Drifting your Corvette (or any rwd car!) - Oulton Park, Cheshire
- Thread starter curious bystander
- Start date
Fishy Dave
CCCUK Member
Good manMade my reservation and rejoined the club
gavinfdavies
Well-known user
Cheers for the timings. i'll now be trying to sort out somewhere that does an early breakfast.
Fishy Dave
CCCUK Member
Not long now, any more takers before our places are opened to Joe public and sell out?
Fishy Dave
CCCUK Member
Excellent, I'm trying to work hard on my car to get it running again for a week on Friday. Worst case, I will still come along but it will have to be in the RX-8 race car.
Invetterate
CCCUK Member
Have fun, Gentlemen!
I very much hope to go to the next one...
Cheers
Mark
I very much hope to go to the next one...
Cheers
Mark
gavinfdavies
Well-known user
Still haven't sorted a place to kip. Amazes me how much people want for just one night, even without breakfast. Likewise, it amazes me how many places listed on the Oulton Park accomodation page refuse to breakfast in time for people to get to the nearby main attraction. Bit daft really. I might end up just staying in a cheap Travelodge, and getting a McDonalds on the way up.
gavinfdavies
Well-known user
Found a double ensuite room at a pub nearby for £35... only to find the 'free parking' is actually just on a road nearby! grrrrr. fingers crossed the car will be ok.
curious bystander
CCCUK Member
£35!!!! Were they using a 1982 price list?
gavinfdavies
Well-known user
hell, I resent paying more than £25 a night for a single room without breakfast.
gavinfdavies
Well-known user
I'll be getting breakfast at the McDonalds at Winsford. At least they'll be serving at the crack of dawn.
Fishy Dave
CCCUK Member
Not long now, I will see you all there on Friday morning. It would be great if you could all take some video and/or photos, we want to see those spins! I will put together an article for the club magazine, so any help with snaps is appreciated. The RX-8 is now confirmed as Corvette is going to be out of action for some weeks now, this is it as of yesterday:
Fishy Dave
CCCUK Member
Some basic tips:
-Bring a large bottle of water, partly for you to drink and partly if you need to give the side windows a little clean during the day.
- Wear thin soled shoes, thin, layered clothing and don't wear gloves, it's all about feel.
-Don't get frustrated, drifting on such a slippery surface is a hard skill to master. Take a break if you get to that point and chat to others who seem to be half decent and ask them for some tips. I don't play Golf but imagine it's similar, sometimes it just clicks then you'll lose it again for no reason!
- The grip levels change, the wetter the surface the more easily the car will slide/spin. The tractor and water bowser comes out every 20 to 30 minutes to wet the track again.
- To start with just aim to do a little slide on each corner; big, lairy slides where you transition from one corner to the next can come later.
- Keep off the grass (you'll get moaned at)
- Keep your windows up, else dirty spray gets in your car (ask me how I know!)
- When you spin don't worry, everyone does it, if you have a manual just depress the clutch immediately (to avoid a stall or the engine trying to spin in reverse). Drive away normally for a couple of corners to build some distance from the next car and then you can start to try to drift again. Doing this will keep the runs flowing nicely.
Ok, how do I start?
- The technique is something like this, we'll use a left hand corner as an example: 1. Blip of throttle (80%) with a little steering input to the left, 2. feel the car slide, 3. immediately back off the throttle to about 20% to maintain some forward momentum whilst simultaneously counter steering to the right. Alter the steering angle and throttle as needed to maintain that slide. Coming off the throttle, or increasing the angle of counter steering will stop the drift. Sounds easy eh? The problem is 1, 2 and 3 happen in about a second and so much is about feel.
Hope that helps, I'm not an expert but will do my best to assist on the day.
Regards, David
-Bring a large bottle of water, partly for you to drink and partly if you need to give the side windows a little clean during the day.
- Wear thin soled shoes, thin, layered clothing and don't wear gloves, it's all about feel.
-Don't get frustrated, drifting on such a slippery surface is a hard skill to master. Take a break if you get to that point and chat to others who seem to be half decent and ask them for some tips. I don't play Golf but imagine it's similar, sometimes it just clicks then you'll lose it again for no reason!
- The grip levels change, the wetter the surface the more easily the car will slide/spin. The tractor and water bowser comes out every 20 to 30 minutes to wet the track again.
- To start with just aim to do a little slide on each corner; big, lairy slides where you transition from one corner to the next can come later.
- Keep off the grass (you'll get moaned at)
- Keep your windows up, else dirty spray gets in your car (ask me how I know!)
- When you spin don't worry, everyone does it, if you have a manual just depress the clutch immediately (to avoid a stall or the engine trying to spin in reverse). Drive away normally for a couple of corners to build some distance from the next car and then you can start to try to drift again. Doing this will keep the runs flowing nicely.
Ok, how do I start?
- The technique is something like this, we'll use a left hand corner as an example: 1. Blip of throttle (80%) with a little steering input to the left, 2. feel the car slide, 3. immediately back off the throttle to about 20% to maintain some forward momentum whilst simultaneously counter steering to the right. Alter the steering angle and throttle as needed to maintain that slide. Coming off the throttle, or increasing the angle of counter steering will stop the drift. Sounds easy eh? The problem is 1, 2 and 3 happen in about a second and so much is about feel.
Hope that helps, I'm not an expert but will do my best to assist on the day.
Regards, David
gavinfdavies
Well-known user
Is it somewhat similar to driving on packed snow?
Also, if people want me to film, I'll need a camera! I've got a big one that's too big, a small one that doesn't work, or a medium one (old faithful!) that only records in something like 240p! (yes, it's so old it runs on AA batteries!)
Also, if people want me to film, I'll need a camera! I've got a big one that's too big, a small one that doesn't work, or a medium one (old faithful!) that only records in something like 240p! (yes, it's so old it runs on AA batteries!)
Fishy Dave
CCCUK Member
Yes, packed snow is a good example, maybe a touch more grippy, but not much (hence your tyres will be just fine). I'll bring my wifes bridge camera along, perfectly good for point and shoot and video too.
gavinfdavies
Well-known user
I did try yesterday with a compact camera on a clamp mount attached to the rear seat in the middle to view both me and the road... except the camera is dead! I've got my big 1" sensor bridge camera I can bring to film others.
gavinfdavies
Well-known user
Well, have now bought a little 1080p action cam to record some action. Have checked into a new inn after the last one turned out not to have any parking nearby at all. Didn't fancy leaving it parked down by the canal...! So in new pub... in a room directly above the bar! So not going to sleep for a while it seems :-( And after our drift day I have to drive back down to Bristol and do a 12 hour night shift FFS.
And the pint of coke here tasted like drain cleaner.... sigh.
And the pint of coke here tasted like drain cleaner.... sigh.
gavinfdavies
Well-known user
Well, we all survived the drifting without injury at least....
A picture of some very shitty rear ends:
And in case any one doubts the provenance of the car at the far end, I can assure you all it's perfectly legit....
A picture of some very shitty rear ends:
And in case any one doubts the provenance of the car at the far end, I can assure you all it's perfectly legit....