The Drift - Grip Relation

First off let me state i am only expressing opinions and concepts i have found to be proven effective. your style could be different from mine so no flaming please! Dont race on public roads and if you hurt yourself trying any of this. Don't blame me






Lets First tackle the common misconception in the racing world:

Grip = Real Racing

Drift = Show racing

This is simply not true. Its a combination of the two! The deciding factors are:

1.) Your car and its engine / drive train layout.

2.) Your suspension

3.) The surface(s) your racing on.

4.) Your tires

5.) Your driving Style.


Example : FR

With a FR your front tires are taking the brunt of your braking and turning, While your rears are handing the accelation and lateral adhesion. Your driving style will dictate how your tires wear out. Later braking is the more common way people will drive a FR on a touge because the sudden weight transfer to the front wheels insures they can corner with minimal under steer. Naturally under extreme driving conditions this could be helpful. However if you payed attention in physics you know that for every action there is a equal and opposite reaction. Which in this case is over steer, Something that is very common in a rear wheel drive car. the key here is balance. A good driver can some into a corner a little hotter then he/she should do a small brake transfer drift and by small i mean maybe 2 degrees and STAY IN YOUR LANE (so if your not good enough to pull it off and stay in your lane don't try it) The drift is barely visible to the naked eye. When you apply this technique is based on your driving style. but normally i recommend doing it when your tires are starting to wear just slightly.


Example : AWD

With all wheel drive you have large amounts of grip in the twisties as well as when you put the power to the ground. As all of you may know and see drifting is a common occurince in rally racing on soft surfaces (excluding silt because then you roll..not drift)

Many people can speculate serveral reasons on why its done and its benefits. But i will simply tackle the lack of grip on the surface. Again This is a trial and error senario because your tires suspension and engine all determine which is the most effective. The example i use is with myold dsm but the principles are similar. oversteer slightly, counter steer gently and the most important part KEEP THE POWER ON! in a all wheel drift you are in great danger of a condition called "phantom grip" which you can figure out the definition by the name. if the tires get a chance to grab while your on a drift threw a corner, your probably in deep crap because you will either stop dead, spin out, or launch out of the corner heading into a wall because you dropped the power and reapplied it. if you get into a sticky situation and feel yourself sliding to a halt and you wont hit anything , let it! i have seen countless people try to stay in the race and keep the car moving and thats when it all goes wrong. Otherwise on Hard surfaces Drifting just isnt recommended and will slow you down in a awd. they are some exceptions, chicanes that change elevation and cause the weight to come of the suspension, your tires becoming puppy poo from you driving too hard on them. but again within reason. if you have to let the tail out a little to scrub speed and corner quicker it should be barely visable to the human eye. Oneiguy has seen me drive my wrx and knows what i am talking about. my proxies are junk


Midships

Middle engine RWD cars

(i.e Fiero, MR2, expensive things from italy)

Similar to a FR But less of it and ALOT smoother. Really i dont see many racing applications for it in this class of car. but to each his own. just remember, with a midship you can and will get the "pendulum effect" which means "Sudden Snap Oversteer" meaning if you get one of these too sideways its too late. they react violently so Please keep that in mind.

More to come later , have fun, keep it safe!

nice write up

I think just like in any race, it's all about speed, balance and control. in both road racing, drifting, autocross, rally racing, they practice the fine harmony between the basic three elements. Unlike road racing, where it depends on solid foundation of routine and mental discipline, drifing offers more of a freedom from that of the road racing. Where road racing will have ridgid rules and scoring systems, drifting will have style points judged by few individuals. I think that's where the seperation starts. In drifting, unlike road racing, whoever finishes first doesn't neccessarily finish as a winner, rather whoever gets more smoke, gets closer to the other car and drives crazier tend to win the competition, where stable and calculated drving along with actually finishing faster than anybody in the class will win you the race in road racing.

Like any auto-sports, the tires, suspension, cars layout, engine, will all be different.

I guess the concept of drifting being "show racing" comes from the lack of history behind the racing heritage of the sport itself, since it's fairely new compare to other established sports, and how the points system is very different from all of the other racing (rally, f-1, gt, road racing in general, auto-x, etc.). Difference being that it's not timed. You're not racing to get the fastest time.

I have some personal concerns about the judges who judge those events as well as how the score system works. Seems to me other similar sports that uses the same point system would be the figure skating, which doesn't really do too much for the sport's reputation. Just like ice skating, points are judged on the moves you make and there isn't a finish line where whoever gets there first wins (like speed skating). But both of the sports, both ice skating and drifting, takes considerable amount of skills and effort. But some people rather stay away from the "showiness" of the ice skating or drifting and rather prefer the traditional ice hockey or GT3 racing.

Don't forget Initial D and real Touge racing

yungdz wrote:

Don't forget Initial D and real Touge racing

you're right. The Real Touge racing is hardcore. I really do think that's got to be the scariest racing out there.

Trekster wrote:

yungdz wrote:

Don't forget Initial D and real Touge racing

you're right. The Real Touge racing is hardcore. I really do think that's got to be the scariest racing out there.

im hoping to give that a good run when i am over there in Feb. gonna see about buying a car for it and brining it back.

When you are over there, you wanna buy me a Suzuki Cappuccino and ship it over here??? I hear those cars are a monster in the corners!