I'd love to learn how to drift in my car. Can anyone shed some light as to how a drift is done? Can it only be done with a big HP, RWD car? Is braking involved? In which gear? Redline? Is it a faster alternative to getting into and out of turns? I'd love to practice it at the track...

 

Big time drifting is frowned upon at the track because they have to pry you off of the tire barrier.
You can drift as much as you want at an autoX. I love it, but it is not as fast as driving at the edge of drifting, and is impossible to drift with the necessary accuracy needed to drive the perfect line.

 

By drifting, I'm assuming that you mean the rear tires are actually sliding so you have to provide correction with the steering wheel. This is the faster way around a track only if the surface has a low coefficient of friction (ie, dirt, ice). This is why it is used in rally racing. On asphalt, you will be scrubbing off speed.

To drift, you need to trail brake into a corner to shift the car's weight forward. The next step is to apply enough throttle to break the rear tires loose. I have a couple of Best Motoring videos that show the s2k drifting. Next time I see you I can give you a copy. (I'd email them to you but they are 600MB each)

 

You need to learn weight transfer - how the pedals affect the relative amounts of tire grip, front and rear, and therefore the amount of drift, front and rear.

Get a copy of Grand Turismo II on Playstation. Get the game licenses and do some races. This will give you a good introduction.

Then find a big parking lot. Set up a cone and do some circles, increasing speeds and playing with the pedals and steering.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RandyP
[B]Big time drifting is frowned upon at the track because they have to pry you off of the tire barrier.

 

What do you mean by trail brake? So I should brake into a turn hard then full throttle? I've got the BM tapes too but not in En-grish

 

I've heard people learning on GT II or is it III? How real is that?

 

Like others have said, drifting will scrub off speed in the corner. To trailbrake, you enter a corner under braking. As you approach the turn-in point, slowly release the brake pedal so that your tires can generate cornering grip. Continue to release the brakes till the apex and move onto the throttle. This is a delicate process. If you release the brakes or get onto the throttle too quickly while turning, you'll snap the rear end out. The benefit of trailbraking is two fold:

1. You can carry more entry speed into the corner.
2. You can rotate your rear end to help get your car pointed in the correct direction.

When you go into a corner, you usually do all of your braking in a straight line and hold the entry speed constant throughout the corner (or accelerating at the apex). By trailing your braking, you'll be able to carry more speed into first part of the corner.

Trailbrake rotation is nice when you have a tight turn (say a sharp 90 degree turn or a double apex corner). The key to getting rotation is to carry enough speed into a corner.

GT3 is fairly realistic. It can't compare to real track time, but it will get you used to putting in the correct inputs to the car.

 

Gilcwong has written up a great explanation of trail breaking so I don't need to say anthing else on that topic.

wantone, you may want to take the Car Control Clinic held by the local BMWCCA chapter. They have a skip pad exercise which is great for learning how to control the car using weight transfer. These clinics are held about every 6 weeks and are open to all cars. They cost around $50 for a one day course and you will need to become a BMWCCA member first.

BTW - the Best Motoring videos I have aren't in english but they have subtitles.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gilcwong
[B]Like others have said, drifting will scrub off speed in the corner.