1990 240SX Drifting Suspension?

[Whisky]

DriftFactory, I understand what you are trying to say- that drifting places the suspension parts in some precarious positions- but it sounds to me like you have never gone off the sweeper at Buttonwillow at 100+ mph. Ever hit the curbs flying thru the Esses on the west loop? Talk about hitting a curb, and thats not 20 mph, thats 80mph. The difference in speed alone magnifies the force dramatically.

The simple fact is that the loads on a well-prepped car driven at the limit on a race track are still going to exceed nearly anything you see in drifting. How often do I see 4th gear drifting? Never (well, only very briefly on the bank at irwindale, but that hardly counts, I'm in 4th for about 5 seconds before the clip). How often do i see fourth gear flat-out on the track? Regularly.

But regardless, so-called "drift" parts are not made any stronger than those used for racing, and thats the bottom line. Drifting isn't exactly the cutting edge of parts development.

[DriftFactory]

All good points. I personally come from both a rally and grand touring background. I know what you are saying about conditions in a road race environment. I have from time to time gone off track, or had some pretty jacked up things happen. Sometimes I came out ok, other times I was done for the duration of the race due to broken bits. While the forces involved in these situations are extreme this sort of thing is not what I am talking about.

These forces are harsh but brief. In drifting the stresses are all together different. Although the occasional load is not as high, the load that is constantly placed on the suspension is higher. This runs you into problems like metal fatigue and accelerated grooving of interlocking parts which happens at a faster rate than in road racing. I will also add that different types of suspension do make a difference. Ever put 2 cars with equal numbers up against each other at the drag strip? If one has a “normal” set up, and the other has a “drag” set up, I bet you I know who will have the best 60’.

The fact is that suspension is much more specialized than many people, even very experienced people, realize. There is a reason that F1 uses a different set up than NASCAR, and NASCAR uses a different set up than Rally. Admittedly the differences between NASCAR and WRC are extreme, but you might be interested to know that a drift suspension is closer to WRC than to NASCAR.