a sad day for me

[Go]

Originally posted by noodleman
He was in a parking lot...how exactly was someone going to get hurt? I'm not saying it was a good idea but cut him a break.

I see no mention of parking lot in his original post.

[Drift For Food]

Agreed, not all 16 year olds are the same. Some 16 year olds have been around cars for some years, reading magazines, working on them in shop class or at their dad's garage. Some actually have some knowledge of cars. Others may have some practical experience from some non-legal driving in younger years or from perhaps some racing experience, go-kart stuff or similar. Those people do have some knowledge and skill. A lot? Eh, maybe, maybe not.

Should they just go out and start drifting? No. You should still have a good understanding of the car you're driving. If you just got it for your birthday the week before, it's probably not a good idea to just go out and drift it. I personally will not start drifting a car I don't know anything about. I'd be sure to get a decent feel of the car before I try anything crazy. I better know how it's going to behave and feel first. It just keeps you safe if you know what it can do. The better you know the car's abilities and behaviors, the safer you're going to be.

The same could be said for technique. Do you know what drifting is? What are some techniques? How do they actually work? The last one requires a bit of knowledge and some idea of the physical behavior of cars. It can be described to you in a general sense, but you really won't understand it till you take some sort of physics class and really start to learn the laws govenering nature. Again, knowledge will keep you safe. For example, if you come into a corner fast and start to drift, what are you going to do if you see yourself heading towards the ditch or a curb? What options do you have? You're already providing throttle and countersteering. What can you do to change your course? What can you do to tighten your turn and keep from damaging your car? This is where the knowledge of physics and car techniques come into play. Instead of freaking out, you can apply one of a couple techniques to get you around the corner safely. One option would be to lessen your counter steer or tap the e-brake to angle your drift more. This will try to make the car turn a smaller angle. You just have to make sure you have enough room for your rear end. A second option is to switch to a braking drift. Let off and start braking and counter steer as needed. This will slow you down and allow you to tighten your turn. With understanding, you can calmly handle situations that may otherwise result in an accident.

Still the best prevention is understanding. If you know your car well enough, you should never come in too fast cause you already know what it can do. Basically, if you're at the point where you know every little detail of your car and have researched and made an effort to understand various drift techniques, you're in a good position to start drifting. If the days of your time behind the wheel can be counted without taking off your shoes and the only thing you know about drifting is the way it's spelled, you should probably think twice about trying to drift.

Long story short, not all 16 year olds are the same, but most are below a level to allow safe drifting. Learn your car and your abilities first. Learn techniques and understand them. If you have the knowledge, you can drift safely. If you don't, you're an accident waiting to happen. This is really reguardless of age, but younger people usually lack experience or understanding.

[twcfc3s]

this is whut i think i would be 17 in 3 days.. and i think that youre gonna crush or something will happen if lose the respect to tha car andd whut he can do..im into car few years ago..and everyones has mistakes but yes its easier to have problems when you dont know whut youre doing.peace

[Tsunami]

It sucks that you've lost your car, but sometimes it takes a wake up call to realize that there are more important things to life than drifting. I know cause it took a couple of incidents with the ditch to learn that when you are learning to drift you will crash. Don't let anybody fool you, even Kecihi himself went off the mountain a few times learning his trade.

My advice would be this: take care of your car and perfect your grip skills, then when you've got the money buy an old beater camaro or s13 that you won't be afraid to wreck. That way if you crash you won't be out your only car. Then when you've got both the skils to be a good drifter and money to fix your car you can build a nice-looking drift car and have the skills not to tear it up.

When you do start practicing here are some helpful hints that will help you avoid disaster.
1. Don't drive beyond your limits. Practice at low speeds and you will gradually learn to control your car better a little at a time.
2. Practice in open areas where there isn't alot of traffic or barriers that will hurt you or your car if you hit them.
3.Naturally make sure there aren't alot of cops around.
4. Always wear your seatbelt.
5. Use common sense.
Also a good relationship with Jesus wouldn't hurt any. I don't wanna sound preachy but the first thing 90% of us say when we're about to hit is "Oh Lord".

[D1 DRIFTER]

heres the deal

ok one i know how my car handels everyone crashes so don't go saying i dunno my car when i do... i have been around cars since the age of 3 my dad has been a mechanic for many years... and don't catagoize me because im 16... i know how to drive, and i post up about it and most of u all start a falming by saying im 16 and don't know *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored* about what im doing i have been driving since the age of 10 and im not saying im sum pro driver/drifter but i know what my car can handle and i was at the wrong place i admit it was stupid of me to do that and im sorry for that much.... but how ya supposed to learn if u don't make mistakes? my dream is to be picked up by a sponsor and become a known circuit drifter.. (like most others) and i can't sit on my A $$ waiting for the next DD to come around.... i thank u all for putting ur imput good or bad but we all make mistakes and i want to acknowledge all of your thoughts.. i have learned form my mistakes and i know not to push my self beyond my limits when im not familiar with the area.

thanks again to you all

[Shin_Kudou]

This is why I don't touge race, and why I don't drift. Funny how I get harassed nonstop for it, when all the people speaking out here are actually speaking sensibly.

[nissanguy_24]

This is why you should be required to drive sucky cars for at least 2 years before touching something like a S13. with its blazing 120 whp.

[JDM_DRIFTER2001]

Originally posted by nissanguy_24
This is why you should be required to drive sucky cars for at least 2 years before touching something like a S13. with its blazing 120 whp.

I agree with that. I cant drive yet but yea I have a crx I posted a pic of it way back when. it has changed alot since then lol. I plan on driving it soon. then after I get the hang of driving I plan on purchasing a car I can really get behind and drift like the 240sx. so yea thats my plan.

[Tsunami]

D1 drifter I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't drive, I was just trying to show you that I'd been there too.

[Feint]

You learn from your mistakes,that's how you imporve.He crashed,he ,learned.Yes we can play the "you could have hurt someone card",but then yet that can be applied to almost everyone at one point.My take,keep practicing.I'm not telling anyone to drift on the street,or to take it to the track,but considering the street/lot/backroads cost nothing to run(except that you could cause an accident,felony's,etc),compared to $100+ for a couple of hours of drifting in a parking lot with an instructor,you can't blame him.Lastly,do you thinlk all the D1 drivers became good in a parking lot? Let's see,Yasuyuki Kazama is leading D1 so far this year,and I can gurantee he didn't learn in a parling lot,though suggesting it to him would make for a good laugh.
I just don't like how people are so willing t jump on this guys back,if anything,we should be providing support,and suggesting ways to avoid/work around the current situation,not just say "You deserved it".The guys being respectful and humble about it,he's not attacking anyone,disrespecting anyone,.flaming,he's just being straight-foward with what happend.

Good luck,try to avoid another crash in the future.

[twcfc3s]

iam on your side...you learn by your mistakes...

[D1 DRIFTER]

thats what i like to hear

i thank u so much feint i jjust want to tel everyone my story but instead i get flamed.. just becuase im 16 and i am learning to drift... and i don't have a KA i have a Sr so its a lil more to handle but i have practiced in parking lots before... if u could all see the street i was on u guys would say out of all the space u hit a 12in curb!!!!!! trust me i laugh about how i hit the curb and i had like 70-80 feet of road on the other side of me .. but thanks for all your support and flames it helps in the long run...