Shifting Weight

[TakeItSideways]

hey guys.
im kinda new to the drifting scene, and i am having some problems with my 86 drift.
i can countersteer out of a drift ok and all, but going into one im lacking somethin. im thinkin that i need to shift the car weight more to the other side for outer force, but i cant get it to happen.
can ne 1 tell me how to better shift the car's weight?
thx

[Ivan141]

I'm by no means a drifter, but if you want to initiate your drift using weight shifting you'll have to practice your feint drifting (otherwise known as the scandinavian flick). Before turning into the corner first steer sharply in the opposite direction and back again. You should look up some Formula Drift vids, one of the club4AG drifters clearly uses the technique all the time (taka or hiro...dont know which one).

[jnk]

i am total beginner and the most easy technique to initiate slide without handbrake is hard braking(weight transfer from rear to front) combined with shift lock a little after "weight is transfered".

[Ivan141]

That'll work too, but is not too good for your tyres and driveline..

[jnk]

Ivan141 Wrote:That'll work too, but is not too good for your tyres and driveline..

any kind of drifting is killing tyres.
yeah, shift lock is bad for driveline, but not SO much, when weight is transferred. i dont recommend to use shift lock without braking, sometimes people love to do that.

[Ivan141]

Locking the tyres will wear them down flat in spots...much more so than any other drift method (except for the handbrake), I'd rather have more even tyre wear.

[jnk]

Ivan141 Wrote:Locking the tyres will wear them down flat in spots...much more so than any other drift method (except for the handbrake), I'd rather have more even tyre wear.

i havent seen the car from outside, when doing that , but i dont think that tires r locked at that moment. they r just slipping, just like when braking on lock limit.

[Dorito86]

You can tell when a driver has used the handbrake. It shows on the rear wheels and it shows on the abruptness of break of traction.

@TakeItSideways: Sounds like you're having the same problems I had in the beginning. I assume you also have stock suspension. The problem is that you brake too early into the corner. That combined with the fact of worn bushings and soft suspension means that you don't make full use of weight transfer and the suspension parts absorb most of what you DO transfer. My advice is: Get the drift bible and learn it by heart Then you can try worn rear tyres. The rear will break loose much easier, even with very little weight transfer. Worn rear tyres will also help you when trying to brake late into the corner. Most stock AE86 will understeer during hard brake&turn situations and worn rear tyres help balance things out.

Apart from that, increase the responsiveness of your car to torsional changes. Only way to do that is get some fresh bushings and better springs-shocks. The more responsive the car, the better your chances of getting it right.

Good luck

[dAYTONA]

Ivan: I really don't understand how you can talk about even tyre wear....

who cares how they wear... it's drifting, tyres wear out within minutes... it's not the Le Mans, where flat spots will hurt your performace... and you won't get flat spots from a short lockup... not noticable anyway.

[Ivan141]

I'm only try a little drift occasionally, I dont switch tyres, and I dont shred them to pieces in 15 minutes. Therefore flatspots suck and will throw off the balance of the wheel too much. Furthermore your differential and gearbox are not built to suddenly lock up, and you will wear things down much faster, or break stuff. I think it's a sloppy way of handling your material, if you want to do this, try it in the rain.