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How do you afford to drift?
If any of you go drifting, how do you afford to do it?
I mean, you have to have a few sets of tires for the day....on top of the cost to mount and balance each of those wheels,etc. |
depends on how much time you plan on shredding tires, drift days are expensive, i typically have a set of cheap stock wheels with drift spares in my trunk/hatch.
for me which makes a total of only 2 times i can change over to new rubber so i have to conserve a bit and not power over at every turn killing my tires. I also don't buy new tires, i buy used tires at the mexican tire shops that have at least 80% tred left. about $11-17 (depending on size) per wheel for mounting and balancing. For a single day for a drifting sanction, i can burn anywhere from $400-$1000 dollars on tires, brake pads, 1 set of spare rotors, extra motor oil, jug of coolant, gasoline, food and drink. Id love the ability to change over more but id have to bring in a chaser van and be all Project D like..and have all my tools tires and shit laying in the van. I only carry a small amount of basic tools with me at all times, and a jack with 2 stands. now what can get reaaallly expensive is preping your car for a drift day which also includes adding necessary qualified safty equipment to the mix. Helmet, gloves, battery tie downs, if you have a racing harness they need to be mounted on a harness bar, roll cages need to be welded depending on who is sponsoring the drift day. just to get into drifting expect to lay down several pay checks just to play a few times during any given season. |
And learning to do it in a safe setting like a performance driving course at your local track just adds to the expense, but its far less expensive than the repercussions of doing it on the street.
Learning drifting on the streets (D)= possible fun (P) - cost of wear and tear (W)- any damage to vehicle from hitting curbs, light poles, firehydrants, etc (H) - fines (F) - jail time (J) - legal fees (L) - seized car that gets crushed (depending on how douchey the local legal system gets) (S) - medical fees from injuries sustained in crashes (M) so the cleaner equation can be written as: D=P-W-H-F-J-L-S-W Compare that to learning in a safe and controlled setting with a purpose built training car, a wide open area, and some cones: Drift School (performance driving/race school) (D) = Fun (F) - Cost of the lesson/course (C) Which would be: D=F-C I'm a big advocate of keeping the racing to sanctioned areas. A few years back I came back to work at a Jiffy Lube (Laugh if you want to, but knowing what goes on inside those places is the sole reason why I don't let anyone else work on my cars.) from a family vacation to find that the wooden utility pole infront of the building had been totally trashed. The bottom half was gone, leaving the top half hanging from the wires and there were chunks of sod missing where something had dug into it. After a lot of digging through the newspaper archives, I discovered that the damage was from street racing. An Accord with two or three teens in it was racing some other car, lost control, and took out the pole. No one survived and the other driver was charged with a mess of stuff including "reckless endangerment" and "homicide by vehicle." |
I work. Lol
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douche bags make a lot of money, apparently.
but the kids i know doing it on the cheap, have cheap ass cars and get junk yard tires and cheap wheels to mount em on. |
federal tires
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My friend's uncle owns a tire distribution shop.. and his nephew is a mercedez Mechanic. Another friend is rich and owns her own track. She also has a shop on board to do any fixing if needed.
We each pay for our own gas, oil, water and food. :) |
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The guys I've seen at Horse Thief Mile during drift days are usually driving S13's or beaters. All hobbies are expensive, you've gotta pay to play! When I used to do motorcycle track days, it was easily 1K just for the weekend! That was only a track day, a race day, triple that amount! Having hookups can definitely help as well! Track entrance for Sat and Sun=$150/day A set of Medium compount tires=$350 Gas to get up there=$180 Lodging=$70 Food=$50 That is not including the other items: Race Suit=$800-$1700 Gloves=$200 Boots=$300 Helmet=$600 Generator/Invertor=$800 Tire Warmers=$300 Race Bodywork=$700 Suspension work=$400-3,000 |
let me break it down for you, this is what me and brother do, its up to you how or what to cut to save you money, some may or may not apply to you.
Event entrance fee: $115 to $130 (depending who you choose to go & event venue) Used Tires: $35 to $45 each x 6 (depending on what brand of tires you can get and size) usually warrior tires or some china made tires. Auto transporter: U-haul $54.95 x 2 days (pick it up a day before the event) here is whats the rate right now http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...0car/uhaul.png getting ready for the event: higher grade oil $13~ x 6(just incase) radiator fluid $25~ gear oil (tranny and rear diff) $34~ brake & power steering fluid $12~ Misc. stuff incase you pop or burst something on the track like extra power steering belt, fan belt (if you dont have an electric), radiator hoses, clamps & ect $100~ hotel or motel: $55~ a night food: if your going on willow springs raceway near the entrance or outside they have tacobell or jack in a crack next to ralph's $20 2 person petrol: the suv or truck thats pulling your car $200, if your not using a racing fuel $80 so lets total it all from the highest amount: $1,115~ but its hella fun http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...r/July01-1.jpg |
Im debt driven......
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o yeah this are stuff you should have already that you'll really need helmet atleast snell SA2000, jack w atleast 2 jack stands and lug wrench I use battery powered impack gun
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A grand to slide arond on a track for a day?
.... Yeah I don't get it. And how is grip racing more expensive? If we are talking autocross and trackdays, that's not nearly as bad. |
How do the "kids" that do this afford this? 18 19 yr old kids? That's way expensive. I want to auto x when I get my brz and I can't seen going around through some cones to be that expensive :/
I guess this is why people resort to the streets or mountains. I remember seeing that mustang drift in japan video and the Japanese fellow didn't have gas money so the American gave him a few bucks so they could drift in the mountains. 135 a day for track use? Is maintaining Tarmac that expensive? |
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Autox is a lot cheaper but you still need to realize you are going to be pushing your car to the limits even at lower speeds so new brakes and tires will be needed much much more often than if you were to just commute to work and the grocery everyday. Don't forget you still need helmet ect but a lot of times guys will let you borrow theirs if it is your first day. |
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If you love it then money shouldn't be a problem.
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$130 for a track day, shieet, I only see $250-$300 around here! Bullshit east coast tax.
BTW, I hear drift nights are a lot cheaper... http://www.drifted.com/oliver-petalv...rts-park/3461/ $20 isn't that bad. |
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I cant drift my front wheel drive car but heres what I do on the street. I have ''eco'' tires and they are rated at 44 psi max. I pump em up to 50 cold which lowers grip a huge amount and completely avoids wheel hop. Then I shred rubber for a few feet here and there in empty parking lots or at random stop signs and take freeway on ramps at the edge of traction which is quite safe in my super duper understeery car. But seriously try overfilling your tires a bit, it frees them up a huge amount for low speed fun.
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To the OPs question, it is no different than anything else: it is about having the disposable income to be able budget for these things. When I was a college kid - just outta college kid - now way could I afford to do trackdays, now in my advancing years I am making more money, I am smarter with it (cutting back on hookers and blow really helped ;)) and I can afford to do so. If finding the money/budget to do any hobby is difficult then you simply shouldn't do it. |
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You can do those prices. If you are not-for-profit :P I would not trust any for profit days in the 150/day range though. |
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In my experience low price trackdays attract PS3/XBox 'wheelmen', knackered cars held together with chewing gum or both ;-) Making sure you don't get t-boned by some hero in a hairpin or waiting for the latest oil slick to end a session isn't fun. As you point out 2-day weekend events are a great way to get more (per day) value and even take the opportunity to work as a marshall one day for heavily discounted/free track time the other :-) |
It's not as bad as a bunch of people are saying. It's expensive as you want it to be. If you're worried about cost, don't run 18" wheels. They aren't required for a drift car. Realistically, 17s are better anyways. You don't need "special tires" either. Normal tires are more than adequate. Drift days and events of that nature are cheap in most cases.
Burning tires up....please. Unless the track is shit or you're putting down high power numbers or running at high speeds (or a combo of the 3), one set of tires will last an entire event AND THEN SOME without any problems. On low boost on my 14 (230ish hp), I ran over 30 runs in one track event after having the tires on my car for over two months. After the event, I still ran them for another few months before it was time to replace them. If you're worried about cost and want something that has enough power to have a bunch of fun in and be cost effective... 1. get an s13 w/ a basic SR swap. Stock T25 turbo. Basic mods: midmount, exhaust, boost controller, intake etc. which will put you about 250hp or so. Approx. $4000 2. Get a set of decent coils ie KSport, Stance. Approx. $1000 3. Weld the diff. Less than $100 4. Get a good bucket seat, steering wheel, shift knob, and turn spin knob/ebrake knob(if you don't know what that is, it allows you to pull and release the sidebrake without having to hold in the locking button) All together, no more than $1,000 5. Some better brake pads, lines, fluid is a good idea as well. Less than $400 6. Some type of aftermarket wheels...seriously just get some cheap 16s or 17s which can be found all over the place. For instance, (I HATE THEM) but get some 4 lug 16" rota grids with some tires and throw them on. All together, MAYBE $1100 All together, Approx. $7,600. And you can probably get it done cheaper than that. After that, you just need to maintain the car as you would any other. A pair of new 16" tires can be had for less than $120 installed where I get em from. If you have doubts, look at some of the ebisu drift missle vids. All those cars are beat to shit, running pretty much bone stock motors with just the bare basics. It's about the driver. You don't need a $30,000 build to get better. YOU NEED SEAT TIME! So, you can spend all of your money just trying to build a car to pro am status and never drive it or you can spend it on actually driving and enjoying it. |
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.....yeah, you are flat out STUPID. Everything said in this statement verifies that. |
I'm actually contemplating buying an M3 solely for drifting fun. They're really cheap nowadays.
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E36?
Drifted my buddy's around a course a few times. Bone stock. Solid chasis for sure. Not my #1 choice though. |
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I'm wondering though, do you think the stock LSD is sufficient? |
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Not that at all. I just feel like my money would go much further in a different car. The LSD seemed to be fine. It didn't give me any problems. 3rd gear entry (approx. 65mph), ebrake, then 2nd gear course. The car was running some grippier falken tires and it required a bit more effort to keep a nice angle going through some of the sections...but nothing really tricky. Just kicked the clutch when it started to grip up and it kept on going. Balanced, good starting power and torque. Could definitely benefit from some coils and a better seat and steering wheel. Fine tuning the dampening and having stiffer spring rates wouldve helped the car, while the seat and wheel wouldve just given a better feel of the controls. I hate the stock wheel and shifter wit the normal seats. None of it is where I want it to be |
Thanks for that insight, I'll keep it in mind... good to hear it has potential.
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1. A stock KA is more than sufficient for learning to drift, not to mention will force you to learn better vehicle and pedal control instead of just realying on more power. 2. KSports are trash, I know from personal experience. 3. Do NOT ever weld the diff on a car you plan on driving on the street. There is a reason that you can't buy a car from the factory with a spool (which is what a welded open differential is emulating), it's very unsafe. Your wheels all turn at different speeds when turning, compound the inability of the rears to do that with a rainy day or even just the need to make sudden, unexpected maneuvers and you're asking to slide into a pole/ditch etc. Take the money you saved by not doing an engine swap and buy a quality differential, and have a lot of money left over. 4. Good advice on this one. 5. More good advice for any car that will be used in driving events. 6. Unnecessary waste of money, get a set of spare stock wheels for track days, they're stronger than ROTA's anyways, and more affordable. You are absolutely right about seat time, again, great advice for any driving event, even more important for actual motorsport. More seat time is the best "mod" any of us can do. I would say any car that sees the track requires much more maintenance than a DD, for both safety and reliability reasons. All in all you are right, it doesn't have to be as expensive as a lot of people are trying to make it. The best advice I can give it get a good helmet, go practice at sanctioned events, and if at all possible, don't drift your daily driver. There's a reason most drift cars look like beat up lego cars, wall contact is a fact of the event. I'd say a good alternative is to go to an Autocross event. It's a fair bit easier on your car when you're first starting out, there are a lot of incredibly knowledgeable people who will happily advise you on how to become a faster driver (as opposed to just sliding around and making a lot of smoke), there are classes for stock vehicles (less money spent on mods), and at the end of the day you have an actual time you ran on the course which you can compare to others, which allows you to make measurable goals for improvement. To be honest I'm fairly biased, while I thin drifting is fun, and I'm glad it's getting young people interested in cars, I don't consider it a sport, the "judging to determine a winner" is too subjective. Dog shows have judges, races have time slips. |
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2. Old ksports are yes, but the new models are actually very good for the money, and we are talking about building a car on a budget. 3. Fair enough and definitely the way to do it..but ive had a welded diff on one of my 13s and drove it daily and had no problems. Maybe a tad bit overexaggerating there. I know tons and tons of people that run them, including pro and proam drivers, some of which, still daily the vehicle too. Lsd is the proper way, but not the only way. Keep in mind that I was talking about buying the chasis with the motor already swapped. Not buyibg then swaping yourself. Nothing wrong with that, and realistically, is one of the best ways to start. As far as wheels go, I definitely dont reccomend rota, I was just throwing names and prices out as example. Stock wheels are fine, but I was also addressing the myth saying big wheels are needed when they arent, which is why I mentioned some 16" wheels. Also, not all drift events will require you destroy your car. Not all course layouts have krails or walls. A lot of courses are done on skidpads. Once you start getting better, youll find yourself going to bigger, faster course layouts overtime. Thats when youll start coming across those obstacles and risks. Remember, when you push the boundaries, they can push back, and will. I know. Tandem run 3rd gear entry swung wide and went into the wall in the black 14 shown below. $$$$$$hit happens. But keep in mind, that was a proam event. in the end, remember, a fun car can be built for little money. You build as you need it to be. You learn to use the little you have and as you get better, you slowly build up and at that point, youre able to use the extra you put on. |
You drive an NSX and a 911 and you have to ask how people can afford to drift?!? How can you afford to drive either one of those nice machines? Same answer. I imagine tires are a hell of a lot cheaper than your car purchases.
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I don't know about ksports but Megan are complete trash and in similar price range so doesn't sound good for them.
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In case you guys haven't already heard (this is floating around the forum & inline w/ why Toyota chose skinny Prius tires), here's your solution:
[u2b]HPh90yNX-mY[/u2b] |
^^ Shit is stupid. almost 500hp on tires that are as wide as a ninja 250s. Hardly any grip which is no bueno
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