ROAD RACE VS. DRIFTING? SETUPS

[dcino]

Help me out. almost every thing i'm seeing reflects drifting, which seems counter productive to generating real track speed. if i want to set a car up for scca events do any of these shocks and lowering springs make any sense? where should i spend my money to get the biggest bang for my dollar. looking at ITA class. what do you think?

THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT I'M IN THE MARKET FOR COIL OVERS THEN.The next question ,I guess, is there a standout value in the marketplace or do any of you have a used set you would sell at an attractive price?

thanks again.
Modified by dcino at 10:35 AM 3/1/2007

[Joe]

alot of people think there is a huge difference between drifting and road racing cars. and while on a PROFESSIONAL level, thats true, most off the shelf parts you are going to buy will be fine. its all about how you set the parts up (alignment, damping settings, etc)

and dont waste time with lowering springs, go straight to a full coilover.

[nismofly]

if you want a car for ITA check out the rules and just do as much as your budget will allow

theres really not that many mods youre allowed to do

like Joe said, at this level with off the shelf coilovers and stuff you really wont notice a difference

[nismoautoxr]

It seems like that the only real differance in drift and grip racing is camber/toe setup and driver technique .I personally am a hardcore grip racer.IMHO it is the fastest way around the race course .I preface this by saying I have never tryed drifting but everything Ive been exposed to has been all about grip style racing ...which is to say the less wheel spin ,the less slip angle, the more control of the car, the faster the lap is gonna be in elapsed time .Back to the subject...sorry...the parts seem insignificant as long as the adjustability is there.

Ricky

[Chukidori]

It seems like that the only real differance in drift and grip racing is camber/toe setup and driver technique .I personally am a hardcore grip racer.IMHO it is the fastest way around the race course .I preface this by saying I have never tryed drifting but everything Ive been exposed to has been all about grip style racing ...which is to say the less wheel spin ,the less slip angle, the more control of the car, the faster the lap is gonna be in elapsed time .Back to the subject...sorry...the parts seem insignificant as long as the adjustability is there.

Ricky

I dont believe total grip is always fastest.. , especcialy depending on your cars setup. Oversteering is a useful technique, as is understeer depending on the situation. Drifting is a great way to raise the bar and train outside the norm, pushing your handling limits to make your grip driving even better i think.

But i totally agree. Drifting is far more about your own driving style than it is about settings. An ideal race setup will drift VERY well with the proper driver.

[Kenny_D]

No difference. Make your car handle really well, take that setup and go drift.

Drift is not making the car crazy tail happy. You need foward acceleration as well, which is where the grip setup comes in.

Drift is NOT tail sliding. Drift is rotating the car on it's center axis of rotation and countering that rotation with counter steering and acceleration/braking and then turning that into foward movement. There is a reason FormulaD and D1 drivers use grip tires like Azenzis.

For a novice (me) with lower horsepower (me), using cheaper($ and quality) rear tires while still having a good grip setup will be your best bet.

Hope is helps.

[Kenny_D]

And asking what coilovers to use is like asking what shoes to buy: everyone has thier favorites but in the end you have to choose what fits you the best.

[sr20goofus]

I dont believe total grip is always fastest.. , especcialy depending on your cars setup. Oversteering is a useful technique, as is understeer depending on the situation. Drifting is a great way to raise the bar and train outside the norm, pushing your handling limits to make your grip driving even better i think.

But i totally agree. Drifting is far more about your own driving style than it is about settings. An ideal race setup will drift VERY well with the proper driver.

if grip wasnt the fastest way then F1, LeMans, JGTC, Grand Am would all not concentrat so much on traction at every point of the track and putting it to the ground.

Understeering is never useful, and oversteering is only useful in thsoe situations when you need to rotate a car, but not for more then a fraction of a second.

A well setup grip car will drift like crap, best example is the old Grand Am Lexus IS300 that used to try and drift in Formula D, it was a full race car, build for grip always wanted to spin once it was past its slip angle (angle at which tires no longer make traction).

the overall car setup of a race car goes way beyond a sinple camber and toe setting. Tire sizing, camber settings front/rear, toe settings front/rear, caster setting front/rear, bump steer corrections, spring preload, corner balancing, tire compund.

drifting is simply a technique and a new form of "motorsport" but it will never be as fast as grip in terms of track times, its as simple as if you are spinning the wheels and sliding, your not picking up speed, and you are ruining momentum. All major race series show no signs of drifting unless its a once in a while situation where a car slides with no extra "angle" just slides to maintain its position on track within the group.

car setups still vary from driver to driver and track to track depending on preferences, track surfaces, weather, speeds, etc...