Drifting is a hugely popular motorsport unlike any other, focusing on style and getting sideways rather than the pursuit of the fastest time between two points. It’s a challenge that places great demands on car and driver, and proper attention to setup to truly succeed. Here’s a guide to get your first drift build coming together.

Getting Sideways (And Back Again)

Drift cars are specialised beasts, and like any motorsport discipline, the demands of the sport shape the vehicle to suit. If you’re looking to drift, you’ll want to choose a project car with a front-engined, rear-wheel drive layout. While it’s somewhat possible to drift with other layouts, the act of kicking out the tail and holding a slide at speed is best achieved with the handling characteristics of such a vehicle. It all comes down to weight transfer and breaking traction at will. Of course, over the years, certain cars have become expensive on the second-hand market due to their drift prowess, so you may have to get creative if your first choice isn’t available at your budget. It pays to talk to the drifters down at your local track to get an idea of which cars in your area are the best bet for a drift build. Once you’ve got yourself a car, you can get down to installing mods!

Seats, Belts, And Steering Wheels

If you’ve ever been in a passenger car and tried cornering hard, you’ll be familiar with inertia trying to throw you out of the seat. Drifting is all about throwing the car sideways around corners, so you’ll be experiencing this multiple times every lap. Your average car seat is designed for comfort more than holding passengers in during extreme lateral manoeuvres, and so is a poor choice for drifting. You’ll find yourself sliding out of the seat or desperately trying to hang on to the steering wheel instead of focusing on getting the right lines through a bend.

Instead, you’ll want to install seats properly designed for racing use. Some factory seats from uprated sports models can have better bolstering that helps hold you in, but you can’t beat a proper racing bucket when it comes to drifting. You’ll want to pair it with a four- or five-point harness that feeds through the belt loops in the seat, which will help lock you in place and allow you to remain in control of the car during extreme manoeuvres. You may need to install a harness bar as well to provide proper hard mounting points, too.

Additionally, you may find your stock steering wheel isn’t well suited to drift use. Factory wheels, particularly modern types covered in …read more

Source:: Hackaday