Drifting is the fastest growing motorsport in the world and for good reason too.. Eco-Trailer is here to give you the rundown on how you can get started with drifting…
Compared to other disciplines of motorsport drifting is very much accessible, rally driving or single-seater racing requires you to have an expensive car and a load of equipment to go along with it. On the other hand, to start drifting you need a rear-wheel-drive car and enough space to play around.
What Car Should You Get?
This is something many people struggle with, it’s a common mistake that you need a 600hp monster like the pros to get started drifting. The truth is having something that runs fine and puts the power down through the rear wheels is more than enough.
Everyone makes mistakes and in drifting that often means a crash that’s why cheap cars like older BMWs, MX-5s and even old Volvos are going to cars. Because these cars are cheap and plentiful they make brilliant beginner cars.
What Else Do You Need?
Tyres. Because of the nature of drifting, you’re going to burn through tyres like there’s no tomorrow, the particular tyre isn’t important as a beginner but having plenty of them is. Part-worn tyres are a cost-effective way of getting tyres and taking a spare set mounted to some wheels will reduce the downtime you have swapping them out.
Modifications are the first thing that comes to mind when talking about drifting, after all, pro’s like Chris Forsberg, James Deane and others are running close to or over 1000hp. But when you start out all you really need is reasonable power, lowered suspension, a welded or limited-slip differential and a hydraulic handbrake.
Where Do You Start?
So once you’ve got the car it’s time to jump into the driver’s seat, right? Not quite. It’s worth heading to a track day or a drift academy first to get to grips with sliding and controlling a car during a drift although it’s not necessary.
If you don’t feel the need to head out to a practice day, there are venues across the country and most have days for novice drivers to get started, start out with doughnuts and figure-eights but try to also figure out transitions, weight transfers and how to tackle corners first.
Once you get comfortable in the novice area you can move to an actual course and potentially even drift with other drivers together, known as tandem drifting.
Don’t feel like you have to rush to progress, these things take time and figuring things out slowly but surely is better than giving up because you aren’t progressing as fast as you want to.
Drifting is a whale of a time, especially when you have friends to join in with, hopefully, this guide can get you started and get you skidding around the track in no time at all! As you progress you can build up your car and potentially even begin in competitions and make some money from your hobby too.