t2pshhh

I own a t2. Haven't owned it for long. My first rwd car. I want to learn but every website I've been to isn't clear on exactly what to do.

help me out

Funkspectrum

iTrader: (5)

go to an empty parking lot, set up a few cones, try to slide around em. another option is to sign up for some type of local auto-x or gymkhana. you can easily practice drifting in a relatively safe environment provided that the location is prime....

bknopps

I used to have a webpage with like step by step ...
um ... try drifting dot com forum faq. and watch teh drift bible to you have every movement meorized. But before that learn your car I can't stress that enough. It'll save you headaches down the road. Oh and get ready to pay a bunch to fix your car your going to need it. If you wanna drift I think you should get a POS 240sx ( becuase who cares if you blow it or wreck it ... you can sell it rolling chassis to the guys at zilvia ) and learn some stuff first while your learning how to drive your t2.

KatakanaKarl

Yes, do get the Drift Bible. Good video.

http://www.drifting.com/Drift_Bible.php

SPiN Racing

Start there. For sure.

DRIVE IN THE RAIN.

You will learn a LOT of car control in the rain.
If you dont have rain.. try snow.
If no snow.. and youre in.. like the desert or something.. Find hard packed ground with dusty sand..

Basically practice having the car sideways. And keep pushing it further sideways. (Where there is nothing to hit)
When you can hit the steering lock.. and keep the car there for extended periods of time.. you are getting close.
Then do a drift at the lock to one side.. then transition to the other without spinning... Etc.

Just keep practicing.. you will learn a ton doing it first hand. The video is a great start.. but practice is the only way to master it.

BigWillieStyles

hey does anyone know where i could download driftbible vids?

jeremy

iTrader: (1)

invest in bodywork.

lastphaseofthis

iTrader: (8)

once somebody told me the basic thing you do is if you have a lower howpower class, or just a regular car u keep it in a low gear, like 2nd at high rpm(5-7k) should be doing below 40 then just give ur ebrake a quick yank(make sure u push in the clutch first then rev the engine to 7k or "your redline") then once u loose traction u want to depress the clutch and let your engine keep the tires spinning, but your really just gonna go out and try it somewere.
i first practiced on a wide abandoned dirt road, but i was mor of rallying then drifting, never theless, u get pretty sideways, good luck!

gnx7

iTrader: (10)

DRIVE IN THE RAIN. You will learn a LOT of car control in the rain.

Learn car control. Pushing a car from traction to "drifting" and back to traction is a fine art. I started learning a few days after getting my drivers license as my first car was an '84 Corolla AE86 . Every fresh rain we would go to open parking lots and just practice power slides, 360's hanging the tail out, and car control.

Find an open space with no traffic to practice... or you will either get arrested and/or crash your car and endanger others. The more power... the easier it is on dry pavement.

Save up for tires... you will need them.

Good luck,

Mark

t2pshhh

I understand the sliding concept, it is using the clutch and which gear the car should be in during the turn that I don't know.

last time i tried i did a turn in 3rd gear, nothing but grip. tried again in 2nd gear, nothing but grip. its kinda funny, cause my tires are shittttttttttttttty and it still grips. don't know what i'm doing wrong.

bknopps

Okay get some shitty tires and make sure you have four spares! Pref full sized. Assuming your car is in perfect mechanical condition and thinking you know how to drive your car. Try doing 180s in a parking lot first after your confortable then try the stuff on http://www.driftsession.com my personal favorite drift is the clutch kick http://www.driftsession.com/drift_te...clutchkick.htm If you stay out at the local track you usually can get some used tires by teh dumpster that are still in usable shape ... and there is no ONE way to drift! The stuff on dirft session are just the basic ones ... the foundation.

But seriously before you even start I can not stress this enough learn the car!

TO4E-SE

make sure that if your tuboII is your daily driver try to practice where there is allot of open space . and also like everyone says start playing around in the rain but try to find a HUGE empty parking lot so if you do loose control you wont damage your car or hit someone elses car . i started in the rain then got pretty good so i started drifting in the dry pavement but thats when it started taking a toll on my car. i first lost my LSD, then lost a beautiful set of rare hayashi rims to a curb,and last but not least since i lived in the redline while drifting my engine said POP. that was my old stock 85 gsl-se which was my daily driver . whenever it rained on my way to work or back home i was sideways all the way to work. AND since i am a little on the NUTS side ,have any of you guys in miami ever seen a Fedex truck sideways . that would have been me.
also practice at night where you know hardly anyone goes . do it in the dirt too just do doughnuts , thats how you will learn how your car behaves. and whenever it rains jump out get in your car and start drifting .
good luck and be safe

rhscare

Just go out there and do it. No one can teach you. They can only give you basic concepts. Driving in the rain is great for saving your tires, but if thats the only time you go out, your asking for a meeting with the curb when you realize all the understeer our cars have the first time dry. Drift Bible is fun to watch and you can pick up some good concepts, just dont be trying to shift lock on day 2 and be out a car for a few months. Just have fun with it, and keep the maintainance up.

TurboIIGuy

Drift Bible is a great compilation of teachings for basic understanding, but remember every car drifts a little differently especially when you can or cant afford to put 2g's into your suspension......It seems no one in here pointed out the cheapest and most important thing you need to break traction.......its the piece you need to change in order to not have so much grip in your turns.......its the "toe eliminator bushings"...
You can find them all over ebay or get them from mazdatrix.com or racingbeat.com....
Heres a link to them on mazda trix...http://mazdatrix.com/h6_86-92.htm

Also the clutch kick is one of the easiets ways to start, go into a turn in 1st gear, top end, and as you enter pop it into 2nd gear and play the throttle...I have taught a lot of guys ut here how to start drifting like that.....It is low speed so you have enough time to react.
Don't be tense when drifting, keep the adreanaline low, just relax and enjoy it.....

Get the bushings and grab a copy of the DRift Bible and just start doing it, but keep it safe.......When you are learning to drift the curb is not a friendly thing......

Gene

iTrader: (1)

OK. I just got back from Hyperfest, where I was doing HPDE classes, I've been doing them for 4 years now. There were also several NASA races, and a drift competition, with its finals held on turns 4-9 on the Summit Point main track. From watching the drifters, I will tell you this:

To drive the car "wrong" you first better be damned good at driving it the right way. I would suggest doing HPDE events for a couple of seasons and become a good driver before you try drifting, because to do it well is not easy. You'll learn more about car control and the mechanical aspects of cars then you ever could attending autocrosses and dodging abandoned shopping carts after hours.

Edit: if you take that T2 to track events, try to have arrangements for a tow if needed. I blew up my own T2 twice at track events.

spot_skater

it's pretty hard to power-over in an rx-7, unless you're modded well...imo

i drive an FC N/A, an s4, lightly modded. that could be the reason i can't power over.

if i ever want to get sideways i tend to use the clutch kick method
most drifts are done in 2nd gear, btw.

usually when i wanna do one, i'll downshift to second, get in the powerband 4500+rpm, keep it in gear, turn hard, while depressing the clutch, rev it up a little bit and dump the clutch to break the rear tires.

once they break you will start to get real sideways, real fast.

it's at that point you've gotta countersteer and feather the throttle to control where you want to go...

it takes practice, don't practice on streets, or in lots with poles or anything, or curbs.

be careful about it, good luck

sorry about the shitty punctuation and whatnot, i'm lazy right now, plus it's drifting... =x

TurboIIGuy

Followint this thread I see nobody has taken the time to point out that you need to re adjust your alignment settings to be able to break traction easier since the cars are made to handle exceptionally well in stock form.
With rear steer eliminator bushings and cut springs on an 88 GXL I started learning how to drift a few years back. I will post some videos of some street action sometime if anyone wants to see. I used to pull long sideways slides using clutch kick for right turns and feint drifts for left turns. I used those methods since I was driving on the streets. There is obviously more room to turn left when you have to cross so many lanes you know.

DamonB

Sure. Let's see them.

Boswoj

Uhhh.........so why is this in th RACING section? OK - I've heard all the propaganda about drifting attracting young people to motorsports, and how drifting is an example of good car control, and how it takes practice and skill to develop and I agree with those things in part, but I still don't get it! When I was a kid I went to see the Joie Chitwood Auto Thrill Show down at the local circle track and it was so freakin' cool that I could hardly stand it. They slid the cars around and jumped 'em and drove on two wheels - it was awesome. But even in my short-attention-span-adolescent-mind I knew it was ENTERTAINMENT. Drifting is ENTERTAINMENT. When it is judged, it is judged subjectively, much like Ballroom Dancing, which is ALSO not a sport as far as I am concerned. If the proponents of "drifting" want to organize and schedule appropriate venues to safely practice and exhibit their "activity" to their sideways hat wearing, attention starved peers then I am all for it. Heck, I've raced enough to know that sliding ain't the quick way around a racetrack - but it sure can be fun sometimes! The problem with it is that kids ( yep - I said the "K" word ) want to practice it in parking lots or worse yet on public roads! When was the last time you saw Wal-mart encouraging the local punks to stop by and practice burning up tires in the parking lot? Local merchants can't even stomache skateboarders damaging their property and incurring insane amounts of insurance liability. You think they are going to welcome Johnny Learnerspermit and his Overagressive Underskilled Uninvited Thrill Show to parking lots nationwide? Consider this: Anything that is paved, someone paid for who probably doesn't really want you to tear it up and legally endanger it with your underskilled thrashing about. As an alternative, try spending a tiny bit less on pants that don't fit and neighbor-annoying, thumping, ghetto obscenity broadcasting car stereos and invest that time and money in a couple of local performance driving schools. Gain some ACTUAL car control skills, then consider entering some local autocrosses and continue to improve. I know - drifters don't want to sell out to the establishment, but bite the bullet and try some of the mainstream ways to get the knowledge you need to reach your goals. If drifting is still around when you have made some progress, then there is plenty of time to join in. Unless it turns out to be just another counter culture, "look-at-me" youth rebellion fad, in which case you will still have developed some great skills that may keep you alive when you really need them. You're welcome.

(Yes - I'm an opinionated old jackass. But I am still occassionally right.)

TurboIIGuy

I for one can appreciate some of the comments and points made by Boswoj.
It is true, I have seen many clips here on the video forum, of dumb kids doing dangerous things in parking lots or intersecctions late at night and calling it drifting. Most of it is not. There are venues to practice drifting at though, such as Drift Day, held by the Drift association. They work closely with D1 Grand prix. Yes sliding a turn is not the fastest way around a turn but it has its advantages when you look at where it became a sport. Drifting originated in the early 80's in the Touges of Japan. When you're racing through a mountainside road its not very practical to try and make your tire stick thruogh a downhill hair pin turn. You risk loosing control at the wrong moment, instead drifting it put you in controlled chaos if you will. on a flat road course there is no need for drifting it is just for fun.
I do not believe it can be dismissed as a look at me fad only because it has been around for so many years already. D1 has been around holding professional events since the early 90's now. In Japan where most of the D1 events are held tickets cost around $90, out here they are only around $30. But no matter where you go, you will never attend a D1 event that is not sold out. And look at how deeply invested so many companies are into their sponsored teams, sponsorships rival those of any other division of motorsport.
As far as the scoring in a drift event it is rather technical. You may already know the points of scoring but I will list them anyway.
First there is entry speed which is also scored next to angle of entry and point of drift, and "agressiveness of attack" start. Those are the points scored on the first 3rd of the drift turn.
Then the clipping angle and control of car and scored in the middle of the turn. Finally exiting speed, angle of exit, and overall legnth of drift get scored on the ending.
From past conversations with people unclear on the point of drifting I have realized that you can either appreciate the technical aspect that is put into each turn or you can just wave it off as bening a pointless waste of time at a race track. At any rate a sport is just about anything that fans want to see now a days. And when you look at the fact that hacky sack competitions and dungeons and dragons tournaments are going on every week in this world its then that I for one can look at drifitng and appreciate it for everything that goes into it and everything it draws from a crowd. (cuz hacky sacka nd D&D is a waste of time to me)
P.s. I do not mean to offend any die hard hacky sack or D&D lose...uuhh... I mean players..... :o)

ghettostamps

I'm ganna hit you up with some good locations to start drifting and where to start in with drifting events. The website should be finished soon, it'll give you all the area's in your region that involve drifting and like events. Don't practice in the streets, even parkign lots can get you in trouble.

Also, learn decelration drifts first, much safer I feel than going all out pushing your car through the entire corner. First thing is first, e-brake.

Boswoj

Don't get me wrong - I am all for having fun in cars, and it's not eally for me to judge what is right and what is wrong as long as others practice their fun in a safe and responsible fashion. That is one of the main disagreements that I have with recognizing drifting. Yes, there are safe venues to learn and compete - but they are a tiny minority of the "drifting" that occur in the US. Safe, closed circuit drifting events and practices are a tiny speck on the motorsports map - and the impressionable young suckers - uhh - I meant "highly suceptible to marketing" young fad followers that want to do it so badly have no intention of participating in anything like "licencing", "certification", or "regulation". Pretending they are wild rulebreaking daredevils to their peers is most of the fun. The main reason they aren't in more legitimate forms of motorsport is because it's populated by rule-enforcing, safety concious, sponteneity killing a-holes like me. Taking the time to properly and safely prep a car for competition, donning the REQUIRED safety gear, and demonstrate some level of driving talent and experience insults the drift generation who want to be immediately recognized for their MADD SKILLZ without further scrutiny.

As for the justification of "drifting" around hairpin corners, no one does it any more often or any better than World Rally drivers, and it is accomplished with hard braking, a flick of the parking brake to rotate the car, then smooth acceleration out. It isn't a contest to slide the fastest and the farthest because sliding a car is really primarily useful for rotating a car that wants to push, or burning off speed.

If sideways car control is what it is all about then why doesn't everyone buy a Chevette, put high pressure space saver spares on all four, and drift non-stop at about 15 MPH?

For me, ski jumping was ruined when it became a subjectively scored sport. It used to be that whoever flew the furthest and finished standing up won. No questions about "style points" or "beauty in the air". Go race, and everybody knows who won. Go drift and tell everybody how cool you are - probably more so if you have a car that looks like a stomped cockroach from all the ditches, roadsigns, and cherished family pets you've hit. Drifting means telling everyone how good you are without ever having to produce clear results. This non-competitive, no discipline, hardship and challenge free society we are trying to produce for our youth is crap and will only dump them into an EXTREMELY competitve world completely unprepared. Ha - now you know what is REALLY bugging me. Good luck all, I'm off my soapbox.

rynberg

Boswoj: I think you may be my missing twin....

COsborne

Get in your car (in the rain of course) and floor it into every turn you can find. Aim for a tree. If you feel like spending your time a little more wisely you could volunteer at a track day or go to an autocross.

RETed

First, your post count is low - learn how to search, both on here and a web search.

Second, how old are you???
You sound like a 17-year old punk.

Third, learn how to drive properly first.
Then you drift...
A lot of kids get this notion they can just jump into drifting without learning how to grip first.
Bad mistake.
All the fundamentals in grip racing apply to drifting.
An apex is an apex.
Oversteer and understeer still mean the same thing.
Weight transfer works both ways.
Early apex and late apex all mean the same.
If I've lost you, you need to do more research and get some experience under your belt.
Else, you're going to end up piling the car almost all the time.



-Ted