Drift and on road racing differences?
 

I was just wondering what the major differences between an on-road track car and a drift car is.

I have been interested in going to a on-road track because there is one local to my house, and my friend is offering to give me his Yokomo Drift RTR. I just dont know what I might need to do besides change out the tires to have fun on the track.

I tried using the search functions and I couldnt find the info I was looking for. simply posting up a link to another thread will suffice.

Thanks guys!

some drift cars have a different chassis layout to the race cars. motor and battery position are the two main potential differences. and race cars tend to be belt driven to handle the insane power they can use where the rtr drift cars are shaft driven(correct me if i am wrong please). i am sure a basic drift car will go round a race track on grip tires pretty well as they should have all the basic adjustments-camber,castor,ride height etc. for drift info check out driftmission.com. hope this helps

Thanks for the response. I actually have no interest in drift, but if there was something I need to do to my yokomo drift car to make it semi competitive in beginner classes then I would do it. Does anyone else have any other input?

I think the biggest difference is tires, TBH, at least in basic layout. A drift car might also have a lower gear ratio in one diff and a drift box or gyro to help with steering.
I don't think belt or shaft makes much of a difference. IOW, they both can be used in either configuration. Nowadays, belt is King, but in itself doesn't dictate if a car is a course car or drift car.
To ninjlao, possibly the only thing that makes your car a "drift car" is the name on the box, tires and body. Buy the correct tires and possibly some other small parts and it's now a road car.
Just my opinion.

One big difference on shaft and belt driven cars are the motor position.

Shaft driven usually have the motor mounted along the main shaft and that may cause torque steering in one direction, it can however be helped with chassis tweak.

Driftcars may also be equipped with front oneway diff or oneway pulley (on belt driven) to create the effect of rear wheel breaking, like pulling the hand break to get the rear around.

Driftcars may also use spool instead of diff, it's ok to use spool in the front for on-road racing but not on rear axle.

Otherwise where should not be to much differers :)

The main difference is the diffs in the car. For drifting the diffs are usually locked up so the wheels each side are locked together. This reduces grip which is what is needed to help initiate drifts then keep them going. The front is okay to be solid but you will want to make sure you have a differential in the rear of your car if you are going to go racing, if not you will have stability problems..


A proper race chassis is designed for performance, so you have a much more expensive belt drive chassis. The high end drift cars will also be belt driven, although they usually have a different chassis layout as well. The majority of drift chassis are shaft drive because they are cheap to manufacture and easy to build, not for any performance advantage.