Pit Babes at Hungarian Grand Prix

Popular Drift Cars

Nissan 200 S13 S14 s15 Silvia (Turbos are better)
Nissan Z33
Corolla Levin
Nissan Silvia
Nissan 180SX
Nisssan Laural
Toyota Supra
Toyota Altezza (Lexus LS200)
Mazda RX7
Mazda RX8
Mazda MX5
Nissan Skyline (ER34’s are easy to convert to RWD)
Toyota Corolla 1.3 GT-s (make sure it’s the old RWD model also known as)
BMW – all RWD the e30 & new M3 is fantastic.
Ford Escort Mk1
Ford Sierra
Honda S2000
Honda NSX
Nissan 350
Vauxhall Monaro
Most American Muscle cars (RWD!)

4x4 Drift cars
These tend to be fairly stable so needs lots of modifications and power to drift.

Subaru Impreza
Mitsubishi lancer Evolution

Equipments needed for Drifting

Brakes
Brakes will certainly take a pounding and should be upgraded. As a minimum ensure you have race or fast road spec pads all round. Change the brake fluid or better still swap it for completely synthetic brake fluid. Adding braided brake hoses will further ensure that braking disasters are minimised. If you are spending money on the brakes also consider upgrading to bigger brake disks which are vented, drilled and groved.

Suspension.
Control is key, so a soft suspension setup will cause all manner of problems and create a stodgy ride. Obviously the optimum suspension set up varies from car to car and also driver preference plays a large part. It is worth getting suspension you can modify yourself so look for ones that permit custom ride height, stiffness and electronic adjustment to the dampers. At least you can play around until you find your optimum set up and you can switch back to a more road friendly setting for the journey home.
Suspension can be supplemented with strut braces for rigidity and also by switching rubber bushes for polyeurothane to aid stiffness. Set the front for negative Camber to give the front more grip and help with oversteer. The rears should be set with very little negative camber (virtually vertical) to reduce grip in corners.

Steering.
Ensure that your steering rack is in good condition, has no play and that the wheels are straight when the steering wheel is in its default rotation. A quick lock to lock steering rack is nice to have. Small steering wheels are actually worse to use so get an ‘old bus’ steering wheel rather than trying to look cool.

Clutch.
This takes a real pounding. For drifting get the heaviest duty clutch you can fit. Double and Triple plate clutches are good as are ceramic, brass button clutches but these are not always available for all cars. Various compounds are available. If you get a heavy clutch and your car has a cable clutch pedal make sure that the cable is heavy duty enough. (I got through 4 cables because the plastic retaining clip kept breaking, why they use plastic I will never know.)

Body work.
You will crash and spin off. Impact with other vehicles and barriers is also typical especially as you are starting out. In pro drift championships the bumpers are secured with cable ties so when the inevitable happens the bumper rips off breaking the cable tie and suffers little damage itself.

Tyres.
Have you noticed that the main sponsors of drift championships are tyre companies (call me synical). You will get through more tyres than anything else. You’ll often overhear drifters talking about how many Tyres Per Mile they get through.
If you are starting out stick with cheap part worn tyres. (Don’t be tempted to go for remoulds.) Some drivers stretch small tyres on a large rim to aid stability. Some drives have different sizes (height and width) on the front to the rear. Look for low profile tyres as these are less inclined to roll off the rims under heavy sliding. Tyre pattern is a matter of individual choice I suggest that you chat with other drivers and see what they are using. Typically hard compound on the back and the rear tyres are what you will use more of. Tyre pressures also can make a big difference - experiment with different pressures to see how handling is affected as this varies greatly from car to car.

Safety.
Need we say this Helmet, Harness, Fire Extinguisher, Roll Cage etc..

Car Wallpers

How to Drift?

Theory: A tyre grips the road up to a maximum point of adhesion, when this point is exceeded the tyre will start to slide until adhesion is restored. So finding and pushing just beyond the point of adhesion is the name of the game.
Once a car begins to drift driver control comes into play – the exact amount of turn on the steering wheel towards the direction of travel to catch and control the drift. At precisely the right moment you have to catch the drift with a measure of opposite lock and use the throttle and steering to control the drift – a sustained drift on a straight is called ‘drift lock’.
Rear wheel drive cars are the choice for drifting particularly higher-powered models but one of the key requirements is a limited slip diff. A quick burst of acceleration at the right moment is just enough to break the adhesion of the back of the car.
As a car decelerates the weight is thrown to the front wheels that is why the wheels lock up under heavy breaking. A front wheel drive car is harder to drift in but uses deceleration to lighten the back of the car and make it swing wide.
To perform a left tail drift in a front drive car – build up the speed. Decelerate fairly heavily but performing a simultaneous right flick on the steering wheel – a shock wave will shoot through the car (you can feel it happen there is no easy way to explain it.) As this shock wave passes the centre point of the car steer into the direction of the tail drift, if the tail does not swing out then a short flick of the handbrake will start the drift.
We then need to catch the drift and control it using gentle throttle control and smooth steering - opposite lock (so steer to the right, just enough to keep the drift going but without overcooking things causing a spin and without undercooking throwing the drift in the opposite direction.)
The following are the main drifting techniques and most are used in combination with each other.
Clutch Kick To make the car start to slide you dip or kick the clutch suddenly causing the car to temporarily lose traction and starting a rear wheel slide whilst on or entering a bend. Effectively using engine braking - when the clutch is dipped engine speed drops when clutch is released the wheels are moving faster than the lower engine speed requires causing a pull and breaking traction. Alternative a blip of the throttle raises the engine speed so when the clutch is released the driven wheels spin faster than they should so traction is broken.
Dirt Drop Drift This technique is banned on most tracks. You allow the rear wheels to leave the tarmac surface into a lower grip one such as dirt, gravel or grass. The cars speed will remain pretty stable through this technique as the rear tyre friction is much lower.
Jump Drift Similar to a Dirt Drop Drift again banned on most tracks. The rear wheels hit the rumble strip at the side of the track. The vibration is enough to upset the delicate balance of grip momentum and traction and the rear of the car slides.
Handbrake Drift The easiest technique, used by beginners and pretty much the only guaranteed way of sliding a FWD (front wheel drive) car. The handbrake is jabbed on causing the rear wheels to lock up and slide. When a slide is attained the handbrake is released allowing more control of the car and preventing too much loss of speed.
Feint Drift Requires a feel for the balance of a car and needs you to sense the shockwave of swing as it flows through the car. Coming up to a right hand bend you steer to the left. Then as the back of the car moves left you steer to the right, the back of the car loses traction and starts to drift, then you countersteer and catch the drift. This is a popular technique and is often combined with other techniques, like the clutch kick, to help break the rear traction. Practice this one in large open areas.
Inertia Drift This requires a lot of speed. Approaching a bend you need to decelerate throwing the weight of the car to the front wheels. When the back wheels become light you can steer the front into the bend and let the back wheels drift. Control is maintained with careful steering control and throttle inputs. A good technique to start drifting with and works well with some front wheel drive cars prone to ‘lift off oversteer’ such as the Pug 205 and Rover 220 GTi.






Learn To Drift - The best video clips are here

'Road Traffic Information' system by Volvo

Luxury car maker Volvo Car India on Tuesday said it has introduced Road Traffic Information (RTI) in its products for hassle free ride to predetermined unfamiliar destinations.
The navigation system, which facilitates travel to predetermined places and through unfamiliar traffic environments, would be available on demand at an additional cost of Rs 1.5 lakh, the company said in a statement.
The system functions on the basis of the information stored in a hard disk in the car and then it communicates with the satellite system to guide the driver to the defined destination.
"The RTI is an important infotainment unit in Volvo Cars globally and we are very happy to introduce it in India as well," Volvo Car India Managing Director Paul de Voijs said.

Sebastien Bourdais needs speed

Toro Rosso engineers are working hard to get Sebastien Bourdais up to pace with his on-form young teammate Sebastian Vettel.
Multiple Champ Car title winner and F1 rookie Bourdais, on a single-year contract in 2008, has struggled notably since the Faenza based team received the latest car from supplier Red Bull Technology.
"He has a problem with the nervous rear when he's turning in," team boss Franz Tost told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.
Vettel admits: "Bourdais prefers a car more with understeer. To me it makes no difference whether it is understeering or oversteering."
So is Bourdais, 29, now fighting for his place at STR in 2009? "Simply he has to find the accelerator pedal," is how Tost puts it.
In the Frenchman's favour is the current state of the driver market for next year. Unlike in the last few years, no drivers have been spectacular in GP2 this season, and Toro Rosso is not going to be keen on installing an all-new driver lineup, should Vettel move as expected to Red Bull

My Trip to Mahur

Mahur is amongst the four places of pilgrimage having the abodes of the three and a half goddesses that are of major significance in the state of Maharashtra. The other three are Kolhapur, Tuljapur, and Saptashringi. Mahur is the abode of the goddess Renuka, mother of Shree Parshuram. There are many old temples here, as well as the one strategically important Ramgad Fort.
The place is in Kinwat taluka and is about 130 km away from Nanded city. The temple of Renukadevi is located on a hill top. There are also Shri. Dattatray and Shri. Parshuram temples. There are carved caves in the hills around Mahur. Mahur is surrounded by thick forests. Wild animals are found in these forests. One can sight beautiful view of valleys and waterfall in rainy season from the temple.

Check out the snaps, i tried to capture the notorious monkeys of mahur, famous for their amusing acts.
Also check out the scenarios around the place.