Ok, here's the jiffy.

Over the weekend i was fourtunate enough to attend the Primus Slide or Die Event in Bradenton, Florida. There was a total of about 50 cars that acctually touched the track and around 120-130 spectators. It was very well managed, organized and set-up and was a great day all in all.

Point being this was my first drift event ever in my FC. I have an 86' GXL with factory LSD, tokico blues and eibach springs on all four corners. I am pushing roughly 170 Rwhp and "should" have enough power to get through the corner sidways while keeping the tires spinning.

Well, after 15 laps i finally started to get the hang of it, but it seemed obvious to me that i could use a different setup. I would like to hear some different opinions from anyone that has drifted their particular FC. I would like to hear suspension and tire setups as well. On the rear's i was useing a very cheap brand tire (Viper HX) 205-60-15 with about 50 psi HOT.

I understand that suspension has ALOT to do with drifting properly and again am just curious to hear what your set-ups are.

Thanks for your input,
-Markus Reschny

 

I don't think it's enough power / torque.

The stock steering doesn't have enough angle.
You can stuff spacers to gain another 5-degrees more of turning.

The FC chassis is a royal pain to drift, as the low polar moment makes it too damn quick to react.  You're basically trying to re-engineer what Mazda did right...


-Ted

 

I could see how the low tourqe could come in as being a "problem" This i can take care of at a later date. I've been reading some info regarding the shims/spacers being used in conjuntion with steeting rack, in essence it makes sense and sound like it would work fine.

The rear suspension is where the problem is. Mazda did such a great job making this car handle, your correct on that one, hell even my boss who's been racing FC's for 10 years could tell me that. However what needs to be done to the rear of the car to make it "drift" and "road race" well. If i simply install Toe eliminators in the rear would that rid of my issues?

Thanks Ted for the input,
-Markus

 

Drifted Infinion Raceway yesterday, The car handled SUPER in every turn! I can not belive how well it handled 4th gear entry drifts at turn one. Only turn I could not quite get right was turn 6. Just not enough torque from NA motor and the fastest I could enter was about 95mph before I ran out of track space. Here are the mods to my car: R&B headers and presilencer, HKS cat back, 350 lb. front and 275lb. rear springs. KYB OEM replacement struts, 2.5- front and 1.5-rear camber, factory DTSS rear bushings, shimmed steering rack, race compound rear pads. General H rated 205-55-16 tires.

Todd

NCDA.net

 

Once again I swear by the factory bushings. The swith backs of turn 8a to 9 at Infinion was more than managable at over 85 mph and I have nothing to thank but DTSS system. I know it sounds egotistic but by now I have not heard of any one else enter drifts in 4th gear at over 100mph but my self in a FC in U.S. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

I appreciate the input, and thanks for posting your sus setup. The "Art" of drifting looks very interesting and it is definatly something i can see my self getting more involved in.

Mind if i PM you with a few more questions if they arrise?

Regards,
-Markus

 

Yeah mail me or PM me any time. The red fc I was driving at the Road and Track shoot out against RSR's S14 and the Viper comp. coupe has factory rear bushings as well.

 

Power is not the issue. Look at n/a 4age AE86s. Put a larger front sway bar or stiffer suspension bushings up front. The chassis will respond. It's a matter or chassis tuning. Mazda gave us a terrific platform to start with.

Here is a funny anecdote. I learned tune my FC buy using Grand Turismo and messing with the Suspension settings. I came from the VW world and only understood front wheel drive chassis tuning. I found that many things are the same and some are completely backwards from what I did with my VWs.

Here is my setup.

Poly bushings.
APEXI T-maxx adjustables.
ST springs,
Racing beat anti roll bar (front only)

Very controllable but I do have a S5 turbo motor so I can make up for my lack of skill by powering the rear out. LOL!

Llew.

 

This is debatable.

They "make up" for it with short gearing and smaller tires.
I have a number of hachi owners who would thoroughly disagree with you down here.

Normally, this would induce more understeer - something you do not want to do with a drift vehicle.

I want to add my 2 cents about Mazda giving us a terrific platform to drift - it's not.  You really need to go drive a Nissan S-type chassis and see for yourself how "badly" the Mazda chassis is versus the Nissan S-type chassis in terms of a drift vehicle.


That is already the wrong thing to say...


-Ted

 

eh bra, tell 'em about driftsession...

 

Ted's got a point, Mazda did not engineer this car to go sideways. But they sure is fun to drift in.

Actually, let me add this, the car doesn't require reengineering to drift. It can be done on a stock car, I've seen it. And my suspension is pretty much stock right now. It's just not as easy as some other cars.