Discussion
Me & Dr Peter are going to show those Ferrari owners what's what on Friday 28th at North Weald Airfield. Well, we'll show them how good we are at fixing masking tape anyway.
But I'd like to take the opportunity to throw the Ultima around a lot, to see if I can slide it reliably. What would make it less likely to understeer and more likely to oversteer ? Is it worth pumping up the rear tyres to say 30psi ?
But I'd like to take the opportunity to throw the Ultima around a lot, to see if I can slide it reliably. What would make it less likely to understeer and more likely to oversteer ? Is it worth pumping up the rear tyres to say 30psi ?
Firstly, sliding a mid-engined car consistently takes practice, it's not like lobbing a Nissan 200SX into a bend hooning round D1 stylee 
Use the power to get a progressive drift, like any performance driving, being smooth is key. Chuck it about and the polar moment of intertia will have you spinning before you can say oh f***
Use your braking to load up the front to help turn in, then out on the power. Again, smooth is key. Before long, you'll build up a natural rhythm and the slides will happen naturally. Try entering a corner with a Swedish flick and you'll quickly have a head on view of whatever was following you
Use the power to get a progressive drift, like any performance driving, being smooth is key. Chuck it about and the polar moment of intertia will have you spinning before you can say oh f***
Use your braking to load up the front to help turn in, then out on the power. Again, smooth is key. Before long, you'll build up a natural rhythm and the slides will happen naturally. Try entering a corner with a Swedish flick and you'll quickly have a head on view of whatever was following you
stig is right smooth is the key try not to get carried away and go in too fast turning understeer into oversteer can happen pretty quick and will scare the shit out of you , i found it was best to go in a bit slower then feed the power on on the way out just enough power to brake traction and then hold car will come back in line nice and gently ,if you get along way out of line ease the throttle off gently and wait don,t lift of violently if you do it will snap back the other way then all hell brakes loose ,have fun simon
Right-oh.
What I discovered at RAF Marham was squeeley front tyres even when loaded by hard braking. But that oversteer could be provoked through the 3rd gear corners by being aggressive on the throttle, but then it was sudden and 1/3 times I lost it. I was wondering if increasing the rear tyre pressures would lower the speed of this breakaway point and thereby slow the whole thing down for learning.
It's not a track-day so much as an experimentation through the cones on a large tarmac space.
cheers
Roger
What I discovered at RAF Marham was squeeley front tyres even when loaded by hard braking. But that oversteer could be provoked through the 3rd gear corners by being aggressive on the throttle, but then it was sudden and 1/3 times I lost it. I was wondering if increasing the rear tyre pressures would lower the speed of this breakaway point and thereby slow the whole thing down for learning.
It's not a track-day so much as an experimentation through the cones on a large tarmac space.
cheers
Roger
in my mr2 i would brake late into a corner
start to feel the back end go catch it and floor the accelerator
and just feather the throttle to hold the slide at bedford
sweeping right hander with nothing to hit
but you have to remember mid engined cars spin very quickly and it is very easy to go beyond the point of no return
in the wet it is even more fun but even with being used to my car for 5 years i span comming out of the chicane at goodwood trying to get the perfict drift pic comming on to the straight
very easy to over cook
start to feel the back end go catch it and floor the accelerator
and just feather the throttle to hold the slide at bedford
sweeping right hander with nothing to hit
but you have to remember mid engined cars spin very quickly and it is very easy to go beyond the point of no return
in the wet it is even more fun but even with being used to my car for 5 years i span comming out of the chicane at goodwood trying to get the perfict drift pic comming on to the straight
very easy to over cook
Parking lots with cones is still the best practice. Do gravity rounds and see how tight you can take it in circles before it drifts off. Finding the point where it will start to drift will make you feel the powers of inertia and centrifugal. Those 2 forces added will make the car drift - so getting a feel for how the forces feel when they work together will make it come naturally to you. Looking at the 2 forces independently will vary from curve to curve, but added together they will feel more or less same every time. And then there is surface and tyres............
If you wanna become expert, buy yourself a rearwheel-drive car of almost any brand and join some asphalt rally's. Race tracks has softened and nicely angeled curves, whereas in asphalt rally's it is how the road bends - with loads of surprises and fun. In Belgium there is several weekend drifting classes, and I am sure it is the same in UK. Then you'll learn from the real experts. (I was co-driving a drifter a couple of months ago - and going sideways through an oval track with 200 km/hrs - and overtaking at same time - these guys know their stuff.)
Just make sure you use the cheap and small cones when you practice. You will hit them and the industrial type of cones will make scratchmarks, whereas the small ones you'll find in the sales basket in every car stores will just get trashed if you hit it.
-B
If you wanna become expert, buy yourself a rearwheel-drive car of almost any brand and join some asphalt rally's. Race tracks has softened and nicely angeled curves, whereas in asphalt rally's it is how the road bends - with loads of surprises and fun. In Belgium there is several weekend drifting classes, and I am sure it is the same in UK. Then you'll learn from the real experts. (I was co-driving a drifter a couple of months ago - and going sideways through an oval track with 200 km/hrs - and overtaking at same time - these guys know their stuff.)
Just make sure you use the cheap and small cones when you practice. You will hit them and the industrial type of cones will make scratchmarks, whereas the small ones you'll find in the sales basket in every car stores will just get trashed if you hit it.
-B
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