6- INDUCING DRIFT

Inducing drift with tires sliding across the road not only looks good, but for the driver there is no better feeling. The basics of inducing drift start with mastering weight transfer, the technique common to all race car driving skills. If you want to drive as fast as you can and look cool doing it, you'll want to learn how to induce drift. To drive as fast as possible, you must get the most performance out of your tires and master the technique of weight transfer. The basics of inducing the drift maneuver are based on the same principles. Sliding the rear tires while staying in control not only looks awesome, there is no greater thrill for the driver. Allowing the rear tires to go into a slide is oversteer. If the rear tires slide too much, the car spins out. Drift is that state where the car is manipulated with the steering wheel and throttle to continuously maintain a state of oversteer. As was described In an earlier section, when the lateral and straight-line force components acting on a tire exceed the tires' traction capacity, the tire suddenly loses its grip on the road. However, if the traction capacity is exceeded by only a smatt margin, the car will not spin and the driver can still maintain control. Although it is difficult to express accurately in numbers, if the force components are approximately 101% or 102% of the traction capacity, the driver will still be able to maintain some control without the car going into a spin. If the force exceeds 105%, maintaining control becomes exceedingly difficult. The driver can control the car in this situation by using the throttle to adjust the straight-line and lateral components of the tires' traction. In other words, while the car is in a state of oversteer, the driver can control the car to further induce oversteer or conversely, slowly correct the oversteer while still moving forward. The driver can continuously adjust the tires' traction to dip to about 98% or exceed 100% while still maintaining control of the car. If weight transfer techniques are employed with skilled handling, controlling oversteer will become a snap, allowing you to induce beautiful drifts.

THE FIRST STEP: SLIDING

The first step in inducing drift is to purposely oversteer the car. Unless you are able to make the rear tires go into a slide, inducing drift is impossible. The best place to practice is a wide open area. preferably on a road surface with a low friction coefficient, such as a dirt road or wet surface. This will make it easier to slide the tires and will cause less wear and tear on the car brakes and tires.

The easiest car to practice with is a rear-wheel drive car. The same techniques are used for mid-engine/rear-wheel drive cars, but control is a bit trickier. This discussion will continue based on a rear-wheel drive car. The easiest way to slide the rear tires is from a stopped position. Turn the steering wheel all the way to the left or right and floor the accelerator to get a quick start. The power transmitted to the rear tires will exceed the straight-line traction capacity of the tires. Because the steering wheel is turned, the rear tires will also lose their lateral traction, causing the car to move opposite the direction in which the steering wheel is turned. This is the first step in mastering the technique of using the throttle to exceed the traction capacity of a tire. Once the car starts movin in the opposite direction, you'll probably naturally turn the steering wheel the other way to counter this effect. By repeating this process a number of times, you'll get the feel for exactly when and how much a car will start sliding. You will then develop the skill of knowing when to counter-steer before the car goes out of control. You've created oversteer from a stopped position. Now you'll do it while

moving, starting at a very slow speed such as 20 or 30 km/h. Turn the steering wheel and open the throttle suddenly. If you're driving a manual transmission, release the clutch, rev the engine, and engage the clutch again. This type of rough handling will make inducing tire spin easier. Drift becomes a little more apparent now that the car is moving. If the car Is traveling too fast. it will be harder to make the tires slide. By now you've probably gotten the feel for how to purposely create oversteer and make the car drift.

SPIN TURN

Now you're going to practice using the parking brake to do a spin turn. Up until now, you've practiced creating oversteer by traveling at low speeds and then accelerating suddenly. Now you'll drive at high speed and brake, creating oversteer while still cornering smoothly. The easiest way to practice is to set up some pylons or other non-damaging object as a target point for the spin turn. The first step is to practice a 180-degree turn using a pylon. Accelerate toward the pylon, then brake as you approach it. As the weight shirts to the front, begin turning the steering wheel as if to enter a corner. As the car begins to turn, pull the parking brake swiftly with force. This should make the rear tires go into a slide. By pulling the parking brake, the rear tires will lock up, thus exceeding the tires' traction capacity. Lateral traction is also lost, inducing slip. When pulling the parking brake, you must disengage the clutch, otherwise the tires will not lock and the engine will stall.

As the rear tires begin to slide, engage the clutch and open the throttle. This will make the rear tires slip using the throttle. With this combination, the car will turn 180 degrees. As the rear tire traction slowly returns and you accelerate out of It, you've done your first spin turn. Of course this isn't as easy as it sounds, so you'll have to get the hang of it through practice.

If you're not able to make the rear tires slide with the parking brake as you enter the turn, this means that the rear tires are not locking. This is either because of a lack of weight shifted forward, or just bad timing. Make sure that enough of the car's weight has shifted forward and the car has started turning sufficiently before you pull the parking brake. Even small 1600-cc engine cars weigh about 1000kg, so it will take a little bit of time before the car actually starts turning Although at first you may get nervous and do things too quickly, after a while you'll get used to it and notice that you can perform the maneuver in a smooth, coordinated manner. Make sure you time the parking brake just right, and make sure you keep it engaged long enough. Experiment also with your entry speed, making sure that you are traveling fast enough. With practice you're sure to get this move down pat.

It's important to address problems with using the throttle. If the oversteer doesn't continue long enough and you're unable to turn, it's probably due to bad timing. You've got to allow the car to turn sufficiently before opening the throttle. If the car goes into understeer, this means that the rear tire traction has been restored and the car is trying to move forward. In this situation you need to open the throttle more to create slippage in the rear. If your car goes into a spin, this means you're at the doorstep of a successful spin turn. All you need to do is slightly adjust your actions. The combination of creating slip with the parking brake and throttle is a delicate and important one.

As you get accustomed to these maneuvers, you'll be able to combine them to do things like compensate for insufficient parking brake slip with added acceleration slip, and vice versa. You'll also naturally get accustomed to turning the steering wheel one way and then the other quickly to produce the desired effects on the car. After you get comfortable with the different techniques, doing a spin turn around a pylon will become easy. You can use the same techniques to do a 360-degree turn.

BRAKING DRIFT

When you think about it, using the parking brake to make the rear tires slide is a pretty drastic maneuver. Another technique that resembles this is called shift locking. Here, the driver purposely downshifts and engages the clutch at a very high RPM, thereby locking the rear tires. This technique may be difficult to use for a ISO-degree turn around a pylon, but for cornering at higher speeds where you can use 2nd or 3rd gear, it becomes easier to employ. It becomes quite obvious that drivers attacking corners at the highest speeds will easily spin out if they're not careful. Basically, the faster you travel, the easier it is for the rear tires to slip. Applying only the slightest of pressure with the parking brake at the right time in a corner can cause the car to go Into oversteer.

Although it's easy to start sliding at high speeds, it's the quickness and precision of the subsequent counter-steering and throttle work that determine a successful drift. As the car's speed increases, it becomes exponentially more difficult to control sliding. That's why it's a good idea to master the basics with repeated practice of pylon spin turns.

If you thought using the parking brake or downshifting to cause drift was difficult, you're now about to enter another dimension of difficulty with braking drift.

Only the brake is used here to cause weight transfer and subsequent rear tire slip. In order to induce slip in the rear, there must be ample speed in cornering and the appropriate amount of weight transfer. The trick Is to apply the brake gently for an extended period.

As was described earlier, the car takes a certain amount of time to react to any action, so it pays to be patient. As weight is shifted from the rear to the front and the rear tire traction cannot overcome the centrifugal force acting on it, the tires begin to slip. To prolong this slip, open the throttle a generous amount.

For high speed cornering, the throttle is used to transfer weight to the rear and stabilize the car. The acceleration here obviously must exceed that amount. Drift is maintained by controlling the throttle and the steering wheel. When you're drifting, it feels as if the car is sliding laterally while maintaining forward progress. Add skillful counter-steering to prolong the sliding and you've got yourself one powerful drift!

FLINT MOTION

Let's say you're riding a bicycle. Before turning to your left, for example, you would first lightly turn to the right before swinging into the left turn. This slight lean In the opposite direction makes turning easier. The same holds true for cars. By first transferring weight to the right side of the car, the force of this weight naturally returning to center is used to help make the left turn. This technique is called faint motion, and is used to obtain the highest speeds in S turns and rally racing where there Is low road traction and the front tires slip easily. Faint motion can also be used for drift. To maintain drift at high speeds, instead of using the parking brake or downshift locking, or when only brake drifting is insufficient, faint motion can provide a good alternative. Upon entering a corner, first turn the steering wheel in the opposite direction of the corner, then quickly turn the steering wheel Into the corner. Using this technique repeatedly, you can sustain drift even in straightaways. As your skill level rises and you are able to combine various techniques, you'll be able to produce a number of different types of drift. All that remains is how much you're able to excite the fans In the stands.

THE ULTIMATE: IMERTIdL DRIFT

If you're now able to induce both braking drift and faint motion drift, then there's no question that you've got some driving skills. And although being able to show fans in the gallery a cool counter-steering move or a long controlled slide is part of the fun, the true test of your skill as a master drifter lies In the ability to pull off inertial drift. What is inertial drift? It's where you don't use any of the techniques described previously. Instead, you enter a corner at high speed, exceeding the lateral traction capacity of the rear tires and causing them to naturally slide laterally while still maintaining control of the car. In addition, not only does the car slide laterally, but by controlling the throttle you must keep the car moving forward to maintain its cornering speed. Ideally, the steering wheel will be slightly counter to the direction of the corner, so even while the car is cornering, the steering wheel remains near center. If you can master this maneuver, you're truly cornering at the highest speeds possible. Inertial drift is not only beautiful in its technique, but is also the fastest way to corner, thus combining two important aspects of race car driving. How do you induce inertial drift? Enter mid to high speed corners at the highest speed possible, bordering on going too fast. If the car goes into understeer, you must work on turning the car earlier. Once you've sufficiently turned the car, you need to use the throttle to barely exceed the tires' traction capacity and increase the cornering speed. You don't want to floor the accelerator to create oversteer. Instead, you want to accelerate slightly to create centrifugal force just great enough to exceed the tires' traction capacity so that both the front and rear of the car start sliding. You should have the steering wheel In a slight counter-steer position as you use the throttle to keep the car moving forward with all four tires sliding. This Is the best way to reach the highest speeds around a corner.  

Because you will be traveling at very high speeds during inertlal drift, having the proper mindset is very important to mastering this maneuver. As you round the corner and prepare to exit, keep your line of vision set far ahead of you with the determination to make it through to the end of the corner while maintaining control. The only way to develop the confidence to complete the turn without losing control is through repeated practice.

As you become more familiar with drifting, you will realize that this is the only method available to truly reach the highest cornering speeds possible.  What this means is that to become a truly fast race car driver, you too must master the technique of drifting.