any drifters in the mix

[zero_proto]

Before any one starts flaming and saying that drifting is a ricer thing. Let me say we started it with american muscle. If anyone contests that, you obviously are not informed. Our LS power vehicles have more than enough power to break'em loose and go sideways.


I am seriously thinking about getting into it. The idea of buring rubber and going sideways is fun, Who here does not occasionally like to break'em loose sideways on a turn on a fresh sunday morning, but i want to take it to a track where it is safe, i mean if i do that on the street i can kill some one or myself. I want to get good at it and show up at irvine and school some 4 bangers. I just wanted to know if anybody here is doing it with an LS powered vehicle. The only v8's i have seen are a couple of chargers and when rhys was campaining the gto and team falken had the 69 camaro.

[SexOnWheels]

I tried it once at a local event.

I have a fully adjustable suspension (Road Race car) and I don't know if it was a subconscious thing or what but I could not, for the life of me set up my car so it did not handle well and broke the read end loose full time.

I used really old tires (hard as rock) so I did good but the entire time I was uncomfortable with the set up!!

[zero_proto]

so you didn't like it. Where you the only f-body at the event?

I am able to take mine sideways easily, i sometimes drive around at night and go to some out of the way parking lot in the boondocks and swing her around. I am pretty good at keeping her under control.

But i would like to try at a real event.

Would you ever do it again, or was it just not your cup of tea.

[Orcus79]

There was write upa number of years ago now when the drifting scene was really taking off and the GTO had ben out acouple of years. I think it was car and driver or road and track. But any ways what I do remember of the article is that the car set up was was to, as counter intuitve as it seems to handle very well. to geta realy god drift you need control not less.

The shifting of the balance of the car to me would seem key in maintaining a nice controled drift.

[zero_proto]

yes when drifting a balanced car is alot better than than not, that is why the toyota corolla or as many know it as the hachi ruko was really good be cause it had really good weight disrtibution damn near 50/50. The camaro is far from that, it is a nose heavy car. So it is easy for it to get squirrley, the rear end whips around so quick.

Yea your car has to actually handle good, drift cars have a really good stiff suspension.
Low center of gravity and stiff suspension keeps the body from rolling.

If anybody has any tips, i am a sponge and ready.

[Orcus79]

Yea, you donlt need to tell me how heavy the front of an f-body is, i ahve had few scares from getting abit over zelous on the loud peddal.

For drifting I would think that maxium adjustability would be key, including tuneable shocks if you get really serious into it as well a brake up grade.

[SexOnWheels]

so you didn't like it. Where you the only f-body at the event?

I am able to take mine sideways easily, i sometimes drive around at night and go to some out of the way parking lot in the boondocks and swing her around. I am pretty good at keeping her under control.

But i would like to try at a real event.

Would you ever do it again, or was it just not your cup of tea.

I just found it unatural to set up/have a car that did not handle properly.

And yes I was the only f-body as mostly there was Japan import right hand drive cars there like Skylines, Supra's, etc.

[lvbroham1]

I know a lot of ricers are getting into swapping their 4 bangers for LS1's. I've got a buddy that did it on a mazda miata and he drifts it whenever he can get to an event and not working. As for me... I'll break em loose every so often, but i'm more into pounding the pavement then worrying about my baby hitting a wall. Lol!

[BULLET_WS6]

i used to be into drifting
had a built 240sx turbo engine swap the whole works...
theres a lotttt that goes into it... they judge based on how well you use the course... maintain a drift through the whole course, angle, closeness to walls, etc...
just be careful drifting in an fbody because the car is going to get banged up... its rough...
thats why my exterior was a beaterand had 8 grand under the hood

thats the engine i used
very well balanced car and loved to go sideway
as for my t/a i been sideways a few times... its scary when you are going slo but when you are drifting in the 60-70mph range its a lot more smoot and easy to control... now i have dr's and i dont want to waste them...

[Soltakr]

I did it and had a great time. There was 1 other Camaro there too; I think it was like a 74' or 75'. And when was time our time go... nothing smoked up the tires like 5k rpm on V8 and the tires are twice size.. A few times I couldn’t give see where I was going. Ha-ha... It does cost a lot if you do it all the time... tires, clutch, power steering pumps goes out all the time. E-brake needs to be adjustable then need to get the wheels align after too. Its fun if you can deal with the ridicule from other V8 but I like trying new things. Kind of like figure skating for cars, it all technique and style over speed and power.

[zero_proto]

sweet.

did you do it up at irwindale?
I really am looking forward to doing it. I plan on going once i get back from my next deployment.

[Musclefan21]

I used to drift and i must telll you, it is so much fun and I have mentioned this months ago. in the spring, I will buy myself and LSx car or maybe a little 4turbo car and drift / road race.

[Soltakr]

I did it at california speedway. Check the website, they have all kinds of events.

[zero_proto]

cool, i'll check it out.

Besides that, does anybody know a good place to practice out in socal, like a place with a massive parking lot??

[Soltakr]

Legally...no. Underground parking lots tend to be popular place in my town, but I would really hit up a track and get around some talent before pulling a Hogan Jr. on city streets.

[zero_proto]

Oh yeah, i don't want to do it on the streets, i want to find a place i can just practice that is out of the way from everything else. I've been doing all kinds of searches on it though and i have been finding all kinds of cool stuff.

[bob1esq]

I have been drifting my 4th gen f-body for 3 years now. And yes, I have made several changes. On the issue of the car tending to whip out, I have found that this can be as much as an advantange as an disadvantage. Actually, there are two issues which have the same cause: whipping out or whipping back when lifting the throttle. You do want to get the weight distrib better though. To do this, you can put in light weight rotors in the front (you don't need the big factory front rotors for drifting--but you do need big rotors in rear), put in a chrome moly cross-member, put on a light weitght hood, and remove the front bumper. These mods alone will change your distribution from 56%-44% to about 54%-46%. This should be enough. Note that 240sx's have a 52-48% weight distribution. Other things you can do include shortening the rear lower control arms or moving the pivots forward (but if you do this, you may need to shorten the tork arm or move its pivot point). I am running at 54%-46% and it seems to work pretty good. Yes, you will have to drift differently. You will need to learn the "brake drift". It takes more skill to brake drift, but you will drift way faster than everyone else. For example, on HTM everyone else drifts at about 50 mph and I drift my Camaro at about 60 mph. The difference is extreme, but tricky. Camaros love to brake drift. Because the rear end has a tendency to "whip out" you can enter a turn at a speed that would be way too fast for a 240sx. When you are entering a turn, punch in the clutch and foot brake--the rear end will smoothly begin to drift out. You want to have enough speed so that the car begins to slow at the apex of the turn. When entering the apex, with your foot still on the clutch, remove right foot from brake pedal to gas pedal, rev up the engine and pop the clutch, this will drift you out of the turn. Note that you also will have to do the clutch kick for other turns that you cannot get enough speed into. Point number 2: because the rear end has a tendency to "whip out" or whip back on throttle lift, you will want to drift your car at greater angles than 240sx's. mccoyracing.com sells bolt on products that you can put on your car to increase the steering angles of the front wheels. By the way, it looks really cool to drift a Firebird or Camaro at a 90 degree angle. BTW, the judges used to have a rule that they would take off points if you braked into a turn. I got them to change that rule. This rule was aimed at 240sx's which really cannot brake drift well. I would also like to see the day when a course is set up for F-bodys--wow, what a difference that would be.

[zero_proto]

well i am going to give it a shot sometime around the end of the year.....i have to set my self up for success.............

[Drift Social]

Not to beat a dead dog but If any of you are in california here is an event we are putting on

Drift Social
Where:
Track Address:
3500 75th Street West
Rosamond, CA 93560
WALT JAMES STADIUM
August 9, 2008 (Saturday)
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Advance Drivers:
Full Track Setup
Beginner/Intermediate Drivers:
Manji, J-Turns or S-Turns (We'll have instructors that would be available for all drivers that needs help, and instructors will drive at owners own risk.)
Entrance Fee:
$110 for all day, for all beginner/intermediate and advance drivers. Non-Refundable.
$10 entrance fee, for wsir entrance gate.
Payment Method:
Cash or Paypal
driftsocial @ gmail.com

25 Drivers: pending *

1.Daniel Arreola(PAID)
2.Garry Big belly crew 86 *
3.Sam FidelityBassist 86*
4.Darwin Gotowned 86 *
5.Alex Levin 86 *
6.Albert fatman 86 *
7.Jeff Akuma 86*
8.Noel 86*
9.Wilson S14 *
10.Cholo 86*
11.rudy 300zx*
12.himeh rx7*
13.Christpoher s14*
14.Tony FD*
15.juan 86*
16.nate 626 86*
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
__________________

[mark21742]

Not to beat a dead dog but If any of you are in california here is an event we are putting on

Drift Social
Where:
Track Address:
3500 75th Street West
Rosamond, CA 93560
WALT JAMES STADIUM
August 9, 2008 (Saturday)
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Advance Drivers:
Full Track Setup
Beginner/Intermediate Drivers:
Manji, J-Turns or S-Turns (We'll have instructors that would be available for all drivers that needs help, and instructors will drive at owners own risk.)
Entrance Fee:
$110 for all day, for all beginner/intermediate and advance drivers. Non-Refundable.
$10 entrance fee, for wsir entrance gate.
Payment Method:
Cash or Paypal
driftsocial @ gmail.com

25 Drivers: pending *

1.Daniel Arreola(PAID)
2.Garry Big belly crew 86 *
3.Sam FidelityBassist 86*
4.Darwin Gotowned 86 *
5.Alex Levin 86 *
6.Albert fatman 86 *
7.Jeff Akuma 86*
8.Noel 86*
9.Wilson S14 *
10.Cholo 86*
11.rudy 300zx*
12.himeh rx7*
13.Christpoher s14*
14.Tony FD*
15.juan 86*
16.nate 626 86*
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
__________________

man I wish there was something like this going on around Maryland...me and my goat are itching to try it out
hey also to make you feel more comfy drifting get yourself a small deep racing seat and a set of 3" 5 point harnesses and the straps as tight as you can get them.....that will make you and the car more like one! throw in an adjustable proportioning valve (preferably 4 way lever operated) mounted by the shifter
if you want to go even farther you can mount a seprate lever operated mastercylinder on the trans tunnel to work just the rear brakes

hope yall have have a blast!