Maritime Antiques and Collectibles

Speed Race

by admin | May 17th, 2010

Speed Race

The Dangers of Amateur Drift Racing

If you like the smell of burning rubber and you love to watch a car sliding quickly around a curve, drift racing is probably something you’ve dreamed of trying. However, amateur drift racing can be dangerous – here's why you may want to leave it to the pros.

The first thing you need to know is that street racing is illegal in most areas of the United States. Get caught, and you could end up with a pretty hefty fine – if you’re lucky enough to get arrested. If you rack up enough arrests and tickets, you can even lose your license.

In addition, finding a place where it’s legal to drift and where you, as an amateur, will be allowed to practice can be difficult. Don’t be tempted to drift on a track where it isn’t allowed – if you’re caught, you’ll ruin your chances of every practicing or racing there in the future.

But even if you have a designated place to practice drift racing, you're still in danger – this time the physical kind, instead of the legal kind. If you’re the only one on the track, you’re in danger of flipping your car or crashing. When drifting, you come out of the curves at high speeds and it's all too easy to spin out and end up against the wall. Add other drivers to the mix and you've just increased the number of things you can hit and, more importantly, the number of things that can hit you. When racing in a group, other cars can slide into you, causing you to wreck or even flip your car. Not only are you putting your car at risk of serious damage, you're also putting yourself at risk of injury when you drift with others.

Not all cars are good for drifting, or power sliding, as it’s sometimes called. You need a rear wheel drive car, with a good suspension and a big budget for tires. A professional drifter can go through up to three sets of tires in a day. Choose the wrong car – and you don’t likely have the right one just hanging out in your garage – and you increase the chances that, instead of a slide you can control and drive yourself out of, you end up in an uncontrollable slide or spin that ends up in a crash.
Drifting in a car requires a combination of controlling the car's throttle, feeling the grip and knowing how and when the weight of the car will transfer. There are, at present, no schools that teach these techniques, though you can read about them on the Internet. Drifting requires lots of knowledge of your car and how it handles, as well as plenty of practice. You’ll need to learn the different techniques, when to use them and what to do if things go wrong. The more miles you log, the better you’ll get – although you also increase your chances of getting into an accident.

Any type of automobile racing puts its drivers and automobiles at risk. When it comes to high speed racing and specialty driving – and amateur drift racing qualifies on both counts – it may be best to leave the sports to professionals. If you must drift, choose the right car, choose a safe location to learn, take appropriate safety precautions and start slowly. Practice hard and you may eventually climb up the ranks from amateur to pro.

About the Author

The author provides car tips, such as how to connect jumper cables.

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