Rally cars “drift” around a corner because it sweeps away the loose material of the road, and allows the tires to find better purchase on the underlying, harder, surface, not because the turns are tighter or to position themselves for acceleration. In addition, attempting to grip on a surface made out of gravel, sand, mud , ice and snow is basically impossible. I would be much faster around a course if I could actually grip, but it just ain’t happening. The drift is a function of the surface, though, not of the course layout.
There’s been much debate in the Grand Prix Legends community about the realism of its physics model, but you can drift like crazy in that sim as downforce is definitely not a factor.
, just in case you’re kidding.
Otherwise, I’d like to see some citie titie for that idea. Please.
Oh, you mean for the cars behind the sweeper pilot!
He’s half right.
Drifting on dirt/gravel surfaces causes loose material to build up against the side of the tyre, which retards sideways motion. Rally cars aren’t fitted with ABS for similar reasons; on loose surfaces, you have to lock the wheels to slow down quickly, because it allows dirt/gravel to build up in front of the tire contact patches.
So, drifting sweeps the loose material of the road, but that’s in order to “push” against it, not to expose a better surface underneath.
Just for the record, according to Wikipedia (and this jibes with my memory), F1 cars are already creating twice their weight in downforce at only 118mph. Weight=downforce by about 80mph.
Most recent figures I could find have the cars generating about 3,300 pounds of downforce in the 2006 season.
The figures I used were just examples. It still renders the “car on ceiling” thing impossible, though. Gordon Murray wrote an article about it in the McLaren technical bulletin back in 1992 or 1993 or so.
No, I am not kidding, and I am all right, despite what RNATB thinks. How about from here: http://www.team-oneil.com/press1.htm
BTW, I didn’t mean to come off all snarky to RTNATB. Throw a 
in there somewhere.
Only in Tokyo.
Looks fun, lots of smoke. Not racing. Strictly entertainment.
If the wheel is spinning, the car isn’t moving forward at the optimal rate.
That is why F1 and “other” racers don’t “drift” (on purpose, at least). They are racing, not putting on a show.
This could be another of those airplane-on-a-treadmill things.
I’m thinking of it in terms of a coordinate system centered on the car, and pointing in the car’s direction of travel (and the car will not always be facing the same direction it’s moving). In order to change direction, you need to generate a sideways force. You want that sideways force to be as great as possible, to make the turn in the shortest amount of time.
So whether drifting is benefical comes down to this. Is possible for a car to generate more sideways force by pointing off-line and spinning the drive wheels than by keeping the wheels rolling at their best slip angle?
I’m sure there’s more to it. (Can the drifting car also generate enough forward force to maintain the optimum cornering speed?) That’s as far as I’ve gotten so far, though.
This isn’t really about show-off drifting, which can be pretty cool by the way.
it’s about drifting through a turn in a race, as a technique to get out of the turn faster. Read the rest of the thread and you’ll see mentions of racers who do drift, on ourpose.
A long time ago I read a book by an english race car driver (sports cars) about racing and techniques, such as “clipping apexes”, “heel and toe” handling of brake and accelerator, drifting and other tricky stuff. It was written, I think, in the "50s, and times have changed, but it was not about show drifting.
I wish I could remember the author.
Besides, drifting, like wrestling, is fun. 
BTW; how’d you do at Monte Carlo last year?
Drifting in Nascar from last weeks race in Las Vegas
Not intentional, but not something you normally see at 180mph either. Watch the clip the whole way through to see the drifting. The shot from the following car is probably the best.
Goblinboy: Exactly, precisely what I was thinking of above.
I gotta give it to the driver, he did drift the car. Intentional or not. The beginning was oops, but the recovery was pure skill. It could have been messy.
I don’t follow NASCAR, so I know nothing about the driver.