i've been wondering if the FD would make a good drift car. i know that its got a perfect 50/50 weight split so that should make it a good candidate for drifting.

are there even many people who opt for an FD as a drift car?

 

If you want to drift a car that is extremely expensive to repair, go ahead. Personally, I don't get drifting. It's more exciting to me to drive the car around a track at the limits of adhesion but whatever floats your boat.

 

i figured the high cost of repairs for the FD was a big factor in why people don't use it to much for drifting.

the reason i like drifting is because it takes alot of skill to control your car when its broken traction and regain traction at any point you choose.

 

I hope we are talking sustained drift, not just power slide or oversteer...

Very hard to drift FD. To be exact, very hard to get a stable sustained drift.
FD has tendency to snap back or oversteer all the way into spin.
The range to get stable drift is very narrow. unlike 240sx which can stay out, and wait before it spins, giving you time to counter steer.
With FD, you have to counter immediately, too much counter you get understeer, too late counter, you spin out.
I think 50/50 is not good for drift. you want 50 or more front and less than 50 back. That way if the rear stays out, it is easy to control without that much weight.
This is also why the corolla are good, they are light in the back.

Power wise, FD is good, got plenty of it to make it drift.

I went to a couple drift event, and so far having hard time getting it to do correctly. You can check with Calvin.

 

reza, thanks alot for that post. it was the exact kinda info i was looking for. i can see how the 50/50 isn't good for drifting cuz you want the rear to break free.

i may reconsidder buying a -7- because i want something thats fast straight line for teh light to light races but also something i can willingly and freely toss around corners.

i think i may look into a 240 again or maybe a Haichi Roku.

 

if you got the means to buy a fd, do it. if not, go for a 240. just remember what ever you pick, you will crash! i try to get sideways in my fd as much as possible and its super scary on the street where you can crash very easily. in a parking lot is a bit more safe but i have still nearly hit stuff. in anycase, fd's will never be as good as 240's (stock for stock) for drifting. you can't get the camber/caster you can as a 240 and you cant turn as much to get those crazy *** angles. also, for a fd, there is no revlimiter and you can easily over boost and pop your engine.

as for 50/50 weight ratio, it does not mean anything (at least not to a beginner)! especially when your sliding, eveyrhting changes, just tune your suspension for your liking. for a beginner (which it sounds like you are), you should get a stock 240 with a manual. it makes more of a difference about how long you your wheel base is. longer=longer slide. hachis are very snappy and you cant hold them out as long as a 240 can.

powerwise, fd has too much for a beginner driver for drift. even for a beginner driver, fd has too much hp and can easily get away from you. a 240 is nice cuzyou can just pull ebrake and power thur a turn, going WOT. impossible in a working fd, youll spin your tires too fast and youll spin out very fast.

i do agree that its very hard to drift FD. To be exact, very hard to get a stable sustained drift but i think its cuz im just a newbi.

idk about FD's has tendency to snap back or oversteer all the way into spin though. if your talkign about when it snaps back at the end of a slide, its cuz you came off the gas too fast or cuz you over corrected.

 

rx-7's have that snappy feeling when u drift nost just fds, so if u want a drift car get a 240sx

 

whoa whoa whoa regain traction at anypoint you choose? you should have complete control of your car at all points in a slide if your good. repair cost are very big factors though. you gotta pay to play in any game...

 

sustained drift??? powerslide/oversteer are ways to start a slide/drift. Ebrake/weight transfer/clutch kick/shiftlock are others.

 

opps forgot to mention, you CAN use an FD's ebrake to get sideways. It will not lock up the rears (unless your trailbraking fairly hard) but will put just enuf drag on them to get the rear to kick out if you want. Infact, if you adjust it, you can easily get the car to do a really snappy uturn/jturn (this is simply done by going about 30mph, turning 180degrees and pulling up on ebrake simultanously). I can easily do them with in a 2 lane narrow road which is very helpful when you gotta turn around and do that corner again and again hehe and not do the austin powers golf cart thing, you know, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and

oh and if you do it at about 45mph, you'll slide backwards a bit hehe (im currently trying to connect a 180 turn with a 180 foward/backwards turn to do rolling 360's going foward).

oh yeah, buy a spin turn **** to keep that ebrake from locking in the up position!

goodluck



P.S. FD tranny is super crappy for newbi's to learn how to dori on, i which there was a gear right between 1st and 2nd! 2nd-3rd gear drift=pro, 1st gear drift=too slow to learn on (its ok in the wet but in the dry its sh*tty)

 

yep, dl drift bible or buy it and check out the mr2 vs s13, same concept. FD=midship car pretty much

 

i dunno hey, i think fd's make adequite drift cars, i have loads of movie clips with fd's drifting even ded stock fd's and they drifting, not powersliding or any of that but from one drift snapping it into another corner drift one way then the other, so yeah there are prolly cars which are easier to drift, but who wants it to be easy hehe, i would rather drift a car only i can drift than drift a car anyone can drift :P

 

what exactly is a power slide? Is it when you make a 90* turn and punch it to make the rear of the car slide outwards?
I drifted twice, the very first time a totaled the fd. I didnt mean to do any of it though, seriously. Second time, I was late for work and got into a little skate going around a sharp turn to fast. The second time was fun

 

loosing control of your rear end is not drift.
if you loose the rear end and got into spin, its not drift either.
if you loose the rear end, and got it back quickly without sustained sideways, its not a drift.
if you loose the rear end and able to make the car go where you want it to while sideways, now that is drifting. or car control.
Look at drift competition, then you will understand.

 

A 240sx would be a much better drift car. I usually autocross my 93 240sx, and can do anything with the rear end. It is so easy to control and get back from oversteering.

This weekend I autocrossed my 94 Rx7 and tried to control the oversteer just like I do with the 240sx. As soon as the rear came around I had no chance. It just went into a slide. I tried it 3 times, and then gave up on controlling it. After that, I just felt for the rear to get light and didn't push it any harder.

I could probably learn how to drift the Rx7, but the 240sx is a lot more fun and forgiving to play around with.

 

http://canuck2k.com/carmovies/Ruch-Montage.WMV while we are on the subject got a few more but forgot the links

 

Wasn't there some japanese animae with an FC drifting? A TII would be much cheaper to repair than an FD! Power wise, a ported and properly boosted TII would keep up with a stock RX-7. You can change some bushings in the rear end of the FC and make it "easier to control". I'd consider that over an FD.

I never had a turbo FC but I did have a '91. It really didn't have the power to do good drifts... then again, I had some pretty good tires on them so it would be more difficult to get sideways on pavement.

I don't like drifting or getting sideways in my FD. If the road is bumpy, it's easy to get wheel hop and that is too rough on a 10 year old suspension.

Get an FD if you want a race car. If you want a toy, get the 240 or an FC (because it's cheaper). Or you could get an Corolla (Levin?) GTS and do some power mods to that. It's an ugly car, rear wheel drive and pretty cheap. I think they're a bit rare, though. My friend has 2 that he's building for rally.

 

the anime was intial D most notably.

is there any way to set your ebrake to actually lock the rear?

i'd have to agree on the FC if you want a 7 for drifting, the FD just didn't sell enough in the US for it to be a drift car (aftermarket/cost wise).

 

def an fc b/c they are cheaper, uglier (just kidding :P) and cheaper to fix... also ryosuke drives it so it must be good! haha

 

get a crappy 280z, dirt cheap and easy to drift.

 

ae86 old *** toyota corrola...

 

thanks for the info. i know about the Levin and Trueno as good drift cars. thanks for helping me out with this. now i've got somethings to think about before looking for another car.

 

umm... the apexi FD is winning the national (japanese) D1 (drift) league (by quite a good margin).

It's a fantastic drift car.

Why aren't FDs seen at drift events more often?

quite simple - it's not a particularly cheap car - like the ae86, FC, s13s (silvia, 180sx), VIP cars (celsior, soarer, etc). What most people don't realise is they use crap cars because it's a dangerous (to the car) sport. At most levels, it's a fun sport.

At the top, D1, level - it's the latest silvia (s15) and FD that are the cars that win. At that level, though, they are heavily sponsored or workshop cars - where $$$ is not so much an issue.

 

AGREE AGREE AGREE ... If you guys understand Japanese in Option Videos, they were told the FDs are one of the best drift cars in the world mann...

 

This is my first RWD car with enough power to get the rear out, so I've been working on my controlled slides lately. So far this is what I've learned. I've been trying to get the hang of power on slides around corners. The latest thing I've been trying is connecting two corners together. Theres a good road with 90deg left followed almost immediatly with a 90deg right, and so far this has been my favorite practice spot.

It's a lot easier in the wet with this car. The back end comes out easily, with very little throttle, and assuming the speeds are relatively slow, the rear is easily controllable with pretty high tolerances to throttle or steering errors. The key point is to be easy on the throttle and don't just slam the gas to the floor.

In the dry, Power on slides are very easy with left hand turns at intersections when NON-SEQ. Take the turn wide and right at about mid-intersection the boost will come up, at which point you kick the wheel a little tighter, and the rear slides right out. My problem is that I get nervous and let off too fast and the rear comes back into line too quick, so I've been working on keeping the throttle hard on and sustaining the drift with the rear right where I want it. It seem like its almost as dangerous to let off too fast as you can easily over correct at which point the whole car becomes pretty unstable.

All this is done with a stock suspension and the crappiest tires you can buy (general A4's). 245's in the rear.

I havn't really done anything to crazy as I don't think the street is the appropriate place. Too many variables. So far I have yet to find a big parking lot where you will be left alone for a little while.