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.

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Page 53 · English draft

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

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  1. GETHE GOOS HANDLING!!
  2. Thorough [OCR damaged]
  3. How to build a car that corners
  4. What happens when you widen it?
  5. Only the front…
  6. After driving…
  7. …more resistance to rolling in corners! [opening clipped]
  8. Now for the final chapter, Lesson 4. We investigate how handling changes when front track is widened with wide-track spacers. They are popular for setting wheels flush with the fenders, but what effect do they have on driving?
  9. …find out afterward!
  10. Lesson 4
  11. With wide-track spacers…
  12. Widening the track
  13. [Unclear: damaged caption fragment]
  14. Track widened by 30 mm
  15. How does handling change?
  16. We removed the front wheels and fitted 15 mm wide-track spacers on each side, widening track by 30 mm. Mitsue’s Silvia now has front tires protruding slightly, giving it a bold appearance. Its wheels are 7J with standard-size 205-width, 15-inch tires. “Will the tires hit the fenders when driving?” she worried. “Probably not at this ride height,” the expert replied. His comments increasingly seem backed by experience: he really knows everything! [OCR damaged]
  17. …but the feel has changed a lot. [continued]
  18. What is it? The movement feels sluggish. Once the rear starts sliding, it keeps sliding…
  19. …the lesson
  20. …but controlling the drift is very easy. Rough inputs do not upset the car, so casual countersteer following its movement works. It might be an excellent setup for someone just starting drifting. Precise, nervous steering is unnecessary; slightly larger initiation inputs seem to work better. [OCR damaged]
  21. Calling it sluggish might sound negative…
  22. .
  23. …I am dissatisfied. Where did the crispness from the toe adjustment go?
  24. But for me, it is a little…
  25. I did not expect spacers to change this much!
  26. …that is what I think. However…
  27. “Those tires seem to be struggling,” says Fukuda. Widening track with low-grip tires prevents the desired setup characteristics. [OCR damaged]
  28. She does seem to be struggling…
  29. …apparently…
  30. The wide-track spacer used is 15 mm [OCR loses one digit]. It is the common type with hub studs fitted. [thickness checked against adjoining paragraph, visual confirmation pending]
  31. The tires protrude a little!
  32. Widening track gives more resistance to lateral movement, but becomes more demanding of tire choice. [wording needs source review]
  33. …under lateral load it resists more. Perhaps “more planted” is easier to understand.
  34. Widening only the front track, under lateral load…
  35. Explanation! Without high-grip tires, the front… [OCR merges heading and text]
  36. …tires become harder to load, so without grip…
  37. However, it becomes harder to generate roll, and the front…
  38. The tires protruded about 1 cm beyond the fenders, but driving seemed unaffected. The appearance became much wilder…
  39. …and that is exactly what happened to Mitsue. DNA GP front tires do not offer enough grip here, as her impressions show. With high-grip tires in the Neova class, the feel should change substantially. [historical instructor claim]
  40. …can feel as though they are sliding away…
  41. …that is how it changed.
  42. Setup techniques you can use at the track!
  43. …because the front becomes a strong pivot, it becomes easier to spin. When widening the front track, upgrade the rear tires by a level or take some other balancing measure. [historical instructor claim]
  44. Even with high-grip tires, there can be disadvantages… [OCR clips “demerit”]
  45. [Unclear: corrupted heading]
  46. Setup
  47. Basic course
  48. I learned a lot!
  49. Today…
  50. Mitsue’s thoughts
  51. This was my first experience of making detailed adjustments on site and then driving. Before, I just thought being able to drift somehow was enough and rarely changed anything. Today I could feel each setup change, which was useful and educational. Everyone has a setup that suits them, but I hope my comments help a little. Now that I know simple adjustments change driving, I want to try setting the car up to my own satisfaction. I think that might let me drive better than I do now. [OCR damaged]
  52. Fun, isn’t it? ♪
  53. [Unclear: clipped phrase ending]
  54. Maybe I will try changing things myself from now on! It was fun how a small change altered the car’s movement. [OCR damaged]
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