Next Christa drove Drift School USA’s Lexus IS300. The IS300 has a lot more power than the other cars but was bigger and heavier. It was also the only car to have an angle kit for a lot of steering angle.
Christa quickly got used to the IS300 and made a lot more tire smoke with the additional power.
Christa liked the IS300 the least even with the angle kit and the much higher power. She felt it was heavy and more clumsy with poorer response. To me, it looked like she was doing pretty good! Unfortunately, her shoulder was beginning to give out and she needed a rest.
While Christa was taking a break, Taka forced me to give the AE86 a spin. I had my doubts that I could learn how to drift at all. After all my famous pro FD driver friends have tried for years to teach me unsuccessfully Even in a 1000 hp FD pro car, I would just spin out or understeer. I had listened to all of Taka’s lectures with Christa and listened to his tips while she was driving so I could give it a go without much more instruction.
At first, I had a real hard time. I tried for about 10 minutes straight and was just driving like a dog chasing his tail even with Taka’s instruction. Then Taka noticed that I was looking out the windshield and not moving my head correctly. He then coached me and had me look where I wanted to go rather than stare out the windshield.
Taka also noticed that due to my road racing experience, as soon as I felt the car start to slide, I would start countersteering immediately. With my years of instinct, it was hard to stop this. Taka made me count and wait till the car spin a full 180 before countersteering. Suddenly it all clicked and it was easy for me to do doughnuts. Wow, this was fun!
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I’m not sure where to start this. I have a story about drifting. I have a story about learning car control. And I have a story about manual transmissions (well more than one)
I think I’ll tell an abridged story about manuals.
Me my wife and two children (at the time children aged two and three) went to some picnic /party when we lived in Charlotte NC.
One of the kids there just got his permit. And he was basically walking form person to person begging to drive their cars.
Well of course I said yes. So me him and my son (the 3yr old) went to my car. We get in. My son is standing between the front seats (shut up. We were in a closed parking lot)
Me: Okay, press in on the clutch and push the red button.
Him: Do you mean the brake pedal? That’s how you start my dads car.
Me: No the clutch. The pedal all the way on the left.
Him: (looking in the foot-well) Your car has three pedals. Cars don’t have three pedals.
My 3yr old: It’s the 3rd pedal all the way on the left. One two three. Gas, brake, clutch. Press the clutch to the floor. Put the sifter in one. One is all way to the left, and forward. Slowly raise the clutch till you feel the car start to move. Then slowly press the gas while continuing to raise the clutch.
Him:……….
Believe it or not, that kid did great. He stalled a few times. Did a few burnouts (by accident) But he got the hang of it. I don’t know what my children’s generation will be called. But rest assured that at least two people will be able to drive manual in the future.
As for drifting. I could do the figure 8 pretty easily. (but I could never link corner after corner) I think that stems from a few things. I’m old (44) So I grew up driving 1970s and 1980s RWD American barges. And I learned to drive, and had lived most of my life in Pennsylvania. So 9 months out of the year, its frozen solid. You basically need to learn to drive with the throttle. And for quite a few years, I did (very) armature rally racing and rally-cross.
I always push rally-cross to teach car control. It’s super cheap. It’s easy on the car. And it’s a controlled environment. Drifting schools are awesome also. But your and daughter might want to check out a few rally-cross events.
Your son is awesome. I hope when I have kids that my kids will be able to do the same when they are 3. My car will never be auto if I can have my way, the problem is going to be my wife’s car which will 100% be auto.
Well that’s a different manual story. On one of our first dates we went rock climbing. Long story short, I run my bell pretty good (20-ish concussions and counting)
But she had to drive me to the hospital. Not only could she drive stick. But she was revmatching.
Turns out when she was a teenager, she used to rally race with her father. And when she took her driving test. It was required to use a manual.
Not nearly or even close to being as cool as your wife. I forced my then gf, now wife to learn manual because she didn’t have a car and we didn’t need two cars. Nor did we want the payments of two cars.
So she learned manual in my fully bolted and tuned Mazdaspeed 3 and drove it every now and then. It’s funny when the car gets spotted, and people in the Mazda clubs exclaimed that there’s a cute chick driving a loud car. She loved the whistling BPV and would do it up and down a street just for shits and giggles.
She has lots of bad habits from driving it, one of which is that she’s used to being able to pass almost everything in 2nd or 3rd gear. When she got her Mini 1.5t, she tried to do the same and I had to tell her to back off cause it ain’t happening. 280whp != 135 crank hp.
No Millennial will be able to steal your car.
haha, that’s so funny….i was thinking that the other day…does anybody even know how to drive stick anymore? What are we now, like 1% of drivers, if that?
Over here in europe its manditory to drive a stick if you want to drive a stick and auto. If taking your exam in an auto you are actually not allowed to drive stick. Then again: Most cars are still stick over here, but the amount of auto’s sold is on the rise since about 10 years or so. About 35% of all new cars sold compaired to 10% 10 years earlier is an auto over here.
As for drifting: Same racing experience, so encountered the same problems initially. It’s weird, but I guess we kind of have a radar for what components are designed for and actually have to do to get the fastest lap times. With drifting your kind of upsetting that, which still is counter intuitive to me. Then again: I’m a better engineer then a driver. Winning for me was actually more down to a better setup and having a faster can then being a better driver….
Same with me, I used to podium about 80% of the time but it was due to me having a better engineered car rather than me being the best driver.
Who says it doesn’t pay to be a nerd 😉
14-year-old gearhead here! yes, we do!
I’m the in between generation, I’m 31 this year, but I’ve been a car guy since I was 2. I’m just hoping my kids when I have them will be the same. And also hoping there’s enough left of the car scene for them to be car people.
The new M3 I bought will be staying in the family for a long time(if it doesn’t break down repeatedly)
Yeah right next to my +5hp blipshift sticker, is the “my car us equipped with a millennial anti theft device”.
And four TARDIS stickers. Because, nerd.
You guys realize a “Millennial” is born born between 1981 and 1996 right?
Some demographers say 1985 to 2000
Well as I’ve said before. People complaining about their millennial children not being able to do something. Are basically complaining about their parenting ability.
My wife is 36. But she is from another country (Malaysia) and in her country when she took her license test. You needed to do it with a manual. You also needed to change a flat. Add gas and oil, coolant etc. At least know how to change sparkplugs and set timing. You needed to test at night and day. In the rain and what not.
Now they do let you take the test with an auto. But it says “auto only” as a restriction on your license.
I took (and passed) the test myself. In my Fiat I have there. And I will tell you the test to drive a car, was harder than trying to get a helicopter license here .