How to do a DRIFT !!!

MOD NOTE: Please read before proceeding - As all members have opined, this is just an informative thread and neither carwale, its moderators nor its members are responsible for any outcome, negative or positive.

How do i drift the car...my friend says - i need to make an angle, push the clutch and pull the handbrakes for a drift...i tried on my roomate's cedia, but in vein...should there be a min speed for drifting? have u guys tried drifting? pls suggest.

It is better if you dont try stunts like that in open conditions. From what method you have stated above, you will end up doing a wheelspin rather than a drift and end up burning the clutch as well as eating up the tyres. I am doubtful of doing drifts in a FWD vehicle. However, you must turn the steering nearly to its extreme, accelarate and release the clutch quite quickly. That will set the car turning across with the rear sweeping a radius. BUT DONT TRY SUCH THINGS EVER IN PUBLIC SPACES. ALSO YOU ARE LIKELY TO END UP IN DAMAGES TO BOTH THE CAR AND THE SURROUNDINGS, WHICH IN WORSE CASES WILL INCLUDE YOU TOO.

Personally, I love wheelspins. They are not dangerous compared to these things and the only possible damage will be to the tyres as well as the clutch, which is not an issue for me!

thanks mate...its a kinda open field right behind my apt, so i dont think it wld be risky...btw, any minimum speed? can it be done at, say 50kmp/h?

MOD NOTE: Do not quote preceeding post if replying in general. 

From what I know, you need a rear-wheel driven car for drifting, plus a racing clutch and a differential that can be locked (not even limited-slip diff) - the usual kind will not work very well for drifting since it requires both wheels to be turning at the same speed even if the wheels are not pointing straight. Normal differentials will equalise torque between the wheels so speed might be different.

The way you do it is induce a controlled understeer by turning the steering to an extreme and sudden application of throttle (and clutch release as Sankalp said) - this will cause the vehicle to start to slide (i.e., drift) in the direction opposite to where the front wheels point. So if you want to drift right, turn steering left and vice versa. However the circle traced by the slide will be in the direction of the steering - if steering is anti-clockwise (i,e left), vehicle will drift right and anti-clockwise.

Disclaimer: Neither me, nor carwale and its moderators take any responsibility for what happens to you if you do this. It is entirely at your discretion.

A rear wheel drive car as everybody said is most important to drift. However, first of all you need to practice braking using your left feet instead of right. Now, never ever try braking with left feet on road cause one is not used to the touch s/he need to apply & ends up braking really hard & that can be really dangerous. All the things people say using handbrake to drift is just a small part. You can't control the amount of brake you have to apply using a handbrake. In drifting you have to apply brakes & accelerate at the same time in most situations. So working on braking is the first lesson to drift. And there is no minimum speed to drift, as i said you need to find the perfect balance between brakes & speed. By doing drifting you are going to do some serious damage to car's mechanicals & that can cost you a bomb(a lot of money) to maintain.

Disclaimer: I & all the members here are in no-way encouraging you to do this & just imparted you some very basic knowledge about drifting. Neither me, nor carwale and its moderators take any responsibility for what happens to you if you do this. It is entirely at your discretion.

I dont know much about the risks specific to drifting.

But in general, for all kinds of stunts, every precaution has to be taken expecting the worst (eg: overturning / rolling of the car, even fire) - helmet, padding, any extra frame to avoid ceiling collapsing etc.  Stuntmen get paid for all these - they are professionals - so we can call it "occupational hazard". For others, is it worth taking such risks for the fun of it? Maybe I am not very adventurous.

Tomy

Thanks Rohit, Arnv...very well explained...now i dig why i wasnt able to do it...even after 9-10 retries, all i could end up with is skids and spins, but not drift...i get it clearly now....though i m itching to try it out, but now I m somewhat skeptical...all of you all have scared the *hit out of me...   but, i ll try it once atleast...

Thanks fellas ;-)

@RockSolid - Yes, it is tempting to do all this but consider this: When you see these things being done in movies, it is usually well-planned and done by expert stuntmen, plus with adequate safety and accident equpiment/personnel in place (like fire extingushers/trucks, ambulance, etc).

When people in the west do it - though reckless and dangerous it is, they do it because the emergency system in those countries is much more developed, mature, efficient and reliable than it is here. There if an accident happens the first priority of anyone who gets there will be to call an ambulance or rush the person to hospital - and when called or person is in hospital they won't ask for a police report or permission before starting ER procedures!

Here, if you meet with an accident its pretty much your luck as to when an ambulance arrives or someone calls for help - in most cases the traffic police will arrive but then how efficient they are is anybody's guess! Besides even if you rush the person to hospital, there is no guarantee that they will start emergeny procedures without police report. THAT is why we all seem to be so negative about it!!

choose a car with a low center of gravity, that means no santro, no wagonr, scorpio etc. the last thing you want to do is flip over trying.

make sure you're well strapped in if  things go wrong.

have a friend stay outside the car, at a safe distance in case you screw up and need medical / emergency attention.

most importantly, why would you even want to do such a thing? wouldn't it be a lot less dangerous to just try this on your pc / gaming console with need for speed?