Drift Tengoku — October 2003

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About this issue

English draft translations are available throughout this issue. Unclear or unreadable OCR remains flagged; these drafts have not received full image proofreading. The archive retains 310 scan files, including two duplicate captures, representing 308 unique pages.

Browse all magazines · September 2004 issue

Page 32 · English draft

Draft translation. Unclear OCR remains flagged; full image proofreading has not been performed.

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  1. Instructor: a drifter who loves experimenting
  2. 福田浩司, Fluke (name reading unverified)
  3. Making everything rigid isn’t automatically better! I’ll explain the effective changes so you don’t modify things unnecessarily!
  4. [Unclear: corrupted heading fragment]
  5. …I’ll teach you!
  6. [Unclear: isolated corrupted character]
  7. [Unclear: damaged handling-related fragment]
  8. …handling tuning… [fragment]
  9. Secret techniques
  10. Improving direct steering feel
  11. The steering’s…
  12. Location assistance: Master Garage / Winds Auto track day
  13. Photography: 岩島浩樹
  14. 1
  15. Drift cars
  16. Handling
  17. Essential!
  18. Secret techniques
  19. Performance improvement
  20. “Leaving a little softness within a direct-feeling setup makes drifting much easier. I’ve tried spherical bearings, rigid mounts and body reinforcement, but going too far makes the car too abrupt. Stopping at a moderate level is the best handling tune for drifting,” says Fukuda of Fluke. His 180SX combines aftermarket parts with custom work. The most effective change was pillow-ball tension rods: unlike rubber bushes, they do not deflect and let toe shift on entry. To use them effectively, he reinforced the tension brackets in two places per side, because hard driving with spherical rods can peel welds. His conclusion is that spherical bearings and rigid mounting improve front-end response, but excessive changes make the car too sensitive and difficult to control. Standard lower-arm bushes flex and dull movement, so he had previously used spherical-bearing-equipped aftermarket or modified factory arms—[continues on page 33].
  21. Spherical bearings and rigid mounts are common tuning steps, even beyond drift cars. They provide directness and quick response, but can work against you in drifting. A setup that performs well for grip driving is little use if it makes drifting harder. Fukuda explains the key points for better handling.