View Full Version : Going Sideways
Hi :)
Having taken on the might of RWD, I am obviously duty bound to get it as sideways as possible! Problem is, I cant really afford to launch myself backwards through a wall, so I thought I should doff my cap to the sideways heroes here and get some advice!
First of all, I have been "driving" RWD things for ages - Karts/mini race cars, but in those the whole point of the exercise was to get from A to B as smoothly and as quickly as possible, not drift around the track. This means that for catching slides and stuff (which I have had to do several times already) I am alright but for being a dickhead around roundabouts I suck!
I dont think I have enough power for being a prick in the dry, which means my opportunities are limited to the wet or the damp, which is OK but it also means that the odds of me stacking it are higher! I dont fancy that too much! I need to get my drift-skills down in carparks etc first, but want to know how mechanically unsympathetic I have to be to achieve this, even in the wet!
The coolest hooligan thing I have done so far is a rolling burnout, by the way :p
Don't
Break
It.
Don't worry! This is exactly what I don't want to do, and hence the reason for this thread before I go out looning on private land :p
Since you already have good driving experience, it should be pretty easy to get going. What i recommend to is to find somewhere with a big open area and put one cone in the middle and then start doing donuts around the cone. Find a point on the front bumper and try to keep the cone at that point while going in circles around it. This will give you feel for the steer counter steer and some throttle control because if you give to much on the loud pedal, it will spin and so on..... When you get good at that start going wider and wider and that will be the beginning of a drift. Then try changing directions going the opposite way you were going. After that put up two cones a good distance apart and do figure eights around the cones keeping the back wheels spinning with a good angle through the whole process. This will force you to learn the throttle on and off response for changing directions while in motion.
If this is easy for you, find a small corner and try getting the drift going around the corner. You can start it with a clutch kick or the side brake but the best way is to quickly turn the wheel in to the turn while applying ever increasing throttle until the arse end comes out and then just work with the throttle and steering wheel to maintain the line.
Think of the nose of the car as the point of the line and the back of the car is outside the line...because you are sideways. The line will be further to the outside due to the fact that that trying to keep it sideways and the tyres spinning will kind of cause the car to drive to the bottom of the track.
This is where the footwork comes in and the appropriate speed for each corner....if you go to fast it will go way to the outside or spin if too slow it will want to drive to the inside.
A problem I used to have in mine was that the 19s provided more grip than you could shake a stick at, so I was having to jump the clutch pedal while giving it a fair bit of throttle. Another problem is that I kept forgetting to turn traction control off, so I looked like a noob:embarassed:.
I apparently feature on a Redline video at a cruise demonstrating the above between two roundabouts while simultaneously overtaking an Imprezza on the outside who was also sideways on the roundabout. I was stupid in that to break traction I slammed it into 1st when approaching the roundabout which had the effect of not locking but seriously slowing my rear wheels enough to make it look like I knew what I was doing. It was stupid because of the damage it could have caused to my gearbox, but hey it was a seriously fun night.
I found the easiest way to learn that kind of stuff is on wet grass....
Sideways is fun. I may have accidentally had Will's turbo charged hairdryer sideways once or twice over the bank holiday weekend ;)
Justsomebloke
12-09-2007, 14:56
Wait till it rains then find an empty car park with Plenty of room. Get your speed up to 3rd then drop to 2nd kicking the back out with the throttle & holding it with opposite lock.
Complete control comes when you can snake it from one side to the other.
Then go & find a decent bend with good camber & good visibilty. Do the above only hold the drift longer :cool:
I grew up in RWD & drifting was Compulsory :)
Must just be me that finds it more fun to go fast forwards rather than sideways at all.
Must just be me that finds it more fun to go fast forwards rather than sideways at all.
Nah, I've been driving RWD for a few years now and I've never had the back out intentionally.
I get the back out more often when I'm pushing hard rather than purposefully. I do it when I feel like showboating though...
It's a balance of lock and throttle really - there's nothing much more than practice that can be taught without doing it more hands on.
Go round a roundabout in 2nd gear and nail the throttle. The back should let loose. If not you need a more powerful car :)
I only tend to do any sideways action in a car park when there's snow on it.
Otherwise it gets too expensive on tyres. (please remember I'm running P275/70R16's)
Go round a roundabout in 2nd gear and nail the throttle. The back should let loose. If not you need a more powerful car :)
not if you're accelerating at the correct place, surely! that's bearing in mind that I accelerate to go fast forwards, not sideways.
Go round a roundabout in 2nd gear and nail the throttle. The back should let loose. If not you need a more powerful car :)
Or less sticky rubber :)
What about pressing the clutch accelerating and then dumping the clutch? Works for me every time.
Or less sticky rubber :)
Indeed, mine does quality sideways action on it's 450-17's
That's a 105/95/17 in new money, yes you read it right and no it's not a bike tyre ;D
What about pressing the clutch accelerating and then dumping the clutch? Works for me every time.
I broke it doing that last time. The diff is like Lego in mine :D
Just be careful, this was my pride and joy after going sideways on some ice on a round about and fishtailing a good 10 mins, inexperience meant I didn't know how to correct it and whilst I was full on the throttle and counter steering like I was in some sega rally arcade game, this was the result
http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/1104/04022007160mediumpd7.jpg
(hit the central res)
In the process of buying another one as we speak though, live and learn eh :confused: .
Indeed, mine does quality sideways action on it's 450-17's
That's a 105/95/17 in new money, yes you read it right and no it's not a bike tyre ;D
I broke it doing that last time. The diff is like Lego in mine :D
Lol, mine are 225/40/19;D
it takes a lot to unsettle it and you get a very audible warning as its about to let go. Sounds similar to a lorry jacknifing.:)
Yes mine speak to me quite a lot too :D
Heh, mine speak to me loud and clear. Sounds like someone raping a Basset hound that's drunk. My tyres make an unholy howl rather than your normal screech. Mind you, they are pretty tall....
leowyatt
13-09-2007, 14:21
ouch wild58 that looks nasty :(
Thankfully I don't tend to go sideways that often, infact the last time I sorta went sideways was in Leon's comedy ride ;D
Treefrog
27-09-2007, 05:06
Or try a supermarket carpark at 0300 with a fine dusting of snow on it ;)
Well as the weather's getting worse it's the ideal time to do it. There are lots of huge open spaces to do it, you just have to find them. The best best thing to do is to get some lessons on how to do it - I did a skid pan training course, but then as additional course they offered advanced handling techniques etc... Theory is one thing, but actually going out and doing it is completely different.
I am thinking of going on a drift day at Oulton Park. There is one coming up in October but I think there will be another one in Jan that will probably be better for me. Of course, if anyone else here with a RWD machine is interested then I will organise a little get-together or something :)
PRoblem is I still have lots of tread left and don't particulalry want to kill the tyres yet - it's best to do it when you're about to replace the tyres :p
The drift days are done on a specially tarmaced part of the track which is then absolutely drenched and covered in mud!! Dangerous and CSLMan/Tax Evader went a while ago and they were sliding about just trying to get moving!
I have also read elsewhere that tyre wear is practically nil...
I've got a fair few spare MR2 wheels with tyres I don't care about knocking around. MX5s are the same fitment so should fit those too. Feel free to stop by and pick some up if you don't want to knacker your road tyres Will. (You're welcome to use some too if you like DRZ but I guess it's a bit out of your way)
I might even be tempted to join you both, should have a car sorted out by then I guess :p
Oooh that might be an idea. And it does knacker the tyres, I know because the wear on mine is quite high and I do leave a lot of black marks everywhere :o
I want to go too if we have enough spare tyres :)
Oooh that might be an idea. And it does knacker the tyres, I know because the wear on mine is quite high and I do leave a lot of black marks everywhere :o
I am referring specifically to going sideways on the specially prepared surface rather than going sideways on any old road, but if you have been to one of these before and know it canes your tyres then fair enough :D
@kaiowas - I actually have a spare set of wheels/tyres for mine, so thats covered in the event of me completely raping my tyres on any such drift day :D Thanks for your offer though :)
I spent some of last sunday hooing round my friend's field in the kit car all in the name of a pre-sva shakedown. Rear engine, rwd goodness :D Lots of drifting, donuts etc :D
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