Observation - Day Drifting vs. Night Drifting

[Drift For Food]

Well recently I started doing a little night drifting. It's not something I normally do. I'm starting off slow cause the dark is oddly disorienting to me, didn't know why at first. I found out something though. I drift differently between day and night. This is partially because of the way I learned as well as the change in visual cues between day and night.

I've only drifted during the day. I can see everything around me, and it's safe. I've come to primarily rely on visual cues for the car's behavior. You can easily see around you and can see the corner ahead, very visual. However, at night, things got very weird.

I realized I was relying so much on visual cues that I had a hard time preceiving what was going on when I tried it at night. I found you have to rely a lot more on feel than sight, something I'm not personally used to. I've been practicing a little, just swinging side to side down the road get used to the feel rather than sight. Even the few times I've done it, I've improved greatly during the night. It's kind of odd that I need to retrain myself to drift again, kind of anyways.

Now all of this may sound odd to some of you. Most of you probably learned in the dark. I haven't, so it's an interesting experience for me. This post is primarily an observation of mine. Feel free to comment. It's interesting how you have to change what senses to use depending on what you have available. I never realized this till recently.

[CrazyHawaiian]

Interesting you bring this up. Next week Sunday (30th) Drift Session will be having a night event. I think the best part about drifting at night is the sparks from the steel strands in the tires as the tread wears low and they get exposed.

[Drift For Food]

Yep, that is pretty to watch, lol.

[Poweredby007]

Alot of it is confidence also. The more you do it the better you will get. I think that memorizing the course alittle better and anticipating the next turn will also help alot. about 90% of my driving is at night and yea I learned at night also. but now I have HIDs on my car!!! like daytime!!

[Drift For Food]

I always wondered how good HIDs are. I wonder if I can get some for my Forester in the future...although my high beams aren't too shabby. I wouldn't mind wiring up the fog lights to work with the high beams too, would be nice.

It's not a matter of the course. I drive down this road almost every day, thousands of times. It's just that the perception is different. When I slide at night, if "feels" very different, disorienting. Having done it so little, I'm not used to the loss of visual representation and the increased requirement for g-force feel. I'm working on it though. The Forester's a somewhat new car(had about 2 months), so the feel isn't what I'm used to. In time, in time...

[SilverGhost]

i also learnned at night, because here in CO, there are way too many cops out and about during the daytime. i always use the squeeling tires to know if i was burning them or not...plus you can tell if the wheels are spinning by your tach. if you know your car well enough, you will know how fast you will be going at certain rpms. you can tell if you are drifting by if your rpms are way too high for your speed, and you arent holding the clutch down. those are just a couple of the "extra senses" that can be used for night drifting.

bright headlights also helps out a ton.

[Streeter]

dude if you need to see you tacho to tell if your wheels are spinning something is definitely WRONG.

[BlitzKriegMedia]

Originally posted by CrazyHawaiian
Interesting you bring this up. Next week Sunday (30th) Drift Session will be having a night event. I think the best part about drifting at night is the sparks from the steel strands in the tires as the tread wears low and they get exposed.

Dont mean to throw this off topic, just thought I would share. This is Vaughn Gitten (aka JR) and his car before he got sponsered by Falken.

[CrazyHawaiian]

Looks sweet!!!

[SilverGhost]

Originally posted by Streeter
dude if you need to see you tacho to tell if your wheels are spinning something is definitely WRONG.

no kidding, but just in case he listens to really loud music or something, i dunno, but it works. assuming your car is running correctly. i just thought i would toss it out there....big plumes of smoke and screeching tires should be your largest indicator.

[Pennyman]

Sliding?

There is a point while driving, when the tires break loose, and its a different feeling all together. It's hard to explain, but you just know it. Like when you are grip driving, the car feels tight and together, but once the tires are sliding, the car feels "free" for lack of a better word. Maybe someone else can put it a better way, cause I must sound like a real moron, hehe.

[Drift For Food]

Being in Minnesota, I know that feeling all to well, lol. Nothing like a little snow and ice to get things sliding, hehe.

Ok, on topic again. It doesn't take too long to get rid of the disorientation feeling. Still the lack of visuals is a little weird, but you can usually picture most everything in your head anyways(if you know the area). So far it's only when coming home from work and I just do a little swaying back and forth and drift a couple corners. It's kind of nice at night not worriing about cars and people, plus you can see the oncoming cars as well from their headlights. My only worry is deer. Their the thing that scares me at night, the only thing that can do some damage to my car doing 60mph around an S curve or a forest covered bend. Maybe I should invest in a brush(deer) guard for my front bumper, lol.

[CrazyHawaiian]

Here's some pics of the May 30 Drift Session at night:

[marshun]

Originally posted by CrazyHawaiian
Interesting you bring this up. Next week Sunday (30th) Drift Session will be having a night event. I think the best part about drifting at night is the sparks from the steel strands in the tires as the tread wears low and they get exposed.

i saw your car there. i was in a black s13 hatch 240 (i know there was a couple). its nice at night. tires last long. :P

but yeah i learned to drift at night. i've noticed when i go to drift sessions that are during the day, its allot easier to drift.

but i thought about it and it is more feel at night. i know that when i first started drifting i was pretty scared since i couldnt see too much.

[Drift For Food]

I went out on a little extended drifting session tonight, one of the routes I take to and from town when I want to hit some corners. It turned out pretty well. I like the empty road feeling, no one around, just you and the road ahead. At night, you can focus a little harder on the road, since you can't see much else around you. I went around most corners quite well, even played with my e-brake a little on a couple intersections. I even practiced a little (can't think of word used for it) sliding on the long straight near my house. I swayed back and forth under throttle, off-throttle, and while braking, getting used to the amount of steering needed and the amount of rear end slide. At some point I'd like to integrate that into my entries. For now, I'm a little timid on my entrances. I can do braking, e-brake, and feint close and a little above corner speeds fine, but I have yet to actually be very sideways well before a corner. At some point I'd like to be able to come in a 30-40mph over, bring it sideways 100 feet, 200 feet or more before the corner, brake, brake, straighten, and apply throttle through and exit. No, showy entrances as of yet. I don't know my car well enough to come in that hot and know the distance and speed I can work with.