Been a bit longer than I hoped for the next stage but here goes !!!
Assuming we have all been practicing our dynamic duncans - I mean donuts - and still have some tyres left we should all now be perfectly at home with the following concepts....
Letting go of the steering wheel
Catching a slide and balancing it
Undertsanding the basic relationship between steering and throttle inputs
Feeling the cars movements whilst sliding
This will now allow us to apply these to the first proper step on the true drifting ladder................
Transitions !!!
What is a transition ???
Well basically put its when you change the attitude of the car from one lock to another. However it sounds very simple and straightforward, but is the hardest single part of drifting, and is the thing which ultimately tends to be the downfall of at least 50% of drifts. Dont think that it has to be from one full lock to the other or some symmetrical thing either, it is simply the term used to describe the car going through the straight ahead "centreline" that a grip car would be following to go round the same course.
One of the most common problems I have found with drivers who have progressed to simple drift level and hit a wall of inconsistency is that they dont understand the concept of grip and momentum, which takes us back to the previous lesson. When they come round a corner on lock and then allow the car to straighten before the next opposite direction corner they invariably miss the transitional point and apply the throttle too late. This is something we can address in detail.
What I want you to imagine is a figure of eight, with a pair of mini roundabouts approximately 20 metres apart. What we want to do is to be on full lock at almost all times round the course, which will require a full blodded transition in the middle crossing point in order to be on lock ready for the other half of the eight as we travel round it. Start by doing donuts round the top half of the 8 to get a feel for the car and the grip of the tarmac......
...........once settled as you come round to where 3 would be on a watch face you should be looking at the "crossover" point, in this instance it is effectively where two large circles meet and is where you want the car to flick from left hand opposite lock to right hand opposite lock so you can then continue down to the bottom half of the figure 8. You have hopefully noticed by now that the car tends to follow where you look, same as racing or riding a bike. So as you come round past the "3" (position A below) look at the imaginary crossover point (marked B below) and as you start to get there let off the throttle and let go of the steering wheel. If you have done this successfully the cars rear end should quicjkly start to straghten up and the steering wheel should turn so that you are still heading towards this fictional point (marked B). At this moment a few fractions of a second BEFORE the car is totally straight - ie the rear wheels in line behind the front ones - you need to apply the throttle again, probably flat out effectively just before, during and after you pass over the crossover point (point B). This is the mistake most people make. They wait until AFTER they have reached the straight ahead position and the momentum of the rear of the car as swung through the "centrleine" and THEN reapply the throttle. The problem with this is the cars grip levels are increasing as the rear end slows down its swing rate and the back tyres satrt to load up. If you then apply the throttle its asking too much of yourself and the car to then recover that extra momentum the car has gained in those precious few tenths of a second and as a result the back end will then accelerate away from you and you will end up pointing back towards the top half of the figure 8.
Assuming you have nail;ed the throttle at the right point, the tyres will never have gained enough grip to over accelerate the rear end, you wont have changed much speed and all that should have happened is that the steering wheel is now pointing the other way, you have caught it and made any minor changes required to now hold a large donut on the opposite direction round the bottom half of the 8. All of this should have happened by point C in the diagram !!!!
Tips !!!
I cant emphasise enough how much LOOKING helps !! I know this may sound stupid, but your mind is pretty good at working in a fluid environment, its usually our own predetermined ideas that hold us back. Looking and concentrating on where we are going and letting the rest look after itself a bit often helps.
Getting the throttle on - off - on again at the right point is crucial and is the thing you need to practice most. This is what will determine the movement of the car, the steering is pretty much secondary
That said, getting used to LETTING GO is always easier to say than to do !!! If you dont learn it here then you will just find everything getting harder from now on !!!
Dont try and force the initiation too early, be happy to extend the original donut to around the "4.30" mark - ie where point A actually is - before letting off the gas, you will find you encourage understeer if you try too early and that can be pretty fatal in a drift car, especially with locked or welded diffs !!!
Hopefully this will start you down the road of understanding the weight transfer thats happening in full on proper drifting.
J.
....I used to be average, now I reminisce !!!
