Can someone please explain to me the techinque to drifting the Z?

 

Ther isnt a perticuler way to drift any car....driftin is drifting....you just gatta go out in a safe place and start slyding! watchn drifting videos woud help a lot too. becareful!

 

skinny rear tires, TCS/VDC off, lots of space. But as fun as it is, I wouldn't do it in my Z... I'd bet you could buy (and set up) a 240sx for about what it would cost to really set the Z up for drifting

 

A drift is not a slide (or skid), although there is gray area between them. In a drift, you haven't exceeded the limits of adhesion of your tires in the front. In a slide, you have exceeded adhesion and all your wheels are sliding. In a drift the front wheels are turned in the direction of the curve or are straight, in a slide, the front wheels are turned away from the direction of the curve (into the slide) in order to control the slide.

In order to drift, the car has to be understeering (slip angle of front tires larger than rear slip+slide angles) into a corner. Drifting results when the lateral component of the centrifugal force on the rear wheels combined with the lateral component of the driving torque, exceeds the limit of adhesion at the rear wheels before it does at the the front wheels. The applied rear wheel torque is thus steering the car around the corner. You have to be in the right gear going into the corner and apply the right torque, using the accelerator to steer. To get the car in a drift, it helps to lift at turn in in order to increase understeer.

The slide of the rear wheels changes the location of the center of the curve (poc) from where it would otherwise appear to be (the car would hit the inside of the curve if it followed this path of the front wheels). The change in the location of the poc changes the angle of the centigugal force acting on the car. The centrigugal force in a drift is almost acting parallel to the turned in front wheels, dramatically reducing the lateral component acting on the front wheels. The lateral centrifugal force on the rear wheels is now greater than the lateral centrifugal force on the front wheels and the rear can start a slight slide. This also results in a component of cetrifugal force acting to slow the car. Torque applied at the rear must overcome this slowing component and the rear wheel limit of adhesion. The car at this point is in a sort of balance of forces. To much accelerator and the car will spin, let off and the rears regain grip and the car will spin. Weight transfer from acceleration and from lifting off the accelerator are impotant because they disrupt the balance.

Sticky wide tires and down forces reduce the slip angle, and make it harder achieve a difference front to rear and to sense the limits of adhesion and therefore harder to drift.

 

Topics II who is on here drives a procharged 350Z and he is one of the best drifters in the US. I have seen him in person and met him and he is one hell of a driver. He could probably give some good pointers

 

Don't wish to get into the oversteer/understeer argument again, but I think you mean, "In order to drift, the car has to be oversteering." With oversteering, the tail of the car is coming around, the car is "loose", and can result in a spin. In a drift, you're just controlling the amount of oversteer so that a full spin never develops and the car proceeds around the curve in a controlled drift.

See HERE.

WayneTN

 

i think i saw a article on Z...cant remember where but it was those japanese racer guys that always race(familiar faces from those videos) and the Z was red and white with RS*R on the side i think.

 

basically going sideways into a turn. Very bad for the car and serves no performance benefit. IMHO it is the gayest thing since Richard Simmons, but hey whatever turns you on.

 

if you REEEEAAAALLY wanna get technical....during a "drift" you are understeering. im too tired and hungry to explain right now. but ask any professional drifter....even the "drift king" himself has explained on multiple Option2 and best motoring videos how a drift is understeer.

 

In racing, the reason for a drift is to get the car pointing down the straight earlier than it would otherwise if you simply drove it around the curve. In doing this, you can get on the accelerator earlier, reach higher speeds in the straight and reduce lap time. Drifting does subject the suspension to forces larger than you would experience driving well below the limits of adhesion on the street, especially if you goof and slide into something. Most racers beef up the suspension to handle the stress (and for other perfomance reasons too).

I've tried to get the Z to drift on entrance ramps, but I chicken out and fear sliding into the ramp curb. Plan to try it in a packed snow covered parking lot. Adhesion forces on the car will be less and it will be easier to get the rear wheels in a slide. Also plenty of room. Its probably the only advantage of winter.

 

Wayne, if you look at the pictures on the web site you posted, the picture of the "understeering" car is a perfect picture of a "drift." Note the front wheels are turned in slightly as the car travels around the turn. The picture of the "oversteering" car is a perfect "slide" and the wheels are turned out going around the turn. I'll try to explain better when I get a chance.

 

JIC's 350z Drift Car for the D1 Grand Prix in Irwindale Speedway

 

RS*R Drift car

 

another pic of the RS*R drift car

 

another drift car ...motorex/apexi

 

Thats the C West car...sweeet pic too

 

But, djspeks pic of the two cars shows the back end loose and spinning up while the front wheels are pointed to the right of the car's centerline, but in a direction to get the car down the track. This is what I call drifting, but I admit I'm no expert.

In what I call an understeer the wheels would be more aligned with the car's centerline (even in a curve) because the nose is pushing toward the outside of the curve due to a loss in traction - you're pushing towards a header into the wall. Again, I'm no expert. (I've never hit a wall either.)

Maybe all four wheels need to be drifting together around the curve. Is that it? Or, is that just sliding sideways under power?

WayneTN

 

moved

 

I dont really understand what WayneTN is tryin to say...

 

bfleming - you say that to drift you need understeer, ie front tyres point in towards the curb. But the JIC car shown above has the fronts pointing right when going around a left hand turn. That is what I do when correcting oversteer, when the rear comes loose. So i'm still confused how understeer is necessary to drift?????