ChvyKc Posted September 4, 2003 Report Share Posted September 4, 2003 I just got the new issue of Import Tuner in and they rate the top drift cars in our country. Â This is how they rate them: 1) 89-94 Nissan 240SX 2) 85-87 Toyota Celica GTS <--- Corolla (My bad ) 3) 95-98 Nissan 240SX 4) 93-95 Mazda RX7 5) 86-91 Mazda RX7 6) 94-01 Mazda Miata 7) 03+ Nissan 350Z 8) 03+ Mitsubishi EVO 8 Â 9) 93-98 Toyota Supra 10) 92-95 Lexus SC300 I know that these cars are top notch cars when it comes to drifting and handling, but how would our cars match up to these? Â I have always heard that a starquest is one of the best handling cars that Mitsubishi has ever made and is also suppose to be very good as far as drifting. Â Is this just another example of everybody over-looking our cars or are these cars a little more top notch than ours? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lupus Posted September 10, 2003 Report Share Posted September 10, 2003 supras are that great of drift cars at all. i work on them every day and although they are good handleing considering the power and weight of the car, their a** end gets way to loose and it is very hard to control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJpowerHaus Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 Dont believe anything you read in Import Tuner.. that magazine is Satan. Hell.. its not even a Toyota CELICA.. its a COROLLA! If you made the typo.. sheeite happens.. but if THEY did, they need to die. Drifting isnt about the cars its about the drivers ability to control them.. look at the sig! The only reason drifting is in those stupid magazines is becuase people are trying to make money off yet another segment of automotive fantabulism. Underapreciation is the best thing in the world. Nobody expects anything until you blow them away. We can drive total sleepers becuase people have bad impressions of our cars... but we dont have to be driving turd boxes in order to be considered sleepers. Now that my rant is over there are a few things you can do to improve the car for drifting. First off drifting isnt about speed or power... Its about control.. so much in fact that the control becomes the style. Suspension bushings really helped my car to become more predictable and it stopped it from having surprising moments. They were seriously the best $300 I've spent. The second nice thing to have would be sway bars.. this will keep the weight from going all over the place.. its not really needed though.. one of the top drifters on the east coast's sway bar broke so he just left it off. LSDs are nice.. but I dont have experience otherwise. One more thing about drift cars... things break. Its the nature of the beast. I spun rod bearings at the last drift competition. I've seen at 2 people total their cars this year out of as many competitions.. that's on tracks which are relatively safe compared to back roads. I know people who curb cars and destroy axels weekly. I know 19 year olds one their 6th car. What makes a nice drift car is one that you can replace easily and cheaply. Its a funny thing though. 240s and AE86s use to be easy to find and cheap. But as the demand has increased b/c of drifting the prices have also increased. Driving a Starquest is great though. There is really no chance of the scene jumping onto the Starquest.. its too old.. doesnt attract enough money.. and D1 drivers havent touched them yet (until I make D1 (: ). The prices on chassis can keep falling! WEEE! Plus we come with an LSD!.. maybe not the best and no aftermarket, but we got one! One last thing about drifting that the magazines have gotten right. Its not about competition.. its about having fun and goofing off... These are 5 of the top 10 drifters on the east coast: http://www.dgtrials.com/dgcostumes.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChvyKc Posted September 17, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 Yeah, it is a Corolla. I made a typo. I haven't gotten to much experience behind the wheel of a starquest because I can't seem to get my just right. There is always something wrong with it, but I am still working on it. The couple of times that I have gotten a chance to get it sideways, it seems to be very very smooth and easy to control compared to other cars that I have driven. I can't wait to get my new 89 on the road, I love driving these cars. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Jason Posted September 18, 2003 Report Share Posted September 18, 2003 isn't the u.s. 87 toyota corolla gts ff? that'd be insanely hard with all the understeering. how exactly are these things rated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJpowerHaus Posted September 18, 2003 Report Share Posted September 18, 2003 Ratings smateings.. I keep my ratings to www.hotornot.com . I'll probably get a chance to drift some 240s, AE86s and RX7s within the next few months. I'll report back on if they live up to the hype. I know Tony from DGTA thrashed his brothers car one night and said it was really fun to drive.. Tony drives a wicked RX7 (FC) turbo.. his brother drives a Conquest. I know I wasnt getting it at first. Fighting understeer is pretty hard believe it or not. I had trouble becuase I was just understeering and spinning rear tires (It'll get you sideways.. a little.. and the hard way). I couldnt really tell because the back end was indeed going out. Eventually I did get it right once.. and they only way I can describe it is that time stands absolutly still and you can think a million thoughts and feel ever inch of the car during just one slide.. its so incredible. That's how you know you got it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vosko Posted November 24, 2003 Report Share Posted November 24, 2003 i've drifted a 240 and a rx7. we'll see how the conquest does wednesday. i tried to drift one corner today and TONS of understeer...gotta get used to it in 2 days lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Distorted.Clarity Posted November 24, 2003 Report Share Posted November 24, 2003 i read up on drifting a conquest from somewhere i also heard it was one of the best to do it with since the car was light and had a good bit of power. the Rallys have to drift everything to get the fastest times and our cars had a lot of wins, and still holds records i would say if they did a real studie on what is the best top ten then our cars would be on that list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funky Phil Posted November 24, 2003 Report Share Posted November 24, 2003 I wouldnt read from there anymore. light is something our cars definately are not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Distorted.Clarity Posted November 24, 2003 Report Share Posted November 24, 2003 not light compaired to? they are only around 3k-ish when drifting you gut the car of all things you dont need making it even lighter. and then you Fab. parts like Fiberglass bodys, Alum parts to lighten things up, smaller gas tank *depending on what/where your racing for the gas tank* Nissan 240SX Weight - 2859lbs thats rated 1 on the list so i dont think conquests fall much behind these are just some of the weight reductions AC and all components 39lb's Spar Tier 29lb's Hatch Lid 9lb's Cruse Control Unit 2lb's Hood Prop 1.5lb's Rear Washer Fluid System 2.5 88-89 Drivers Side Knee Guard 5lb's Lighted Vanity Minors 4lb's Rear Wiper Assembly 4lb's Jack and Iron 6lb's Glove Box 6.5lb's Lighter and Ash Trays 1lb's Automatic Seatbelts Several Pounds ABS System 18lb's Front Seat With only Driver side up to 70lb's Charcoal Canister 2lb's 2nd Air Cleaner 3lb's Fly Wheel 20lb's +or- Balance Shafts Removed 10lb's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vosko Posted November 25, 2003 Report Share Posted November 25, 2003 i'll have to wait till next year to weigh mine.......tracks are mostly closed already! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
partsquest26 Posted November 26, 2003 Report Share Posted November 26, 2003 I think our cars are overlooked due to the availability of them in the general public,the cars you listed are available almost at any used car lot or dealer, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChvyKc Posted November 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2003 I have tried drifting a couple of times in the Starion. I agree that i has very very bad understeer. The other thing that really makes it hard was the damn boost creep. The turbo seemed to want to spool late and make the car kick the rear end way to far around. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artinist Posted November 26, 2003 Report Share Posted November 26, 2003 supras are one of the worst handling cars. i drove my friends car a couple of years ago and took a turn as fast as i would in my toyota pickup and almost lost the rear end without any warning. absolute non-existent feedback unlike the starions very predictable loss of control. as for a mofied starion, at least in my experience it has been the best handling car right after a modfied corvette. but drifting has not much to do with how many G's it can handle or how well the weight transfer is in solaom conditions. and as DJpowerHaus put it, its mostly the driver and having a predictable car which the driver is familiar with its limitations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJpowerHaus Posted November 27, 2003 Report Share Posted November 27, 2003 My latest theory in weight reduction is concentrating it towards the center. I have, believe it or not, drifted my ford Taurus wagon and the benefit I think it has is the plastic front and rear bumper cores. I think if the weight is reduced farthest away from the center of gravity and even increased towards the center (full sized spare mounted rally style right behind the driver and passenger seats in the middle will benefit rotational control. Once I get back on the road I am going to try drifting without front and rear bumbers and see what it does. I expect it to be VERY different (better) handling. How'd DOW go Vosko? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChvyKc Posted November 27, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2003 I have always heard that weight distribution is very important in a car. That is the reason that the 240's, rx7's and Miata's are suppose to be so good at drifting. They have almost perfect weight distribution (which the Miata does 50/50), they are rear-wheel drive and are extremely light and nimble. I have driven a second gen. rx7 and it is a very good handling car. You can just feel the car very well and tell that it was built for that type of stuff. I have a buddy that is doing an SR swap in his 240. I can't wait to see what that thing feels like sideways. Later, David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vosko Posted November 27, 2003 Report Share Posted November 27, 2003 dow was awesome drifted the crap out of the conquest for a solid 8 hours with only a 3500rpm rev limiter had to put on my 17x8 rims up front with better tires so i had some grip then i could actually do something. let petty drive it.........it works! now to make the car run the way its supposed to..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJpowerHaus Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 50/50 balance is a good goal, but I think it should be taken a step farther by placing the majority of the weight as close to the center of gravity as you can. Whatever though. This is all just stuff to think about when you dont have enough time to go practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift1313 Posted December 7, 2003 Report Share Posted December 7, 2003 all you guys that want to drive your starquest, give it a shot in the rain. if you can control it there then your good to go. any of you guys that have drifted a widebody, ever done it in a flatty? i have nothing to compare to but i like it. the softer suspension is very responsive. i dont know the weight dist. on it but i know its lighter then the widebodies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurntRubber Posted January 7, 2004 Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 i tried to drift my quest when i first got it... no power steering is a complain! even at only 10 lbs of boost it kicks out too hard for me, i'm not good at drifting higher powered cars (used to have a sr5 corolla....). i think if i had power steering i could drift it, because i'm fighting the wheel wayy to much. i would get it sideways, then let go of the wheel so it would straighten itself out, but by that time i was already 180.... maybe if i just turn the boost down alot i could get more control... and hoook my ps back up. any tips on drifting a sq? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
long4boost Posted January 10, 2004 Report Share Posted January 10, 2004 lol starion is perfect drift car me and my a** are one as it were peace ted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prozaq Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 The bad thing about centralizing the weight is that the vehicle becomes stable at the limit. Most drift cars set the batteries and fuel cells in the hatch area. Relocating weight from the front and setting it in the rear would keep weight (in turn, traction) on the rear wheels, adding momentum and at the same time adding stability. This all depends on the wheelbase, too. Centralized weight on a smaller wheelbase will be more unstable at the limit, whereas a larger wheelbase will be more stable in the same turn w/the same bodyweight percantage relocated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJpowerHaus Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 Weight Distribution must be a big topic on MR2 boards... I'd love to hear more. What else do you know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patra_is_here Posted March 24, 2004 Report Share Posted March 24, 2004 HEy yall. i've been following drifting for a couple years, and this is what I've learned (from japanese instructionals as well as personal experience) the most important feature to a drift car is the suspension. you need a predictable and controllable suspension. cars like the ae86 corolla and the s13 240 have a problem with understeer, so drivers have to drive them differently than say, a car like the most recent rx7's (which have a 50/50 weight balance, and are therefore inherenly more neutral and thus more responsive to driver input. there are quite a few techniques to drifting, from simply stomping the gas, to using the ebake, to more complicated weight shifting (feint/scandinavian) and brake techniques, as well as clutch pop and lift off. starions seem like they would be fine to drift with the proper suspension set up (as a drift car is basically a race car with a bit more oversteer) . starions have plenty of torque to break the rear loose, a fair amount of horse power, and their weight distribution is 54/46 i believe. they are heavier than say, the corolla, but, there are heavier drift cars (the skyline comes to mind). I'm picking up my first starion this friday, btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustPaus_88TSi Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 The SQ's distribution is 52/48.... Pretty damn good if ya ask me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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