The basic drifting techniques.

"A sideways glance"

The art of getting a car to go sideways is a delicate balance, and one which requires a great deal of skill and concentration. We shall assume that you have  a suitably equipped and tuned car that is drift ready.

Torquecars will cover the most popular drift techniques which generally will combine together to create the other techniques. By learning a few methods you can combine them to match your personal style, the car setup and meet the track and apex conditions with the perfect drift. The better you get the faster you can drive. Some techniques only really become effective at fast speeds. These techniques in particular should not be attempted unless you have attained an intuitive level of drift control at slower speeds and can control the cars direction as well as holding a drift.

Power over - Using the throttle to cause a power surge causing the rear wheels to lose traction. Pressing hard on the throttle will cause the wheels to spin faster than the travel of the car and this loss of traction effectively causes the rear of the car to go light. If you are already steering into a bend the back will go wide, if you are travelling straight a steering motion will start the drift.

Feint - Steering into the corner first and as the car is just about to settle into the bend a flick of the wrist in the other direction will upset the cars traction causing the rear to brake free. The Scandinavian flick as popularised in the world of rally is a very similar technique. Using a feint technique it is possible to drift a front wheel drive car if you have enough speed. It is possible to drift a car using the inertia of the car caused by deceleration into a bend without using the Feint.

Clutch Kick - dipping the clutch to disengage the drive then reapplying it suddenly. The aim here is to use the different engine to road speed (either higher or sometimes lower) to initiate an over steer skid which can be held in a drift.

Handbrake - this is what the kids do in supermarket car parks and is not really a technique suitable for the track. Some drifters may use the handbrake to initiate the drift, and this is essential if you have a front wheel drive car and are carrying a lot of speed. A drifter will combine this with the other methods described to start a drift.

So now the rear of the car is running wide we need to keep it balanced. The key here is to use gentle and progressive controls. Steering motions need to be fluid rather than jerky. Throttle application likewise also needs to be progressive and steady. This is what distinguishes a pro from an ammeter and the feel only comes from hours of practice. It will become second nature. To stop an over steer skid you steer in the direction of the skid, to make it worse you steer the other way. In drifting you want to maintain the fine balance between  over steer and running straight.

What if you overcook it and the car spins? Stay calm and do not panic. The car will generally complete a 180 degree turn and come to  a stop. When the car has lost its speed be quick to apply the brake to prevent the car rolling into a barrier or worse still another driver. The holy grail of drifting is a long driftlock or being able to hold a steady drift vector for as long as possible. The greater the angle and faster the drift the more points are awarded. In car GPS measures the angle and speed of drift and allows an easily judgeable benchmark.

Feel free to join us in our drift forum and discuss drifting techniques, events and all aspects of drift car setup with other drifitng fanatics.