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.

British Grand Prix Babes

Kingfisher Rocks!!

A Few Facts About Donington Park

* Google 'Donington Park' and you'll find out at the circuit is home to British Motorcycle Grand Prix, The British Touring Car Championships and World Superbikes. Added to that (and its new F1 race) the track will also play host to the new Superleague Formula (football meets motor racing) on August 31st


* Asking yourself and your mates where the blazes Donington Park is? Well you'll find it at Castle Donington, Derby, DE74 2RP which is 12 miles from Nottingham on the top of a windswept hill close to the East Midlands Airport.


* The Donington Park estate belonged to the the Gillies Shields family but during World War I it was requisitioned by the British government and turned into a prisoner of war camp. In 1915 Gunther Pluschow, a German pilot, made one of the few successful escape attempts of the war from Donington.


* It wasn't until 1933 that the venue was used for car racing when a Derby garage owner called Fred Craner approached John Gillies Shields and convinced him to let the Derby & District Motor Club use the roads on his land for racing. The orginal track was 2.1-miles and played host to the first 300-mile Donington Grand Prix which was won by 'Mad Jack' Shuttleworth.


* The circuit was closed in 1939 due to World War II when it became a military vehicle depot.


* In the early 1970s it was bought by Leicestershire racing fanatic Tom Wheatcroft, who funded the rebuilding of the track, which was re-opened in 1977 with a round of the European Formula 2 Championship which was won by Bruno Giacomelli.


* The Melbourne Loop was built in 1985 to increase the lap distance to 2.5 miles (4.02 km) and allow the track to host Grand Prix motorcycle races - at 1.957 miles (3.149 km) without the loop, the circuit was deemed too short.


* Donington was promised the 1988 British GP by the Royal Automobile Club. However, the race never happened and the battle ended in the courts


* Six years later Donington finally saw F1 with the running of the 1993 the European GP, which was won by Ayrton Senna, took place at the circuit. The race was arguably Senna's most famous wet-weather victory - he won by over 1 minute from Damon Hill.


* By the way, Wikipedia claims 'the hill approaching Craner Curves (beginning just after Hollywood corner) is steeper than it appears and it is possible to reach speeds in excess of 40 mph (64 km/h) using only a bicycle.'... Whoo!


* Oh and aside from racing you can also attended music festivals at Donington. Jonhenry Wilson, the esteemed editor of sister publication Cricket365 attended Download 2008 earlier this month, which featured headliners including Kiss, The Offspring and Lostprophets. He recommends the venue!

British GP: Winners and Losers

Silverstone was a triumph for Lewis Hamilton; a disaster for David Coulthard and Felipe Massa, and a defining moment for both Rubens Barrichello and Heikki Kovalainen.


Star of the Race
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1st
It's not really true to say that Lewis Hamilton destroyed the opposition at Silverstone today, because a lot of the opposition pressed the self-destruct button. But when you get rival team managers of the stature of Ross Brawn commending Lewis's drive as outstanding, you have to appreciate that it was something special. Brawn couldn't believe how quick Lewis was on Inters in the appallingly wet conditions (not as bad as Fuji last year, but getting there). Given his performances in Fuji, Monaco and Silverstone, this nowmeans that Lewis has inherited Schumi's title of Der Regenmeister.

Though Kimi Raikkonen tried to minimise the damage by admitting that the team made one mistake that cost them - not changing his tyres at the first pit-stop - even when he had the right rubber on he was significantly slower than Hamilton. Otherwise, why was he lapped?

Lewis made one brief trip across the grass and that was it for errors on an afternoon when Robert Kubica found the gravel, Felipe Massa led a charmed life and hit nothing, and Kimi Raikkonen slewed backwards out of control and also managed to avoid anything solid.

It was the perfect response to his critics. In the garage after the race it looked like Anthony Hamilton was so overjoyed he was never going to let Norbert Haug go. Lewis should always remember Eric Cantona's famous phrase when dealing with the tabloid press. "When the seagulls follow the trawler it is because they think that sardines will be thrown into the sea." Winning helps disperse the seagulls.


Overtaking Move of the Race
Nick Heidfeld, BMW on Trulli and Alonso
Or
Nick Heidfeld. BMW, on Kovalainen and Raikkonen
Oh what a glorious thing that humble ECU is. Its presence in managing engines has eliminated traction control. Traction control's absence has given us F1 drivers in corners fighting for grip. In turn this has led to overtaking moves the like of which we have not seen for years.

In the last few races we've had Barrichello overtaking at an impossible corner in Monaco, Massa overtaking two at a time on the grass in Canada and now Heidfeld at Silverstone putting two glorious double overtaking moves on seriously good drivers (two World Champions included).

His careful manouevering around the outside and then the inside of Trulli and Alonso through Luffield and Woodcote was a joy to see once - for him to repeat it later at the same spot - with Kovalainen and Raikkonen - was almost like witnessing lightning striking twice.

On the weekend that Donington were theoretically given the British GP from 2010, Heidfeld's careful passes were reminiscent of Ayrton Senna's opening lap at the circuit's only GP of 1993. On that day Senna fell back to sixth and then drove through to first place on the opening lap, finding grip no-one else could find.

Now that Nick has cracked how to heat his tyres up for qualifying we are going to see an invigorated Heidfeld challenge. And the person most likely to lose out from that is Robert Kubica.


Winners
Rubens Barrichello, Honda, 3rd
Rubens got the kind of cheer on the podium you might have expected for a home driver. He drove an exemplary race - not entirely on the road - but his/the team's decision to come in for wet tyres when he did seemed like a good one. At that point the lap times on inters had fallen to 1:50s and it seemed like a no brainer.

This race was proof, if proof were needed, that Rubens should be driving for Honda in 2009. He's not been that far short of Jenson Button's pace this year and Jenson is reputedly the fourth highest paid driver in F1.

David Coulthard probably watched it from the Red Bull motorhome and thought - 'that could have been me'.


Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 4th
Kimi Raikkonen has had a fortunate couple of races and collected 13 points, when he could easily have ended up with nothing. In France he nursed an ailing car to the finish and wasn't asked to pit to remove a flailing piece of machinery. In Britain, he lost his car going backwards out of control towards the pitlane barriers but stopped short.

It was a rare sight to see the Ferrari consistently lapping five or sex seconds slower than the Mclaren, and on one lap he was a whole eight seconds slower than Robert Kubica. This wasn't a case of getting caught out in unforeseen rain, this was a miscalculation of grip and tyre wear by Ferrari.

Lest it be forgot when Raikkonen lost it backwards through Woodcote he had the right tyres on.

Up until the first pit-stops he looked in ominous form but his fall from grace was spectacular.


Fernando Alonso, Renault, 6th
Alonso might have been thinking back to the Chinese GP of 2006 today. In that race he opted to go for new tyres when he could have kept his original set on and Michael Schumacher reeled him in like a very small fish. Today he left his tyres on and suffered as a result.

Nelson Piquet has now passed him in successive races, only this time he saved his team leader's embarrassment by skating off into the gravel from a healthy fifth place.

What's even more interesting, though, is that Fernando has had time to film the latest Lynx Dry anti-perspirant advert. (Probably on You Tube if you don't have UK TV). It's the one where Fernando's eyes operate independently to squint at his under-arm wet patches. Doesn't he earn enough from his day job...?


Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 7th
Jarno's late pit-stop put him back down the order, but his fresher tyres helped him nail the other Toyota-powered car on the final lap, which must have been a joy for the team and a rarity in Jarno's F1 career.


Kazuki Nakajima, Williams-Toyota, 8th
Despite an early off-track excursion Kazuki san scored yet more points. He also managed to keep his car pointing in the right direction a lot better than most of the rest of the field.


British GP Crowd
The FIA have made a big fuss of consulting the fans about what they want from F1 racing, and the fans are often cited when the FIA want to frame technical regulations. But the fans who packed out the British GP for qualifying on Saturday probably didn't give a toss that the grandstands aren't as permanent as those in Malaysia.

At Sepang the race is never sold out and the crowd for qualifying is a joke, yet Sepang is given as an example of what F1 should be like. Does that mean F1 should only run in countries where the government are prepared to chuck a load of money to Bernie for the race, create a white horse of a circuit and have a race that lacks atmosphere? The fact that Silverstone was a sell-out on Saturday is proof enough that a British GP is what the fans want, and they were rewarded with a thrilling race to remember.


Losers
Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 5th
It might have been all smiles in the McLaren garage on Saturday, but this race only reinforced a view already expressed in these features. Heikki Kovalainen cannot overtake people unless he has a very big car advantage. In the race he took ages to get himself past a Ferrari that was four seconds a lap slower. It allowed Heidfeld to catch him and overtake them both. He made a neat pass on Alonso at Bridge, but then spent ages getting past him later on and that allowed Nakajima almost to do the same thing. The killer instinct is not there.

With Mercedes pressing for a German driver in the team and Lewis saying that he kind of misses the pressure that Fernando brought, the writing is on the wall. McLaren should have scored 18 points today and Ferrari 4 - as it is, they scored 14 and Ferrari 5. If Red Bull were to sign up Alonso instead of Vettel, then Vettel will be at McLaren in 2009.







Felipe Massa, Ferrari, Two laps down
Full credit to Felipe Massa for being honest about his race; he said he had no problems with his Ferrari. If that's the case, and the Brazilian is not just sparing Stefano Domenicali's blushes, then he needs to drag Sakon Yamamoto out of Formula Wilderness and ask for driving lessons. He was not just rubbish, he was rubbish with a hat on.

How he managed so many off-track excursions and spins yet failed to hit anything or even dislodge a wing, must be worthy of an Arthur C.Clarke's Mysterious World-type programme.

He may be brilliant at dry races, but it's clear that traction control has helped cover up a variety of failings when it gets wet. Think back to Mount Fuji where he spun early on (even with traction control) and the Hungarian GP of 2006.

Not great.


Nelson Piquet Junior, Renault, DNF
Junior had hauled himself up to 5th and everything was looking good... Until an unfortunate meeting with gravel on Lap 36.


Robert Kubica, BMW, DNF
Kubica had hauled himself up to 5th and everything was looking good... Until an unfortunate meeting with gravel on Lap 41.


David Coulthard, Red Bull, DNF
Och nooooooooooo.


ITV Coverage
This is one of those races that you really resent ITV going to an advertising break because so much is happening on the track. You resent Steve Rider and his wobbly, latex microphone hand. You resent Louise Goodman and her "Ooohh, it wasn't really your fault, was it," interviewing technique. Because it was the British GP the ad breaks appeared longer than usual (even if Fernando Alonso did appear in one of them). The BBC taking over next year will be such a relief.


Mark - git orf me barra - Blundell
At Silverstone Mark proved that even without a weather helicopter - or, to be fully accurate - a wevver helicopter, he could see what lay ahead:
"Conditions tomorrow could be thrown into a little bit of a quandry."

He had some exciting news about David Coulthard's origins:
"He's got a lot of support, not only from England, but Scotland, where he actually comes from."
Some drivers will try new lines around corners, Mark tries new descriptions:


"He gets a little bit squirly into the turn there."

It's been a long time since we had the old favourite, the -wise addition to sentences, as in "it's been a bad race for Heikki, points-wise." On Saturday we had:

"That seems to be what they're giving us back, information-wise."

Diamond.

McLaren: Win will give Hamilton momentum

McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh believes Lewis Hamilton will have been boosted by his dominant performance at the British Grand Prix.

Hamilton, aiming to recover from two disappointing races in Canada and France, stormed to his first home victory on Sunday, finishing over a minute ahead of second-placed Nick Heidfeld and lapping everybody but the German and Honda's Rubens Barrichello.

The win moved Hamilton back into the championship lead as the season passed its halfway point in Britain.

Whitmarsh reckons the performance will be a boost for Hamilton.

"Very important," said Whitmarsh of the win. "I think Lewis has had a very difficult, challenging time, and to come out with such flying colours...

"I think you must believe now that he's got momentum, the team has got momentum, and that he can come through this ... we're going to go testing this week in Hockenheim, we're going to improve the car, we're going to fight back, that's for sure, and we'll see.

"No one can see how competitive we'll be in Hockenheim. I'll be disappointed if we're not, but I also recognise that we've got to keep pushing hard. For the team it was absolutely vital.

"By Lewis's standards, by our own standards, and by Heikki's, we've been a bit disappointed by what has happened in the previous races, but we've come out of it today, certainly in Lewis's case, feeling very strong about what happened."

Whitmarsh admitted Hamilton had been feeling under pressure following his run of disappointing results, and after teammate Heikki Kovalainen grabbed pole position for Sunday's race.

"Yes, he's been under pressure. He's been under the pressure he puts on himself, because he wants to win. He's been under pressure from his teammate - let's be frank, Heikki has really been pushing him. So he has had that pressure from within his own team, but in a positive way.

"What I think was remarkable was he had, by his own standards, a pretty poor qualifying session, he was lucky to still be on the second row, and he came out of that in such a strong frame of mind, believing that, OK, it didn't go right in qualifying but I've still got the ability in the race to win this thing.

"And the believed it. Witnessing that yesterday, you start to think, 'actually, this is going to be OK today'."

The McLaren boss revealed the team tried to slow Hamilton down during the final part of the Silverstone race, but claimed the Briton kept pushing in order not to lose concentration, despite the tricky conditions.

"He had tremendous grip. We were trying to slow him up for most of it, and he was driving within himself but he didn't want to slow up any more, otherwise he feared he'd lose concentration, lose temperature in the tyres, but he could have gone a lot quicker if he'd needed to.

"If you get into that zone that drivers can in these conditions, they can just be so far ahead of the rest of the field."

Srilanka lifts the Asia Cup

Sri Lanka 273 (Jayasuriya 125, Dilshan 56, Ishant 3-52) beat India 173 (Sehwag 60, Mendis 6-13) by 100 runs

Eight years ago, in Sharjah, Sanath Jayasuriya scored a magnificent 189 before Sri Lanka's bowlers sent India tumbling to 54 all out, and a humiliating 245-run defeat. At Karachi's National Stadium, Jayasuriya, now 39, smashed another superb century before Ajantha Mendis, the mystery spinner still classed as a slow-medium bowler, bamboozled a highly rated batting line-up to finish with astonishing figures of 6 for 13.

Srilanka, knocked down the Indian batting line when 173 runs were displayed on the board. Mendis with man of the match title, Srilanka lifts the Asia Cup.

I guess Indians are fit for runner up positions.

Raikkonen: We could have won

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen was unable to finish Sunday's British Grand Prix on the podium. The Finn finished fourth but believes he could have won the race if his team would have fitted his car with a fresh pair of tyres in his first pit stop.
Speaking about his race Raikkonen said: "I am disappointed, but I am equally aware that things could have been much worse. We had the possibility to win the race but we made a mistake at the first pit stop, keeping the same set of tyres, because we expected the track conditions to improve. It was a joint decision: we are a team and we win or lose together. "Things are not going too well for me at the moment, given all that happened in the last few races, but I am leading the championship, even if it is on equal terms with Felipe and Lewis. We know we have a great potential, but we have to put everything in place to get the most out of it."

Baseball News:Indians trade C.C. Sabathia to Brewers

The Cleveland Indians have agreed to trade ace lefthander C.C. Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers for a package led by outfielder/first baseman Matt LaPorta, according to a published report.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Sunday that the deal is contingent on paperwork being completed and medical records being exchanged. The report said Sabathia likely would make his Brewers debut Tuesday night against the Colorado Rockies. He still is listed as the starter for Cleveland that night against Detroit.
The Associated Press, citing an anoynmous source with direct knowledge of the talks, reported that a deal was imminent but not finalized.
Indians general manager Mark Shapiro confirmed to the club's official website that the teams are discussing a deal, but that "(i)t is definitively not a done deal."
Shapiro added, "I won't comment on what point it's at or how far along [it is]."
Milwaukee's position as front-runner for Sabathia reportedly strengthened on Sunday. CBS and FoxSports.com reported that the Los Angeles Dodgers dropped out of the Sabathia talks earlier in the day. Two other potential suitors, the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays, likely won't be able or willing to offer more than Brewers.
Sabathia went 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA to win the AL Cy Young last season and gives the Brewers another power pitcher to pair with Ben Sheets as Milwaukee tries to make the playoffs for the first time since 1982.
The big lefty is 6-8 with a 3.83 ERA for the Indians, but has also been plagued with a lack of run support. In nine of his 18 starts, Cleveland has scored two runs or less for him.
LaPorta, 23, the Brewers' first-round draft pick last year, has 20 home runs and 66 RBIs in 84 games with the club's Double-A affiliate in Huntsville, Ala. He was scratched from the club's lineup Sunday night.
"It's kind of flattering to have your name brought up for one of the best pitchers in the game," LaPorta told the Huntsville Times. "There would be no hard feelings one way or another. This is a business, and I understand that."

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