Parking lot drifting
Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 5:16 am
I invite you all to post about your drifting excursions!
Er...this is legal right?
Today I finally got perfect weather for drifting. It rained a lot while I was at work, and continued to rain moderately on the way home. I stopped at a large-ish empty parking lot to do my drifting. It wasn't too big, but it's clean of gravel. There's another one farther away, but it's old and has a lot of rocks and gravel on it.
I left it in second and probably approached drifts at 40-50 kmh (25-30mph). No need to excessively rev the engine as it's FWD with no traction. I had to yank the handbrake quite hard to lock the rears, and they didn't slide too much unless I used a downhill incline. It was awesome! The G's pulled hard even in the wet, and the feeling of sliding was great.
But when I do a full lock turn while the fronts are sliding, the car experiences a really heavy shudder...is this bad for the suspension and steering components?
The thing I was most afraid of was having a tire blow out, and as I rolled along I heard a "bump, ba bump, ba bump". I got out and checked the tires, they were fine. I eventually figured out it was the parking line paint bumps.
Later I tried to do a 180 but it didn't work out too well. The rears just wouldn't slide out far enough. Then I did a crappy 270 and saw a group of guys across the road in front of a house. They must've heard my drifting. Meh, I kept going.
I bailed out after 50-60 tries, because a pedestrian crossed an entrance close to me (no longer on the sidewalk), and sort of started to walk towards me. He had a stripe across the front of his jacket so I thought he was a cop, if not then a security guy. So I took off before I got in trouble.
I find that the fronts will re-grip quite hard and send me shooting off in the opposite direction. And the rears do the same. Not a pleasant feeling. FWD's just can't drift. This MX-3 can do it just barely in the wet, so I don't think I'll even try it in the dry. Grip, on the other hand, I will.
I also had to pull the handbrake quite hard to lock the rears, and I smelt something weird. I think it was the rear drums overheating, was it?
Drifting, sliding, whatever. I had fun, and I know my car better now as well!
Er...this is legal right?
Today I finally got perfect weather for drifting. It rained a lot while I was at work, and continued to rain moderately on the way home. I stopped at a large-ish empty parking lot to do my drifting. It wasn't too big, but it's clean of gravel. There's another one farther away, but it's old and has a lot of rocks and gravel on it.
I left it in second and probably approached drifts at 40-50 kmh (25-30mph). No need to excessively rev the engine as it's FWD with no traction. I had to yank the handbrake quite hard to lock the rears, and they didn't slide too much unless I used a downhill incline. It was awesome! The G's pulled hard even in the wet, and the feeling of sliding was great.
But when I do a full lock turn while the fronts are sliding, the car experiences a really heavy shudder...is this bad for the suspension and steering components?
The thing I was most afraid of was having a tire blow out, and as I rolled along I heard a "bump, ba bump, ba bump". I got out and checked the tires, they were fine. I eventually figured out it was the parking line paint bumps.
Later I tried to do a 180 but it didn't work out too well. The rears just wouldn't slide out far enough. Then I did a crappy 270 and saw a group of guys across the road in front of a house. They must've heard my drifting. Meh, I kept going.
I bailed out after 50-60 tries, because a pedestrian crossed an entrance close to me (no longer on the sidewalk), and sort of started to walk towards me. He had a stripe across the front of his jacket so I thought he was a cop, if not then a security guy. So I took off before I got in trouble.
I find that the fronts will re-grip quite hard and send me shooting off in the opposite direction. And the rears do the same. Not a pleasant feeling. FWD's just can't drift. This MX-3 can do it just barely in the wet, so I don't think I'll even try it in the dry. Grip, on the other hand, I will.
I also had to pull the handbrake quite hard to lock the rears, and I smelt something weird. I think it was the rear drums overheating, was it?
Drifting, sliding, whatever. I had fun, and I know my car better now as well!