Going Drifting: Part 3 — E-Brake Initiation and Clutch Kicking

By Justin Banner

Ever been curious as to how you can make a car start to slide like the professionals in Formula Drift? Well, look no further as we’ll give you a brief look into drifting starting with the different types of initiations. We’ll start with the most basic and one you’ve probably even played around with as a teenager: Emergency Brake Initiation.

DISCLAIMER: Drifting, as with any motorsport, is dangerous and the techniques in these articles are to be done on a closed course. DO NOT DRIFT ON THE STREET!

It’s the first and very basic technique that is taught in drifting classes around the country. You’ll rip the handbrake up, lock the rear tires, and initiate into a slide to start your drift and feed in throttle to keep the drift going. However, you do have to add some steering before you do the handbrake or else you’ll just end up going straight instead of sliding sideways. So, as you begin your turn, push in the clutch and pull up the handbrake to get the rear wheels locked up. As the rear begins to come around, start adding some counter-steer to keep the car going in the direction you desire, and then feed in that throttle to keep the drift going.

How much counter-steer will be determined by how far out the rear of the car goes and your particular corner. The bigger the angle, the more counter-steer you’ll need.

Clutch Kicking

If you’re familiar with dirt-bike riding and two-strokes, you’re probably going to recognize this technique. As you steer into the corner this time, you’re not going to rip up the handbrake, but instead you’re going to hold the throttle and pop the clutch. This sends a shock to the rear wheels and causes them to judder loose as you turn in. You can also begin to fan the clutch over and over to keep a drift going. This is a technique heavily utilized in lower-horsepower cars, but Coyote V8s can use this technique as well if you begin to lose drift in the middle of the corner and you can’t lose speed by using the handbrake.

The clutch kick is a very useful technique in most cars; however, the challenge will be controlling the throttle as you kick the clutch — you don’t necessarily want to change the RPM too much as you pop the clutch over and over. As you learn, you’ll start to “feel” it out and know how much throttle you actually need.

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images [Speedhunters, WikiHow]