Minimize drifting

[ACCSlvCivic]

Today a took a turn going quite a bit quicker than i should have -grin- anyways i had a nice drift going on, no big deal. Scared the crap out of my friend riding with me though. Anyways, what can i do to prevent drifting when taking sharp turns quickly? I've got my car dropped roughtly 2" and i have upper tie bars and of cousre rims w/wider tires. Is there anything else i can do to keep from breaking loose or at this point am i limited to just the ablity of the tires to stick to the road? would a lower rear tie bar or thicker antiswap bars help that? i'd think i'd be just as likely to drift, but i just want to check!
thanks

[texan]

If by heat drop you mean that someone toook a blowtorch to the springs, REPLACE THEM IMMEDIATELY. Beyond that, drifting a fwd car is all about improper driving style (or proper driving style, depending whether or not you meant to do it), go down to your loco SCCA chapter and sign up for the next autocross session. Within 6 months you should notice a big difference in your driving ability, especially if you take instruction well.

[praxis]

I agree with Texan...SCCA is a great organization to be involved with. The 'veterans' are always there to help you. I started racing in the summer of '00 and have noticed a huge change in driving skills and (good) habits. I am finally getting used to heel/toe driving.

[sparq]

Sorry but by definition you can not DRIFT a FWD car. Because its FWD the wheels will PULL the car back into a straight line... where as a DRIFT with a RWD car you can do whatever, keep going sideways, flip the wheel around while still drifting and drift the other direction etc. What you did was basically a "power slide" and is bad driving, have fun replacing your tires

[texan]

Originally posted by sparq
Sorry but by definition you can not DRIFT a FWD car. Because its FWD the wheels will PULL the car back into a straight line... where as a DRIFT with a RWD car you can do whatever, keep going sideways, flip the wheel around while still drifting and drift the other direction etc. What you did was basically a "power slide" and is bad driving, have fun replacing your tires

The front tires only pull the car back into a straight line if they have traction, and even if they do you can still throttle steer a powerful fwd car (though not to the same extent as in a powerful rwd car). A drift is a huge tail-out slide going around a corner by which you controllably clip the apex and smoothly exit the corner under power (yet are countersteering the whole way), any powerful car can do that on any surface given the right suspension setup and driving technique. Of course that's just my opinion, and I do agree to some extent that drifting a fwd car is always a different driving technique than drifting a rwd car.

[Dezoris]

Originally posted by texan


The front tires only pull the car back into a straight line if they have traction, and even if they do you can still throttle steer a powerful fwd car (though not to the same extent as in a powerful rwd car). A drift is a huge tail-out slide going around a corner by which you controllably clip the apex and smoothly exit the corner under power (yet are countersteering the whole way), any powerful car can do that on any surface given the right suspension setup and driving technique. Of course that's just my opinion, and I do agree to some extent that drifting a fwd car is always a different driving technique than drifting a rwd car.

Come on dude I drift my car all the time, I deflate my rear tires to simulate RWD conditions

No I agree, He is talking about a slide, not to be confused with drifting, which for the most part is driver induced. Like you said, about how drivers do it and why, I think the term "drift" is being thrown around a lot, as a way to take corners
It is well know this is not the fastest way around the track, looks fun though.
So to the topic, if you are concerned with sliding, then exactly how are your slides? Are you understeering (breaking the front loose) or oversteering (breaking the rear loose) or are you just sliding evenly, neutral, sideways?
Much of how your car slides is associated with how you enter, follow and exit turns. Your slide may not be a vehicular issue, but rather a driver issue. So it is hard to recomend, a solution. I know you want a generic answer.

Generally I would say to reduce sliding, is to increase grip. That starts with stickier tires, tire pressures,and alignement angles. That is the easiest way to start, but this is a very generic answer.
And I and many people here could fill up pages worth of how to tune your suspension.

[lexicon_1]

DRIFTING COMP


its possible to drift a fwd car, I've done it myself. Check Mark Rosso and some of his japanese/euro counters and you'll find that drifting is possible in little hondas. E-BRAKE! yell that at the top of your lungs and you will have found the key!

[SiGNAL748]

i usually call fwd "drifting" ass dragging... but respect to the guys who can pull it off cleanly.

anyway, i think the term "Drift" should stay in the rwd world.

[SilverY2KCivic]

FF drifting is I think a personal prospective topic. There is no real true answer to it since "drifting" originated in the RWD crowd. To me E-brake induced drifting is "ass dragging" whereas a total 100% weight transfer induced "drift" is more like a true drift for an FF configuration car. I have weight transfer drifted my EJ6 coupe before, though it was by no means intentional. The way my car is set up now, it has a strong tendancy to push at the rear and not plow much if any at the front. Depending on how I want to attack a curve, I can plow it or oversteer it at the flick of thw wheel and/or tap of the brake pedal and controlling the throttle. I never use E-brake when I take turns/curves, so I can tell you first hand it's not required to get a FWD drive car to drift or rear end slide. Like mentioned above, tire pressure and suspension setup has MUCH to do with how well if at all your car can oversteer if FWD. With my setup I have true full coilover shocks with 559f/336r springs on them, a 22mm rear swaybar, rear lower tie, front upper bar and "15 wheels with 205/50 15 Yoko ES100s. With the suspension set at the optimal stiffest setting (as stiff as possible at the rear, and 4 settings softer up front) and about a 4-5psi differance in tire pressure with the greater at the rears, I can get my car to push out of almost any corner, and not plow really any in hairpin type turn situations.