Almost didn't make it.

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:24 pm Post subject: Almost didn't make it.

Wow...I was practicing my drifts and on this one corner my car didnt react and kept sliding front sideways and almost into the gaurd rail.

I was 2 feet away from the guard rail, but then the actual drift kicked in and i saved my car from certain damage!

This area is pretty wideopen, no cars, just a sharp turn with alot of room. LSDs, where art thou?

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:39 pm Post subject:

Whow lucky you!!

I have a vid of an MX5 having the same problem, but he didn't miss the guardrail.....

Ryousuke Joined: 24 Oct 2004 Posts: 199

Be carefull dude!!

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 11:30 pm Post subject:

Drifting on puplic roads is so damn dangerous....

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 12:40 am Post subject:

Aaah under!

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 3:15 am Post subject:

I wasn't going to do a full speed drift, i usually attempt it when I can see on the other side of the turn, making sure theres no pedestrians and cars, but my the car wasnt responding the way I wanted it to and kept sliding forward...

BTW, i didnt draw the guard rails, that white line represents a stop sign line for another street that starts after that curve

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 6:17 am Post subject:

I've had the same problem, many times infact. In motorsport they call it "pushing", prob beacuse the nose of the car is pushing rather than going around the corner.

I have kind of thought that the problem could be a number of things. 1 being bad tyres with low grip on the front, 2 The suspension is standard and doesnt allow good compression or has slow reaction time when trying to corner hard. 3 The car comes into the corner to fast or "hot" as they say in motorsport and the cars weight hasnt move correctly.

I really need to get some adjusterble suspension and good tyres in my car so I can do some testing and figure some things out.

But yeah, its freaky to say the least.

Shocked

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 7:02 am Post subject:

James, it's called understeering! Wave

Just kick your clutch / pull e-brake or shift more weight and you'll be fine. Smile

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 8:17 am Post subject:

I didnt do neither, it was an inertia drift, i think. My tires dont have great grip, which is probably the reason for my loss of control, i wasnt accelerated in the entry but when i wanted to slide, thats when i had little control

Im not a drift expert, so all i can say is, i almost ran into the guardrail.

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 8:30 am Post subject:

Sort-of had the same problem this morning...but it was on a roundabout, not a hill (Holland is the flattest country on the face of the planet..).
It was a bit wet and it understeered straight forward (I was coming at it at 'fun' speed). I managed to get it to snap into a spot of oversteer, and then snap it right back the other way so I didnt hit the outside either...It get's the juices flowing at 7:30 in the morning Very Happy

My suspension setup at the moment is about 6kg front 3kg/mm rear and works pretty well on dry roads, but the front with rally springs is way to high compared to the lowered rearend, making it hard to shift weight forward on slippery roads..

Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 2

what is your susp build like cause if you have body roll unless you unloc your tires right away you will just push through sliding forward instead of the way you want it

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 6:14 pm Post subject:

RCA would help cure the understeer.
also have a softer setting at the front than the rear on the shock.
lower the front a little bit more than the rear if got coilover.
lower the front tyre pressure than rear.

as mention, it's way too dangerious to practice on the public road. can't see the traffic ahead. and couldn't take the right apex. keep it safe.

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:31 am Post subject:

sniper- you have yet so much to learn, grasshopper. start the drift earlier, from your drawing you are coming in too fast and expecting F1 handling. start the slide before the start of the turn, so you can be sideways at the apex. expect slower speeds at the apex. once you pass it then mash on the gas to power out of the turn. then straighten out. dont fight the wheel cause then you will just spin out of control.

starting a correct drift will scare you at first. you will have to use a combination of techniques to get the drift you want. try using the brakes to shift the weight up front, then clutch, handbrake and steer into the turn then counter, slide almost to apex, release handbrake, release clutch, gas gas gas, then full throttle. be confident, but dont think you can just go out and do what i said. practicex10. DO NOT try clutch kick until you are better.

best advise, learn at an open lot. never a road with obstacles. unless you love changing parts on the side of the road. besides i bet you dont carry spare parts with you anyway. that was a big concern when i used to street drift years ago in nihongo-land. always carry the common spare suspension parts that you will bend hitting curbs and other stuff; i.e. tie rods, tension rods, panhard rod. carry two full size spare tires. ALWAYS go with two or more cars. have plenty of tools to get the job done. the best night out is when you can drive home, even if you crash and spend all night fixing your car. its cheaper than a tow truck.

sorry for the lecture!

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:20 am Post subject:

SuperG, nice info man:) I never thought seriously about taking spares with me on a night out (I never really go out at night *yet*, holland sucks) but it is actually a good idea.. Even at the track I don't but then again, there is always a mate with a towtruck if the unthinkable happens:)

In the end though, my motto is always be safe, always practice in an environment that is relatively safe if you want to keep your material, and more importantly yourself, in one piece.

Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 7:48 am Post subject:

Its been awhile since Ive psoted her and a long time since that event. I was going in neutral down the hill and when I began to turn i shifte din 2nd while turning but I was not turning the direction that I wanted...My tires dont seem to have much grip, My rear tires need to be wider ot i need to get spacers...

Havent really drifted since then..to dangerous, i dont want to damage my car in anyway, shapr or form...

btw, my clutch cluif or master cylinder needs to be replaced so my 86 is grounded for a while...

still have the Bmer!

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:52 am Post subject:

Also, if you locked the brakes or if you had abnormally low or high tire pressure, it could cause understeer. What I'm thinking happens to me a lot in my SR5 because one tire leaks slowly... If you have too low tire pressure in your front tire/tires the sidewall could roll over, and seem to have no grip at all until it catches and your car suddenly changes direction without you changing steering input. Or if overinflation is the case, the tires contact patch might be reduced because it's sort of bulging out on the bottom, combine that with improper weight shift and is insta-understeer. But I'm probably wrong and it was just improper weight shifting by itself lol It's easy to mess that up. I slid into a ditch sideways the first time I messed up... luckily I didn't break anything on the car.

BTW, I don't know about not learning with clutch kicks, maybe I'm just insane but thats the technique I started learning with, in the rain actually, then went right into feint by the end of the week... spun out twice, lol. I only ever used the e-brake if I felt like I didn't feint properly and was going to understeer. Or for 180s, but that doesn't count lol But I guess learning that way is kinda dangerous lol

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:03 am Post subject:

Also, this is a very old topic you diged out of the dust. Look at the dates.
BR

ZaX