How to Drift a Car with Hand Brake: A Beginner Lesson

What is Drifting Exactly?

Drifting is a driving technique and motor sport where the driver intentionally oversteers the car, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels through corners while preserving vehicle control and a high exit speed.

Before I begin to show you how to drift, you need to be aware of several things:

* Drifting is considered dangerous and is illegal on public streets.
* There will be some potential mechanical breakdown to your car if you drift too many times without    proper maintenance on the car.
* Always practice only where you are permitted to. I recommend finding a local event where there       are  experienced drifters who can instruct you so you don't get caught by the police like I did. :)

* Drifting works better with rear-wheel-drive cars with LSD (Limited Slip Differential).

Hand Brake Drifting

There are several techniques that can help you initiate your drift. The hand brake (or ebrake) technique is usually the easiest and most common way to start off with. All beginners will have to get familiar with this technique first. If you are scared at first, you should also practice this technique until you are not afraid of the car sliding. Here are a few exercises to get you started. After your car starts to slide, the rest is all about your steering and gas pedal control.

1. 180 Degree Turn
    In an empty lot, set up a cone in the middle. Drive up to the cone and rip the handbrake when you       are almost at the cone in an attempt to do a 180 turn. Practice until you are no more and no less           than 180 degrees from where you started. Remember to practice both left and right 180 degrees.

2. 90 Degree Turn

    This exercise is very similar to the 180 degree turn, but this requires controlling how hard your rip     the ebrake. Practice until you are no more and no less than 90 degrees from where you started.             Make sure to keep your car going after the drift.
   
3. 360 Degree Turn (Donut)
    Now, this exercise focuses more on acceleration and handbrake control together. You start the             same way you would to do a 180. Once your car start to drift, you need to tap on your gas pedal to     give a little more spin to your rear tires so your drift can keep going. This is often a little hard for a     beginner, because too much gas will cause your car to oversteer too quickly, and too little gas will       not make your car keep sliding. You need to get a feel for how your car is reacting and keep               modulating the gas pedal in order to maintain a nice 360 degree turn around the cone. Keep trying       until you can reliably turn around the cone without hitting it or straying too far from the cone.             Practice in both clockwise and counterclockwise directions.

After you have mastered all three exercises, you should be very comfortable drifting around all kinds of corners with the ebrake technique. Remember that gas and steering control play very important parts in drifting, and practice makes perfect. If you happen to spin out your car or lose control, don't be disappointed; just learn from your mistake.

Source : http://hubpages.com