Help losing to much speed

[FZRaven]

OK well first of don't laugh (ok maybe a little) So i have a 99 escort (thats what i got so thats what i use)
So i live in vermont it's all snow right now. I've been trying to drift corners on the back roads, i get sideways fine get around the corner but i lose a lot of speed.
I go in at like 30 and i come out at about 20, all the corners are real sharp like a 90
degree angle. I've tryed going in faster but i slide way to far (been in the ditch a few times) So how i'm getting into the drift (or slide) is yanking the e-brake and stoping on the gas to bring the front around, i keep the brake on the whole time cause as soon as i let it up i get traction and come out of the drift. I have had a few good drifts but they where on a gental corner.

[_PG_]

Its a worrysome problem called:






















Owning a FWD vehicle.

[Drift For Food]

Yep, this is a characteristic of fwd cars. I started on fwd and I came to hate the same thing you do. You can do beautiful, long drifts(e-brake not actually needed), but every time, you'll come out of the corner putting. It's the inherent problem of fwd cars. They can't use the throttle during a drift like a rwd or awd car. Throttle on a fwd means front tire spin and understeer. You're trying to compensate by keeping the e-brake on, not really helping.

Basically, you're going to have to live with it. You can't be fast on the exit because you can't both use throttle and still have oversteer. This would require suspension changes that would allow you to have extra traction in the front that you can use to apply some amount of throttle to maintain speed. All-in-all, it just doesn't work well if exit speed is a concern.

Still, I don't necessarily say, toss the fwd for a rwd. Fwds can still teach you things. The first you have already played with, the e-brake. However, there are others. Weight techniques like feint and braking are two major ones that are key to learn. Braking just before and sometimes into the corner can give you added front grip and get the car sliding. As well, holding on the brakes lightly during the drift can help maintain the slide till you come to a complete stop. The key is a fast entry speed. With winter here, this is a tough one to do safely. The surface should be of uniform grip, and you should know your car very well. The second is a fun one to learn. Feint basically involves tossing the weight of your car around through steering. Whip the car left and right to transfer the weight from side to side. If done right, you can slingshot the rear around and slide the car quite easily with little or no throttle or brake inputs. Since the rear end of a fwd will automatically recatch, you can actually count on it to stop the car from spinning out. Use the feint technique to rotate the car just enough so that the car is facing the exit of the corner when the rear end catches. If you didn't rotate enough, light braking or the e-brake will add a little more. If you rotated too much, countersteering or a little throttle can bring the front end out some.


One last thing. I will say that going to a rwd platform is very gratifying after you've played around on a fwd car. I'd consider going to something rwd, anything rwd, in time...a year or two down the road when your current dies on you(or you kill it, which ever comes first). You will be grinning from ear to ear when you come out of the corner at the same speed you went in. You'll also have a whole lot of fun learning new techniques.