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''drifting'' has been a major sport around here for over 50 years...we call it ''dirt track'' racing...it IS a total blast...30 chevy v-8's on a 1/4 mile circle...skill/money wins but drivers, owners, spectators all enjoy.
we also have a 5/8 mile asphalt track, serious business there, if you ''drift'' in the corners everybody will go by.
From: Dayton, OH HAWG: "this is Off Topic...it can get a bit north of care bears and strawberry shortcake in here"
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11
Originally Posted by Draven
You make it sound like drifters are racer-wannabes. They're two totally different things. They both require practice and skill at a professional level. Both can also be done for recreation, too. If people have more fun drifting, it doesn't make them a racer who couldn't make it.
Most of them are.
In drifting, there's no goal. No lap times to beat, etc. You get to be scored by judges based on style. It's like figure skating with rubber. go out and meet some of the drifters at events and tell me they aren't racer wannabes.
From: Dayton, OH HAWG: "this is Off Topic...it can get a bit north of care bears and strawberry shortcake in here"
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11
Originally Posted by redrose
''drifting'' has been a major sport around here for over 50 years...we call it ''dirt track'' racing...it IS a total blast...30 chevy v-8's on a 1/4 mile circle...skill/money wins but drivers, owners, spectators all enjoy.
we also have a 5/8 mile asphalt track, serious business there, if you ''drift'' in the corners everybody will go by.
also halfshafts, ujoints, tranny, clutch, engine etc.
Quite the opposite...It's hooking-up that breaks those parts (well, every kind of racing increases engine wear). Just ask the drag racers. In fact, many people protect those parts by not running slicks...the tires spin before things break.
To each their own....so do what you want...your car, your tires, your parts, your money.
The course looks a lot like an AutoCrossing course.
I used to do a lot of SCCA AutoCrossing in my 90 Eclipse GSX and one of my 96 Corolla GT-S AE86. I found that the AE86 is one of the best drift cars made. Cheap, light, small, high-revving motor with factory locking diff and live axle. I learned to drive in my first one. I played with drifing in my second AE86 and found it to be very challenging....much harder than it looks. I tried in my 94 LT1 in the back of the industrial park my dad owns (no cops, family owns property so they cannot run us off....yeah, I'm 37 and act 17). What I found quickly is I ran out of opposite lock and that tight drifts were very hard to maintain due to lack of front wheel turn angles. Long, wide drifts were easier but I was stuck between over revving 1st gear and bogging second....if I had the guts to go faster I may not have had that problem. Also found my Vette likes to hook up....sometimes violently grabbing traction. 94ZR1 is right....that breaks parts. But so does drag racing. If you have ever seen professional drifters in action...it IS damn cool to watch.
Last edited by dchildress; Oct 9, 2007 at 03:22 PM.
Quite the opposite...It's hooking-up that breaks those parts (well, every kind of racing increases engine wear). Just ask the drag racers. In fact, many people protect those parts by not running slicks...the tires spin before things break.
Nope, go watch the extra footage from Tokyo drift, they had to replace the CV joints on the Vielside RX7 like 3 times. Its not the acceleration thats stressing these parts, its hitting the corners so hard that the force is shoving the weight onto one side. As far as the transmission goes well thats just from them constantly using the clutch to rip a drift, there are other methods of doing it.
From: SCMR Rat Pack'r Charter Member..Great Bend KS
My son drifts. Has two drift cars; one American, one a LHD turbo Nissan. I know a little about the sport. Drifting well is not easy. Stock Corvettes make lousy drift cars, mainly for the reason dchildress stated: very little steering lock.
That vid has lots of smoke and the car sounds terrific, but that's not drifting....we call it "doing donuts".
I don't even watch the drift events any more; waste of good horsepower if ya' ask me. I think the sport as just about peaked, myself.
Got invited to a car club challange the other weekend where you had to pick four people to represent your club in four events. AUTO-CROSSING,DRAGGING,AND DRIFTING. I've done lots of auto-crossing
and drag raceing but never tryed drifting until this event. I was told to just go out and try to make as much smoke as you can and try to slide the car around. Someone took some video and posted it on anther forum what do you think.
Your car makes tons of power, wow! What cubes are you running?
I'm running a 440 ci small block I just left the car in second gear and drove with my right foot I will agree that drifting is a lot harder than it looks and when the car started comeing around it was already to late to stop it so I went with plan B floor it for the smoke show. I disagree with drifting being any harder on your car than drag raceing or auto-crossing I have a corner in the shop of broken parts from drag racing. But I still do it anyways. This is the reason I bought this car was to drive and have fun not show it. I love it I will never get rid of this car. I have a nice C5 that I take the wife out to dinner with and only race it when I brake my c4. Again this was my fisrt time doing this and I enjoyed it alot. I can wait until they do this car club showdown next year it was a blast.
I'm running a 440 ci small block I just left the car in second gear and drove with my right foot I will agree that drifting is a lot harder than it looks and when the car started comeing around it was already to late to stop it so I went with plan B floor it for the smoke show. I disagree with drifting being any harder on your car than drag raceing or auto-crossing I have a corner in the shop of broken parts from drag racing. But I still do it anyways. This is the reason I bought this car was to drive and have fun not show it. I love it I will never get rid of this car. I have a nice C5 that I take the wife out to dinner with and only race it when I brake my c4. Again this was my fisrt time doing this and I enjoyed it alot. I can wait until they do this car club showdown next year it was a blast.
Glad you enjoyed it...too bad others had to make negative comments about an event that looked like a load of fun. Hard to figure. That car is sick I wouldn't get rid of it either.
My son drifts. Has two drift cars; one American, one a LHD turbo Nissan. I know a little about the sport. Drifting well is not easy. Stock Corvettes make lousy drift cars, mainly for the reason dchildress stated: very little steering lock.
That vid has lots of smoke and the car sounds terrific, but that's not drifting....we call it "doing donuts".
I don't even watch the drift events any more; waste of good horsepower if ya' ask me. I think the sport as just about peaked, myself.
Larry
code5coupe
___________ not easily impressed....
idk about that, my car has no suspencion mods and just thinner tires and it never hooks up, which is pretty much the point of the sport!?
I'm running a 440 ci small block I just left the car in second gear and drove with my right foot I will agree that drifting is a lot harder than it looks and when the car started comeing around it was already to late to stop it so I went with plan B floor it for the smoke show. I disagree with drifting being any harder on your car than drag raceing or auto-crossing I have a corner in the shop of broken parts from drag racing. But I still do it anyways. This is the reason I bought this car was to drive and have fun not show it. I love it I will never get rid of this car. I have a nice C5 that I take the wife out to dinner with and only race it when I brake my c4. Again this was my fisrt time doing this and I enjoyed it alot. I can wait until they do this car club showdown next year it was a blast.
I think mostly what you were doing is what we used to call a "donut" and it IS a blast. When we were young, dumb and full of ..... I would do this in my '69 Chevelle in an intersection and then scat before the coppers showed up. Doing this yourself makes you realize how much skill is actually involved with these professional drifters. We saw a show at the NOPI nationals, I know "rice burners" ha-ha, but these guys were all in rear wheel drive imports, slideing around two or three cars wide, side by side, similar to the Blue Angels air show. It was quite impressive! I have to agree too with the guys that mention the abuse to the car, that has got to be tough on the whole drivetrain but I'm sure you had a blast!!!