r/Drifting • u/grae-area • 9d ago
Video Drifting a totally inappropriate Caterham 7
Hey there.
I’ve been doing some drifting at Santa Pod DWYB this year and I’d like to improve. Anyone got any advice for me?
The car is a 2 litre, 225bhp caterham which weighs 650kg (around 5000 bananas for you imperial folk) with me in it with the weight mostly at the rear as it’s front-mid-engined. I’ve been running super cheap 205/60r14 tyres and ended up dropping them to around 20psi to get more grip. I’ve also run some old r888rs in 215 width at about 40psi (double the usual pressure) but found the switch from no grip to grip really spikey. With all that power and low grip and weight I can unstick the rears just using the throttle in 3rd gear which is fun, but I’m struggling with left foot braking to slow myself into corners whilst sideways (I end up just spinning).
I think I’m too also sticking to the racing line trying to hit the apexes which leaves me struggling to keep the drift through the straights. I probs need to aim for a more mid track wider line. The car is obviously not an ideal choice but then neither is a landrover and the Avin the Crack boys seem to be enjoying it. There’s some more vids on insta https://www.instagram.com/uber.niche/ including some in car stuff so you can see how hectic it is.
Things I’m in the process of working on:
- More lock- in gonna get some shorter steering arms cnc’d. I’ve reverse engineered the design from 3d scans of stock ones. I reckon I can get a fair bit more before hitting wishbones.
- A hydro! - I’ve bought a cheap AliExpress one to see if it fits and if there’s room to mount it Obviously this is a terrible idea. AliExpress hydraulic joints blowing on track spraying me with boiling fluid at 120mph would be bad.
- Better tyres with more grip - I’m a bit limited as my drift wheels are an unusual size 205/60r14 which no one makes wider or gripper tyres for (I can get r888r but i think that’s just too much). I think some nankang ns20 might be better. At the moment I’m mid-throttle for almost everything cos of lack of grip. I don’t really wanna be bouncing off the limiter as it’s a pretty highly strung engine as it is and I’m on the limit of what the rods will take
- Just getting good - have a look at my insta, tell me what I’m doing wrong. Unfortunately someone getting in the car with me is tricky as adding an 80kg person makes the car 20% heavier and it’s all on the rear axle so…
All advice and questions welcome.
Please leave the “OMG just buy a 325 and weld the diff you knobber” comments. I have a 130i that can drift but my 7 is way more awesome (it has ITBs and spits flames)
Cheers J
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u/protomor JZX100 Mark2 9d ago
You don't need more grip. You're catching up to the cars in front of you. Maybe a larger wheel with less sidewall. Your mention of "switch fro no girp to grip is spiky" sounds like sidewall flex.
All of your video, you're very low angle and you go pretty fast. Seems like when you get more angle, you just spin. So I think the car just doesn't have much lock in stock form. I would just do those two things and get more seat time.
Although, you make no mention of the diff. If it's not welded or a clutch type, that is also contributing.
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u/grae-area 9d ago
that all makes sense. maybe I need some bigger wheels which would help me get grippier tyres that aren't just semi-slicks.
I'm working on the angle. Obviously it's a racecar, so it's not needed more before. I think I can get some more out of it with shorter arms, and leaving the wishbones. obvs going to a drift-style wishbone with much narrower tiangles might help but a bit beyond what I'm wanting to do yet.
it's a clutch type diff.
cheers!
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u/CTFordza 9d ago
I experienced this as well, I ran 185/70/14's on my stockish e30 and they are super unpredictable as to when and how they grip up, makes feints extremely sketchy.
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u/LightlySaltedPeanuts What I learned in boating school is... 8d ago
That’s when psi is your friend but yeah 70 sidewall is pretty massive lol
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u/LifeguardDonny 9d ago
Keep designing and creating solutions for more lock and see how the car reacts with the current tire situation. I would reckon 235/30/15 for the rears so you can gain some of that lost PSI and eliminate the aforementioned sidewall flex.
I love this rig, and i hope you continue improving upon it!
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u/UglyFast 9d ago
Steering wheel is on the wrong side, mate. Swap it over, that’ll fix it. You’re welcome! ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/Flowa-Powa 9d ago
Toyo Proxes are good for drifting, or at least they were when I used to hang out with the RWD Volvo lads 20 years ago
I think you need some one to one drift training by some kid who could drive circles around the rest of us with his eyes closed and one hand on a sandwich.
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u/CTFordza 9d ago
I think there are drift schools in the UK that actually use caterhams as beginner drift cars due to their reduced tire wear. I think your solution is to buy some cheap 15"s and get some drift tire Acceleras, Kendas, Zestinos, or Valinos. 205/50/15 is your ticket
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u/grae-area 9d ago
that's totally possible. I'll see if I can find some cheap 15s and replace the 14s.
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u/patbua02 8d ago
Looks like you just need lot more practice. Grip on the clips looks OK. Your line is off. Try to be as wide as possible everywhere, forget racing line, no one will like to follow you otherwise. Line is much more important than speed, especially for what you doing now. Although can't be to slow either for some momentum, as you don't have enough speed after long left to transition to the right. A bit more steering lock would help, add rack spacers to start with (easy), then cut steering knuckles (hope that's what you mean by 'shorter steering arms'). Maybe soften dampers so wight transfer is more pronounced, and hopefully, it will add you some side bite.
It's interesting to see that car drifting, it doesn't look cool atm tho (no hate).
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u/segelflugzeugdriver 9d ago
I have always wanted a caterham, this is sick as hell