It will all be personal preference but here is my shortlist

1. Go Electric, Nitro will require a lot more maintenance/tinkering/set-up and cash.

2. The best basic set up would be 1:10 scale 4wd chassis, ABS or HPI T-Drift tyres, Soft suspension, Locked rear diff, semi locked front diff, a medium sized pinion so you get some punch with a bit of speed, once you get going you can look into motor/esc/chassis upgrades

3. Practice, practice, practice, initially spending time just controlling the car then moving into control round objects, linking drifts, track work, once you master this you will then be looking into set-up to create more speed with controlability.

One of the keys to being a good drifter is not to fight the car, drifting should be fluid, flowing from one apex to the next with as little steering input as possible, throttle is the key, get sliding way before the corner and keep it going.

The last thing to consider is are you a stick or wheel man, I started on sticks and found it very hard, when I switched to wheel things became a whole lot easier