Many people come to these forums and see all of our cars and are interested in drifting and often times their threads slip through the cracks unanswered and they leave and probably never return. first things first you need a car.

THE CAR
All AWD r/c cars will drift with abs/pvc tires... but the handling in a drift does vary with different cars. I have a Tamiya TT01 http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXFDN6&P=0 and the Yokomo drift car http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGMV6&P=0... both are fairly powerful/fast cars and both run abs tires. but I'd choose to drift the yokomo over the tamiya any day just because it controls so much better in a drift... now on the same note compairing the yokomo chassis and the tamiya chassis is like compairing yugo's and skylines(also indicated by price). I would say with my experience in r/c that any medium level r/c car will be a better investment than a low level (TT01 for example) car. that means try to get a car that COMES WITH AT THE MINIMUM, ball bearings, oil shocks, adjustable turnbuckles/tierods and ball differentials. these things ALL go a long way toward helping you get your car drifting easier, smoother and more consistently. and they will also add up in cost quite quickly if purchased separately from the kit afterwards so keep this in mind.

ball bearings: reduce rolling resistance by reducing friction at all rotating points, axles, gear shafts etc. they also greatly reduce the wear on these parts.

oil shocks: these are filled with oil to reduce the amount of bounce in the chassis when the car goes over uneven surfaces, increasing control and smoothness.

adjustable turnbuckles/tierods: these allow you to adjust the cars toe in, (makes the car track straighter) and camber (allows you to adjust how much of the tire contacts the roads surface, making the car slide more or less with simple adjustments).

ball differentials: these allow you to adjust the amount of traction each wheel has (like an LSD in a real drift car).

SELECTING A RADIO
Now you need a radio. you do NOT need a $400 top of the line, magnesium cased, radio with a 14" LCD screen on it to drift as well as the pro's. a basic radio is all thats actually needed for an electric car. some of the added features are nice but not really needed. what you WILL want to have are:

servo reversing switches: if you assemble your car and it turns right when you turn left you can fix it with the flick of a switch.

steering dual rate: allows you to limit the maximum amount your car steers in either direction. (helpful of you turn to the right and the wheels stop turning at half of the steering wheels range of motion. with this feature you can turn down the amount it turns so the steering doesn't bind)

The rest is up to you as far as features...these are both great low cost radio's that have these features http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXCFW0**&P=0 and http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXENN3**&P=0.

CHOOSING A MOTOR
Choosing a motor for your drift car is fairly simple. but keep these few things in mind.

number of winds: how many winds of wire are on the armature inside the motor. the lower the number of winds the higher the rpm...the higher the number of winds the higher the torque. lower winds will also drain the battery faster reducing your run time. generally for drifting a 15-20 turn is all you need.

Bearings: helps to make your motor last longer by reducing the wear on the armature shaft.

replaceable brushes: you can make your motor like new again with a set of brushes and springs (a lot cheaper than a new motor)


BATTERY POWER
There are quite a few options in battery power these days. everything from lithium ion to nickel metal hydride. many pros and cons with each. nicads are the most durable but you must make sure and discharge them completely every few runs or they will build a memory and not fully charge making your runs shorter and shorter. nickel metal hydride's don't build a memory but are not supposed to be charged over and over in a short period of time. the need to be allowed to cool completely after each run before they are recharged or they won't last long. the higher the MAH the longer your run. up to 2400 MAH are usually nicads and over 2400 are usually NMH. I stick with 2400 nicads because of their durability but the government is phasing out the use of nicads to they won't be around for ever (no idea how much longer).so eventually we will all be using NMH's.

Well this information should get you started in the right direction as far as equipment. have fun and keep it slideways! ...Kingcobra