Now that you have managed to get a decent drift setup, found a tire that fits the bill and got all the bling aboard, it's time to get sideways. Drifting is as much an art as science, while the physics behind drifting are well established the wow factor is something that is always open to debate. In essence what you need to do is get sideways, but that's not enough to win any drifting competitions, you need to be able to be in complete control of your drift during the entire run.

There is no reason why you can't keep a drift going forever, under no circumstances should you ever stop drifting and start driving in a straight line. It's not as difficult as it sounds, in a nut shell if you can't chain drifts together then there is a problem with either the setup of your RC car or an electronic problem that's preventing you from reaching your true drift potential.

In the first part of my drifting guide I will walk you through a simple single corner drift, then in later articles I'll discuss chaining, or linking your drifts together. later in the guide I'll explain how to deal with a long straight and the techniques to get a consistently winning drift where other fail.

The first corner.

Regardless of your drifting style or setup of your car you always begin from a standing start, the first corner is problematic because you won't have had time to build up a rhythm or set yourself up for the perfect line. The other thing to take into consideration is if you are the only car on the track, the standard format is to run qualifying solo and then run in tandem during the main event, if your running in tandem then if your behind be sure to leave enough space before you start, not enough and you will have to adjust your speed to avoid a collision, leave too much and you'll be left behind.

If your solo or leading then don't try to drift from the word go, rather edge your RC car towards drift speed, if you try to enter the drift right off the bat you will end up being off-line or even worse, facing backwards. The first corner is something that you will need to practise, most of the new drifter I meet don't practise the first corner, while it's the least of your problems it's something that can ruin an otherwise perfect run.

The second corner.

After you have managed to get around the first corner and have setup your drift line for the second corner it's time to invoke an awe-inspiring drift that you can then use to transition into the next corner. So how do you do this?

The line you need to take is exactly the same as a racing line, so if the corner is a right hand turn then you need to start on the left had side of the track. Start the drift about two to four car lengths before the corner by turning right, as soon as you feel the car start to rotate you need to counter steer away from the corner, in this example it would be to the left. The trick is to use the throttle to control the angle of the drift and the steering for minor adjustments, ideally you want to have the steering completely centered, a lot of people will say that you need to have opposite lock, while this is great for still photo's it doesn't create the smoothest drift. This also depends on your car and drift style, but personally I find that the best drifts I get are when I'm not touching the steering wheel, but controlling the drift with the throttle.

Once you have entered the drift, increase throttle to increase your angle of attack, use your steering to correct when you over rotate or need a little extra kick to get the nose pointing in the right direction. Please note that this is almost completely down to the setup of your car. Certain chassis will understeer when you add throttle, needless to say it you can't change the handling of the car then it's not going to be a great drifter, but then again perhaps you prefer under steer.

To complete the drift counter steer on the exit of the corner and back off throttle to regain traction and pull the car straight.

Next... Using Physics to get perfect drifts

Return to RC Drift Section