EvoKnievo

i just lol'd

jhay0824

iTrader: (1)

wow thanks guys! i respect everyones opinion! i was jus curious about the topic. and thanks to EvoVIII808. u pretty much answered my questions.

MATT@WORKS

...nobody answered anything...

Go talk to anybody who has ever done drift in a real competition and they'll give you 1000's of reasons why FWD cars can't drift like the RWD guys can. And if you think a FWD car uses the handbrake more the same amount to "drift" as a RWD car, you're REALLY wrong. You can see in that video that the rear wheels are just locked the WHOLE way around.

I've drifted a shopping cart once. You just pick up the rear wheels and push it around sideways, totally the same as taking a RWD car and doing it... TOTALLY.

05ES

iTrader: (1)

Drifting refers to a driving technique and to a motor sport involving the use of the technique of turning one's car sideways. A car is said to be drifting when the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle, and the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa), and the driver is controlling these factors.

This was taken from wikipedia.org
So by technicallity FWD cars can drift, but I do agree with Amby.....to fully drift the rear wheels need to be spinning and the front wheels are steering

ambystom01

iTrader: (7)

I disagree a bit with that definition because to me it's too open. I wouldn't consider a rally car to be drifting when it goes around a corner but sometimes it will satisfy the rules put forth by wikipedia.

EvoVIII808

iTrader: (4)

rally cars do drift when going around corners.
Any time bro, i have been Drifting many vehicles since 2004. So for the most part i would just get a RWD vehicle, to save you alot of head ache, time, and Money.
I just answered the questions that he had, then stated my opinion.
(not intended to cause an Thread battle)

Thats what most Forums are missing.

EvoVIII808

iTrader: (4)

jhay0824 Another thing you will need is an LSD, i forgot to mention that.
THIS IS THE KEY TO DRIFT CARS!!!! WITHOUT LSD No Good Drift (Still may be possible, like a braking drift, or a Feint) Powerovers with no lsd, most of power will just be transfered to one wheel. which mich not be enough to give you what you want.

MATT@WORKS

I drifted a sled last winter.

EvoRecordSetter

its not drifting. its power sliding n such.

drift = rwd / awd

fwd cars do things that rwd and awd cant, just be happy with what fwd does. if you want to drift go rwd.

ambystom01

iTrader: (7)

I wouldn't really call that drifting though.

MATT@WORKS

There's not much at all that a FWD car can do that a RWD car can't-- unless you're including wasting your front tires. RWD cars balance out the load on all the tires:

Load on the front tires:
Lateral (sidewall flex)
Longitudinal (braking)
Change of direction (steering angle change)

Load on the rear tires:
Lateral
Longitudinal (braking)
Longitudinal (accelerating)

Now that's not perfectly ideal, but imagine a FWD car that has just braking and handling forces going through its rear tires and the addition to power application to the front WHILE they are trying to also change direction (which removes tires' ability to be loaded by other means MUCH more than I think most people understand).

When you spin the tires from torque application on a rear-drive car (creating a power-oversteer/true drift) you adjust the amount of traction between the front and rear wheels while the front wheels can guide the car along a controlled path.

This gives you a VERY dynamic control over the slip angle of all 4 wheels since both steering angle and power application can adjust both the direction of travel and the drift angle. A rear drive car also has the ability to maintain a slip angle under both acceleration and deceleration, something difficult or impossible in a FWD car without constantly wiggling the car back and forth (since naturally the rear wheels want to roll inline to the front wheels).

If you look at the wikipedia definition, yes, a FWD/AWD/No-WD car/bike/shopping cart can drift. If you look at the modern definition for drifting, e.g. what competitive drifters do, everything a FWD car can do is NOT drifting, its just forcing the loss of rear traction and making a rough attempt to make it around a turn. I know someone will come on and say that this is the same as RWD, but again, its all about the amount of control involved which makes a course adjustment of direction and angle a fine adjustment.

P.S.
Nobody can argue FWD's advantage over RWD/AWD to me. The only reason car companies made FWD a common layout is because it is MUCH cheaper, more reliable, and safer for the average moron driver on the street. It allows less control over a car's dynamic and should never be seen as a better choice for a performance car. Note that there are NO (as in NOOOOOOOOOO) super cars that are/have ever been FWD.... there have been plenty of econo-boxes that are. If its what you've got, that's awesome, I've driven a couple fast little FWD cars on the track, they are VERY fun, VERY easy to drive (To a point) and if you're in a series that they can be competitive in, I see no problem. People just need to stop making excuses for why FWD is a "great" layout and need to just understand that drifting is the realm of RWD ONLY.

ambystom01

iTrader: (7)

+10000, equating what a FWD car can do to what a RWD/AWD car can do is like equating masturbation to sex.

MATT@WORKS

lol... exactly.

EvoVIII808

iTrader: (4)

and why wouldnt you call it drifting? they do it on pavement and in the dirt. Same principles apply. Although most of them are AWD, but some are RWD.

ambystom01

iTrader: (7)

I wouldn't call it drifting because the mechanisms, purpose and outcomes are different. Drifting is an art like figure skating, rally racing is a competition like hockey or football.