Is drifting really faster?

[zeetee]

i think it all depends on the body accel of the car. if its correct,you can acheive this "maximum grip" maks me wanna drift now lol

[nmwisima]

Racing lines ussually meen a specific amount of slip cause
a) you 're suppsed to drive at car & tires grip limit
b) you need the slip to "possition" the car (every car not just RWD) and preper it for the next turn to be taken

[El_Camino]

So Ivan, you believe for hairpin turns it is better to drift that to grip?
It is possible, but when talking about track I think about Nascar, DTM, Formula 1.
I would say it is connected a lot to the braking power of the car. Can imagine, that at some moment if the braking cannot be as effective as supposed to be, drift will gain speed.

[banpei]

El_Camino Wrote:So Ivan, you believe for hairpin turns it is better to drift that to grip?
It is possible, but when talking about track I think about Nascar, DTM, Formula 1.

As I said before: in normal races you want to save your tires, brakes, fuel because a normal race is an endurance race. In a one lap race it doesn't really matter: you can go over the limit if you want...

[El_Camino]

banpei Wrote:

El_Camino Wrote:So Ivan, you believe for hairpin turns it is better to drift that to grip?
It is possible, but when talking about track I think about Nascar, DTM, Formula 1.

As I said before: in normal races you want to save your tires, brakes, fuel because a normal race is an endurance race. In a one lap race it doesn't really matter: you can go over the limit if you want...

Banpei, exactly this is the question - where is the limit! And its not important for one lap or a whole race - its about the principle.
If drifting can be fast driving, and and as you are saying, they are saving tires, then it would be often (or at least sometimes) happening, that Schumacher or Frenzen would allow themselves to go drifting, just to overtake somebody in a very very important turn. Or maybe at the last lap of the race everybody will be drifting, because no need to save tires?
No - thats not the case. Nobody is even thinking about it ... and this is why I'm still doubting that there is a way to go faster sliding.

[nmwisima]

The principle man, is what Ivan wrote at the beggining:
You DO NOT go faster when you 're sliding!

The F1 cars are made so that they dont slide 'cause (to put it in the most simple way) seconds in its race are hiden on GRIP.

Grip is the matter in all races, even when Mika Saloonen did what now is called "the Skandinavian Flick" (turning the car to the oppossite direction of the corner, before the corner, using the centrifugal force to bit vehicle's inertia).
In a gravel road for example it is faster to drift and turn a hairpin using the speed, than braking hardly, as if you do the second, wheels will block and the car will go straight.

That is why Rally is totally different than F1, and the technick's used to control the car in the limits at both this sports is what seperrates You and Me from Mickael and Sebastian. :wink:

[alimonos]

Drifting or sliding is the same thing as the act of having sex guys........
Some do it as a habbit in a "traditional" way and some other like to do more "extreme" things during the act.... who cares about the time?????
The whole thing is to ENJOY it!!!
Don't u agree men??????

[Ivan141]

I agree Alimonos, the important thing is to have fun, and to try and improve your driving. The whole question of what is faster is not even important, people should take their car to the track and find out what works for themselves. I'm sticking to the view that grip driving is faster most of the time, and a little bit of oversteer is an important part in grip driving too. Formula 1 tracks, by the way, do NOT have any corners worth taking sideways. Some mountainous rally courses and very tight tracks (like the dutch slalom track) have hairpins so tight that drifting becomes interesting. There is an italian rally driver that has it down to an art, I'll post a link to the vid if I can find it again.

[banpei]

El_Camino Wrote:Banpei, exactly this is the question - where is the limit! And its not important for one lap or a whole race - its about the principle.
If drifting can be fast driving, and and as you are saying, they are saving tires, then it would be often (or at least sometimes) happening, that Schumacher or Frenzen would allow themselves to go drifting, just to overtake somebody in a very very important turn. Or maybe at the last lap of the race everybody will be drifting, because no need to save tires?
No - thats not the case. Nobody is even thinking about it ... and this is why I'm still doubting that there is a way to go faster sliding.

I agree with you on one point: in a normal F1/DTM/etc. race it is of no importance and all corners are not worth drifting through and even if there was a corner which is worth drifting through they simply wouldn't because their tires are calculated for a certain distance and extra pitstops (in case they would have unlimited supply of tires) would require extra time. In such races it just does not make sense.

On the other hand Alesi ruled the wet-races because of his ability to keep the F1 car on track while drifting/sliding through the tight corners and gripping in the big corners. In wet circumstances the tire-factor counts less and the F1 car is already having a hard time finding enough grip to stay on track.

But there are much more factors which determine why people would not drift in a race: the car itself (F1 cars are unsuitable), concentration (endurance), extra fuel consumption and the risk-factor (a F1 car is already hard to handle).

[NoHachi]

I'm sorry, but just from reading this discussion it is obvious that most of you have not been in a car on the track, pushing it to the limit. Grip, drift whatever you call it, when you go fast it is just a big grey area.

To answer the question..you need to be able to rotate the car. Mux and Ivan both are not that great at doing that at tight tracks. When you can do this it is always faster to drive at the traction limit, not over it. Think about it..its obvious.