Well, my friend Pat (iMR2 on here) sent me a copy of the 350Z Best Motoring Video November 2002. It's all in Japanese so when the talk about "Winding" I have no idea what they mean. The had a black that looked like touring, but had the Brembos. They used that for their road impressions. Then a silver for the track work including some high speed stuff at Twin Ring Motegi and a race between an R34 GTR, Regular boxster, S2000 and 6 speed M3. They also showed the Nismo kitted car being folowed by the black car.

Some of the onroad driving is crazy!! Driver hauling down a tight two lane drifting constantly and coming inches from the guardrail quite a few times. What is with the Japanese obsession with drifting?? It looks so "ham fisted" and jerky the way they drive. Even during the race and the preview video at the end (for some new Bridgestone tire) they just look so ragged. There is no way that can be fast. Maybe that is why even though Japan is car and race crazy, a Japanese driver has never won an F1 or CART race, although they do seem to do quite well on motorcylces.

Anyway, on to the race. The Z starts second and the GTR is at the back. The Z gets off the line poorly and gets passed by a few cars, but going into the first corner it just goes amazingly deep and comes out in the lead! Amazingly the GTR ends up in second. The GTR hounds the Z for 3 laps before getting by. The Stook and M3 have a nice looking battle and there surely was a bit of "friendly rubbing." The standard non "S" Boxster was just lost, a good 2 seconds off the pace. The Z, M3, and S2K had virtually idientical fastest laps, but the Z looked more consistant (could have just been the driver as well, but the Z was doing a lot less drifting) and the Z's laps were virtually identical. By the end of the 5 laps the GTR was 5 seconds clear, lapping 2 seconds faster than any other car (it was also damp as it always seems to be in Japan and that was surely helping the GTR). The Z had pulled out a few car lengths over the M3 that came in third at the end with the S2K close behind in 4th and the Boxster no where to be found.

 

Actually, if done properly, drifting can get you around the track faster. It keeps the speed up in turns. I ride sportbikes and slight drifting is an art that can get your lap times lower. I dont however race cars on the track, but I'm sure the same physics apply. There is however a fine line in drifting between wrong and right. Done poorly, drifting will make you slower. Drifting done properly will give you more speed coming out of the turn and you can get on the gas alot sooner after the turn. My guess as to why you don't see drifting in car races:

1) Cars need alot of room to drift properly
2) Cars are harder to drift properly than bikes
3) Can you imagine a race with all the cars drifting??? There would be alot of accidents.
4) tires, tires, tires

Just my opinion on drifting.

 

Give us the video you tease

 

Is this why Michael Schumacher is always drifting?

 

Are you sure you aren't thinking of Juan Pablo Montoya?

 

Yep, NASCAR

 

LOL!

 

Like he said, Is there anyway you can get us the video online??? Thanks



-Josh

 

For NASCAR, that's drafting , not drifting that causes all the accidents. Afterall... rubbing is racing in the South. hehe

 

I didn't know that they had turns in NASCAR?

 

This season, the "right hand only" IRL had the most exciting motorsports racing on the planet in my opinion, and this is coming from a three-decade F1 fan. Formula One this year was nothing more than a mechanical snake with a red head. Dunno if the weight solution is going to help, even if it comes to pass, which frankly speaking, is becoming an extinct word in F1.

 

I saw the video over the weekend. The cars were lined up according to MSRP. The GT-R was there just as a "camera" car to tape the Z. It could have easily taken the lead from the start but stayed behind the Z for that purpose. The pavement was damp and the GT-R is unofficially rated at more than 280ps, so...
So actually, other drivers were irritated that the GT-R got in their way in battling the Z. But still, they were surprised that the Z was that fast.
As for drifting, the Japanese know that drifting is slower compared to grip driving, but they just do it because it's fun.
I hope that clears things up somewhat.

 

Actually, technically he is drifting. An F1 car actually drifts about 3 degrees through the corners.

Did anyone see that awesome pass in the Mazda Star race at Laguna Seca. The second place did a huge drift to the inside of a corner and actually passed the leader because of the move. It was awesome to watch.

 

At Laguna Seca, as the Matrix movie pointed out, there can be only "one."

http://home.ptd.net/~heiland/thepass.html

 

You are refering to two types of drifting. The four wheel drift is executed in racing all the time by all kinds of cars. When books and driving technique manuals say that drifting a car is faster through corners they are refering to the four wheel drift. On dry pavement it has been proven that letting the wheels slip 5%-8% does actually net you higher speeds, either on acceleration or through a corner. Four wheel drifting is actually very subtle but everything from F1 to Touring cars do it. Have you ever watched a CART or GT event where they have the camera on the track at the apex of the corner? Notice how the car flashes past the camera at an odd angle compared to the line the car is actually taking. That is because all four wheels are sliding, and yes, it does help you to exit the corner at higher speeds. It's more noticeable with sports bikes because it is difficult sometimes to get the bike turned into the corner and exiting is tough with extreme lean angles so having the bike set up for the exit will alow earlier throttle aplication, as apposed to a car where it is easier to get on the gas alot earlier for the exit.

You've never seen a Best Motoring Video, have you, because the drifting raceboy is refering to is the windy mountain highway switchbacks where the drivers feed in a good two to two and a half turns of opposite lock in the wheel. It's one thing to drift to help you car turn in and exit better and another to drive completely through your side windows! It's really exciting to watch but definately not the fastest by far. Maybe on the tightest switchback there ever was, drifting to that excess might give a slight advantage, but on R compound slicks your tires would be shot by the third turn.

 

now, we want the video DAMNIT~~~~~!

 

From what I've heard, drifting comes from the old days, like in the '60s when the tires offered very little grip, so it was actually faster to drift. Nowadays, because the tires are so sticky it's not really necessary. But yes, even the F1 racers do it all the time.