Going Sideways

[Dr. Z]

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

[Feek]

Don't
Break
It.

[Dr. Z]

Originally Posted by Feek

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

[mejinks]

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.

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.

[Darrin]

I found the easiest way to learn that kind of stuff is on wet grass....

[Burble]

Sideways is fun. I may have accidentally had Will's turbo charged hairdryer sideways once or twice over the bank holiday weekend

[Justsomebloke]

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
I grew up in RWD & drifting was Compulsory

[Jasper]

Must just be me that finds it more fun to go fast forwards rather than sideways at all.

[kaiowas]

Originally Posted by Sic

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.

[Will]

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.