hi i own a 07 turboed cobalt that i drift at tracks, but im looking into a mini drifting competition, anyway, i have a $400 budget to start drifting and keep drifting. http://www.rcplanet.com/HPI_Nitro_RS...pi10075com.htm this good to start?

Nope.

Electric cars are better and easier to drift.
Personally i'd look for a used Mi4 or Cyclone TC then just lock the rear diff and fit drift tyres.

well are those built and ready for drifting, i mean im sorry i know absolutley nothing with these, whats wrong with the one i posted for instance, for drifting?

Nitro cars are a lot more difficult to drift, they're also far fewer competitions for drifting with Nitro.


By far the most popular RC drifting cars are battery powered.



Pretty much any 1/10th scale RC touring car chassis can be used for drifting, the 2 i mentioned earlier are top of the line touring car chassis's that would make excellent drifters.

Buying a new ready to run (RTR) RC car may seem like a easy alternative.
Thing is though RC cars will break, they'll also require maintenance and cleaning, a lot of this requires stripping the car down.

So buying a car in a kit or used form will mean that because you've assembled the car yourself you'll have a good idea of what goes where.

Your drifting a front wheel drive cobalt? Anyway, nitro cars are pretty fun to drift but the electrics are definitely the way to go.

Nitro tends to give wayy too much power to drift with. It's like sticking a V12 in a Civic and trying to drift with it. Wayyy too much power. Though some people drift with nitro, I don't recommend it for beginners. I'll make a new write-up for you on a good way to start out.

First, is the kit. They come in many different forms, such as RWD, FWD, and AWD. and Mini chassis' vs. reg. wheelbase. Also, consider belt driven vs. shaft. For starters with a bigger budget to start out with, you should find a popular 4WD kit. Stay away from RWD and FWD for drifting, it's pretty hard. I would look at the:
HPI Sprint 2 Models (Sport, Sport Drift)
Tamiya TB-02
TB-03
TA-05
Team Associated TC3
TC4
TC5
Hot Bodies Cyclone-S
TC

Do a little research yourself on these models, see what people think of them, how it performs, so on.

Okay, one you find yourself a kit, see what it needs to make RTR (ready-to-run). This usually includes:
paint for the Lexan(polycarbonate) body
Battery (usually in "stick pack" form)
Charger for the battery
Radio
Batteries for the radio (usually 4 or 8 AA batteries)
Servo.
CAglue

I'll link you to some parts and tell you the function of each.

First, is paint. You should get paint designed for Lexan/Polycarbonate bodies. These "flex" with the body during a crash or it general harsh conditions. Most people get their paint from Parma, Spaz Stix, or Tamiya. For Tamiya, their paint for Lexan bodies start with PS-__ (usually 1-2 numbers after that). Here are some different shades:
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p (brush kind, not spray can)
You can find some videos on how to paint a body on YouTUbe, such as XXX-Main's series:
www.youtube.com/view_play_list

Second, you need a battery to power the kit. Some people start out with low mAh Ni-Cad or NiMh batterys, but then either quit the hobby (not good!) because of low runtimes, or upgrade. So, I'll show you a better battery. As mentioned earlier, most people start out with NiMh (Nickel-Metal Hydride) or NiCad (Nickel Cadium) batteries. You'll need a battery that:
provides 7.2-7.6 volts
has 1000+ mAh (something over 3300 is good)
has 6 sub-C sized cells

I'd start out with NiMh, as they can provide higher mAh, and last longer (in my opinion) Here are some good packs:
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p
www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp
www.promatchracing.com/proddetail.php
Make sure your battery comes with Tamiya(Molex) connectors, and not Deans, Traxxas, and so on, unless you are willing to solder a new connector on your ESC (electronic speed controller)
There are also LiPo batteries (Lithium Polymer), but I wouldn't recommend those for a beginner.

Third, you need a charger for the battery. Get a peak-detection charger that allows you to change the amount of amps you charge at (digital or 1,2,4 amp switch is fine)
YOu can just get one for temporary use that's cheap, and gets the job done, or something at a heftier price (not all the time) that should last you a while. You can get an Onyx 100 by Duratrax which is cheap and efficent:
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p
Tower rebranded this as their own for $3 cheaper:
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p
Or, if you are willing to wait for 7-10day-ish shipping from overseas (Hong Kong), you can get the charger that lots of people love, the Turnigy Accucel-6:
hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp
Heres a more expensive charger that has a good reputation:
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p
To find out how many A(amps) to charge your battery at, take the mAh, and divide it by 1000. For most 3500+ batteries, it's fine to charge them at 4 amps.

Next, you need a radio with a reciever. There are literally TONSof options for one, but three main categorys:AM, FM, and 2.4GHz. AM and FMcan run up to 5-6 channels, but for R/Ccars and trucks, 2,3, or 4 should do the job. Make sure your bundle comes with a reciever also. If it doesn't, you'll have to find one/buy one. These come in two versions, pistol, and stick. Stick are two little pegs. The one on the left controls forward/reverse throttle (up is forward, down is reverse), and the left stick controls the steering (left is left, right is right). Some car people use it, but mainly plane(Ithink) and helicopter people. Next, is pistol. It has a trigger that controls forward/reverse, pulling it in means accelration forward, and pushing it out is reverse.Near it it usually has a big wheel of some sort. This controls steering. Turn it to the left, and your car goes left, and right goes right. Most radios also have throttle trim and steering trim, along with throttle reversing and steering reversing. These "fine tune" your car.

AMis the cheapest way to go. These run on 26-27MHz, and may accept data from other objects (such as a home phoneline, and others) causing your car to "glitch", which is called interference. Here are some AM radios:
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p

Next, you have FM. This is a "Step up" from AM. THey recieve less interference, but may are not immune to it. Here are some FMradios:
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p

Lastly, you have 2.4GHz. These are "immune" to inferference and glitching (unless you go out of range). These carry low and high price tags. One of the sayings in this hobby is "You get what you pay for", as in purchasing higher-end products gives you less issues, and is better. You can get entry-level 2.4GHz radios for as cheap as $25 (one of the Hobby King Hong Kong products) or as expensive as 400-500 for tons of model memory, and a lot more features/support if it breaks. Here are some cheap 2.4 radio sets:
hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p
and some expensive stuff:
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p

I'll skip the AAbatteries..

You need a servo for electrics, and another for Nitro that controls the throttle. The servo controls the steering. More torque=more strength in weird conditions. You can get a standard servo for maybe 9-10 dollars, or high-torque, digital, metal gear, titanium gear, servos. Some radio kits come with one, so if you get one that already has one, skip this. Here is a Futaba S3003 servo that works fine for touring cars:
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p

Last, is CAGlue. This keeps the tires onto the wheel. Here are some small bottles of it:
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p

Now, to make your kit driftable, you want to:
lock the rear diff
get drift tires.

Buy an extra set of rims, and you can either make your own drift tires with ABS, or buy HPI's T-Drift tire set, which is good for beginners:
www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p

For Drifting I recommend with sticking to trialled and true Chassis like the Tamiya TT-01 or HPI Sprint 2.
This chassis has been used in RC Drifting for a long time and has plenty of support.

The Main reason why I dont recommend nitro for drifting is
For a first time drifter, they can be as annoying as hell to tune ( I still remember my first drift meet, the guy who organised it couldn't get his RS4 to start where as the TT-01 and HPI Sprint 2 guys were sliding their brains out)
If you attend a night time RC Meet, a Nitro might not be welcomed due to the noise they generate... 10 electrics can meet and still not disturb the neighbours..

Some indoor Tracks dont allow Nitro to be run, narrowing your options for meets..

I also use Nimh to slide, Having that little extra weight in the Chassis can help kick that tail out further...

Remember Drift is not all about speed, Its the Angle and Distance of your slide that counts..

Hi guys, thanks for all the good info. I am turning my TC3 into a drift car, I was wondering about locking the rear diff? Are you saying with a oneway or what? please clarifiy..

Maybe you can give me a couple other helpful hints in the right direction to slide with pride[8D]

Thnaks
Chaseman