Winter Drifting Guide
Photo taken by Tran.
For most drivers, losing traction can be scary, so why would someone want to lose traction on purpose? Welcome to the world of drifting, where you turn right to go left. Everyone knows what drifting is, and everyone thinks it’s cool. Unfortunately, if you want to try it, you’re going to be burning through your wallet as fast as you’re going to be burning through your tires. That’s why a nonzero number of students at Hamilton, me included, like to go sideways in the snow. With two seasons of shenanigans under my belt, I have tried drifting and powersliding a variety of vehicles (on closed courses in Mexico). Let’s go over how to be Ken Block or Keiichi Tsuchiya in the snow.
A few disclaimers before we start. Make sure you have a place to practice with no traffic. If you try this in traffic, there is a good chance that your stupid decisions will take out people or property. Don’t be that person! Another thing to mention would be how there’s no guarantee that doing this won’t mess up your car or cause you to get stuck. Drifting in the snow won’t put as much stress on your suspension components as drifting on dry asphalt, but if you drift over a spot with no snow, your tires will suddenly regain traction. This may harm your car. Finally, I would watch out for obstacles to steer clear of while you drift. They could be mobile, like a plow truck, or they could be stationary, like a mailbox. Don’t knock over someone’s mailbox!
Depending on what car you have, it may be easier or harder to drift. Let’s start out with the drivetrain. Rear wheel drive and all wheel drive vehicles are able to drift with their own power. I like to get the car to turn and punch the accelerator to break traction. Once I initiate the slide, I modulate the throttle to keep drifting. I also countersteer to prevent spinouts. It is possible to drift with traction control on, but I like to turn it off. If you know of a better way to drift, go ahead, but that’s how I like to drift my BMW E46 and my mom’s CR-V.
Front wheel drive cars are a bit more complicated to drift. For one, initiating a turn and adding power will simply result in understeer, and understeer is lame. Instead, I like to rip handbrake turns in the snow instead. In order to do a handbrake turn, initiate the turn. Then, pull the handbrake mid corner and release it to lock the rear wheels and go into a drift. For you, dear reader, this means that your handbrake, E-brake, parking brake, or whatever you want to call it has to be manual. If it is not, you’re screwed. If your parking brake is foot activated, like in a lot of minivans, good luck, as modulating it is near impossible. Sometimes, you should tap the accelerator mid drift to make the front wheels “pull” you through the turn, but if you add too much throttle, your front tires are going to lose grip instead, causing understeer. Drifting this way is really fun and makes you feel like a rally driver.
The transmission type doesn’t make much difference. An automatic transmission car will take care of the gear shifts, so nothing to worry about. In a manual transmission car, shift to whatever gear matches the car’s speed to drift. Usually, this is first or second gear. If you somehow find yourself using third, fourth, or even fifth gear, you either have crazy talent or something is wrong with you, because drifting that fast on public roads is lunacy.
If none of this made any sense, just watch Initial D or Youtube clips. Then, without knocking over some poor neighbor’s trash can, try it out for yourself. You’ll get a handle on it. Besides being very fun, drifting in the snow, along with trying out emergency maneuvers can help you learn car control, making you a safer driver in bad weather. Gone will be the days where you fear the snow, but rather respect it for the danger it represents. In the meantime, rip a few handbrake turns.
The next time it snows, you can now drift, powerslide, or whatever you want to call it, to your heart’s content. At the time of writing this article, I just finished ripping handbrake turns in the snow at a “closed course in Mexico” (I wouldn’t do anything illegal, would I?). Initiate the turn, get your vehicle sideways, and countersteer for dear life. Be safe out there and don’t end up in a ditch!
