how to drift a Front-drive?

[squalus]

BEWARE! LONG READ! SUMMARY AT BOTTOM THOUGH.

Hey all, new here but definantly not new to cars and, to a point "scientific" drifting. First and formost, I have no wish to change anyones ideas of drifting. This is merely to express my ideas. I guess you could call me pro-define(rather than pro-FF or pro-RWO). It is all dependant on my definition, "Once entering an oversteer condition prior to a turn, the driver may use any operation avaliable to him to prolong the length of the oversteer condition, until he decides to end the condition." While I know some of you don't believe that an FF vehicle can drift, I believe that it can with context of the definition used, as has been discussed to great lengths in this forum.

I have been "drifting" for a short time now and I believe I have come upon a possible reason for the differences in FF and FR drifting... As well as a possible compromise?

I will call the phenomenon a drift center, or the point around which a vehicle turns to increase or decrease oversteer. In FR vehicles, this point is very central, due to weight distribution and power delivery. In an FF vehicle this point would move rearward, due to the powered wheels being forward and weight being forward. In a RR or MR vehicle this point would move forward, due to the weight and power being the rear of the vehicle.

OK, kids!(j/p) Lab time! Try this or remember the feel when you think about your next post...

This center may easily be found by a simple oversteer, pay close attention to where the vehicle leads the drift, or where the car is turning around with the vehicle being the stationary point of view. Try thinking of this when you oversteer, and how easy you can push the car around the drift center. On a rwd vehicle this much of the mass is to the rear of the center, allowing it to drift for an indefinite length of time. On a fwd vehicle, this center has very little mass on the tail side of it, leaving the driver with the only choice of slowing down the front of the car, inherently slowing the vehicle until it stops. On a RR or MR vehicle this point has most of it's mass to the rear of the vehicle, making it extremely easy to oversteer more but hard to make it less. Of these vehicles, the FR would be the best choice for drifting competitively, the MR/RR is best for speed in a drift, and the FF is the best for the general public, where drift conditions are a bad thing.

Using this center one could, with intense training and concentration and using ***MY DEFINITION***, drift a FF vehicle near the same as a FR. The process would be something like this, the driver would go into a turn very hot, let off the gas, moving the drift center forward for the moment to put the car in an oversteer condition. Using a left foot or side-brake to keep the rears over their lateral adhesion, the driver would use the accelerator to keep the front from going in too far. Maintaining the perfect balance of keeping the car going forward and the rear tires outward is the element that keeps a car in drift.

If you push the car in the direction of the turn faster than the rear tires could adhere to the surface, as FR, MR, or RR divers can do with one motion, you can create an indefinite drift. To drift a FF indefinitely you need to be able to use an additional force to pull the rear tires outward. In some cases, this could be gravity. If the vehicle is being pulled by gravity down a hill then you can drift a FF vehicle to the same degree as an FR, you just have to keep the front of the car from slowing down or speeding up, as either would pull the car out of a drift condition. While it ***MAY*** be possible to drift an FF to the degree of an FR it would be an almost paradoxal moment, for the perfection needed would be imense.

Other definitions for drifting that has come my attention and are as follows(an FFs ability is in parenthases):
"Sliding into a turn, rather than out of it"(very well)
"An indefinite period of time"(very poorly)
"With the rear wheels"(a slight barbaric definition in my opinion)
While none of these are wrong, they create their own complications.

This ability of FF vehicles to stay out of a drift is not necessarily a bad thing. It has actually made it a favorite for most manufacturers(safety) and Auto-Xers(tenatious grip).

SUMMARY!
For those of you too lazy to read the whole thing(I know I would be) all i'm saying up there is that because of the drift center, a FF cannot drift to the same degree as an FR unless there is another force present to push the rear out without slowing the front. So while a FF cannot do a RWD drift at all, it can perform it's own form of a drift, which should probably be called a FWD drift.

[HuStLaZ]

interesting read. I have a FF car, and being a pretty inexperienced racer, i still have no mastery over drifting or other racing techniques. Still learning to control my car the way i want it though, probably gonna take me a long while to get enough experience and confidence with my car to attempt it competitivly.

[pkoll186]

I disagree that you can't control a FWD "drift". I dont seem to have a problem kicking out the back end of my FWD car, I use some heavy left foot braking but I will stand behind saying that it is controled and that it can be carried aslong as you want or aslong as the tires hold out. I will say that it is a lot harder than with a Rwd car and it takes a bit more speed and more skill but it can be done. It deffinitely is not just stomping on the gas! I have been messing around with rally racing for a while and wanted to try it on pavement, it works the same but you have to be going 40+ to really get anything worth while. No, it is not an uncontrolled spin. I don't know where this deffinition everyone is using comes from but if you are talking about a controlled 4 wheel slide then yes it is possible. As for donuts they are possible to some extent but not tight conventional ones that everyone thinks about. Who ever said they saw a sunfire spinning around is just wishfull thinking.

[Layla's Keeper]

A thread from "Ye Olde as Fucke" times.

Please don't dig these up. There's plenty of FF drift controversy in the drift forums.