So I'm new to this R/C drifting thing but I'm not as new to real life drifting and I thought RWD cars made the best real car drifters.

How come 4WD cars seem to be so common to R/C drifters?

Everyone keeps mentioning the TT-01D which Tamiya's website says is drift ready but its 4WD?

Do R/C cars cheat and just use super slippery tires in the back or do you guys disable/reduce the power to the front wheels?

Tamiya's website describes the process as slowing before a turn to transfer weight forward from the rear tires so they can lose traction, but when I drift my real car I turn the wheel a bit sharper then hit the gas to break the tires loose then turn the steering wheel back to control the car.

Just curious... I'm going to be buying my first R/C car soon and drifting is my goal so I just want to make sure I understand.

Thanks!

Real life Drift and RC Drift are Two Completely different Sports..

In Real life, Yes RWD is King.. in RC Drift All Wheel Drive is King

With RC Drift, a RWD chassis will try and Push the rear wheels past the Fronts and Induce nauseating and annoying spin as there is no applied Force to Direct the wheels in the direction of the Slide.. Sure with a fair bit of Speed and some Handling robbing wieght over the front and Lightning quick reflex's it could be done...

An AWD chassis is needed to RC drift sucessfully and here is why

The Normal AWD RC car has a Pretty much 50/50 Split Power system, Rear get half and the front Gets Half (This is Variable between set ups)
So the Front wheels guide the slide and Pull the Car Through the Corner while the rears kick the tail out, now because the front wheels have Power applied to them they are able to keep the Rear of the Chassis in line with the front and is able to move sideways throught the corner, Like a Crab..

Remove the power from the front wheels and the chassis will induce spin as there is no force to counter act the rears tailing out..

This is not to say that RC Drifting is Easy as you still have to counter steer like you would do in real life to avoid a Total Spin but with an AWD Chassis this task is made 75% Easier.

In general, Yes, RC Cars Cheat, they use a Hard Compound Tyre, Like ABS or PVC Plastic..
Less friction is need to induce the slide.. The Smoother the surface the Better it is for RC drift..

The #1 reason is weight distribution, 1:1 drifters are front engine, 1:10th 4WD tourers are mid/rear motor

So in the full size world the car is being pivoted around the main mass of the car (engine) but in 1:10th scale this is the opposite way round and the main weight is being chucked around like a lead weight on a string = handbrake turn city = crap

Kev

So it sounds like drifting isn't used as a means of improving lap times in RC like it is in real life, more like just for fun?

If you're using super slippery tires like PVC then you're sacraficing most of your traction and acceleration ability available from the rear wheels.

This setup resembles a rear/mid engine FWD car with half the power and ice blocks for rear tires.

Why not move the engine up front and run a driveshaft to the rear wheels. Then your mass is forward and your drive is back similar to a real car.

I'd suspect the reason that people don't do that to r/c is because the ends don't really justify the means. Just like few (if any) people drift in 1:1 cars anymore as a speed technique so much as it's just fun to do. Personally, i don't like drifting as a speed technique cuz it hardly last. I used to do it from time to time when I ran in SCCA events, but I rarely used it. It just wasn't worth doing to me. It's just taking a corner faster. With it, there's no angle, no slide, no smoke (or none worth mentioning). I'm also, (honestly) not good enough at it to be consistant in a time trial while using it. And that transfers to 1:10. I can drift well, along with a lot of people here, but it's more for fun and show than racing. That's just the path drifting has taken.

Drifting is definately fun and has grown to be a street scene sort of thing. But it really is an advantage in real racing. The point isn't to increase speed but to keep you from slowing down as much for turns. The best way to accelerate is to not decelerate in the first place.

When you drift you keep the nose of the car pointed in the direction you need to go so that when your tires regrip the road you're able to accelerate at full throttle sooner and applying full throttle takes less time because you're already there.

If what you're saying is true, it sounds like the true intention of drifting has been lost and replaced with "just for show".
Thats too bad because it really is advantageous.

If my intention was to just have fun drifting a RC car, PVC wheels seems fine, but if your intention is to race, I'd rather mimic real cars and move the engine up front, beef up the engine and use a LSD in the rear. Now if there's really just not enough weight to the car to do this, then it sounds like drifting has no advantage in racing RC cars and it should be skipped all together.

RC drifting is to show off your car handling skills, your blinged RC and to have down right fun..

There are RC drift battles , so to a degree , it is used for quick lap times but your judged on Car control and parralelness to the curves aka Need For Speed underground style..

Rc drifting is a show sport rather then a speed technique , although I am sure you can apply the knowledge learnt from your drift cornering into your races to improve times..

In grip racing if your car is sliding then it's not going forward, so leave the drifting to the MotoGP dudes

...drifting on the other hand is all about low cost fun, cheap tyres/motor/esc/servo/car = massive grin factor

Kev