Snow = Drifting (Techniques)

Ice_warmer

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Ok so besides the frustrations of frozen doors, people ramming into each other and the damn cold, winter comes with the fun inducing snow.

So everybody knows a small never-been-plowed abandoned road, so what i want to talk about is snow drifting, particulary FWD drifting because of course that is predominantly idiot proof, anything goes bad, give it a boot full, plus the wear and tear of the car is minimal.

Anybody have any special tehniques / movies ?

I am useless at this, and once when trying to drift hit a patch of ice and spun out, literally soiled myself.

Since we are more than half way thorugh winter you might have some experiences you want to share
 
FWD: Pull the handbrake, the rear comes loose. Very basic, but to achieve a good drift (smooth and without nearly coming to a halt) you still need training to get the timing and the steering right.
In my experience you need a really slippy surface for a proper FWD drift, otherwise the rear wheels catch traction again too easily.

Obviously such maneuvers should only be done where there is enough room for a failure without hitting anything or worse, anyone.
 
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I usually use an empty parking lot, rather than an empty road, because you need a large margin for error. To drift on snow with FWD, good ol' handbrake gives you the most visible and controllable results, imo. You can also try a bit of lift-off oversteer, which personally I can't do really well. I'd go straight in 2nd gear, ease off a bit from the throttle, turn, lift off the throttle, turn more aggressivelly, back steps out, get back on the throttle, but I can't control the slide as much as I would have liked to.

My best experience from this winter is that I got my mom's Audi Q5 to drift :lol:. It's the 2.0 TDI with DSG, and the ESP & traction control can be switched only to "ESP offroad" mode, whatever that means. So, I put gearbox into manual mode, 1st gear, turn, slam the throttle and smile away :D. I could hold quite long drifts with the throttle, until the revs got high and the gearbox shifted into 2nd gear by itself spoiling the fun..
 
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The reasons above highlight why I avoid modern cars and FWD.

besides the obvious handbrake techniques you could try the scandinavian flick if you have a little space and know whats coming...

at higher speeds you can use the regular brakes softly while swooping into a curve to get the rear end out but it's also risky.

reverse?
 
FWD: Pull the handbrake, the rear comes loose. Very basic, but to achieve a good drift (smooth and without nearly coming to a halt) you still need training to get the timing and the steering right.
In my experience you need a really slippy surface for a proper FWD drift, otherwise the rear wheels catch traction again too easily.

Obviously such maneuvers should only be done where there is enough room for a failure without hitting anything or worse, anyone.

turn in to soon, hit the curb with your rear wheel...try to catch the slide!

that's how i do it :p
 
You can't do the scandinavian flick or lift-off drift on snow, sorry. Maybe on hard packed snow but that basically never happens around here - snow comes down wet and heavy and it gets plowed and sanded/salted before it dries and packs up. Handbrake is your only hope, I'm afraid. A downhill might send the rear end out but its not the safest thing to do; I was coming around a downhill bend near my friend's house once during a snow storm and the rear stepped out a bit without any provocation... this was on a narrow public street though.
 
You can't do the scandinavian flick or lift-off drift on snow, sorry. Maybe on hard packed snow but that basically never happens around here - snow comes down wet and heavy and it gets plowed and sanded/salted before it dries and packs up. Handbrake is your only hope, I'm afraid.

QFT.

It can't be done on soft/fresh snow either. Then it feels like you are fording through a small river.
 
The reasons above highlight why I avoid modern cars and FWD.

besides the obvious handbrake techniques you could try the scandinavian flick if you have a little space and know whats coming...

at higher speeds you can use the regular brakes softly while swooping into a curve to get the rear end out but it's also risky.

reverse?

I assure you that my "modern" car can drift in the snow just fine :p

Front wheel drive, on the other hand, good luck. I never could play around much in the Sebring because the handbrake was all but completely busted.
 
You can't do the scandinavian flick or lift-off drift on snow, sorry. Maybe on hard packed snow but that basically never happens around here - snow comes down wet and heavy and it gets plowed and sanded/salted before it dries and packs up. Handbrake is your only hope, I'm afraid. A downhill might send the rear end out but its not the safest thing to do; I was coming around a downhill bend near my friend's house once during a snow storm and the rear stepped out a bit without any provocation... this was on a narrow public street though.

Bullshit.

Overall, I'd just recommend getting a RWD car, tugging the handbrake continuously looks stupid, and slows the car down far too much.
 
Ive never driven into a ditch, granted, awd is more relaxed and safer, but when you are out to have fun, there's no beating rwd.
 
First off, IF I'm going to go snow drifting, I do it in large, empty parking lots that I know are free of curbs, islands, and lightposts.

Secondly, in an AWD car, it's easy. Rev car, slip clutch, floor pedal, turn wheel.

Thirdly, even in AWD cars, I've known two friends who RUINED their suspension due to an unexpected curb. One had to replace his entire front suspension, and the other is doing that, plus the rear driver's side, and his engine isn't working properly anymore.
 
Bullshit.

Overall, I'd just recommend getting a RWD car, tugging the handbrake continuously looks stupid, and slows the car down far too much.

Posmo, shut the fuck up about RWD already. We all know that you jack off to it and, quite frankly, everyone is getting pretty tired of hearing about it.
 
Posmo, shut the fuck up about RWD already. We all know that you jack off to it and, quite frankly, everyone is getting pretty tired of hearing about it.

And I suggest you shut the fuck about winter driving, because it seems like you know jack shit about it.
 
You can't do the scandinavian flick or lift-off drift on snow, sorry. Maybe on hard packed snow but that basically never happens around here - snow comes down wet and heavy and it gets plowed and sanded/salted before it dries and packs up.

Bullshit.

Reading comprehension FTW!

I'm with LeVeL. You can't do the scandinavian flick on a fresh, powder-y snow, and you can't do it on a salted road either.
 
:rolleyes: I'm not getting into an e-dick measuring contest with some jerkoff. Welcome to the ignore list.

Thank you, maybe now I won't need to listen to you whine about things you don't know about.
 
Now that's not gone well.

Only car I've played on slippery stuff was a Nissan Micra (if you don't count some trucks on skid pan, which is just plain silly) and lift-off worked to provoke some slide on that car.

I say sliding because it's not drifting if the powered wheels don't do it, I'm disappointed this was not argued yet. :p
 
how I do it in my fwd tank:

1. ESP off
2. turn in a bit too soon
3. pull the magic stick
4. balance throttle, steering angle and handbrake to keep drifting as long as possible

personally I prefer road to empty parking lot. parking lot is good for training, but real corners and narrow streets give you that rush.. my record is 3/4 of roundabout..

@ posmo: dude, nhf, but you're such a laugh! :lol::lol::lol::lol:
 
How I drift in a FWD car:

1) stop the car & get out

2) get into my BMW.

3) Drift.

IMO, it simply isn't that exciting to "drift" a FWD car, if you want to glorify the slide by calling it a "drift".

In all seriousness, in a FWD car, turn in early and lift off the throttle just before you enter the apex. Wind some opposite lock on (tiny bit) and steer the car straight with the throttle applied.

RWD is pretty much the preferred choice since you can use the throttle to prolong the drift distance and drift angle.
 
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