Q&A for How to Drift a Car

Eurobeat is one of the best soundtracks to listen while drifting.

SUVs and other large vehicles are harder to drift due to their height. Sedans and hatchbacks are ideal for drifting.

It depends on the car's drivetrain. You have to know your car's drivetrain well and how it will shift weight. Essentially, you want as much weight shifting forwards at the same time. Some AWD cars may not be able to drift due to the computer cutting rear power as soon as it feels they lose traction.

Yes. You're burning rubber as you're going around (if done correctly).

It’s a great car for a starter drift car, but very hard to come by these days.

It is a very thrilling experience -- both for the spectators and those inside the car -- due to the feeling of danger involved. It also allows drivers to enhance their driving skills and become more confident.

The handbrake should be released as soon as you've made a 90 of the 180 degrees in the turn. The rest of the turn uses the gas pedal and the wheel to straighten back out.

Any vehicle can slide around turns to where the rear end kicks out and traction is lost. Just depends on speed, angle, suspension, tires, road conditions, temperature, etc. Power is what gets the vehicle to accelerate through the turn and keep the drift going. Since steering is done mainly with the gas pedal during a drift, it is much easier to control a vehicle with more torque and as close to a 50/50 weight ratio as possible. But, technically, yes, you can "drift" any car, motorcycle, or even a bicycle, if you're skilled enough. Just not very far if you don't have the power to push through the turns.

Try to lock it into a lower gear and floor the gas. Then feather the throttle once the drift has been initiated. Utilize the handbrake to get the car sideways.

It depends on your skill. A small, light, front-wheel-drive car with a good emergency brake works well. Or a small rear-wheel-drive car with decent horse power, like a Mazda Miata.

This will probably never be legalized do to the fact it is a danger to the other drivers and pedestrians on the road.

You shouldn't ever need to replace the entire car because of drifting. Though you will probably have to replace the tires more frequently.

Not necessarily. It's about as harmful as driving up a hill for a few seconds.

Motorcycle drifting isn't a good idea. It involves shifting your weight way down to the point where you could fall off, and turning has to be absolutely precise or you could end up flying. It's better to do it with a car because you have less chance of killing yourself.

Yes. If you have a rear wheel drive car with a manual gearbox, leave it in first gear at high rpm, and then shift into second gear and turn very hard to initiate a drift.

Most cars have different specs, power, and weight distributions, but it is possible to find a car that is closely related. You could also tune the car to make it more suitable to drift. You would have to ask an experienced driver with the same type of car, or try submitting a question here that actually specifies the car you have.

Generally, yes, for cars with basic suspension and under 450hp. Sometimes setups make enough power to power slide with a push of the gas. A 800hp turbo setup would be sketchy with a 2000ib car.

It depends on your speed, braking, tire compound, and tire pressure. Use hard tires for best drift and minimum tire wear.

A 90-97 Mazda Rx-7 will work well, as will a Nissan 240sx or Silvia s14. All of these cars may be ugly, but they have numerous body and engine mods, and are all RWD and have manual transmissions.

It's better if you don't, due to the lack of road grip and more height. A sedan or a hatch back is ideal.

Not typically. Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bugatis and other super cars like that are designed to go really fast and not lose traction.

Try to use methods that don't include pulling the hand break, such as the Scandinavian flick or clutch kick.

An SUV is not the ideal type of a vehicle to drift. It's too high off the ground and is prone to roll.

Yes, it will be a lot more difficult to do, but with practice it can be executed properly.

No, and it makes it easier to initiate the drift due to less traction between your tires and the road. Lots of people will actually wait until it rains to drift.

Yes, but it is harder than drifting with a true manual. Just put the car into manual mode, select 2nd and leave room for some revs. When you enter the turn, either pull the handbrake or floor the gas to get the rear wheels spinning, and continue to modulate the steering and gas until you are out of the corner.

You would probably have to have a lot of skill to preform this. An SUV is heavier than most RWD cars, so you might spin out.

Yes. That is what you call "Heel and Toe Downshifting." This is where you kick the brakes with your toe at the clutch and heel at the gas and then go to 2nd gear.

Yes. Racing in the rain makes the tires slippery, causing them to lose their grip. If you are in full throttle, you might understeer or oversteer, but if not, you'll be saving more grip on your tires.

You won't be able to; the closest you can achieve is making a sharp turn opposite of the side you want to turn, then immediately correct it to the way you want to turn, this should create loss of traction.