia when initiating.
This is all trial and error, and "SHOULD" be experimented with until you feel comfortable with your set-up and how the car manages the handling deformities. Try imagine how your suspension is at work when drifting, I find that this helps me tune a lot better when I visualize the spring/shock etc doing what it's meant to do.
[*]If you need help with anything else, please don't hesitate to ask below. Practice as much as you can, the more you practice the more experience you'll gain, and also learn a thing or two.
- BkS.
Questions:
"I keep spinning in the corners, and I can't seem to "master" how to drift. Can anyone help me?"
Advice: Try "feathering" the throttle, you don't have to be on it all the time. Watch some in-car videos of real drivers, you'll notice they aren't always on the throttle. Make sure your assists like Traction Control, Stability Control & Steering assist are all turned off, and that you ARE NOT using Automatic gearing. Manual shifting is very important when drifting!
You should only use manual gearing for drifting as it plays an important role of drifting. Automatic gearboxes were designed to help the drive keep control of the car and maximize grip. When using manual shifting, you'll be able to control the amount of power being sent from the crankshaft to the differential, helping you understand if you need more power in one's situation. Think about it this way: Your coming up to a turn with a long bend, and your in 3rd. You know 3rd gear will easily make the turn flat out on the power, but your rev gauge will bounce off the redline zone. By shifting into 4th gear, you allow the car to generate more power and torque to keep the wheels spinning, gain the advantage of having more angle going round the bend, but also able to stay inside the "torque range" without bouncing off the rev limit. This in turn will require less input from the drivers foot, meaning you will only have to feather it, instead of keeping your foot down.
Whenever you drift, you'll realise that you won't shift gear much, rather you'll stay in one gear for a period of time and then shift if you require that extra "oomph."
Try finding a technique that suits you! Here's a list of some techniques you can try. I have sorted them from easiest to hardest.
Over-power at exit of corner - As the title suggests you simply turn in, and apply a little more power at the exit of the turn. Once the car has broke traction, maintain your drift by countersteering in the opposite direction and apply some more throttle in short burst.
Handbrake initiation. - This technique involves the driver to use the handbrake or "E-brake" to lock up the rear tires to break traction. However, using this technique it's important your timing is correct and your able maintain the drift, as the car will tend to want to spin-out. Using the E-brake to lock-up your rear tires should be done in short-bursts. This way you don't upset the cars momentum, and cause it to go rearing into the tire wall. By using the handbrake in short-burst it locks-up the rear tires "gently" making it easier to break traction AND maintain the drift. You may also want to use the handbrake to extend or correct a drift.
Feint or "Scandinavian Flick" - To do this technique, you quickly turn in the opposite direction of the turn, and then turn back towards it. This forces the car to transfer it's weight from side to side, allowing the back wheels to break traction. Once you've broken traction maintain your drift by feathering the throttle, and countersteering in the opposite direction.
You may also want to try tuning your car. It's best to start of with something light, perky and low budget. You don't need much HP to start drifting, usually 300HP is about correct for low-horsepower drifting. The advantage of having a low-horsepower car is that you can get to understand how the car works. You'll be able to find out how tuning camber will effect tire contact with the track, and how your prefer your LSD. Tuning your car to your preference is key, and will give you a better understanding of the car. When tuning your car, you should keep in mind the following:
- It's much better to use "Comfort:Hard" tires.
- Drifting is about balance & control.
- Tune your car in stages; Work out what does what.
- Think about your power to weight ratio.
Drifting on different elevations.
When drifting on different tracks, you'll notice your car will handle slightly different to how it would handle on another track. This is called "elevation difference", meaning there are certain points, where the track will:
- Rise in height.
- Lower in height
- Have a banking somewhere
- Have a dip, or perhaps even a bump somewhere.
To get by the issue(s) of not spinning out on these conditions, there's somethings you should perhaps take note of. Tuning for these elevation differences will help eliminate these handling deformities. For instance:
Say I was in a Toyota Supra RZ, weighting around 1200kg with 600ish HP and I was drifting on a custom track with lots of bankings, steep hills both up and downhill and maybe even the odd bump on the track I would have to tune the Supra so that the tires stay in contact with the ground and that I don't go spinning into a fence or into a wall. But I would also have to make sure I tuned it right so that it's not to stiff that I can't transition properly. The key to these types of elevation differences is by tuning the suspension. If it was I, I would tune the "bound" & "rebound" settings first, as these control what the shocks do. I would want a medium-soft shock so that it can absorb the differences from changing in longitude. So if your on a 45* banking, say bending right, the left hand side of the car will compress a lot more than the right handside, because:
A) The car is transferring it's weight to the left because you are going in that direction.
and
B) With the weight transferring to the left hand side, it gives those tires more grip thus helping you maintain some traction and not spin out.
Running this kind of setting for your bound & rebound would also help you transition a lot more easily as you can shift the weight far more easily because the shocks are absorbing the kinks that the tires come up against.
In accordance with tuning the shocks, I'd then move onto tuning the springs. Now depending on the weight of the car, this is where transitioning and weight transfer play a key role. If you have a heavy big saloon type car, i.e. BMW E92 M3, you'll want some nice stiff springs as this would balance what the shocks would be doing, and visa-versa for a small light car, i.e. Toyota Corolla Trueno (AE86). Your anti-roll bars would also play a part of how you want your car to drift on different elevations, all it would do, would be countering weight transfer to help keep it at a minimum. However sometimes you will want to have soft ARB's, sometimes you will want "not-to-stiff, but stiff-enough" ARB's. These also help with inertia when initiating.
This is all trial and error, and "SHOULD" be experimented with until you feel comfortable with your set-up and how the car manages the handling deformities. Try imagine how your suspension is at work when drifting, I find that this helps me tune a lot better when I visualize the spring/shock etc doing what it's meant to do.
[*]If you need help with anything else, please don't hesitate to ask below. Practice as much as you can, the more you practice the more experience you'll gain, and also learn a thing or two.
- BkS.
Last edited:
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Baby steps are better than no steps 
But BMW's are my trademark 
