MX-5 Club Drift Training Day
Update 12th Jan: This event is now full
The club has booked a Drift Training Day on Sunday 31st January 2016 at the Sutton Road Training Centre in ACT.
The day will be run by Fifth Gear Motoring, who are supplying the instructors. Their website is here.
They run various types of courses on skidpan and racetracks. We have asked them to run our day specifically for drift training. he following information came from them.
· Low powered cars like MX-5s can be used for drifting. The skid pan is a wet, slippery concrete, with a high grip surface surrounding the skid pan. The slippery surface is more than enough to get an MX-5 moving. You will be sufficiently challenged to control the drift in an MX-5 due to the short wheelbase.
· An LSD is preferred, but cars with an open diff can still have lots of fun. An LSD will allow better predictability when attempting to catch a slide.
· Having 2 drivers per car is possible. As cars will go out on the skidpan in pairs, the second driver simply goes in a later pair. With 16 people, we will have 8 pairs. So for example, driver 1 can go in the 2nd pairing, driver 2 in the 5th pairing. A run lasts 8 minutes.
· Fifth Gear will grade pairs on the day as best they can, so advanced drivers can go together, beginners together. This gives a fairer opportunity for track time.
· For safety reasons, when one car spins, the other car on the skidpan must stop. The instructors will also make sure that cars do not get too close to one another and try to remain on opposite sides of the skid pan.
· The facility has strict noise limits. All cars must be below 85db at 30 metres and road registered.
· There is a drivers brief in the morning. Tuition is via 1 on 1 session with the instructor either driving or a passenger. Entirely up to the driver what happens, much like our Marulan days.
· They will slowly build up the driver to link each turn on the skid pan. Starting with getting the hang of a drift in one corner and slowly working towards being able to keep momentum and link the corners together.
· No safety gear required, other than to wear sensible closed shoes. T-shirts and shorts are permitted.
· We are starting from 9:30am, to allow enough time for Sydney people to travel down. We suggest you get there by 9am to allow enough time to empty loose contents from your car and for you to settle into the day.
· There are viewing and photography platforms for spectators
