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color0 -> RE: HOW DO YOU DRIFT WITH JUST 2WDRIVE????? (6/13/2006 10:08:28 AM)
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gonna try to pull this topic back on course...
i personally own an MR02, which is RWD, and have tried to drift it. been having moderate success, i'll spin out once or twice in 10 corners. the angle is definitely not like 4WD, but if you install some bright rims (chrome or aluminum), the full-countersteer effect is satisfactory enough. and since you really have to drive the thing (can't just throw the car into a corner and relax...), often corner speed is up to par with AWD drifters.
IMO the key to RWD drifting an RC car is to steer with the rear end. to gain maximum angle the front tires have to be hard, and the rear tires softer (but hard enough to break traction on demand). while in the drift, your front tires are going to try to pull your rear end around, since friction acts against the direction of motion - basically creating a kind of weak drag brake on the front wheels. so you need really hard tires and very low-resistance bearings to counter this as much as possible. (in my MR02 i run with plastic tires up front, and dry bearings all around.) the rear end, whether you use a ball or gear diff, must be tight. the idea is to use the grip of the rear tires' differentiating against them, and with that force, keep the front end from diving too far in to the turn (and causing a spin-out). the effect is really noticeable with a locked diff in the rear, where the rears are working against each other and trying to keep the car straight and not sideways - helps a lot when the car's sliding at a good 45 degrees to the parallel.
utilizing inertia is VERY tough. after throwing the car into the turn at about a safe 60 degree angle to parallel, you basically have to keep the throttle to minimum, but not stopped. if the motor stops, the braking action of the magnets often throws something off. i've spun out many times because the neodymium magnets turned themselves into an e-brake. anyhow, you basically have to wait it out until the car starts to decrease angle; then you can start feathering the throttle and powering out of the turn.
regarding the setup, you need a good bit of off-power oversteer and as much on-power understeer as you can dial in; the MR02's not so great about this because the motor torque causes the exact opposite, but it's controllable with a damper setup. but the premise behind the setup is that you can throw the car into a drift quickly, and countersteer to the apex; then the car starts to straighten out, countersteer angle decreases, and you give it throttle to get out of the corner; then one last flick of countersteer and you're back to regular traction.
that might not be your style, but it's just about the only way i can find that works with 1/28 scale mini-z's. plus it seems to follow traditional racing techniques (slow in fast out) pretty faithfully.
disclaimer: all the above is theory and analysis of observations i gained during my testing; execution of it all requires perfect timing and is nonetheless ridiculously hard. i wish i could post a video to illustrate, but i'm definitely not consistent enough in execution. someone should build up a robot and a program that incorporates all these timing elements in one, just to drift a RWD RC car. :)
as a footnote, i've gotten 5ft drifts out of my MR02, and it's 1/28 scale... a 1/10 pan car with the proper setup should be able to do 15, if not more, because the longer wheelbase permits more time to react and make adjustments.
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