Drifting is a very interesting activity for RC car enthusiasts. While some dabble in it occasionally, others dedicate their entire setups to drifting. Whether you are just getting into drifting or trying to improve your current performance; you have come to the right place to learn how to make your RC car drift.
To get a good drifting experience with your RC car you need to ensure that your car, the wheels, and the track, all are drift friendly. You will need specific parts and wheels for that. Your motor should be powerful and suitable as well.
In this article, I will provide you every possible information necessary to learn drifting and also improve it. From how to drift to specific modifications needed for it, you’ll learn it all by the end of this article. So, I urge you to keep on reading.
How to Drift an RC Car?
In the simplest of terms, drifting is oversteering your car to make it slide across the track while turning. This is in essence, driving a car in a very wrong way; but the way you do it and how the slide happens can be very artistic and downright thrilling.
You would need your car, its wheels, and the track, all of them ready and suitable for drifting. How you would go about preparing in this stage is something I will explain later. But now, let’s get to the technical part and learn how you would do the actual drifting.
You should keep a steady high speed and right before you come to a turn you are going to oversteer. You will oversteer your car while still controlling the throttle. You will need to keep on accelerating but you cannot over accelerate. All of these things need to be kept under control.
First of all, if you accelerate too much you will spin out. And if you accelerate too less you will not be able to make the whole turn. Similarly, while oversteering, you still can’t do it too much, you need to keep it under control. Otherwise, you will still spin out.
After completing the curve by drifting if there’s another curve you will have to do the exact same motions again but in the opposite direction. If the track is just straight you can steer your car back to the straight path and drive normally again.
The most important thing here is to keep everything under control. After a few failed attempts you will get the hang of it and will be able to drift effortlessly just by the feel of it. So, you must keep a steady control and avoid crashing.
What Do You Need to Drift an RC Car?
Now, if you already have the idea of how you would drift your RC car, you would now need to know how to prepare for it. Your car, wheels, and track, all need to be drift-friendly. Let’s discuss what the requirements are for the three different elements.
The Car
Let’s start with the car. Not all RC cars can be used for drifting. You can get ready to drive kits or build them from scratch yourself. These are beginner-friendly RC cars that require almost no assembly and if you get the ones specially made for drifting then you do not need to worry about much of the technicalities at all.
If you decide to build one yourself however you need to keep everything in check. An RC car made for drifting will benefit from having a sturdier and heavier chassis. It will also be much lower, similar to a real-life high-end sports car.
An RC car meant for drifting has a lot less ground clearance than buggies or other off-road cars. With enough skill, you might be able to drift on any car but that is not ideal. Any kind of rough terrain RC car is not suitable for standard drifting. There are readymade drift RC cars available on the market and these would be your best option.
The Wheels
The wheels on a drift car need to be as smooth as possible. You want as little grip as possible. Any wheel that has a lot of grips or is made to be driven on rough terrains will make drifting your RC car virtually impossible.
You want slick tires or the smoothest tire you can get. Any tires with grooves and extra grip are tires you need to get rid of immediately. The smoothness of the tire will make your drifting experience much smoother. You will be able to efficiently slide across the track and do a proper drift.
The Track
As you have probably caught up by now, the key to drifting an RC car is the smoothness of your driving. So, your track also needs to be very smooth. Uneven tracks are out of the question. Smooth pavements or indoor floors are best.
But keep in mind that your indoor household floor has a chance of being damaged by the wheels of the RC car. You do not want skid marks on your living room floor. So, it is advisable that you drift in a space dedicated to drifting.
Most RC cars drift enthusiast’s opt-in to make their own smooth track indoors. But, if you can’t find smooth pavement or indoor floors to drive on, then you should find the smoothest and flattest track you can find. That will help you with drifting much better.
By keeping these in mind you will become a pro drifter in no time. Remember that when it comes to drifting proper preparation is as important as skill if not more. So, make sure that you tweak your RC car for drifting before actually doing it.
What Turn Motor Should You Choose for RC Car Drifting?
Turn motors on an RC car affect the driving experience drastically. If you are getting a ready-made ready-to-drive drift-friendly RC car or a kit then you do not need to worry about the motors all that much. But if you are building an RC drift car yourself or customizing one then the question “which turn motor is best for RC drifting?” becomes more important.
It mostly depends on the individual driver’s preference but ideally, you want a strong and powerful motor. If you are tight on a budget then a brushed motor will serve you just fine but in general brushless motors are much better for drifting.
In terms of power, you ideally want a motor that is at least over 15 turns. 17 to 21 turn motors are the most common ones used in RC drift cars. But some drivers even use even powerful motors up to 23 or even 25 turns.
You might have to test and switch out motors based on what kind of experience you prefer. It is better to start with lower power motors and when you start getting the hang of it move onto the more powerful ones if you want to.
Be careful that the more powerful the motor is the more difficulty you will have controlling the throttle. So, be aware of that before you go all out and buy an overpowered motor that you cannot handle.
Final Verdict: How to Make Your RC Car Drift
In this article I’ve discussed how to make your RC car drift and what you would need to do it. I explained how each part of the whole setup matters in your drifting experience. Thankfully you now have a much better idea of everything there is to know about drifting and will have a much smoother time doing it.
Thanks for reading till the end and I hope you enjoyed this guide on how to make your RC car drift. I hope it answered all your questions. Until next time, happy driving!
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