Same principle as with the GT86... rear wheel drive + no grip = FUN. But pushed to the extreme.

its an example used with extreme exaggeration, so the usual "kids, don't try this at home" applies

In Malaysia cannot..

Slimmer tires + Potholes = More $$$

Haha, I think this slimness on a car this powerful is really just for closed circuits, there's no way you should drive like that on public roads... . But for drifting competitions? Nice. Or would that be considered cheating?

But the question remains: Why do we go for tyres as wide as possible? For safety reasons I can understand it, but otherwise... if you want to drift, have a bit of fun, narrower tyres seem the way to go (of course not this extreme).

Also slimmer tyres are cheaper, right? As in go for 195 instead of 235... something like that.

Basically this is the same thing Toyota did with the GT86. Instead of obsessing with lap times and grip they just gave it slippery tyres... and everyone loves it.

This post has been edited by kadajawi: Apr 11 2013, 01:03 PM

GT86 no grip? for real? i thot the fun come from the car behavior it self and not just from tyre

They are using Toyota Prius tyres for a reason... The balance is there of course, but from what I gathered the fun comes from being able to handle the car easily during drifts, and to be able to get it to drift easily. And that's a lack of grip. It's genius, really. After all, track times are irrelevant for most drivers, but fun isn't. The bad tyres let you drift at slow speeds.

Heard it from Jeremy Clarkson?

Haha, yes. But other sources seem to say so too.

I bet those video are taken after few perfection attempts thus it looks good.
I think this is a big no though. Your car's acceleration and braking affected big time.
If you want to drift the proper way, just get a proper car with monstrous torque.
AFAIK, none of the drift drivers out there is doing this. Myself used to pour little amount of engine oil on
track to get the fill .
There are shortcut to more fun but it has to be balance.

The good thing is you can drift at very slow speeds. Obviously though for road use this is bad.

Also the driver here is a pretty good one, and he claims it is the most driftable car there is. Or something like that.

Why drifters don't do it? I guess cause that would be cheating (too easy) and audiences may not want to see them drift in slomo.

This post has been edited by kadajawi: May 1 2013, 06:50 PM

It not amounted to cheating but obviously, the amount of grip and torque work is synonym to produce a beautiful art of drift. Slim tyres just do not have enough grip to cope with the monster torque. You may end up doing an ugly donut or bump into an opponent on tandem.

I thought that was some beautiful drift there, and it's not like the Merc has little torque. Of course both cars need to use the same tyres for tandem, otherwise one will drift at much higher speeds.