The selections in the corners of the carear mode, like city courses, original courses can be run in a free run type mode. When you select the track to run, pick practice after that and you can run around the track as many times as you want for 5 cr.
I like to drift on Autumn Ring and Autumn Ring mini. Autumn Ring mini has a nice back section where you can drift consecuitive left turns. I've done it once, but most of the time that I try it, the RPMs drop too much and I loose my wheel spin. If I put N1 tires in the rear and N2 tires up front that might help, but when I actually did drift the two left turns I was using N2s in the rear and N3s up front in a Trueno S.S. version with no other mods.