My dad put a cup of water in my car during tofu deliveries to a hill resort. He said it was to ensure the tofu didn’t get damaged in transit. But he was secretly developing my downhill racing technique. Apparently if I didn’t spill the water, it meant that my cornering technique was ‘smooth’.
Also the kiddie version of ‘wax on wax off’ is ‘hang your jacket on the hook, take your jacket off the hook’.
Also, that technique has no real-world application. The father told him to try and make the water spin in the cup instead of splashing back and forth. But that’s not possible just from driving a vehicle, no matter how you drift corners.
I lived in Japan back when that anime TV show was releasing, and I can tell you, it’s pure fantasy. Although it’s much closer to real Japanese street racing than that awful Tokyo Drift film. That film was basically American street racing with Japanese actors. Actual Japanese street racers are science, math, and physics nerds, pushing the boundaries of their cars for the fun of it. Not hardened gangsters or Yakuza wannabes, decking their cars out with neon lights and massive spoilers and body kits. Hollywood invented their own concept of drift racing for that film.
When the corners are very, very tight, and there’s hardly any straights, it’s often beneficial to maintain entry speed and get the car rotated in the right direction quickly, assuming you’re capable of recovering the slide at the appropriate time. Look at how rally drivers take tight hairpins even on tarmac. Imo big showy drifts aren’t fast but they do serve as good practice for understanding the car at the limit and reacting in low-grip situations.
When the corners are very, very tight, and there’s hardly any straights, it’s often beneficial to maintain entry speed and get the car rotated in the right direction quickly, assuming you’re capable of recovering the slide at the appropriate time.
Especially downhill where the car needs more front brake bias to stop harder, and that means even more understeer coming into the turn. Snapping into oversteer so you’re pointing the right way, then ending drift when the car’s ready to put that high rpm back into traction, that’s one of the rare occasions where drifting will get through faster. And as you said, it certainly doesn’t make for big showy slides. Even in tarmac rally, they’re floating the car through the turn, not getting its ass way out the side for 20m.
Yes, that makes sense. Drifting around hairpins is most of the time faster. It also makes sense to drift when you are unable to maintain proper slip angle, just as you stated when the ground offers low and unpredictable amounts of grip.
I mean… using the water as an indicator for directional Gs is technically correct lol.
It won’t help you learn to drift better, but it does work as a bargain basement indicator for roughness of driving, which could be important if you’re moving food and don’t want it to spill.
Alternatively, you could just use a car with good suspension and not drive like a maniac lol.
You lived in Japan but you seem to ignore the existence of the bosozoku when you say that people don’t deck their cars (motorcycles too) out with ridiculous body kits?
Serious drift racers don’t do that. Yes, there is a subculture in Japan who loves to deck our their vehicles with body kits and LED lighting and heavy sounds systems. But mostly for show, not for racing.
I was comparing Tokyo Drift’s idea of Japanese drift racing with reality. That film is just Hollywood trying to make drifting look sexy and sleek. In reality, it’s just a bunch of nerds who find ways to shave every little ounce off their vehicles to improve results in their calculations and charts. Body kits, neon-colored lights, and beefy sound systems are just added weight.
I mean, throughout the course of the Fast & the Furious film franchise, the main characters go from illegal street racing punks to international spies, saving the world from global threats. So you really shouldn’t be looking to those films for any sense of reality anyway.
My dad put a cup of water in my car during tofu deliveries to a hill resort. He said it was to ensure the tofu didn’t get damaged in transit. But he was secretly developing my downhill racing technique. Apparently if I didn’t spill the water, it meant that my cornering technique was ‘smooth’.
Also the kiddie version of ‘wax on wax off’ is ‘hang your jacket on the hook, take your jacket off the hook’.
Initial D!
Also, that technique has no real-world application. The father told him to try and make the water spin in the cup instead of splashing back and forth. But that’s not possible just from driving a vehicle, no matter how you drift corners.
I lived in Japan back when that anime TV show was releasing, and I can tell you, it’s pure fantasy. Although it’s much closer to real Japanese street racing than that awful Tokyo Drift film. That film was basically American street racing with Japanese actors. Actual Japanese street racers are science, math, and physics nerds, pushing the boundaries of their cars for the fun of it. Not hardened gangsters or Yakuza wannabes, decking their cars out with neon lights and massive spoilers and body kits. Hollywood invented their own concept of drift racing for that film.
What i dont quite understand is that if the street racers wanted to go up or down as fast as possible, why did they drift?
Its not like drifting is any faster than racing with grip but maybe that was like a cultural obligation if you wanted to participate?
Initial D is a great anime non the less :)
When the corners are very, very tight, and there’s hardly any straights, it’s often beneficial to maintain entry speed and get the car rotated in the right direction quickly, assuming you’re capable of recovering the slide at the appropriate time. Look at how rally drivers take tight hairpins even on tarmac. Imo big showy drifts aren’t fast but they do serve as good practice for understanding the car at the limit and reacting in low-grip situations.
Especially downhill where the car needs more front brake bias to stop harder, and that means even more understeer coming into the turn. Snapping into oversteer so you’re pointing the right way, then ending drift when the car’s ready to put that high rpm back into traction, that’s one of the rare occasions where drifting will get through faster. And as you said, it certainly doesn’t make for big showy slides. Even in tarmac rally, they’re floating the car through the turn, not getting its ass way out the side for 20m.
Yes, that makes sense. Drifting around hairpins is most of the time faster. It also makes sense to drift when you are unable to maintain proper slip angle, just as you stated when the ground offers low and unpredictable amounts of grip.
it is sometimes faster to loosen the grip on your rear wheels to point the front end in a better direction. they call it tail braking iirc.
I mean… using the water as an indicator for directional Gs is technically correct lol.
It won’t help you learn to drift better, but it does work as a bargain basement indicator for roughness of driving, which could be important if you’re moving food and don’t want it to spill.
Alternatively, you could just use a car with good suspension and not drive like a maniac lol.
You lived in Japan but you seem to ignore the existence of the bosozoku when you say that people don’t deck their cars (motorcycles too) out with ridiculous body kits?
Serious drift racers don’t do that. Yes, there is a subculture in Japan who loves to deck our their vehicles with body kits and LED lighting and heavy sounds systems. But mostly for show, not for racing.
I was comparing Tokyo Drift’s idea of Japanese drift racing with reality. That film is just Hollywood trying to make drifting look sexy and sleek. In reality, it’s just a bunch of nerds who find ways to shave every little ounce off their vehicles to improve results in their calculations and charts. Body kits, neon-colored lights, and beefy sound systems are just added weight.
I mean, throughout the course of the Fast & the Furious film franchise, the main characters go from illegal street racing punks to international spies, saving the world from global threats. So you really shouldn’t be looking to those films for any sense of reality anyway.