tips and advice

S

sam01scc

New Member
Hello all

Heres my first attempts to skid/drift my standard 1.8 mk2 mx5
here im just trying power over steer, i have since had a little try at clutch kicking with good results just trying to learn how to get it back under control smoother.
to follow will be my journey of teaching myself to drift (with all your advice) ready for my E30 drift monster project I'm building.

I'll be attending the drift days at buxton race track soon so fingers crossed ill be able to get some good practice in but wont trash the mx5 as its my daily :euge: after selling my mazda 3 MPS to raise funds for the E30


open to all tips and advice and am here for your help hopefully this thread is going to be a on going progression of my drifting with me posting videos and you guys helping me with great tips and advice


anyway heres a tiny little clip of me trying to skid in the sun haha
 
Is that someone's driveway? Won't be long before they get annoyed with you there!

My advice- save the tyres for real seat time. You'll learn much more, faster than you'll learn doing little bits of streeto.
 
Hahaa no not someone's drive way, it's a car park for a old pub that's shut down and empty.
But yer I'm going to a one of the drift days at Buxton next month probably both Saturday and Sunday tho if I can justify the cost of tyres
 
I meant more of I'll see how many sets I get through on Saturday and see if I can afford to do the Sunday as well really haha.

That's a good point any one able to share from experience how many tyres a novice like me would get through at a drift day with plenty of seat time? I'm thinking if I can take a set of 4 spare wheels and tyres with me should do me for the day? Basically two sets of rears? (drive there and home on daily wheels and tyres)
 
You should be fine with four skid wheels at Buxton.

I drive a 1.6 MX5 and took seven wheels to Buxton last month. It stayed dry for tyre most part and I only ended up using four on the Saturday. There was so much seat I was too knackered to stay for the Sunday

See you there.

Edit: Just watched the video, needs loads more revs
 
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OK, couple of things:

Don't throw a load of money at a car trying to keep up with the build scene. Most of the guys who are really building serious cars have been in it for a lot longer than you might think and have spent an enormous amount of money and time doing what they do - they will also be the first to tell you that you don't need it all to get really good and have the most fun and that building a car takes up funds and time which could otherwise be spent behind the wheel of a simple car.

Do get straight to a practice day, you'll learn more than you've shown in this video within the first ten minutes.

Don't palm the wheel / put your hands inside it / steer like you're parking at the supermarket, you want to keep your hands in a good positive position (up either side) and learn to throw the wheel into the countersteer. It will make it so much easier when you come to actually drift if you're hands aren't all over the shop, you'll steer faster and look much calmer. When you go to the practice day spending some time learning to donut can help with this in a really effective way.

Don't drive around with one hand on the handbrake, you won't need it doing first gear peel outs for sure.

The reason its transitioning / wobbling on the exit is because you're coming off the gas too far too fast. On the exit you want to keep the wheels spinning whilst you straighten up the steering, so keep your foot in and steer your way out. The steering is most important. When the rear wheels grip up the car starts to point in the direction the front wheels are pointing, if thats not straight then you aren't going to straighten.

Similarly, when you do get to a track and start working on transitions the way to control them is on the throttle - generally speaking, the more lock you are on just before the transition and the faster you come off the power to allow the car to grip and begin changing direction the faster the car will swing. If you're spinning a lot whilst changing direction try reducing the amount of angle you are carrying and coming off the throttle more slowly until your steering learns to keep up. All of this is relative of course to the amount of grip and speed you have.

Do keep going, drifting is the most fun you'll have in a car (on your own).

If you wan't some instruction in mx5's specifically theres a day run by Drift Limits which will get you going, teach you some good technique and let you work your way up to drifting and transitioning in third. Can also drive their M3's, an SR powered Ae86 and a couple of decent spec S-bodies with geomasters/wisefab. Pretty good value for money too.
 
Wow cheers guys some great feeback and advice there

Maxsteri - are you going next month I can't make it to this one but will be going to June one definitely!

Silverzx - that's a great idea could save a fortune I'll have to give it a try


And Ollie thanks for taking the time to help me mate so many useful tips there! I'm quickly learning better control of my hands think I was a bit panicy at first, same for holding handbrake I think that was just in case I lost control and was actually for a bit of support probably, tend to flip about a bit in the standard seats haha.
I'd sort of guessed that the whipping transitions was due to letting off so good to hear that's right I'll try pay more attention to the throttle rather then just on or off haha.
And in regards to building my E30 I'm not building it in hopes I'll be a sick drifter in it, I'm building it as its what I like and love speed and power my last car was 330bhp MPS but was FWD so I figured before I get my e30 on the road I best learn to control a RWD car so that's where the little mx5 comes in. In all honesty tho I am falling in love with it a bit haha.

Thanks again dude I'll definitely try take it all in and remember it when I'm skidding, that'll be the hard bit
 
Thanks, hoping to get some more videos up soon

And have bought myself spare set of skid rims to take to drift day at Buxton next month :D
 
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