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The RideLoading...
By Yohan Thibault
It’s raining. Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s not as if I care after all. The day at work was really hard. The boss didn’t seem happy. He reduced our deadline by a whole week! But right now, it's irrelevant. I’m driving, and it’s the only thing that matters at the moment. I’m so lucky to be able to own this kind of car, a Nissan 370z NISMO. What a pleasure to pilot. It’s not an overly powerful car, but the suspensions and differential are almost perfect for drifting out of the dealership. I’m in love with the beauty of this mechanical piece of art. I've simply modified mine so I can get an extra 20 degrees of steering which will help me in this tiny rain.
SO, LET'S BEGIN!!!
From the top of this mountain, I have this beautiful straightaway. I’m going to get some speed while carefully modulating my throttle to get the least amount of wheel spin, caused by the low grip in the wet. Arriving at the first corner, I slow down with the heel and toe braking technique. The technique allows me to have the proper motor revolution to match the speed of my wheels. This allows me to be very smooth while decelerating, avoiding unnecessary stress on my tires that could rupture the grip limit. After this vigilant deceleration, I steer in the corner. In no time, I get out of it as smoothly as I got into it.
Arriving at the second corner, a downhill right-hand hairpin, I brake, and suddenly I lose traction. It’s like my car is on skid plates, all my wheels are completely locked. I realize that the road was not as clean as I thought it was. In fact, there was oil under the thin layer of water, and I didn’t see it as I arrived at my braking point. So, I try my best to save the Nissan, but the guard rail is coming at dangerous speeds. I steer in the corner while releasing the brake pedal to increase the angle of the car in the corner.
As I start counter steering for the drift movement, the tires regain grip, and the car is now starting to make its way around the corner as one continuous drift. I stop the car right after regaining a full grip on the asphalt. Close one.
SO, LET'S BEGIN!!!
From the top of this mountain, I have this beautiful straightaway. I’m going to get some speed while carefully modulating my throttle to get the least amount of wheel spin, caused by the low grip in the wet. Arriving at the first corner, I slow down with the heel and toe braking technique. The technique allows me to have the proper motor revolution to match the speed of my wheels. This allows me to be very smooth while decelerating, avoiding unnecessary stress on my tires that could rupture the grip limit. After this vigilant deceleration, I steer in the corner. In no time, I get out of it as smoothly as I got into it.
Arriving at the second corner, a downhill right-hand hairpin, I brake, and suddenly I lose traction. It’s like my car is on skid plates, all my wheels are completely locked. I realize that the road was not as clean as I thought it was. In fact, there was oil under the thin layer of water, and I didn’t see it as I arrived at my braking point. So, I try my best to save the Nissan, but the guard rail is coming at dangerous speeds. I steer in the corner while releasing the brake pedal to increase the angle of the car in the corner.
As I start counter steering for the drift movement, the tires regain grip, and the car is now starting to make its way around the corner as one continuous drift. I stop the car right after regaining a full grip on the asphalt. Close one.