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This is something I tell everyone I ride with at drift events, but I've never seen it discussed on any forums and I think a lot of the newer drifters could benefit from it.
Number one for you guys and girls out there who do not have a lot of experience with high performance driving: you will save yourself a LOT of time and money if you go to some local autocross events. Some autocross events offer 2 courses one being a timed competition type course and the other usually being a driver education/novice course. Coming to terms with how a car reacts to throttle, brake and steering inputs is KEY to controlling a car in any form of racing but it is PARAMOUNT to drifting. Learn your cars limits and especially learn how to feel understeer and oversteer.
A big part of this is good tires that are properly inflated. For high performance driving it is usually best to look at the manufacturers recommended tire pressures located on the door jamb usually below the latch or on the door itself near where the latch is. Once you find your cars recommended tire pressures (usually between 32 and 38psi for passenger cars) I recommend you add about 4-6psi. The manufacturer recommends pressures that are designed for safe driving and also comfortable ride. When you are pushing the cars limits you need more air in the tires in order to stop the tires from flexing too much and the 'contact patch' changing shape.
For a 240sx or other 2500-2800lb car 38psi is a good starting point. for something between 2800-3200lbs 40-42psi usualy works well, For a car heavier than that, maybe 44-46psi, but DO NOT exceed the maximum pressure on the side of the tire. Very light cars like Miatas, MR2's or stripped 240sx's can sometimes get away with 32-36psi.
Ok so now youre ready to go drifting, you've learned what understeer and oversteer feel like and you want to master oversteer.
What I see a lot of people do at events is enter a turn and have a lot of understeer and then turn more because the car isnt turning as much as they want. This wont fix the understeer.
From the drivers seat there are 2 cures for understeer:
1-Slow down by either letting off the throttle or light brake application. Too hard on the brakes and you're going to understeer again by transferring too much weight to the front tires and overloading them.
2-Turn less.
The tires have a limit of how much friction they can provide. If the car starts to understeer you have reached that limit. Turning the steering wheel more will NOT turn the car any more and you will just keep understeering. So when you feel understeer, turn a little bit less and you will regain the tires maximum traction. If by turning less you are not going to make the corner, you need to slow down until the car can turn tighter without understeering. This is also where a slight brake application can transfer some weight to the front tires giving you a larger contact patch and some more grip, but dont slam the brakes or you will transfer so much weight the front tires cant handle it.
A tire has a certain amount of grip it can provide and 100% of this grip can go to braking, or 100% can go to turning.
Of course you can turn AND brake at the same time, but only in proportion to each other. 60% turning 40% braking or 50% and 50% etc etc
Now another thing I sometimes see drivers doing when understeering:
Use throttle to break the rear tires loose in order to start oversteer and get rid of the understeer. This might work, but if you dont break the tires loose, it will actually make the car understeer more since the car transfers weight to the rear when you accelerate and that takes weight off the front, meaning less traction in front, meaning even MORE understeer.
Here's another problem with this approach:
Lets say that of you are in a left turn and understeering, you steering is turned hard to the left and you use throttle or maybe even a clutch kick to make the rear tires break loose. Now the car starts to slide sideways and you need to countersteer by steering to the right and maintaining the slide. If you were steering all the way to the left when you started the slide, now you have to turn the steering wheel fast to the right (maybe 3 full turns or more)to try and catch the slide. Usually in this situation the car snaps sideways so fast that it is hard to catch and it ends in a spin.
You are much better off to initiate the slide with a feint, some e-brake, or a quick turn-in combined with clutch kick. Now you only have to turn the steering wheel half as many times to catch the same slide.
Once you've mastered your entry and you are able to hold a nice slide though your first turn, the hardest part is going to be transferring from a slide in one direction to another direction. The reason this can be difficult is the same as the understeer-to-clutchkick scenario.
Let's take the same left hand slide and you have a nice angle and the next turn is a right hander. If you are at or near maximum angle when you need to transfer into the right hand turn, and you ease off the throttle to regain rear traction, when the rear end grips and your counter steer is at full lock, the car is going to snap VERY HARD to the right. You are going to have to go from full lock one way to near full lock the other. Again maybe 3full turns or more.
Going from lock to lock is a fairly advanced technique and you will see the pros do it a lot, but when you are learning, the best way to do a transfer is this:
Reduce your slide angle before you regain rear traction to throw the car into the right hand turn. This will make the car transfer a little softer when the rear tires grip and you will be able to follow the slide with the steering and apply throttle as you slide through the right hand turn and increase your slide angle.
Once youve become comfortable with your transfer then you can start to push the limits of transferring at big angles.
Hope this helps all of you getting into the sport.
Number one for you guys and girls out there who do not have a lot of experience with high performance driving: you will save yourself a LOT of time and money if you go to some local autocross events. Some autocross events offer 2 courses one being a timed competition type course and the other usually being a driver education/novice course. Coming to terms with how a car reacts to throttle, brake and steering inputs is KEY to controlling a car in any form of racing but it is PARAMOUNT to drifting. Learn your cars limits and especially learn how to feel understeer and oversteer.
A big part of this is good tires that are properly inflated. For high performance driving it is usually best to look at the manufacturers recommended tire pressures located on the door jamb usually below the latch or on the door itself near where the latch is. Once you find your cars recommended tire pressures (usually between 32 and 38psi for passenger cars) I recommend you add about 4-6psi. The manufacturer recommends pressures that are designed for safe driving and also comfortable ride. When you are pushing the cars limits you need more air in the tires in order to stop the tires from flexing too much and the 'contact patch' changing shape.
For a 240sx or other 2500-2800lb car 38psi is a good starting point. for something between 2800-3200lbs 40-42psi usualy works well, For a car heavier than that, maybe 44-46psi, but DO NOT exceed the maximum pressure on the side of the tire. Very light cars like Miatas, MR2's or stripped 240sx's can sometimes get away with 32-36psi.
Ok so now youre ready to go drifting, you've learned what understeer and oversteer feel like and you want to master oversteer.
What I see a lot of people do at events is enter a turn and have a lot of understeer and then turn more because the car isnt turning as much as they want. This wont fix the understeer.
From the drivers seat there are 2 cures for understeer:
1-Slow down by either letting off the throttle or light brake application. Too hard on the brakes and you're going to understeer again by transferring too much weight to the front tires and overloading them.
2-Turn less.
The tires have a limit of how much friction they can provide. If the car starts to understeer you have reached that limit. Turning the steering wheel more will NOT turn the car any more and you will just keep understeering. So when you feel understeer, turn a little bit less and you will regain the tires maximum traction. If by turning less you are not going to make the corner, you need to slow down until the car can turn tighter without understeering. This is also where a slight brake application can transfer some weight to the front tires giving you a larger contact patch and some more grip, but dont slam the brakes or you will transfer so much weight the front tires cant handle it.
A tire has a certain amount of grip it can provide and 100% of this grip can go to braking, or 100% can go to turning.
Of course you can turn AND brake at the same time, but only in proportion to each other. 60% turning 40% braking or 50% and 50% etc etc
Now another thing I sometimes see drivers doing when understeering:
Use throttle to break the rear tires loose in order to start oversteer and get rid of the understeer. This might work, but if you dont break the tires loose, it will actually make the car understeer more since the car transfers weight to the rear when you accelerate and that takes weight off the front, meaning less traction in front, meaning even MORE understeer.
Here's another problem with this approach:
Lets say that of you are in a left turn and understeering, you steering is turned hard to the left and you use throttle or maybe even a clutch kick to make the rear tires break loose. Now the car starts to slide sideways and you need to countersteer by steering to the right and maintaining the slide. If you were steering all the way to the left when you started the slide, now you have to turn the steering wheel fast to the right (maybe 3 full turns or more)to try and catch the slide. Usually in this situation the car snaps sideways so fast that it is hard to catch and it ends in a spin.
You are much better off to initiate the slide with a feint, some e-brake, or a quick turn-in combined with clutch kick. Now you only have to turn the steering wheel half as many times to catch the same slide.
Once you've mastered your entry and you are able to hold a nice slide though your first turn, the hardest part is going to be transferring from a slide in one direction to another direction. The reason this can be difficult is the same as the understeer-to-clutchkick scenario.
Let's take the same left hand slide and you have a nice angle and the next turn is a right hander. If you are at or near maximum angle when you need to transfer into the right hand turn, and you ease off the throttle to regain rear traction, when the rear end grips and your counter steer is at full lock, the car is going to snap VERY HARD to the right. You are going to have to go from full lock one way to near full lock the other. Again maybe 3full turns or more.
Going from lock to lock is a fairly advanced technique and you will see the pros do it a lot, but when you are learning, the best way to do a transfer is this:
Reduce your slide angle before you regain rear traction to throw the car into the right hand turn. This will make the car transfer a little softer when the rear tires grip and you will be able to follow the slide with the steering and apply throttle as you slide through the right hand turn and increase your slide angle.
Once youve become comfortable with your transfer then you can start to push the limits of transferring at big angles.
Hope this helps all of you getting into the sport.
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