by "Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
Published 02/09/2017 at 16:30
by "Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
Published 02/09/2017 at 16:30
Tags: drifting
; terminology
; driving
; youtube
; discussion
STARS: 0
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
This video attempted to clarify it, but I’m still a bit lost. Did I miss something part-way through, or is there a better explanation out there?
I admit it, I’m one of many who has fallen into the trap of using these terms interchangeably. I was excited to see Car Throttle devote a whole video to the topic, but I’m coming away from it, well, less than satisfied. Maybe I’ll have a better understanding of it by the time I finish putting my thoughts together and typing it all out, but I’m gonna hit “publish” anyway so that I can hear your opinions on the matter.
“...drifting is everything you do on the way into a corner, and powersliding is what happens after the apex...”
Okay, so this seems to be the core statement from which the video is built around. But as concise as it sounds, I feel like it’s coming at this whole thing from the wrong... er, angle .
Powersliding is simple enough. You initiate a turn, apply “too much” POWER, which forces the rear wheels to break traction, then you maintain course by counter-steering while modulating the throttle to keep the car SLIDING at an angle.
Wikipedia defines drifting as being all about slip angles, whatever your technique. You can pull the handbrake to lock the rear wheels, you can kick the clutch to “shock” them with torque, you can suddenly lift off of the throttle to shift weight away from the rear... Any one of these actions can help induce oversteer.
Isn’t powersliding just another technique for achieving drift?
To throw another wrench in the works, am I confusing drifting & oversteering? Oversteering is when the body of the car turns beyond the steering input of the driver. Okay, fine. But is it even possible to oversteer without causing the rear wheels to slip at a drift-like angle? Despite their technical definitions, are drifting and oversteering inseparable?
Back to the Car Throttle definitions:
“...drifting is everything you do on the way into a corner, and powersliding is what happens after the apex...”
What if there’s no corner, no apex? What if you’re in the middle of a parking lot or a frozen lake, and you make the car move in the exact same way?
The degree of car rotation at each point throughout the turn can change depending on the technique employed. But I don’t see how these minor variations can disqualify the maneuver from being classified as drifting .
Thoughts?
"Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief" (flynorcal)
02/08/2017 at 21:33, STARS: 4
Drifting is controlled oversteer, maintained with power and slip angle. How you get into it doesn’t matter but a Scandinavian flick followed by gas pedal works fine in my daily driver.
"Honeybunchesofgoats" (honeybunche0fgoats)
02/08/2017 at 21:38, STARS: 1
This is my understanding of it. A car prone to oversteer is a car you can drift, whereas a car that is oversteering means that you screwed up.
"scoob" (scoobsti)
02/08/2017 at 21:41, STARS: 2
I always thought drifting was sliding using the handbrake/clutch kick, and powersliding was sliding using... power.
"Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief" (flynorcal)
02/08/2017 at 21:41, STARS: 2
Not necessarily screwed up. While drifting is a fairly slow way to go around a turn a lot of people induce oversteer on purpose, especially in the rain, while racing. If you’re unsure of how much grip you have and you’re not sure if you’re going to over or under steer in a turn you might induce oversteer so you’re ready to control it rather than react to your car surprising you, which is a hell of a lot slower.
"XJDano" (xjdano)
02/08/2017 at 21:42, STARS: 1
Powersliding is for go.
Drifting is for show.
"DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time" (dc3ls-)
02/08/2017 at 21:46, STARS: 1
For the part about the difference between oversteer and drifting. You can have very slight oversteer that doesn’t require counter steering, you simply reduce the steering input to match the new direction of the car.
As for slip angle, my understanding at least, is that it isn’t exclusive to drifting or oversteer. It’s the twist in the sidewall of the tire when a tire reaches it’s limits and I believe that angle directly relates to the slip angle concerning the direction of travel of the car overall.
"Stephenson Valve Gear" (stephensonvalvegear)
02/08/2017 at 22:18, STARS: 1
Was the duck drifting? Or was the duck powersliding? Or did the duck just slide to a stop perpendicular to the direction of travel? I MUST HAVE ANSWERS....
"yitznewton" (yitznewton)
02/08/2017 at 22:23, STARS: 0
Oversteer is the back going around a corner faster than the front.
Powerslide is pointing in a direction other than the direction of your motion by way of spinning the tires.
Drifting is prolonged use of powerslides to make babies and epic 240SX fail videos.
#MyTwoCents
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
02/08/2017 at 22:25, STARS: 0
“ Controlled oversteer”... I like that. Yeah, I could see “oversteer” as being the neutral term, while “drifting” implies that it’s an intentional maneuver.
"Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer" (smallbear94)
02/08/2017 at 22:34, STARS: 0
Oversteer: Tail coming out.
Powerslide: Deliberate oversteer in a RWD vehicle.
Drifting: Controlled powerslide, or controlled momentum slide.
"Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer" (smallbear94)
02/08/2017 at 22:35, STARS: 1
I see it as powersliding is always drifting but not all drifting is powersliding.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
02/08/2017 at 22:37, STARS: 0
It seems like the difference is minor but it’s definitely there. The whole before/apex thing makes it more relatable and easier for me to understand. It really is a good way to relay the difference. I definitely always call it drifting because it sounds cool that way, but powersliding happens to me all the time while autocrossing. A power slide happens when you punch the gas while exiting a turn in a RWD car. There is no real attempt to get sideways, it just happens as you maximize speed. Obviously this isnt always the fastest way but it’s certainly fun that way. Drifting is more so just matting the pedal long before any turn in and is more relatable to a burnout. You are just breaking the rear end loose and going hog wild destroying some tires. If anything drifting is just less controlled power sliding taken to the extreme. More so that drifting is an artistic form of power sliding.
"Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief" (flynorcal)
02/08/2017 at 22:54, STARS: 1
Exactly. Drifting is intentional and generally held for as long as possible for style points. A spin is when you give it more gas than you can control. Opposite lock is just that — you run out of slip angle. The wheel runs out before the pedal in a powerful car.
Power sliding is what happens when you push through a corner in a C4 Porsche. It’s AWD so front and rear slide at roughly the same time so I go neatly sideways across the track rather than balancing the ass out to the side juggling inputs. Not that it’s hard when you’re expecting it.
Oversteer when you’re not expecting it is what happens to every Mustang leaving Cars and Coffee, according to videos on the internet.
"e36Jeff now drives a ZHP" (e36jeff)
02/08/2017 at 23:07, STARS: 1
Perhaps all powersliding is a drift, but not all drifts are powerslides? Kinda like squares and quadrilaterals.
"TheBimmerGuyWhoNowOwnsAChevy" (thebimmerguy)
02/09/2017 at 01:37, STARS: 1
One of the ways I know it is that drifting is using whatever method you want to break the wheels loose intentionally, and controlling it and doing it maybe multiple times, powersliding can be used to initiate a drift, but if you just accidentally slide out the wheels with the gas, it’s just a powerslide. Powersliding is used in drifting, but a powerslide isn’t specifically a drift. Kinda like the thing with squares and rectangles that e36 Jeff mentioned.
"Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen" (distraxi)
02/09/2017 at 03:21, STARS: 2
Important to discriminate between drifting the action and drifting the sport. Tazio Nuvolari was the master of the 4 wheel drift 70 years before Initial D popularized Japanese teenagers’ midnight shenanigans.
Drifting is the act of oversteering (ie turning more tightly than your steering angle would suggest) in a controlled fashion. Powersliding is one way by which drifting (or alternatively, spinning) can be achieved.