Tips on how to tune for drifting please......I have no clue as I'm a circuit/drag racer for the most part. I also race a little Soap Box too.
STRAIGHT LINE OR NO LINE DAMMIT! NOW THAT'S THE AMERICAN WAY!!!
No worries Cooter, I was nothin' but a circuit racer too for ever until fairly recently. I got into drifting in Forza simply from curiosity really. I have got a decent amount of time into drift tuning, so I'll break down my normal approach to a solid drift tune.
Initial car build:
Car selection. For starters, if you want an easy platform to learn on, I would suggest going with a larger car. Bigger, heavier cars with longer wheel bases tend to be easier and smoother to drift. Mountains of torque is also great for starters. You want massive, ground pounding V8s. Muscle cars, BMWs, Mercs, and Holdens are all good possible candidates.
POWER!!! For people getting started, you want gobs and gobs of power and torque. 500+ hp works well. Lower power cars require a bit more skill to drift as you have to rely more on rhythm, line, and momentum to be smooth and effective.
Race out the suspension, transmission and such.
Weight. In most cases you want to use race weight reduction, but weight can become a feel factor on certain applications. Your car can become quite a bit more difficult to drift and transition if it's too light.
Tires. This is a controversial subject. Personally, I use stock tires on all of my drift cars. Some people use street tires to get a little more grip and speed. You would think you don't want grip, but having just a little bit can help a lot to control the car mid drift. I would still suggest using stock tires, you can get the little bit of grip by adjusting tire widths. I normally run the same widths, front and rear. Usually 215s, 225s, or 235s, depending on the car your using. Using a wider tire in the rear obviously helps get more rear grip, thus, making it easier to drift faster and making "throttle steer" a bit more effective. I've even ran into a few fellas that use a wider tire in the front. This makes turn ins and flicks more responsive and sometimes helps pull out of hard angles.
The tune:
Tire pressures: I normally run 29psi front and 28psi rear on my drift cars.
Gears: Personal preference comes into play here. I like big long gears on my drift cars (that's what she said...). This allows less gear changes and gives you more gear range in longer corners. It's really all about 2nd and 3rd gear. With the correct ratio, it's all 2nd gear in the smaller corners and 3rd in the longer corners.
Camber: You want a pretty good amount of negative camber. This helps the front pull out of hard angles and gives a little bit of responsiveness to the rear when it's set right. On drift cars, run between -2 deg and -3 deg in the front and between -1 deg and -2 deg in the rear. My usual set up here is smack dab in the middle at -2.5 front and -1.5 rear.
Toe: I usually toe the front out 0.3 deg and rear in -0.1 deg.
Caster: Max it out, 7 deg.
ARB: Use can use your race set up here. I normally run around 24 front and 21 rear. You can soften up the front/rear a bit to help smooth out drifts as well.
Spring / Damping rates: Use your race set up here as well. This helps retain balance. You can soften up the rear a bit for traction and weight transfer in transitions. Tweak it to your liking.
Aero: Not necessary, unless you like the looks. If that's the case, turn it all down.
Brakes: I like to have a bit stronger brake in the rear for drifting. This allows you to comfortably use the brakes mid drift to control speed and it even helps control rear end position on certain higher speed corner entries. I use 40% to the front, 60% to the rear.
Diff: I like a strong diff for drifting. Between 85% and 100% accel and around 20%-30% decel. I run 90% accel and 30% decel on most of my drift cars.
Hope that helps! I love tuning, but I'm no master by any means.
It was mostly myself & the Dr. today, Max dropped in for a short run & Abbys joined in for a bit too. I had a blast. In spite of the fact that I'm a horrible drifter, I still manged to do ok. Besides, who cares how well you do it, as long as you've got a smile on your face.
I've always loved the look of a skyline. I wish we could have the earlier model years here in the states. Years with body style of my drift car. I just love the looks and sounds that car produces. You can only get it as a "kit" car or spend lots of dough importing the bastard.......BORING!!! That and you'd have to make it street legal.....again BORING!!!! Emissions testing......BORING!!!
They're awesome cars. The R32 is my personal favorite. I saw one recently here in Michigan up north at the Sno Drift Rally America event back in January.
oh yeah. I think we may have a few more joining tonight. I tweaked a few of Cooter's cars last night. I built a car for Prebuilt as well. We may see Lowrider, I had some good sessions with him a little while back. Also looking forward to seeing Monkey too!
Alright guys, thank you all for coming out last night . It's great to see a few more new faces in the lobby! Hopefully next week we see even more people getting in on the action.
The session lasted for about an hour before I prepped for the American Icon race. We had some pretty good moments with some 3 and 4 car pack drifting. I did save I think like 4 or 5 replays. I haven't had a chance to watch all of them and snag some highlights and photos yet. I'll try to get some posted soon as I know a couple of fellas popped in the thread here and wanted to see some action. I'll put all of the full replays up on my storefront as well in case anyone wants to jump on Forza and watch a full session.
Hope to see all of you next week, and remember, if you see me online and want to get sideways, just let me know.
I kinda wish this event was a little later in the night. 7PM EST right? I'm usually not available for all out Forza until about 9-930 sometimes even 10-1030 due to I shop for dinner the night prior and have to wait until my kid goes to bed so I can tuck him in and read him a story. Can we make it a Drift Night instead?
I kinda wish this event was a little later in the night. 7PM EST right? I'm usually not available for all out Forza until about 9-930 sometimes even 10-1030 due to I shop for dinner the night prior and have to wait until my kid goes to bed so I can tuck him in and read him a story. Can we make it a Drift Night instead?
Yeah it's currently 7pm EST. I suppose we could move it back a little later but we'll probably lose some guys. Plus the American Icon race is at 9pm EST. What about if I do 2 drift nights per week. I could keep the one for Tuesday at 7pm and maybe add one for say, Thursday night at 11pm EST? I run in Prebuilt's Escort series and that usually gets done around 10:30ish. I dunno, just a suggestion.
FYI, I sent back your cars. They have been tweaked for maximum badassery... At least the R34...
You don't have to make 2 nights just for me. I was just suggesting a "Drift Night" as it seems every other night is "Circuit Night". I'm not currently involved in any other series other than my Evora Series and a reserve in BTCC due to my increasingly busy work/family schedules. So my point in that is that I could even host a room for people that aren't involved in those series for Drift Night. If you guys decide you don't want to go that route, I will. I want to get more involved in this kind of thing, it's not only different, but it also helps to strengthen throttle and steering control. I'm the type who doesn't use TCS, so learning to control an out of control car in a corner effectively is not a bad thing in my opinion. So in other words, a drifting room will be open Tues nights when I'm available. Even during events, picking up the stragglers, or drifting by myself. Thanks for opening my eyes to this Driveby.
Thanks! I haven't gotten the chance to test either car out yet. I'm curious if that Diablo can drift though. It's a beast of a motor in a beast of a car. Fingers crossed. I'm all about making cars that aren't normally thought to drift, drift. Or at least try to. Taurus SHO next maybe?
The Lambo drifts. That's actually the first mid engine car I've ever drift tuned. It felt ok, although I prefer FR layout. It's got a huge balance point, but felt difficult to initiate and it's hard to get good angle.
I'll be on a bit before normal time at 7pm EST to send invites, if nobody is around, I'll be on still after the Icon race if anyone is on later and wants to slide.
No worries Cooter, I was nothin' but a circuit racer too for ever until fairly recently. I got into drifting in Forza simply from curiosity really. I have got a decent amount of time into drift tuning, so I'll break down my normal approach to a solid drift tune.
Initial car build:
Car selection. For starters, if you want an easy platform to learn on, I would suggest going with a larger car. Bigger, heavier cars with longer wheel bases tend to be easier and smoother to drift. Mountains of torque is also great for starters. You want massive, ground pounding V8s. Muscle cars, BMWs, Mercs, and Holdens are all good possible candidates.
POWER!!! For people getting started, you want gobs and gobs of power and torque. 500+ hp works well. Lower power cars require a bit more skill to drift as you have to rely more on rhythm, line, and momentum to be smooth and effective.
Race out the suspension, transmission and such.
Weight. In most cases you want to use race weight reduction, but weight can become a feel factor on certain applications. Your car can become quite a bit more difficult to drift and transition if it's too light.
Tires. This is a controversial subject. Personally, I use stock tires on all of my drift cars. Some people use street tires to get a little more grip and speed. You would think you don't want grip, but having just a little bit can help a lot to control the car mid drift. I would still suggest using stock tires, you can get the little bit of grip by adjusting tire widths. I normally run the same widths, front and rear. Usually 215s, 225s, or 235s, depending on the car your using. Using a wider tire in the rear obviously helps get more rear grip, thus, making it easier to drift faster and making "throttle steer" a bit more effective. I've even ran into a few fellas that use a wider tire in the front. This makes turn ins and flicks more responsive and sometimes helps pull out of hard angles.
The tune:
Tire pressures: I normally run 29psi front and 28psi rear on my drift cars.
Gears: Personal preference comes into play here. I like big long gears on my drift cars (that's what she said...). This allows less gear changes and gives you more gear range in longer corners. It's really all about 2nd and 3rd gear. With the correct ratio, it's all 2nd gear in the smaller corners and 3rd in the longer corners.
Camber: You want a pretty good amount of negative camber. This helps the front pull out of hard angles and gives a little bit of responsiveness to the rear when it's set right. On drift cars, run between -2 deg and -3 deg in the front and between -1 deg and -2 deg in the rear. My usual set up here is smack dab in the middle at -2.5 front and -1.5 rear.
Toe: I usually toe the front out 0.3 deg and rear in -0.1 deg.
Caster: Max it out, 7 deg.
ARB: Use can use your race set up here. I normally run around 24 front and 21 rear. You can soften up the front/rear a bit to help smooth out drifts as well.
Spring / Damping rates: Use your race set up here as well. This helps retain balance. You can soften up the rear a bit for traction and weight transfer in transitions. Tweak it to your liking.
Aero: Not necessary, unless you like the looks. If that's the case, turn it all down.
Brakes: I like to have a bit stronger brake in the rear for drifting. This allows you to comfortably use the brakes mid drift to control speed and it even helps control rear end position on certain higher speed corner entries. I use 40% to the front, 60% to the rear.
Diff: I like a strong diff for drifting. Between 85% and 100% accel and around 20%-30% decel. I run 90% accel and 30% decel on most of my drift cars.
Hope that helps! I love tuning, but I'm no master by any means.
See ya on the track.
I'm gonna jump on in a second....
It was mostly myself & the Dr. today, Max dropped in for a short run & Abbys joined in for a bit too. I had a blast. In spite of the fact that I'm a horrible drifter, I still manged to do ok. Besides, who cares how well you do it, as long as you've got a smile on your face.
Yes yes, it was pretty fun. It only gets better with more people, so we'll see how things go.
My Work In Progress Drift Machine
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b267/captainc00ter/DriftingSkyline.jpg...
I've always loved the look of a skyline. I wish we could have the earlier model years here in the states. Years with body style of my drift car. I just love the looks and sounds that car produces. You can only get it as a "kit" car or spend lots of dough importing the bastard.......BORING!!! That and you'd have to make it street legal.....again BORING!!!! Emissions testing......BORING!!!
They're awesome cars. The R32 is my personal favorite. I saw one recently here in Michigan up north at the Sno Drift Rally America event back in January.
http://www.sno-drift.org/
Just a spectator car, but cool to see one up in the snow!
Are we drifting this evening?
The smoke starts rollin' at 7pm EST....
Hope you get a few going!
Please post Pictures and Videos of this event!!
Will do. Last week it was basically just Cotter and I. We'll see how tonight plays out...
I should be ok for a little drift tonight.
Dunno if I'll be able to make it tonight or not. I may be a little late.
I'll be waiting....gif "8")
Yes if you get some good tandem stuff going save the replays. I'd be interested in taking a look
i'll be there i have to work on some setup to make them faster mine are always slow with alot of angle lol
Alright guys, thank you all for coming out last night.gif "1")
. It's great to see a few more new faces in the lobby! Hopefully next week we see even more people getting in on the action.
The session lasted for about an hour before I prepped for the American Icon race. We had some pretty good moments with some 3 and 4 car pack drifting. I did save I think like 4 or 5 replays. I haven't had a chance to watch all of them and snag some highlights and photos yet. I'll try to get some posted soon as I know a couple of fellas popped in the thread here and wanted to see some action. I'll put all of the full replays up on my storefront as well in case anyone wants to jump on Forza and watch a full session.
Hope to see all of you next week, and remember, if you see me online and want to get sideways, just let me know.
I had a really good laugh last night, good bunch of guys and lots of tyre smoke.
Alrighty I found some time to snag a few photos and grab a quick clip from last Tuesdays drift night. Full replays are also up on my SF.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs8ZeCdgirc&feature=share&list=UUFLbULCxp...
Great photos!
I kinda wish this event was a little later in the night. 7PM EST right? I'm usually not available for all out Forza until about 9-930 sometimes even 10-1030 due to I shop for dinner the night prior and have to wait until my kid goes to bed so I can tuck him in and read him a story. Can we make it a Drift Night instead?
Yeah it's currently 7pm EST. I suppose we could move it back a little later but we'll probably lose some guys. Plus the American Icon race is at 9pm EST. What about if I do 2 drift nights per week. I could keep the one for Tuesday at 7pm and maybe add one for say, Thursday night at 11pm EST? I run in Prebuilt's Escort series and that usually gets done around 10:30ish. I dunno, just a suggestion.
FYI, I sent back your cars. They have been tweaked for maximum badassery... At least the R34...
Cheers lads!
Love the vid
Thanks Church, I had to capture that first section. My entry into turn one was seriously wicked.
You don't have to make 2 nights just for me. I was just suggesting a "Drift Night" as it seems every other night is "Circuit Night". I'm not currently involved in any other series other than my Evora Series and a reserve in BTCC due to my increasingly busy work/family schedules. So my point in that is that I could even host a room for people that aren't involved in those series for Drift Night. If you guys decide you don't want to go that route, I will. I want to get more involved in this kind of thing, it's not only different, but it also helps to strengthen throttle and steering control. I'm the type who doesn't use TCS, so learning to control an out of control car in a corner effectively is not a bad thing in my opinion. So in other words, a drifting room will be open Tues nights when I'm available. Even during events, picking up the stragglers, or drifting by myself. Thanks for opening my eyes to this Driveby.
Thanks! I haven't gotten the chance to test either car out yet. I'm curious if that Diablo can drift though. It's a beast of a motor in a beast of a car. Fingers crossed. I'm all about making cars that aren't normally thought to drift, drift. Or at least try to. Taurus SHO next maybe?
The Lambo drifts. That's actually the first mid engine car I've ever drift tuned. It felt ok, although I prefer FR layout. It's got a huge balance point, but felt difficult to initiate and it's hard to get good angle.
Tires will be smokin' tonight.gif "3")
I'll be on a bit before normal time at 7pm EST to send invites, if nobody is around, I'll be on still after the Icon race if anyone is on later and wants to slide.
Hoping to get some more good photos and clips...
http://youtu.be/oh_HtCzHUgg
See ya on the track