Builds Vs. Experience - Opinions!

Personally I think competitive drifting is a combination of 3 things, all equally as important.

1. The cars capabilities
2. The drivers skill and experience
3. The mental aspect

And I think an equal amount of effort should be put into each one.

There are loads of people I watch who are brilliant in Mondello at practice days, have a very capable car, yet just don't seem to do it on the day of an event for some reason. Its very hard to replicate pressure, nerves, your own expectations etc, and everyone feels them, its just managing them that's important.

Ultimately if anyone isn't winning or doing as well as they hope at competing, I think they should look at which area is the biggest reason and try and improve that. Too many people are quick to point the finger at the car, but if you are not doing your best driving in that car on the day of the competition, then its not the cars fault. If its skill, then more seat time. And if its the mental side, an amazing really expensive car will only worsen the pressure and expectations. More competitions with less pressure untill you are comfortable would be money better spent imo.

From my own experience, I felt my mx5 was just not up to it last year, certainly not at the high end anyway. I thought I did ok with the mental side though, as I put some of my best runs in at competitions and when the chips were down. My skill level was yet to be known as I wasn't long at it. So I felt the car was what I most needed to upgrade.

I now have a good car (certainly for the level I'm at anyway), and what I found at Prodrift RD1 was that this completely changed the mental side of it for me. I no longer had excuses, I suddenly had pressure and expectations, mostly from myself.....and I drove worse than I ever did in the mx5 lol! Since then that's what I've worked on, and with a few good results your confidence grows, and you can start thinking that the mental side isn't bad now, is it the skill or the car that needs most attention? Only when you win it all can you stop asking those questions!

Sorry for the long post, but just the way I look at it.....if it makes any sense lol!

Well Said

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Originally Posted by PeterT

Haha I've never even owned a skateboard in my life! The 32 died! Sure I slide the cefiro daily, me and Si are going out sliding tonight! These track toys can't do that can they, but at the same time I could rock upto mondello on Saturday and have a blast which is why I love it! :) :)


Edit: I have strong opinions so don't go mad anyone who disagrees with me!!!

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I can bring my track toy out because its still insured and tested. :)

No matter what if you want to compete and be competitive you are going to have to build a car at some point regardless of what Motorsport it is, so why not do it right from the start and build a competitive car form the outset?

My method of thinking was spend a year building a competitive car and then having all the time in the world to get seat time and experience and learn about the car and develop it, 4,5 maybe 6 years, if it lasts that long :o
This year will be all about practice, learning about my own abilities as a driver and learning about the car and developing the way I want it Then hopefully have many successful years with it.
Would anybody else agree here?

I think the most important thing is mentality...something which I have not got a handle on yet! Then the skills, then the car.

"every great driver has the mental ability to slow things down when they are driving"

Many people have said this to me over the last while and it is something I do not know how to do. Watch some in car videos and some people look like they are driving to the shops on a Sunday morning while they may be in the middle of an aggressive battle & others look very panicked and flustered.

This is something I do not have a clue how to achieve, does anybody else know how to achieve this "state of mind" so to speak?

Bit of an essay, sorry about that :o:D

Just relax, it's fun. You know how to drive the car so just do what you normally do. :) I thought I would be a wreck at Punchestown but the second I first initiated over the crest it was just business as usual. Even when I fluffed clip 5 and went straight for the wall, I didn't panic, just yanked the handbrake to pull the back of the car around and finished the course. We're very lucky getting to do something we love so just remember that and enjoy yourself.

I think with people doing big builds on cars, like say buy car and put it straight in the garage for the rebuild without any seat time, they never get to feel the change a certain part has made to the car's handling or if they even need that part. Where as with a person who has built a car up bit by bit from standard, they know why they put in a certain part.

I think the DW forums are good for looking at shiny bit builds and all the people that secretly hope Mitto or Phil will quote their comment.

Back to the point, like has been said countless times already on this thread, you can't beat experience with a build

i kicked myself over my first build. when i was half way into it all i wished for was a shit box to get some track time in.

UPGRADE, don't build.

Example... Throwing a million suspension arms underneath the car.. How can you tell what difference it makes? i.e. I drive my car with standard arms, learn what it feels like, once it might feel like a limit has been reached and I feel like I have to upgrade, then I will and I will actually notice the difference.

In mountain biking, if you ride a hardtail hard, you will be a far better rider when you go onto full suspension.
Similar to learning in an 86, and then moving to an S-Body. Run what you have. Half the people with big builds do not drive in an exciting way, whereas sometimes people using the car to the max will prove way more entertaining while with the help of upgrades will remain competitive.

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Originally Posted by serious tom

In mountain biking, if you ride a hardtail hard, you will be a far better rider when you go onto full suspension.
Similar to learning in an 86, and then moving to an S-Body.

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actually thats a really good comparison tommy boy! i always rode a hardtail when i was riding dh, more on the limit fun stuff i found!

i have to say there is a load of poo being spoken in here,

what people class as "building a car" and what "actually building a car is" are two very diffrant things!

fitting adjustable suspension arms is not realy a big deal! but if you actually look at it logically what will a pair of rear camber arms cost you for a nissan?? 100 euro and how many tyres will you take off the car with perfect tread left on the outside and fucked on the inside?? in actual fact you are saveing yourself money in the long run!

as for haveing a nissan "drift car" with 100% standered lock!! go walk outside and piss upwards into the wind! go out on track not only will you be going slow you can carry feck all angle so pointless yet again!! 2 1euro coins and cut the lock stops! big deal

as for track time yes it will help you but no point doing 10-15 track days in a shitbox and the expecting to win pd not going to happen anymore! you have to have a decent car to get anyware, but at the end of it you can have a very good car and not be able to steer it

so you need to have a car with some bits done and be able to steer it