Whatever saves your bacon. Especially if it's the other guy understeering into the crash barriers and not flying sideways into your rear bumper. 
Same here.
Means you've messed up the corner and have to recover it by executing a beautiful countersteering slide. Then wave to the nice people and pretend like you did it on purpose. 
If I didn't recover it, does sideways into the bushes in my car, count?
Go-Karts (mess up a corner, exit with a flourish... impress people). Don't do it so often because I'm a clean driver.
But recently:
A Ford Ranger pick-up.
On dirt.
In the mud.
On tarmac.
Do parking lot donuts count?
Did a Bimmer once... that was nice. Actually drove a whole lot of Bimmers that day, but traction control on their higher models is a bummer.
Got a taxi ride from an ex-rally driver in an M5 and an M3. F.U.N.
Got to do it a few times in a Miata.
Oh... a Mini! Didn't get far out, though... too dry. Too much grip. I hope to get one for the rainy season, though.
Got to try it in a 200SX. Didn't get it far out either, though. Didn't have enough space. Besides, it was a friend's car, he'd just bought it, and I didn't want to wreck it. I was just checking the suspension for him, which did feel quite loose.
Subaru Impreza 2.0RS (non-turbo)... lovely to hold in a four-wheel drift under power.
A Kia Picanto.
A Toyota Corolla. The ugly new one: no rear sway bar, torsion-bar rear, crappy tires, heavy 2.0 up front... dorifto city. I can't believe women actually buy these things for "safety."
A Toyota Yaris (Vios) sedan. Read above, add really gorgeous 17" wheels, add crappy Yok dB tires... skip-grip-skip-grip-skip-grip... not much fun.
A Kia Rio. Though nose first plowing across a flat piece of asphalt six lanes wide probably doesn't count as drifting. Horrible, horrible tires. Terrible fun.
A first-gen Honda Fit (buddy's car)... amazingly easy to scandinavian flick. Although I suppose the dirty road helped. New one, not so much.
A Mazda2... difficult... too much grip.
A CX9.
No, really, a CX9. For a few tenths of a second before the stability control stepped in. Damnit. Then again. Stability control. Again. Stability control. Damnit!
A whole bunch of Ford Focuses. On the dirt, twice in competition. On the track once, with the wifey in the passenger seat, which is why my wife doesn't want me tracking anymore.
A Toyota Prius. Not on purpose, actually. Around a roundabout. At sodding 40 km/h. In the dry. Holding it countersteering through half the the roundabout under power. (Again: safety? Toyota? Wow.)
AWDs would help kick-start it in yours. Whatever your feelings about them, you've got to start with what you've got.
Our area has a small "pro" scene driven by a bunch of young fellers who have the income. Most people around here don't have the jack to drift. Up until this century, punitive taxes on expensive cars and powerful cars (bigger engines) have limited the supply of good rear drivers. We have lots of Starlets, Escorts and old Lancer EXs, but those are too short-wheelbase for competitive drifting.
Never got one from intentionally drifting. (my car doesn't count... I hit a patch of dirt and went sideways) I don't drift for showboating, just for photo ops (I'm still pissed my brother lost those Corolla pics... they were hilarious) and when rallycrossing. I'm a very conservative, so when I do pull a drift, I survey the corner first, do a few test runs, and give myself lots of space on the money run.
The dirt.
On the track, if it looks like you're doing it on purpose, you'll get the stink eye from the event organizers and not get invited again.
It's sad that the rallycross scene hasn't really picked up around here. Rallycross is gentler on the cars than a full-out track attack, because it's slower... (though there is danger if you dig into a rut and turn over... and gravel pinging off the underside is no fun)... still, rallycross is much more fun than driving on a regular track.
I love watching it, and exiting a corner with a "dab of oppo" is fun, but I think I'll leave the dangerous stuff to the pros.
Last edited: Jun 21, 2010