Actually, there are times when drifting is the fastest way to take a corner, it makes it possible for you to enter a turn very fast and at the same time, it keep the revs high so that you exit the turn much faster. Sometimes, only sometimes, I'm not saying drifting is faster than gripping.

 

Actually, if you have a subscription for Sport Compact Car like me you

would no drifting in any corner is the slowest way around. They did a big

article and tests on drifting vs. grip on really tight turns. Obviously grip

won.

 

Well, I did say in the argument that sometimes, drifting is faster and I will give you an example. I don't know if you're old enough to remember Group B rally, but that was one of the greatest racing events in history. Believe it or not but drifting was discovered by racing in the touge. They used drifting because for sharp wide turns, they were able to enter faster than grip and because their revs were high, they were able to exit faster than grip. Now, what does this have to do with Group B rally? Well, it just so happens that the Japanese used a special technique called the Scandinavian Flick which was from Group B, which in drifting terms, it is the feint. This technique allowed the car to oversteer into the turn at maximum speed while reving high allowing the car to start gripping once it gets on the outside of the exiting turn. And don't say, "Oh, the car slides because they are on loose gravel.." Thats true, but could you explain why they swing the car outward and back inward before they enter the turn to start drifting? They do this because they know from experience that they will take turns faster drifting than they would gripping.

Also watch this, anyone would know how to take a hairpin would agree with me that drifting through it would be the fastest method.
YouTube - Rally Drifting

And also, take a look at this, notice that he starts the drift extremely early but watch how fast he exits, that's the power behind drifting.
YouTube - 神岡ターン Kamioka turn

And lastly, here's a great video of Group B rally featuring the Audi Rally Team.
YouTube - Audi Quattro Rally Tribute

 

I tend to agree, in cases where you have low traction situations on hairpins you will benifit greatly from being able to swing the backend of the car around while maintaining your revs so you can launch out of it quickly. The same goes for long corners on low traction roads (ice, wet or snowy), although the so called "drift" should be very slight as the driver pushes the thresholds of the availaible traction. On FWD cars the long corner thing isn't really applicable.

As a counterpoint, I would say if it was a paved dry hairpin you would still be better off to try and apex it instead. Infact, in pretty much any dry full traction situation it would be better to find your line around the corner intead of trying to "Drift" it.

 

Going to dredge up a semi-old thread - reminded me of hatchysi's videos from the honda-tech.com forums:

YouTube - Bryan Rogers Honda Fit Drifting

very nice work, hatchysi and buddy!