Olitho

A few weeks back there was a thread asking if anyone wanted to go drifting. The debate of the merits of this form of motorsports ensued:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...light=drifting

Well, I went drifting for the first time this past Saturday. I have to tell you it was fun, smelly and totally different.

I went for two reasons. First, I thought learning to throw the car around and drift it would help my on-track car control when I get bumped, over-cook a corner, etc. To this end I think it did making me more comfortable handling the extreme slip angles. Whether this will help me on the track I cannot say for sure, yet. I am sure further excursions on race day mishaps will help me form my opinion.

As far as fun, drifting is certainly that. The only thing that got in the way of my total enjoyment was the feeling of wasteful indulgence as I smoked my tires. Call it fun and guilt at the same time.

As a beginner I spent the first 90 minutes doing donuts around a cone. It is a great exercise in steering and throttle control. Plus I learned how to handle the swinging momentum of the car. While water at ice driving are somewhat similar, it is different then dealing with extreme grip on the asphalt.

Plan on going through a whole set of rear tires your first day. I took some old tires about 1/2 way worn through and completely corded both sets just on the skid pad donuts. By the way, it is easier to do that exercise if you get the tires totally spinning and smoking, but stay smooth on the throttle. I got to the point where I could walk the front end of the car around the cone for over three rotations while only keeping the front corner of the car 2' to 3' away from the cone while the rear end was hanging out and smoking. I also got to the point I could drift the car 20 to 30 feet out for a couple of rotations. This skid pad practice was the hardest on the tires. I left the skid pad with tiny little specs of rubber dust on my shirt, dash, etc.

They then graduated me up to the autocross type of course to drift. I was pretty lame at first. I had lots of spins and some lame drifts. But after awhile I could get it to hang out pretty good in 2nd gear doing probably around 50 MPH around 270 degree corners. Linking up corners and drifting from one direction to the other is very tricky. The parking lot had some elevation changes and keeping the car under control in these transitions takes some practice. By the end of the day I had some good fast drifting runs linking the corners that got thumbs up from the organizers and corner worker equivalents.

Some of the guys out there are incredible. The go very fast and just throw the car into the corner the way sprint drivers do it. And they go fast and sideways in a cloud of intense smoke all the way around the course. They are smooth and controlled. I had the only American car there out of 46 cars by the way....

It is certainly different than road racing. I plan to go back with some more old tires and work on it some more.

robvuk

PA Z06

thats really cool ollie, any video of the day

Slalom4me

Do they talk to people about car prep?

Any casualties?

.

Olitho

They did have guys available to answer questions, but they did not have a formal class or pre-drive orientation. They just sent the nubees over to the skid pad and had us line up and just start going around the cone. At Driftbuffet(.com), as an organization it was rather loose. So no, they did not talk about car prep and I did not ask.

Most of my questions got answered by one of the Speed Ventures track rats I drive with. He goes drifting all the time.

There were no casualties that I am aware of... if you are asking about cars hitting something or breaking. I did see a couple of cars get pushed off the track area, but by the way they looked it would not have surprised me to see them get pushed in the morning when they got their if you get my drift, silly pun intended.

Olitho

No, I am sorry I did not get any video.

I did watch this video before I went though. It is from the Drift Buffet web site.
http://www.driftbuffet.com/index.htm

TRACKMAN2

thats it! sounds like fun.. i'm gonna go for it !!! my vettes are well known for smokin'... be nice for it to be on purpose!!!!!

Olitho

I am told the Corvettes have only two draw backs. One, the cars are well balanced and like to grip. Two, the maximum steering angle is not as much as most cars. I suppose due to the wide tires, maximum wheel angle is diminished. I was also told that most of the Japanese cars have been designed to make u-turns on their narrower streets.

This diminished turning angle makes it harder to get real sideways and if you do you have less steering angle left to recover if you get a little too sideways. Despite these two handicaps, the car has plenty of power to pitch it sideways.

AMERICANMUSL

Hmmm...the way you drive, you should be a natural! You seem to be going backwards...just kidding of course. Sounds like a blast

Oli the drifter...nope, don't see it.

Ed

xsiveone

I haven't drifted, but it has to improve your regular track driving. I think that a lot of people don't push it at the track because they don't know what their car is going to do once it breaks loose. I think that this would be a great way of getting comfortable with your car when it gets out of control.

0Randy@DRM

Drifting sounds like a ton of fun. We do it in the winter time, going back and forth to work. But it's not the same as doing it in the dry with horsepower. Anyone see the movie tokyo drift, stupid movie but cool driving.

Randy

BrianCunningham

sound like you had fun, I want to try it for all the same reasons.

Of course we drift here all the time, it's called winter driving

Bink

Sounds like a lot of fun.

robvuk

I've often thought about it myself, it can't hurt to learn new skills. The problem is to find any local events or even a place to go to attempt it on your own. I wouldn't want to try it on a regular roadrace track untill I had some experience. I think the roads at tracks are too narrow to learn that. Furthermore there are no parking lots large enough or empty enough without lighting fixtures etc. Any suggestions?

Olitho

The parking lot I learned on was not very level and it had light poles. The Drift Buffet guys did a good job of routing the course around the poles in a fashion that did not seem to pose even a remote threat to any of the drivers, both new and expert, the whole day.

I would try to find an outfit like them to run with in your area.

Bink

What tires were you running on....size and type/make??

Slalom4me

People, I really hope this drifting thing does not spread
into the Corvette group.

This is not a flame of Olitho, TRACKMAN2 or anyone else
who has expressed interest. I'll say again that I appreciate
the skill of drifters (and the prowess of their engineers).
While I have not drifted on pavement, I know how much fun
the sensation is from experience in winter driving and sledding.

** BUT **

At its core, drifting destroys tires in the fastest imaginable
way possible.

Tires are costly in terms of the petroleum expended to make,
transport and then dispose of them. Used tires form a severe
hazard when piles of them catch fire. They present an ideal
breeding ground for mosquitoes and other insects. And so on...

(Holding hands palm up) Hey, I recognize that my motorsport
activities consume resources at a faster rate than the average
commuter - I'm not innocent.

I am just pointing out that the party is not going to last
forever and when it begins to end, we or our descendents are
really going to face a much different experience than we have
enjoyed. Let's not be in such a hurry to bring that day upon
ourselves.

.

robvuk

Although you bring up some good points, tracking with the grippy, soft compound tires certainly eats tires fast. As I am not currently a drifter, I am just guessing, but I'd think the hard as rock tires would be a good choice for this type of activity and therefore would last probably just as many events as our tracking days. And then use a lot less brake pads and gas.

Well Oli what say you? Did you find out anything about the kinds of tire compounds they use? Hard compound, high mileage, less than optimal traction types make the most sense to me.

Olitho

When you are learning, smaller and less grippy tires are the order of the day I am told. I ran some old Michelin Pilot Sport Cups and Kumho V700s that I corded on the rear on the skid pad.

I then switched to some Michelin Pilot Sports, front wheels and tires actually for the afternoon runs on the course. These did not get so much wear and held up much better.

I am told as you get better, drifting with real grippy tires, like Nitto NT-01s, is the best if you can afford it. Kumho also makes tires for drifting that make colored smoke if you care to indulge.

For what it is worth, on a track day I burn over a whole tank of fuel... say a tank and a 1/4. Drifting I did not even use 1/3... maybe only 1/4.

StArrow68

Thanks, Oli, for the inputs. Since one of the 2nd day exercises at Sp.
Mtn. Advanced school is to control a skid cone drift in a circle, I expect
that your feeling that it helps car control is spot on. Victor was able
to basically put the corner of the car on the cone and hold the circle
until he got tired. About 1/3 of the class, including me, never got 1/2
a circle, it's harder than it looks.
Randy