My car has viscous diffs all round. It also has quite weak rear sway bars compared to the model's you get in good ol UK =)

Now I was on the wet concrete pad today trying a few moves. First the handbrake turn. We went into the witches hat, turn the wheel clutch in and yank the handbrake. The car would understeer straight all the while reducing speed before turning in to the direction of turn. It took a few goes to realise I was taking too much speed into the throw, and by approaching the turn at lower speed, I could initiate the car into a sideways drift - great.

Now the scandinavian, no matter how I feint the wrong way then right, lfb as I approach, reduce speed, as soon as I drop the clutch onto a WOT, it would understeer. I can't work out what I have done wrong.

Also, Simon if you are reading this, I am also having trouble keeping my car drifting properly around a witches hat. How did you do maintain your drift for so long ? It seems from the outside, the officials were saying that the differentials loook as if they were open, but I believe the problem is definitely between the steering wheel and the seat - but where ? We did get the car spining about 450 degrees before the wheels began to catch traction.

Awesome fun, quite nackered though - hmm I'm thinking, if you had to change ONE diff outta the three, which would you choose ?

sounds like good fun

im really scared of the handbrake to be fair, i did have a little mess about with it on sum snow but never on anything other then that

id also like to know about the massive sideways drifting thing, i did do a search a while ago to see if i could get any footage or sumthing from the day but drew a blank

you would have thought SN would have its own little tribute page or sumthing?

Hi Prana, if you are understeering with the handbrake on you are carrying to much speed and probably puting the handrake on too early. The car needs to be turning a little before the handbrake will do anything.

If you are understering trying a scandinavian flick etc then probably something similar. TBH it is trickier to get the car sideways on really slippy stuff without understeering first. On a grippy surface it is a doddle to get the back out.

Try a couple of things though - if you are yanking the wheel from side to side attempting a scandinavian flick (which everyone does to start with) then your front tyres are not having any chance to get grip before you are asking the car to turn. You need to have very smooth and even slow steering inputs while off the power to give the front a chance to grip, only when you know your car is turning in and you have grip at the front can you expect the back to let go. You may be trying it on a very tight corner too? I find anything under approx 35mph requires handbrake or loads of grip, anything above that speed and LFB and scandinavian flick should suffice.

The trick to keeping a drift going is not to overcorrect
The second part is not to floor it.

If you floor the throtle the front gets loads of power and just spins the wheels which simply drags you out of a slide therefore ending your drift before you want it too.

once drifiting you need a jab of the power to light the tyres up but then very controlled throttle inputs to keep them spinning but not too much for the front to take over and drag you back out. This is easier in the wet but a standard UK car has enough power to do this in the dry too.

The odd gentle prod of LFB may be handy too once sliding to keep the front tied down.

Just remember it's not about flooring it but being gentle on the throttle and steering.

Hope that helps. BTW, I am no expert, I just find this kind of stuff good fun so I have practised quite a bit.

StickyMicky, yeah its quite frightening the amount of speed you carry into a drift otherwise the car wheels will continue to grab and not allow it to drift. When Rodney got into my car to show me how it was done, I coudlnt believe the amount of rear lock he applied before it would drift completely on all fours...

N1Span, right on ! I did figure out when using the ebrake that I was carrying too much momentum into the turn, the front wheels continued to hop as its struggling to bite the wet, I did however wait for a turn before applying it but had the whel turned slightly too much. A bit of LFB to slow her down or simply taking the approach slower worked a treat. I hear ya about throttle control when it came to holding the drift, I was basically redlining it and bouncing off the revlimiter, until the 3rd time round before realising it was too much. However, holding a drift around a cone is near impossible for me, I am not sure if it is mechanical or just me. Then again, I swear Simon said he was in a stock car with viscous coupling so I can't quite figure out what I have done wrong here.... have you had any experience with this ?

When it comes to the scandinivian flick. I slowed right down, wrong way then right, then clutch stab it just just bites, and rockets off. I wish I had some of you guys to witness what I am doing incorrectly :)

Now I gotta figure out how to adjust the rear drums as they are not bitting at all. Anyone got any pictures of where the adjustment grommet resides ? I did a search and there were some descriptions but this is something i have never done before so I'd be greatful if there was a piccie or guide somewhere .... Cheers....

thanks so much :) Keep it safe

Hi Prana. I have never had to jab at the clutch to get the car sideways. It needs to be done with weight transfer and nothing brutal on the car. When it works, it feels very smooth and passengers can just sit and enjoy without being thrashed backwards and forwards. It is always just a simple weight transfer issue then a bit of throttle. I have used my handbrake probably about 4 times to get it sideways and this is usually monkeing around on wet roundabouts to save carrying much speed. I have never used the handbrake on track.

One thing that really may be worth trying is to put a really duff set of tyres on the back so it naturally slides without much provocation. I first learnt how to drift the car with a set of avons on the back and p zeros on the front. Even without trying it wanted to go sideways and then it was just a case of controling it and keeping it there. Now it's easy with the same tyres front and back. The hardest bit is doing it for the first time. Once you have done it will just click and you will wonder what all the fuss was about!

When you talk about drifting around a cone, do you basically mean doing donuts?

I have never tried really hard to donut the scoob because it doesn't seem very sympathetic to the car but I am under the impression that apart from on snow a standard uk car will not donut.

Bear in mind tha circle Simon drove around would have a diameter of something like 60 - 100 metres and he ended up in 3rd gear!

It's good fun trying though.

Thanks again N1, I will be looking at my technique again to find out how I can do these trickery - and more practise. I'd be keen to see a video or footage of how you induce that drift in your scoob, if you dont mind describing it in more detail, that would be sweet.

One more skidpad day lined up in a months time - so I have time to visualise it for now lol

I did the sideways challenge last year in the Subaru and there was a very brief clip on the autocar website. Someone somewhere must have vidoed it. If you find anything, let me know.
I will have a look too.
Cheers
Had naff tyres on the back for that too so cheated a bit!

sounds like good fun

im really scared of the handbrake to be fair, i did have a little mess about with it on sum snow but never on anything other then that

id also like to know about the massive sideways drifting thing, i did do a search a while ago to see if i could get any footage or sumthing from the day but drew a blank

you would have thought SN would have its own little tribute page or sumthing?

I've got a nice vid clip that I could send you as a zip if you want it

I've got a nice vid clip that I could send you as a zip if you want it


Please could you send it to me also...Ohh go on pretty PLEASE!

Mackers, could I have a nosey at the clip please.

Many thanks

I need an email address to send the vid as a zip file,(PM one to me) meanwhile I'm trying to get the original thread of my mate who noticed this clip being praised on the Lancer register site!!

Also got a Jap vid of a 309Kph Scooby!!

Whats that in miles?

Also got a Jap vid of a 309Kph Scooby!!

Whats that in miles?

about 195

:idea: I've only just signed up so can't upload vids, is there anyone who has a Yahoo I.D who could post them up for me if I forward them?

I did the sideways challenge last year in the Subaru and there was a very brief clip on the autocar website. Someone somewhere must have vidoed it. If you find anything, let me know.
I will have a look too.
Cheers
Had naff tyres on the back for that too so cheated a bit!
I saw that! Very impressive, I thought you must have some sort of trick diffs to do that, but from what I'm reading just a lot of bottle :ponder2: .

Good advice though so I think I'll try the duff tyre option, as all I can do is power understeer.