· Technique

Burnouts are traditionally used to warm up a car’s tires before a drag race. Warming up the tires makes the rubber softer increasing traction and also cleans the tires of road debris like gravel – further increasing traction. Slicks or drag radials are needed for a burnout to have noticeable results on the track, as burnouts using street tires do little more than make smoke and destroy rubber.

Burnouts occur when engine power overcomes the tires’ ability to maintain traction with the ground and use of the brakes keep the car from moving forward. Friction between the tires and road surface melts the rubber causing smoke. Drag race tracks typically have a “burnout box” in the staging area where water is sprayed on the ground to help facilitate burnouts. This is the only place on the track where water is permitted and drivers are instructed to first drive around the puddle and then reverse until only the rear wheels meet the water. Keeping the track dry is a major safety concern. Although a burnout is more of an art than science, there is a technology that can make burnouts easier in rear wheel drive cars - a line lock.

A burnout in a car without limited slip differential is known as a “one tire fire” as only one tire spins. When doing a burnout in a FF car, apply the e-brake since it only affects the rear brakes and will help keep the car stationary. If your car has traction control, turn it off before doing a burnout. Oil or bleach can be used on tires to enhance a burnout or allow an underpowered vehicle to perform a burnout.

Burnout Warnings:

• Never rev the engine and “pop” an automatic transmission into gear, as this can destroy your gearbox. Revving the engine in neutral and jamming it into gear will damage your transmission. Instead, leave the car in Drive, hold the brake (left foot) and rev the engine (right foot) at the same time, then let the brake go.
• You can break an axle doing a burnout.
• You can destroy a clutch doing a burnout incorrectly.
• You can destroy an engine by redlining.

How to do a burnout in FF car:

Manual Transmission Front Wheel Drive Cars

1. Apply e-brake.
2. Put the car in first gear.
3. Rev engine around 4,000 RPM.
4. Dump the clutch.
5. Wheels spin.
6. Manage RPMs and watch out for redline! If you need to shift, do it! It’s called “grabbing gears” and you’ll need to know how to do this to pull off successful donuts.
7. To stop burnout release e-brake and ease off gas.

Automatic Transmission Front Wheel Drive Cars

1. Apply e-brake.
2. Put car in Drive.
3. Heavy on brake pedal (left foot) and Rev engine around 4,000 RPM (right foot).
4. Release brake pedal.
5. Wheels spin.
6. Manage RPMs.
7. To stop burnout release e-brake and ease off gas.

How to do a burnout in FR car:

Manual Transmission Rear Wheel Drive Cars

1. Put the car in first gear.
2. Rev engine around 4,000 RPM.
3. In one quick motion, “dump” the clutch and press the brake pedal (left foot) while flooring the gas (right foot).
4. Wheels spin.
5. Manage RPMs and brake pressure. The idea is to keep the car still with the brake pedal (left foot) and apply enough horsepower (right foot) to break traction in the rear wheels. Perhaps this aspect of performing a burnout is the hardest – adjusting brake pressure to keep the car motionless while allowing the rear wheels to spin is known as “feathering” or pumping the brakes.
6. To stop burnout ease off gas.

Automatic Transmission Rear Wheel Drive Cars

1. Apply brake pedal (left foot).
2. Put the car in Drive.
3. Keep holding the brakes (left foot) and floor the gas (right foot).
4. Manage RPMs and brake pressure. Again the idea is to apply enough brake pressure (left foot) to keep the car motionless and enough gas (right foot) to keep the tires spinning.
5. To stop burnout ease off gas.

Rollbacks:

A rollback is a burnout performed on an incline. This gives an underpowered car a chance to smoke the tires – thanks gravity!

Manual Transmission Rollback

1. Find a hill.
2. Put the car in first gear.
3. Clutch.
4. Let car roll backwards down the hill.
5. Rev engine.
6. Pop the clutch.
7. Wheels spin.
8. Manage RPMs.
9. To stop burnout ease off gas.

Drifting a FF (Front-engine, Front-wheel drive) car is known as “ass dragging” by drifting purists, but drifting is possible by definition and fun. Since the rear wheels on a FF car freely turn without a transmission, they are easy to lock up when you pull the e-brake, given your rear brake pads are in good shape.

In Japan, there are front-wheel drive cars competing in the D1 Street Legal series and Keisuke Hatakeyama has competed in the Falken sponsored Honda Civic EF hatch in Formula Drift. They don’t win, but they are out there competing and having fun. Don’t let people discourage you from having fun in your FF car, just pop your collar and shake them drift haters off!

The technique I’ve outlined for FF drifting is very close to the basic E-brake drift. One thing to consider when driving a FF car is that under high speed they tend to understeer – or experience a loss of traction in the FRONT tires (opposite of oversteer). With this in mind, you need to stay close to the corner entrance or you might find yourself leaving the road when exiting the corner.

Front-Wheel Drive Drifting Sequence:

1. Brake for upcoming corner – This transfers vehicle weight to the front wheels for traction while lightening the rear end - enabling the rear wheels to lock up more freely once the e-brake is pulled.
2. Create further weight transfer by steering away from the corner momentarily in a feinting motion (Feint Drift)
3. Turn the steering wheel to enter corner – You got to tell the car what direction it’s going.
4. Pull the e-brake and hold for 1 second – This will lock the rear wheels causing the rear end to slide (oversteer). Now you are drifting! Most likely you will have to use the e-brake throughout the corner to keep the car sliding, otherwise the rear end will simply fall in line with the front wheels – neutralizing any drift angle.
5. Release the e-brake.
6. Countersteer - Countersteering is turning the steering wheel in the opposite direction that you first turned the steering wheel in - to initiate the turn. For example: Say you are about to drift a right hand turn. When entering the corner you turn the steering wheel to the RIGHT to get the car going in that direction. Once the car starts sliding, you would then turn the steering wheel to the LEFT to counter the skid.
7. Now wait until the car is facing the corner exit and floor it. Smoke those front tires! How hard you step on the gas depends how much you are countersteering and sliding. Good thing about FF cars is that the car will follow the front wheels – hence the “ass dragging.”

If this front-wheel drive drift sequence seems complicated, just find a patch of dirt or other low grip surface away from other people, cut the wheel at about 20 mph, and pull the e-brake. This will give you a good idea of what it feels like when the rear end of a car starts to slide.

Some people may interpret a front-wheel drive drift as a powerslide, but the definition of powerslide in reference to motorsports refers to a Power Over Drift – or excess use of throttle to induce oversteer when exiting a corner.

By definition drifting is initiating oversteer and controlling it, so it doesn’t matter if a car is FWD, AWD, or RWD it’s all drifting. Furthermore, Drift King says, “You can drift anything with 4 wheels!” No one is going to mistake you for Drift King and you’re not going to be able to hold a long continuous sideways drift like a rear-wheel drive car, but you can have some fun. You can also perform 180 u-turn slides using this technique at lower speeds.

Gymkhana is a timed automotive obstacle course. Similar to autocross, gymkhana events use traffic cones to outline the track and racers take turns trying to secure the fastest lap time possible. Gymkhana courses have short straightaways and complicated technical sections that feature figure eights, specially marked cones that require a driver to reverse through them, and parking boxes that require drivers to slide into them.  Drifting technique is used to save drivers precious seconds. Gymkhana places emphasis on car handling and driver skill instead of horsepower.

Time Attack is a race to secure the fastest lap time possible on a designated circuit or section of track. Also referred to as time trail, tuner battle, or super lap, a time attack is used to evaluate car performance in real racing applications. Similar to a qualifying lap, the higher average speed you maintain the faster your lap time, so drifting around certain corners can save valuable time.

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Dirt Drop is a drifting technique that is done by dropping the rear tires of a drift car off the sealed street onto dirt or gravel, or whatever low grip surface borders the street, to maintain or gain drift angle. In some countries, the Dirt Drop drifting technique is referred to as Dirt Turbo.

Oversteer occurs during a turn when the REAR wheels of a car do not track behind the front wheels but instead slide (drift) toward the outside of the turn in a more straight-line trajectory. Drifting is the art of controlled oversteer. To drift is to maintain a car in an oversteered position using countersteering, e-brake, throttle and drivetrain inputs.

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Drifting occurs when vehicle momentum or horsepower exceeds tire traction, causing the car to slide sideways. Through driver skill and certain car modifications like suspension and LSD, drifting is utilized to maintain higher rates of speed through corners.

Drafting on the other hand is a racing technique that gains aerodynamic advantage by following closely behind a lead vehicle. Common to NASCAR, drafting reduces the average energy required to maintain a certain speed since the lead car is blocking wind, creating a slipstream that decreases drag for the chase car or cars.

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Shift lock drifting is a drifting technique that works by downshifting without the use of heel-toe shifting for rev matching. Rev matching means the engine speed and drive train speed are similar, resulting in a smooth down shift.

Speeding into a corner and then downshifting from third to second without heel-toe shifting, or fourth to third gear for higher speed drifts, causes the drive train to lock, car to slow, and the engine rpm to peak. The quick shift without rev matching causes the drive wheels to momentarily lock initiating the drift and the high engine rpm gives you the horsepower and torque needed to smoke the tires.

Drift Sequence:

1. Gas all the way in third gear
2. Brake
3. Steer
4. Let clutch go without using heel-toe technique.
5. Rear wheels will suddenly lock
6. Then slide
7. Countersteer
8. After car is facing corner exit, gently give the car gas – how hard you step on the gas depends how much you are countersteering and sliding.

The shift lock drifting technique can be damaging to engine rods because the ECU is unable to rev limit when the rear wheels are spinning faster than the engine’s fly wheel. Drivers who downshift too early are sometimes called “Rod Stretchers.”

Since shift lock drifting can damage a drift car, it is recommended to practice on a wet surface or snow if possible when learning how to drift using this technique.

Heel-and-Toe shifting is a driving technique used when downshifting. It involves operating the gas and brake pedals simultaneously with the right foot, while the left foot operates the clutch as normal. The right foot toe presses the brake while the heel, or side of the foot, covers the gas.

Heel-toe shifting allows for smooth downshifts and consistent throttle response by matching the engine rotational speed (rpm) to the wheels rotational speed. In addition, the rev-matching characteristic of heel-toe shifting places less stress on the entire drive train since the engine and transmission are operating at similar rpm. If the rotational speeds differ, the drive wheels will momentarily lock with a sudden jolt of the transmission – this can make a car unstable especially when cornering.

That said, there is a drifting technique called Shift Lock Drifting that takes advantage of this sudden wheel lock to get the car sliding sideways. Shift Lock Drifting is the complete opposite of heel-toe shifting since it’s initiated by downshifting without rev-matching, causing the drive wheels to lock. Shift Lock Drifting is not recommended for dry roads because of the drive train abuse – use this drifting technique on snow and wet surfaces.

Advantages of Heel-Toe Shifting

• Smooth downshifting
• Consistent throttle response
• Less drive train stress

Sports cars are usually modified so that the heights of the brake and accelerator pedals are closely matched and the pedals are not too far apart, to permit easy use of heel-toe shifts.

Touge is a Japanese word literally meaning “pass” as in mountain pass or a road between two mountains. Touge refers to the narrow winding mountain roads.

Due to steep elevation changes, a series of turns and bends, sometimes called cut backs, is needed to provide access to and from the higher elevations. Aside from construction limitations, like not being able to pave a road straight up the side of a mountain, the winding road is intended as a safety measure - typically preventing drivers from reaching extreme speeds while on the mountain.

Nevertheless, street racers and motorsport enthusiasts alike seek to test their drifting skills on the touge. Eventually, these touge racers began to adopt driving techniques used by rally drivers to help maintain their momentum through the corners. From touge racing, drifting was born.

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