My Drifting Experience and A Question

[Demianu27]

I am car-less at the moment. I had a 94 accord that I crashed 2ce while teaching myself to drift in a front wheel drive car.

First time I crashed, was when I decided to try and drift in 4 inches of snow and the second time was actually a crash while drifting but I drifted to evade a bad accident that happened infront of me and ended up going into the divider instead of some cars.

SO yeah I should have learned to drift with a different car then my daily driver but I was stupid and only 16, and now I'm in college without a car; but not for long.

I need a car and I was really interested in an old corolla but those are so rare, so I'm looking at 240sx's.

**EDIT**

sorry computer got messed up

anyway, I'm need to find myself a car.

I was wondering what year/model 240sx, is great for drifting and modifying. If I could find a 1986 corolla GT-S, where would be a common place to find one, such as a website or magazine?

[TougeWarrior]

Since you are new to this, I don't quite recommend you starting out with the corolla for a couple of reasons. It's an old car, so tuning it up isn't basically always the best medicine for an old car to revive again. Two, it's generally known for the Initial D epidemic but it doesn't drive just like that, it's very light and it sways very easily, but what car doesn't? Anyways, you should stick with a 91' 240sx with decent mileage(90-130k), tune it up, fix it and all that junk before modifying, if you want to begin by getting an engine swap right away, it's not good, you should at least get to know your car and the suspension setup so after when you put more output to the wheels, it'd be easier for you to control. 240sx's are fairly easy to tune, have a wide variety of parts, and are widely renowned for their drifting body and suspension. They are good beginner cars and have a good bodily balance, so I should recommend that. Otherwise, if you're looking for a challenge in a drift car, enjoy yourself with the 87' Rx7's. Other than that, stick with the 240. I hope this helped.

[Demianu27]

your post did help a lot. so a 91 240sx you say? might anyone want to help me find one in the tri-state area? (nj, ny, ct, pa...)

[TougeWarrior]

recycler.com autotrader.com cars.com

[raging panda]

get a 240 (or whatever car makes you happy), make it run perfect, fix brakes, alignment.

drift

then get a racing seat, most important mod because doesn't matter what you have on the car, can't control yourself, can't control the car.

drift

get lsd, makes breakaway and controling the slide easy\

drift

tires are now needed since lsd burns up both tires at the same
time

drift

suspension, suspension, suspension.........suspension

drift

maybe wheels now........

drift

make sure that engine is still running well, and change your diff oil once after every event, or once every oil change if you dont do a real serious event. ( this is from my buddy's experience)

drift

If you make it this far, you probably are good enough for an engine swap or turboing of the KA. Anything to make more power than you used to have, since it now comes into play.

This is assuming it takes you a year or so to get all this stuff. If youre a baller, you will get all this stuff at once, and get bored with drifting right away since you think

a. im way good, i have all my drift stuff, im so tite, look at my tite sylvia, im the best drifter in my city

b. i have nothing to look forward to and i cant control my car and im frustrated

this is all based on my own experience and my friend's experiences. Others may do it another way, but doing all over again this is my blueprint

[raging panda]

and search for "my first drift car" or some thread of that nature, a lot of pros and cons were posted about almost every popular drift car ever and even some that werent so popular

youll learn about the parts availability, pros and cons of engine, suspension, handling, ease of working, stuff like that.

[Drift For Food]

^good posts

One car suggestion: maybe an old mustang? I can't say which years would be better, not a Ford fan myself. However, they are very affordable, cheap to repair, good power stock, and should offer lots of upgradability.

To your original post:
I wouldn't go against a fwd too harshly when learning to drift. Yes, they aren't the "optimum" platform to drift with, and they are somewhat limited in what techniques you can use. However, they can still teach you a lot about car control and weight transfer, two very important aspects of drifting.

(Personal preference) 16 and new to driving, not a good starting point for drifting. I'm sure you're well aware of that now. I hope you learned something from that experience as well.

When you DO get your new car, whatever it may be, drifting should NOT be the first thing on your mind. Spend a good amount of time learning the car, think months here. Then slowly start to push it and get a good understanding of the car near its limits, again more months. You should feel very comfortable with the car first. You should know its behavior and should be able to push it hard comfortably. This time spent will provide a safety zone for when you start to drift. The key is understanding. If you know the limits of the car, you will instinctively not go past them. You essentially train yourself to the limits of the car. It's a barrier that you can't go past. You get to a point where you know the braking, acceration, and cornering abilities of the car. That means, whatever you do with the car, drifting or not, you should know exactly how the car is going to behave and know how safe you are doing it.

It's a tough concept to understand if you've never owned a car for a long time, years. It's like a zen thing, you are at one with the car sort of thing, you know what the car does before it happens. If you can reach this point, you should never get into an accident, ever. It's a neat point to get to. You can essentially toss your car around like a rag doll on any surface, in any condition, and feel in total control and feel as comfortable as if you were home in your Lazyboy watching TV.

I started drifting in my daily driver of 4 years(6 years same chassis, different brand 2 years). I was a fwd, Buick Lesabre, a boat of a car. But, I was at home in it. Drifting came very easy because of my near god-like understanding of the car(I say that sincerely too). I felt as comfortable flying down my gravel roads with the needle pegged as I do sitting on the couch watching my favorite show(The Simpsons). In no other car could I fly down my gravel road, approach a 40mph(max) sharp 90 degree corner at 80mph, brake hard at the traction limit with the rear end squirrely and all, bleed down to 60mph rotate the car for the exit(making use of the rear end's squirreliness and some feint), and slide the car outside, to apex, to outside straight and smooth, all without a care in the world.

It's almost instinct, unconcious. You can think it, and it will happen exactly as you saw it in your head. You're not psycic, but you know the car so well, you already know what it's going to do without doing it. I really wish everyone could feel so comfortable in their car, to know it that well. This is why I always like to stress the need for understanding. You really need to know the car to be comfortable and to be able to push hard safely. This requires time, lots of time behind the wheel.

[Sleight]

What about a datsun 510? Sure its butt ugly and very unpopular on these forums, but me personally am a mere dishwasher lucky enough to have at least a 90' Celica. I too crave a good rear wheel but its hard to find a good deal on 240's around my area while there are plenty of 510's for pretty cheap. and if your like me livin in a hick town odds are you won't find an 86. 510's are also the easiest to fix and have like no electronics and are incredibly fun. I know alot of you will argue with this but I'm just trying to be helpful to all the poor people like me

[Demianu27]

honestly i'm thinking about finding 2 different cars, a cheap daily driver like a hyundai or something and then my project car. Honestly I just want my project car to be real wheel drive. It seems everyone picks 240's, FC's, gt-s, and such, but I could care less if it was one of those...i do like the look of the old and new rx-7's but they are very pricey. I don't care about the difficulty of trying to get the car sideways, i just want a rear wheel drive car to learn the basics of drifting because im sure it wont be my only project car.

[Fresh_Prince]

http://www.craigslist.org

Nuff said

[UberSpeed]

Originally posted by Fresh_Prince
http://www.craigslist.org

Nuff said

...?

Anyways for whoever said they wanted 2 cars (daily driver and zen a drift car), I would highly recommend getting a V6 pickup of some kind for the daily driver. If you want to tow your drift car to and fro and keep all your toolz in da ride, this is your car. Also they are nice to have for transporting new parts if you get 'em at a shop, and are just all around handy if you do a lotta woodwork like I do.

I personally dont own one but my uncle has a Mazda B series with a V6 and its a great truck. Plus they are dirt cheap nowadays. Just look for a solid truck (most any import) with 4wd, V6, and if you're like me, a manual transmission.