What is side brake? The side brake is the name given after the parking brake, hand brake, or e-brake by the Japanese drift community. What it does is it locks your rear wheels so that you can park your car and walk away without having to worry the car moving. In drifting applications however, locking the rear wheels means loosing rear traction and will result in a slide. Side brake techniques explained here are based on RWD application.
The side brake has two functions.
1) side brake controls speed
Pulling the side brake to lock your rear wheels will resulted in a decrease of speed. This is useful when you’re aiming for a high entry speed into a decreasing radius corner (a corner which tightens up) and you need to get your speed down. It is also useful when you’re approaching a hair-pin during a high speed drift, and you need to slow down while holding your slide angle. Another application would be in a tsuiso, when you’re closing up to your opponent. Holding the angle while slowing down is important so that you don’t t-bone your opponent.
2) side brake controls angle
The side brake can induce an initial slide at some times better than other methods. For example, a 3rd gear corner which requires entry speed at 3rd gear redline, where clutch kick/braking isn't as efficient. The side brake is also useful in loose surface when there is little front grip. Proper usage of the side brake can also control drift angle. Pulling the side brake during a shallow angle drift can increase the angle of it, and finer adjustments can be done by using the foot brake. This allow the car to drift through tight turns. The side brake can also hold a slide angle during off-throttle ie. when the car is not accelerating or during downshifting.
Side brake usage can be divided into three general techniques.
1) basic side turn
A basic side turn is what the side technique explained in drift bible. What it does is locking the rear wheels to induce a initial slide. An application of it would be a u-turn drift.
2) long side
A long side drift is a technique used in high speed drifting. It slows the car down dramatically into a decreasing radius corner before powering down, which allows higher entry speed. Long side usually involves entry speed at above 130kph, and holding the e-brake for a few seconds or until the car slowed down to the desired speed.
3) plus side
A plus side doesn’t induce an initial slide, however, it controls your angle and speed while the car is going sideways. Application of plus side is very popular in Tsuiso battle or in an advanced track. In the diagram below, the u-turn after the apex is where the application of plus side comes in. The car will exit the apex and approach the u-turn in shallow angle and considerably high speed. A properly timed side brake will increase the angle of the slide while slowing the car down to prepare for the u-turn. Timing is crucial here. Too late the application the car won’t be able to slow down and the driver will most probably hold the side brake too long or step on the foot brakes and resulted in a spin. Too early the application the car will caught too much angle and missed the apex.
Sometimes, the side brake can benefit from the usage of foot brake also. Using the foot brake transfers weight to the front and will add extra clamping force to the rear wheels, and gives the rear wheels an easier lock when the side brake is applied. Finer control of the side brake can be adjusted by the timing intervals of pulling the side brake lever, and also with the combination of foot brake. Pulling and releasing the side brake continuously creates a lock and unlock action of the rear wheels, which prevents the rear wheels from locking dead, and gives further control of angle adjustment. The foot brake, on the other hand, controls the amount of weight transferred to the front. More weight transferred to the front will result in more oversteer.
1 Comment:
its great"" technique
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