Fears of drifting

[4felix20]

Do you have any fears about drifting? I'm always afraid I'm gonna break the seal around my tires or snap the E-brake cable or something...

[quiksilvia]

usually the best places to drift are residential, and thats why i dont do it, i trust my car, i just dont trust some retard on a bike crossing the street

[krazy skwerel]

if you fear it don't do it. balls to the wall, balls to the wall. now excuse me while I go wreck my car. :batman

If you fear breaking the e-brake cable then dont use it. put about 40 psi of air in your tires so they wont roll over and you'll be fine. Preparation is all it takes. IMO I agree that residential areas are a bad place to drift too many variables.

[Meantime]

The best place to practice is a deserted lot behind an old supermarket/department store. IMHO. Someplace where the cops don't regularly patrol, and there's no danger of hitting anybody or any solid objects. There, you can really push the car hard into turns and get an idea how it will behave under pressure.

Now, we have those aplenty here in NJ. This is the Concrete State, after all. They may not be so prevalent in your neck of the woods. But that's the idea...explore your car's limits in a safe and fairly controlled environment. Public roads just have too many things that can go wrong. A local autocrossing event is a good place to learn the limits of your car. Once you gain some confidence, the fear will dissipate.

[fiznat]

yeah man I'm REAL scared of hurting my car... I was taught to drive in such a safe way, to avoid injuries of both myself and everyone out on the road. When I'm revving the car way up and racing into turns like that, It feels.. arugh really strenuious on my car... like it wasnt built for this or something. I know it takes getting used to, but in the meantime it's pretty liberating... learning to manipulate the car like this.

[SiNFuL]

i usually post at 240sxforums.com...but this place has a whole bunch more info...anyways. I've always loved the idea of drifting(especially after Initial D...i know i know, wrong thing to say; but its true)...anyways. I did drifting by my friends house because its a brand new neighborhood still being built and theres tons of construction. I never use the E-Brake because it seems slow and fake...its good for practice though(i mostly don't use it because of something one of the characters in Initial D said though to be honest). I actually got pretty good at it just doing power slides and stuff. then i took a real corner at about 50mph and did a real inertia drift(countersteering, going faster because of the throw i put myself in)...but freaked for no reason at all...slammed the brakes....and then because my wheel was facing the other direction..."drifted"(slowly ran into) a curb at 30mph. My friends owns a repair shop and is fixing it right now. But thats my story...i really want to get some construction cones and go practice in some deserted parking lot though. Just don't expect not to crash and don't push ur limits...start slow and build ur way up. Just the .02 from a crashing drifter. =)-Galen

[Holisticbeatz]

It's unhealthy not to have fear, but to not overcome it is just as unhealthy. Drifting could be an expensive hobby, but with like everything, you'll have to start from the bottom and work your way up. Also, having the right equipment and car wouldn't hurt either.

[gunclap]

my biggest fear would be to hit a curb and break something. i don't worry about people because i do it during the night (12 - 3am) on a parking lot or at a business area. i don't practice drifting all the time (once a month) though because i'm scared that i might break something and i use the car everyday for transportation purposes.

i never tried drifting with the ebrake...i taught myself how to initiate the drift with the steering wheel and the pedal. that's how i'm always going to do it. it just seems better than the ebrake. also, i can drift without a problem, but the only trouble i have now is that i can't straighten the car out when i come out of the drift. i always drift the opposite way after i drifted one way. anyone have any tips for me?

[SiNFuL]

well i'll try to help but i've never done it...the one time i did a real drift i freaked out hit the brakes and oversteered the wrong direction...hitting a curb and breaking my lower pillar arm. hehe. But since you drift the same way as me i can tell you how i think you could straighten out. you steer into the turn sharply and floor it...then to balance the drift you counter steer. now if you have a long road i think if you floor it enough the car will eventually straighten itself out...but if that doesnt work...try slowly uncountersteering the car as you drift....keeping the slide w/ the throttle instead of the wheel...might take some parking lot practice, but thats my goal once my car gets fixed(should be done 2morrow!!!!) let me know how it goes.-Galen

[rousie13]

The one time I drifted, it was an accidental drift. I went to turn into a parking lot and gased it going around the corner. Next thing I know I'm going sideways down the road, with rear tires squeeling. It was a rush and I the car just slowly came out of the drift with no problems.

[Thee 240sx Owner]

last time i drifted... the road was clear.. i initiated the drift and the road had some barrel construction cones at the end of the turn and the car went sideways into it.... last time i ever decided to do that on a road again....

[Get240DiZzY]

What works to straighten me out is the second you feel you're losing it, or just want to straighten out, press the clutch and countersteer like a mofo. It hasn't failed me thus far (knock on wood!).

[encasemyheart]

Yeah get used to it.

I used to drift in my wet college parking lot on the way home (to the dorms) at midnight after work. No one was ever there and no cars in the middle of a parking lot = no people. Needless to say after doing that everytime it rained I got fairly good. Now if I start to slide in the rain or something I know exactly what to do, it's like I'm possessed. It's saved me a couple times on streets in the rain, seriously, I feel you become a better driver.

But anyways I got home one day (back from college, in a smaller town) and there was this street that was 4 lanes, just been constructed and it curved nicely, so I figured four lanes, I can't hit anything! So I drift around the turn, pretty well I might add, in fact so well that I was shocked how well I did it. I exited the turn about 30mph and my car hit the curb, well my front passenger tire. It ended up breaking a tie rod and bending my control arm pretty madly, I'm just glad it didn't hurt my whiteline sway bay.

Edit: Oh yeah, my point. Things happen, don't be scared, just learn from whatever mistake you make. And 240s are plentiful at junkyards here.

[gunclap]

i remember a time when heel and toe saved me from an accident. the car stopped suddenly in front of me and i knew i was going to hit him...so i heel and toed all the way from 4th to 2nd and i cut some guy off on the lane to my right and accelerated off without the guy i cut off bumping into me.

it's not drifting, but you guys should learn it if you haven't already. it really helps and also heel and toeing before drifting helps too!

[krazy skwerel]

I got this awsome 90 degree turn in the country i use to practice with. Me and a couple my friends were out there one night and I went to try and drift and bam slapped my right rear quarter panel into a fence. I just kept on going to the walls mart bought sdome spray paint and painted the damaged area. I posted this a while back. It was funny, sad for my car though.

[574-240sx]

I'm not afraid of crashing or spinning off the road becasue i have done that several times. Also I have had many nice drifts. I usually go out in the early morning hours with friends and drift. The best place to drift is in subdivisions they are just constucting. Preferably just after they just paved the new subdivision roads. It is easier to get side ways. And if you do spin off you only risk getting you car dirty and not hurting anyone. I'm afraid of getting a ticket. One more ticket and i risk loosing my lisense. Nick

[4felix20]

Here's the road i try to practice. this road is ****ing FUN. i got this off of 'yahoo maps'. i'm just afraid to dent my s14. i already have an ugly *** primered spot from some other ugly *** dent i put in the drivers side fender.The curves and hairpins on this street are real tight. most of the residents are 20 feet above the road too. they just have driveways coming down onto the street. it's pretty much exactly like a road that kid with the trueno in initial d would be delivering tofu on. and since it's somewhat a mountainous, jungle-ish type road the roads are always a bit damp. not wet though, just a little damp.Pic link

(why do the images have to be so small?-300x300??)

[4felix20]

too small

[issanni]

Take drifting off the streets, there are drift events popping up all over now. Here in New Jersey, we have DG Trials at Raceway Park every 4th Wednesday of every month. All it is, is a course setup with cones in one of the parking lots next to the regular drag strip. It was put together by a group of guys that love drifting, so they worked something out with the track owners and now they have a very popular event that makes alot of money for the track. If you know of a drag strip or race track in your state, just ask the owners..what business wouldn't want to host an event that will make them more money? Trust me, the DG Trials is ridiculous fun, and it's alot more fun because if you break something, there are tons of people around that are more than willing to help out. Plus you don't have to worry about hitting anything harder than a cone. There are several guys on this forum that frequent the events as well and they will tell you how much fun it is, and all it took was enough people to show a track that they can make money by letting a group of people use an empty parking lot to practise on. Don't give drifting the same image as street racing, keep it off the streets and at events like DG Trails and Drift Day.

[Onizuka]

I have gone to the DG trials drift even several times, it is very fun, its not a competive event uless you want it to be. its just a bunch of people getting together to have fun. Issani is right, take it off the street, you can have just as much fun at the track and not risk putting yourself and other people in danger.

[issanni]

I think it's more fun at the track doing it in front of cops (like at the first non rainted out DG Trials) than running from cops

[Onizuka]

were you there issanni? or did you not get in the gates?

Oh yeah and if you guys go you might be able to see the infamous drifting camry wagon.

[issanni]

I've been to everyone except the very first one on March 26th. By the time we got there, they closed the gates, but ever since then, I haven't missed a single one The last one was awesome, the brake stand contest between vosko and carluch was funny, especially when carluch bested vosko with a no-line-lock brake stand while lighting a cig and some little kid in the passenger seat hehehe. It's the kind of stuff not possible on the street that make such events so worth it. Especially when the organizers do such a good job of not knowing what they're doing lol. Those guys are great

[Meantime]

One of these days I will drag my a$$ up to DG...soon as I get those blown struts replaced and new TC rods. I'm sure it will be amusing to watch me grapple with HICAS around those cones.

[Onizuka]

dude you dont need anything but 15 bucks, your moms car, and a free wednesday!

seriously, i have seen people drifting everything from old rusted out BMWs to Camaros

[issanni]

Yea, i would have brought my S14 with 210,000+ miles on it, but I didn't get the flange for my LSD yet. my car WILL be at the next one if i have to tow it there and zip tie the half shaft to the LSD. haha, j/k it'd never pass tech.....or would it?

[Onizuka]

tech is like this;?

first they ask you"is there any glass (beer) bottles in your vehicle?""no"

they look under the hood

then they get in the car, press the brake pedal and send you though.

[Meantime]

seriously, i have seen people drifting everything from old rusted out BMWs to Camaros

Camaros, eh? *scratches chin*

That could be fun. I haven't really thrown that big-a$$ car around yet.

[issanni]

It was an automatic convertible camaro too

[Onizuka]

which resulted in big smokey doughnuts after every drift attempt, but hey, he was out there doin it for fun.