Never get enough of the movie “Tokyo Drift” and feel like adapting drifting as your new hobby? It is not only about thrashing sets of tires and shifting your car from a corner to another, but the thrill and satisfaction that you get for making every single drift. Not only that, it is a dangerous sports that requires high maintenance in terms of tires and engines. Almost after every session, you will need to replace your tires. It needs loads of practices and professional guidance as well. Talk to professionals about their experiences and the techniques on how to drift.

How to drift?

Basic drifting requires as much attention as well. It is best to practice with a cheap and old car for obvious reasons and one of them is causing damage to the tires, rims and the engine. You can practice around places like open air parking lots with no obstacles when no one is possibly there, so that you do not hit anyone. Make sure that you have already done all the safety precautions; for instance, wearing the seat belt and the car is in good driving condition. Start off with a low speed, about 10 miles per hour (10 mph). Drive in circular motion to the left and turn your steering wheel to the maximum. Release a little of the steering to make larger rounds. Then, practice driving in a different direction.

When you are familiar with handling the steering wheel and driving rounds, increase your speed to 20 – 25mph while making larger rounds. When you are about to turn, pull up your hand / emergency break as fast as you can, and accelerate on the same time to maintain the speed.  When you are able to feel the drifting motion, release your emergency break and accelerate a little. When you return to the straight line, be prepared for the next drift. You will have to hold on steadily to the steering wheel and do not let go because it might cause the car to spin when you are driving on high speed.

Repeat the steps to achieve your stability of handling the speed and the car. Try to adjust yourself to the short timing of pulling and releasing the hand breaks while drifting at the same pace. Try over and over again to estimate how much to accelerate and when to use the emergency break.  Once you already know how to drift and you are comfortable with your current speed, you can increase the speed a little higher every time, and stop at the speed that you are comfortable with.

These are some of the basic tips on how to drift. To be a good drifter, all you need to do is to practice! Most importantly is to check your car’s condition and remember to replace the tires once they are worn out so that there is firm grip to the ground when you drift