Matt Vassallo

With all honesty, it sounds a ton scarier than it is.

Over the weekend in Miami I constantly kept raising the ante for myself in terms of entry speed, drift angle , and an earlier initiation of drift. With the power that my car had (less than 220whp) , I wasn't able to begin a slide with the e-brake, because I didn't have enough power to turn the tires and spin them up to enough speed to make the angles work at the speeds I wanted.

What I ended up having to do wasn't exactly the kind of thing I was experienced in. In fact, the only place I've ever initiated any sort of drift at that speed was in a video game, Live for Speed. I'll get into LFS later, but it's probably the best drifting simulator I've ever practiced on, bar none. it WILL make you a better drifter.

The first three or four attempts that I gave it did not have full commitment on my part. I didn't have enough speed, nor did I throw the car around enough, to disrupt it. All of which were reasons for the rear tires to keep all of their grip and result in me spinning out, or having to resort to a different technique to kind of ' make shift ' drift the corners. It wasn't like the pros at all. It wasn't until I really upped the speed up to the pro level that I got to understand and realize the secret to nailing that turn.

I came into the corner at around 80mph in third gear. That's somewhere around 6000-6500 rpm if I remember correctly. With wide open throttle and only a few hundred feet before the turn, i quickly jerked the wheel to the left, and then back to the right with wide open throttle the whole time. Just upsetting the balance of the car at that speed and the suspension / tire / horsepower, everything working for me, the rear of the car broke loose, i kid you not, like the damn video game.

From there on out, it was slide it out, grab a little bit of e brake, shift into second, lay in the throttle, and then back into third going around the back turn, but let me tell you i have never been so scared in a car about to begin a turn. It's one of those things, just like every spectacular drift that i've pulled off, I'm thinking to myself.

"This is gonna suck if I mess up."

But I didn't mess up. I nailed it.

After doing it once, It won't be hard to perfect it one or two runs later. Especially when I know exactly what I did. The biggest step, is just that, taking the first step. It's almost like a leap of faith, but if you've been driving enough, and with enough experience, you'll figure it out, and do just fine.

marksaccord95

sitting there sunday taking pics all day, seemed like lift throttle oversteer was the popular on the higher HP cars.

Funk

i was entering around 70 to 75 in my ka

i was just letting inertia do its wonders. now that i think about it, i might have slightly jerked the wheel.

i dunna. i suck

Matt Vassallo

that was my biggest problem, i NAILED the first turn my first time ever out on the course, but i couldn't remember what i did (too nervous ) i couldn't repeat it all day

Garage Battle

baby stepping in with my car all day, i nailed it on my final run of the day, but alas, I dont know if there is any video of it.

its scary being in top of 3rd, then weight shift + lift off then jab the throttle again and then floor it and keep it sideways going downhill.

but when u nail it...its awesome.

FreeThinker

I would love to go back to homestead to practice, best course Ive been on by far!!

I was entering at about 2/3 of 3rd gear or damn near on revlimiter on 2nd, so I think around 60mph. Car will do 90mph in 3rd.

Running a late apex on the right kink (racing line) I would just feint toward the grass (right) and then dump clutch full power into 2nd gear and crank it around to the left. With 3100lbs and 205's in back though, I had to watch how agressive I was with the feint. From there it was power up the hill and push it all the way out to the right side of the exit and then some to get back across the track about halfway before flipping it back around and heading for the apex on the right turn.

I wish I had talked to Tony earlier about my biggest problem of the day though. When I didn't set the car up just perfect for the turn and was gonna run up over the apex, I really thought there wasn't much I could do. Not enough power to just swing the rear end out more, (plus not enough steering lock to catch it when I WAS able to push it further) and I was trying desperately not to dial in so much correction as to drive off the curb, because it ended up ending the drift. (Oh plus if I actually put a tire over the inside, I was layin' front crossmember all over the curbing) Maybe cool for the minitruckin' guys, not cool for me!!

Tony's solution: E-brake
FVCKING GENIUS!!!

I've watched a zillion and one drifting videos, but never really noticed people using the e-brake for this, but watching the Miami video, I saw Tony do it twice in just 2 runs. I'm gonna have to go watch a bunch of old videos now but it seems most of the stuff I've seen, people use e-brake for initiating a drift, or getting deep into corners where the inertia just can't quite get you to the apex while still sliding. I think we've all see the video of the white Kouki S14 sliding perfectly like 45deg. for maybe 150ft then the video ends just as he apexes.

Praise be to Tony Schultz,

Now to head to the BMW parts counter and order new e-brake shoes. I'm sure the tranny will appreciate not being the parking brake anymore

-Sean

hachibill

basically i never took my foot off the floor. the only way i could make it around at the angle i wanted was lots o speed and in a underpowered car that means having to enter at a really high speed and try not to scrub it all off in the first turn. i sucked ass on saturday but i ended up making the track my bitch on sunday. i really want to back and do some more practicing at that track. ak=ll i have done is think and think about what i could do differently soo i'm dieing to go back and try somemore!!!!

neurovish

I'd love another chance at those corners....after reading through the post event chatter I've determined that I probably could've driven a lot harder, and was most likely leaving suck all over the place due to my complete absence in all videos and lack of interest from people taking still pictures.

agemomai

+1, same here but i knew all that way before we came home to look for pictures

Funk

dont worry guys, its only for two reasons

1)people dont suck ur cock
2)ur car isnt bling