Drifting 101: 8 Drifting Techniques You Should Try Out
September 22, 2015
(Disclaimer: Do not attempt any of these techniques unless you are supervised by professionals and equipped with the proper driver’s license.)
Drifting, as mentioned in an earlier article, is the art of over-steering your vehicle in such a way that the rear pair of tires, if not all four wheels, would lose traction in a dramatic effect – all while you retain control. Doing this takes considerable skill, and certain modifications must be made on the car, including replacing some of its parts like its mufflers and what-not.
Again, as mentioned in a previous article, drifting has had a long history, starting from its birth in the 1970’s up until now. And throughout this period, a lot of drifting techniques were invented, shaping the way we see this daredevil car maneuver. Let’s take a look at some of them:
Kansei Drift
Usually performed when your ride is at racing speeds, this is ideally done when entering corners to induce a mild over-steer while balancing through turning and throttle motions. Be reminded, though, that this drift can only be achieved by a neutrally balanced car, which is the only type of vehicle capable of over-steering.
Braking Drift
This technique is only applicable for medium and low speed corners, where trail braking would entail balance in both steering and throttle motions while at maintaining the brake’s grip.
Faint Drift
This type of drifting maneuver can only be used in tight mountain corners, and it’s often employed for heavy rally racing. Performed by rocking the car towards the outside of a turn, the grip would then be rebounded in order for the vehicle to have a normal cornering direction.
Clutch Kick
This trick is performed by simply depressing the clutch pedal on approach or during a mild drift before popping the clutch to make it “kick.” This would cause the car to jolt forward, with the rear traction gliding smoothly and flawlessly.
Dirt Drop Drift
One of the most useful drifting techniques to use especially when your car has low horsepower, dirt drop drift can be achieved by gaining a drift a angle with the use of dropping the rear tires off the road and into the road without losing power or speed.
Power Over
Use full throttle to heavily over-steer or tail slide through a turn in a corner, and you get the hang of this drifting trick. However, this can only be performed by using a vehicle with good and high horsepower.
Long Slide Drift
At high speed, pull the E-brake through a strait in order to get a high angle drift and hold this position as you make the turn (Remember that this could only be done at high speeds).
E-Brake Drift
Very basic and also one of the easiest drifting tricks to perform, the E-break or side break can be achieved by inducing the rear traction loss and balance drift through steering and throttle play. This technique is very efficient to correct errors or fine tune drift angles.
As mentioned above, drifting takes considerable skill. By working hard on your maneuvers, however, as well as though car modifications, you’ll soon master all these drifting tricks. Type your comments and suggestions on the box below.