New SPF owner, questions!

[Fred Douglass]

..the older gent (a former racer) who is helping me learn the ropes says: "If you are entering a corner and want to drift, use the gears and throttle to get to a state where the limit of adhesion is reached at the rear tires before the fronts. Then the throttle (and torque) should be used to set up the yaw angle so that the car is aligned with the straight following the corner..." He also says that "drifting" cars usually show the front tires pointed in the direction of the bend to be taken---"tracking the radius". The drift becomes a "slide" or a "skid" (more often used to scrub off speed than to enhance the exit speed) when corrections appear, the front tires steering to counter the slide, in other words.. The transition between the two ("slide" and "skid" being roughly synonymous) types of out-of-track cornering is one of degrees of counter-steer. The stuff you see in "drifting" events is really more "power sliding"---less leegant looking but certainly more spectacular. It is, unfortunately, somewhat slower than a proper high-speed drift.

My instructor used to race Corvettes and Jaguars in club-racing events and in more competitive SCCA events at the 'Glen and Limerock, etc. He therefore knows about overpowering the adhesion fo the tires. And his analyses and definitions seem to match the ones in Paul Frere's book. He also said the best way to test your adhesion limits is in tight circles (make sure you have good back-up oil-accumulator for your lube system!). Drifting (which I'm still learning) really makes you feel like Stirling Moss. Power sliding makes you feel like Godzilla! (It's more fun, besides).

I'm still going to go to either Barbour's or Bondurant's drah-veen skew!!!