Drift entrance techniques/form

[240sxbaltimoremd]

Originally Posted by conrad_s13.5

foot on the floor like ur just driving threw the turn fast,. and literally kick the clutch,. in and out really fast. be ready to countersteer almost immediately.

id say start in a big open area, and just drive around in a small circle. Kick the clutch and go from there. work on donuts then figure 8's

more practice you get, (like with anything) the more u'll get comfortable, and know when you need to, how often and how hard

I'm not doing donuts till I get a different oil pan. I have a rod knock in my sr from donuts. Hml.

But thanks for the advice.

[240sxbaltimoremd]

Originally Posted by fckillerbee

start out small. do 1st gear donuts not letting off throttle and just control the steering.

but make sure your car is okay to do that. Nothing is harder than doing donuts with an open diff.

I'm just wondering , I have a rod knock in my sr and everyone keeps saying its from doing donuts . Is there a way to do donuts and NOT risk getting a rod knock? also, is it ideal to practice clutch kick whole doig donuts?

[s13Kurt]

Before asking any more questions here just type in "clutch kick" on you tube and watch. Look at the DVD "drift bible" for basics also since its one of the more mainstream learning tools

[word sux]

your car has a rod knock??


and your worried about trying to drift it???

[240sxbaltimoremd]

Originally Posted by word sux

your car has a rod knock??


and your worried about trying to drift it???

? No. I'm saying for future reference.

[conrad_s13.5]

just clutch kick to get into a drift. shouldnt need to do it, while doing donuts.

[fckillerbee]

Originally Posted by 240sxbaltimoremd

I'm just wondering , I have a rod knock in my sr and everyone keeps saying its from doing donuts . Is there a way to do donuts and NOT risk getting a rod knock? also, is it ideal to practice clutch kick whole doig donuts?

I've never once got rod knock from doing donuts.

maybe you were low on oil while doing donuts?...

[pacotaco345]

Originally Posted by fckillerbee

I've never once got rod knock from doing donuts.

maybe you were low on oil while doing donuts?...

The last drift event I went to I did tons of donuts with a failing oil pump, still no rod knock.. Maybe he's just unlucky

[chiboy002]

1st event i drove at i was on the skid pad a lot, engine blew lots of oil on the way home but stopped the next day

the only thing thats bad about doing donuts is that very little airflow passes the radiator so its easy to overheat, and if you dont have the right gauges you can easily destroy something

[VinceDude]

How should I go about transitioning. I remember drifting and found it hard to transition from left to right during an S turn. I didin't do anything besides let off the gas and force the steering wheel the opposite direction and gased it again in order to go the other way. Should I be doing anything else besides thing like clutch kicking right after pulling the countersteer back a little? Cause in drift videos I see their steering wheels and it's as if the car is doing all the work but when i was transitioning i had to force the steering to go the way i want it to.

[iamtheyi]

Originally Posted by VinceDude

How should I go about transitioning. I remember drifting and found it hard to transition from left to right during an S turn. I didin't do anything besides let off the gas and force the steering wheel the opposite direction and gased it again in order to go the other way. Should I be doing anything else besides thing like clutch kicking right after pulling the countersteer back a little? Cause in drift videos I see their steering wheels and it's as if the car is doing all the work but when i was transitioning i had to force the steering to go the way i want it to.

Shouldn't be forcing anything. Post your set-up and suspension angles.

[KA240SX808]

Depending how tight the S is. We have a few tight ones here where you only need to eBrake to help transition and keep inline.

[conrad_s13.5]

give the wheel a little kick just before transitioning helps throw the weight ive learned.

like,..lets say, first turn,..ur in a drift, close to lock, coming up on where you wanna throw it into the next turn, nudge it closer to lock, or lock......let the wheel spin while you transition, let off the gas, then lay back into it threw the next turn.

shits kinda hard to type out....lol
hope that makes sense.

pulling the ebrake for a split sec helps too.

[fckillerbee]

Originally Posted by conrad_s13.5

give the wheel a little kick just before transitioning helps throw the weight ive learned.

like,..lets say, first turn,..ur in a drift, close to lock, coming up on where you wanna throw it into the next turn, nudge it closer to lock, or lock......let the wheel spin while you transition, let off the gas, then lay back into it threw the next turn.

shits kinda hard to type out....lol
hope that makes sense.

pulling the ebrake for a split sec helps too.

this.

if the wheel isn't spinning, your caster may be off. Anything binding at full lock?

please post your specs to your car and what speeds you are driving at. More info would help a lot.

[chiboy002]

VinceDude. Get an alignment regardless if you think its off or not. driving with an alignment vs without is like night and day dude. makes WORLDS difference

[KA240SX808]

^+1 To that...

If you need a "Base" Specs just post up your Suspension Mods, Tire Sizes and What Motor and How Much Power. All those things effect the kind of alignment specs you should run/start with.

I'm pretty sure alot of us in here could give you some kind of base provided those things mentioned.

[VinceDude]

It wasn't my car I was drifting in cause I'm still trying to learn. I'm still in the process of building my car at the moment but yeah after a whole semester of the community college suspension class here where I live I'm well aware how crucial an alignment could be LOLOL And conrad yeah I have an idea of what you're getting at. I'll try it next time and I was just wondering if all that slight struggle was normal. Thanks for the advice guys I see people doing that little nudge conrad was talking about in drift videos but I didn't realize it up until now. Would you guys recommend running a lot of caster though just to help the steering come back faster? Do people clutch kick right before a transition? I thought I saw this one guy doing it but i'm not sure.

[KA240SX808]

More Caster does help with self steer, but at the same time it creates more positive camber on the leading tire. So its pretty much finding how little caster you can run for how much steering feel and self steer you personally want.

As far as clutch kicking that's normally done with cars that have either low power or lots of grip.

[JohnnyDrfiter22]

try these #s for basic S13 Suspension....

Caster- .5
Front Camber 2.5-3.5 depends on what you want
Rear Camber-1.5

This past weekend I did a drift event and it was nasty rainy and wet.. Well clutch kicking would make me spin so i worked on more steering control and learned that if i flick the car into a turn, like turn out than quickly turn in and hammer down and make small shuffle steering changes that my drifts would improve quite a bit.

[fckillerbee]

Originally Posted by JohnnyDrfiter22

try these #s for basic S13 Suspension....

Caster- .5
Front Camber 2.5-3.5 depends on what you want
Rear Camber-1.5

This past weekend I did a drift event and it was nasty rainy and wet.. Well clutch kicking would make me spin so i worked on more steering control and learned that if i flick the car into a turn, like turn out than quickly turn in and hammer down and make small shuffle steering changes that my drifts would improve quite a bit.

Never seen caster measured that way...please explain more.

(the shuffling settles the car's weight balance)

[jasoncanseeoh]

Originally Posted by fckillerbee

Never seen caster measured that way...please explain more.

(the shuffling settles the car's weight balance)

That has to be a typo.

[chiboy002]

dude, don't build a car without knowing how to drive. why does everyone do that?
the whole point of learning is to start out with the basics, if you start with a well set up car then you will only always be rely on similar set ups to be able to do good.

if you start with a "hard to drift" car then you can get better even with these handicaps, and when they aren't there you'll be so much better.


as well as, my first alignment was a factory-spec alignment, idk how good it was but it was fine for learning

[pacotaco345]

Originally Posted by chiboy002

dude, don't build a car without knowing how to drive. why does everyone do that?
the whole point of learning is to start out with the basics, if you start with a well set up car then you will only always be rely on similar set ups to be able to do good.

if you start with a "hard to drift" car then you can get better even with these handicaps, and when they aren't there you'll be so much better.


as well as, my first alignment was a factory-spec alignment, idk how good it was but it was fine for learning

As much as I agree with this statement, it probably isn't the easiest thing to drift a car with post-slammed alignment without any correction. He should at least have his car set up in a half way decent matter before he goes and blows 200 bucks at a drift event for tires and entry fee.

[jasoncanseeoh]

So, there's a local track close by with a bank you have to run 3rd gear. The straightaway to get there is quite short, so you have to dip pretty hard to get to 3rd before the bank starts.
My main question is: when you guys clutch kick, do you let the car settle first? Because on this straightaway, when you're mashing the gas pretty hard, the weight is shifted to the rear of the car pretty hard.... and clutch kicking with 80% of the weight being put on the rear wheels feels quite frantic/scary to me. Is that normal and should I just grow some balls? Or should I let the car settle before the turn, THEN clutch kick?

Hope I made fucking sense. lol

[KA240SX808]

Its normal. It actually settles a decent amount during those few milliseconds you go to kick the clutch. Its normal to feel scared, grow balls and don't hit the wall.

Carry on

[VinceDude]

Originally Posted by chiboy002

dude, don't build a car without knowing how to drive. why does everyone do that?
the whole point of learning is to start out with the basics, if you start with a well set up car then you will only always be rely on similar set ups to be able to do good.

if you start with a "hard to drift" car then you can get better even with these handicaps, and when they aren't there you'll be so much better.


as well as, my first alignment was a factory-spec alignment, idk how good it was but it was fine for learning

By building i didn't mean modifying the car. My coupe is a shell lol So yeah in my case i'd have to build it before I can wreck it haha I'll just align my car to factory specs when it's up and running.

[chiboy002]

Originally Posted by pacotaco345

As much as I agree with this statement, it probably isn't the easiest thing to drift a car with post-slammed alignment without any correction. He should at least have his car set up in a half way decent matter before he goes and blows 200 bucks at a drift event for tires and entry fee.

what?

im saying, when i got my car aligned i just had them set it to factory-spec, not some crazy gimme -X camber and Xtoe and Xcaster.

[di-devol]

Originally Posted by jasoncanseeoh

So, there's a local track close by with a bank you have to run 3rd gear. The straightaway to get there is quite short, so you have to dip pretty hard to get to 3rd before the bank starts.
My main question is: when you guys clutch kick, do you let the car settle first? Because on this straightaway, when you're mashing the gas pretty hard, the weight is shifted to the rear of the car pretty hard.... and clutch kicking with 80% of the weight being put on the rear wheels feels quite frantic/scary to me. Is that normal and should I just grow some balls? Or should I let the car settle before the turn, THEN clutch kick?

Hope I made fucking sense. lol

There is a ton of in car footage from evergreen, just sit and watch a bunch of them to see what most do. See ya in May if your going.

[pacotaco345]

Originally Posted by chiboy002

what?

im saying, when i got my car aligned i just had them set it to factory-spec, not some crazy gimme -X camber and Xtoe and Xcaster.

I'm just saying if he's done any suspension mods to his car its proly no where near even being in factory spec.

[jasoncanseeoh]

Originally Posted by di-devol

There is a ton of in car footage from evergreen, just sit and watch a bunch of them to see what most do. See ya in May if your going.

Trust me, I've watched all I can find. It's just hard to determine g-forces through a computer monitor. lol