Drifting (motorsport)
Drifting is a
driving technique where the driver purposely
oversteers, with loss of traction, while maintaining control and driving the car through the entirety of a corner or a turn. The technique causes the rear
slip angle to exceed the front slip angle to such an extent that often the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right or vice versa, also known as
opposite lock or
counter-steering). Drifting is traditionally performed using three methods:
clutch kicking (where the
clutch is rapidly disengaged and re-engaged with the intention of upsetting the grip of the rear wheels),
weight transfer (using techniques such as the
Scandinavian flick), and employing a
handbrake turn. This sense of ''drift'' is not to be confused with the ''four wheel drift'', a classic cornering technique established in
Grand Prix and sports car racing.
As a
motoring discipline, drifting competitions were first popularized in
Japan in the 1970s and further popularized by the 1995
manga series ''
Initial D''. Drifting competitions are held worldwide and are judged according to the speed, angle, showmanship, and line taken through a corner or set of corners.
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