Drifting Techniques for Driving School Instructors & Grip Racers

We had a few students with driving instructor background without previous drifting experiences.


Gary C. took our course mainly for fun and to see if there were some techniques that we use for drifting could directly apply to his students from "out-of-control" to "under-control."


Did you know there are different type of spins?

Do you know how to avoid spins on track?

If you could control your car better, you could drive safer and faster.  If you have fear to be out of control, our specialized drifting program will help you to understand WHY it happens and HOW you can control better from slower speed.

We recommend minimum of 2-Day lesson to try out 2nd gear speed.  To be more consistent and try out faster speed, we recommend minimum of 3-Day lesson.


Contact us for more details with your goal.



Below was the testimony from Gary.

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Yoshie,

I cannot tell you have much fun I had spending three days with Drift School USA at Willow Springs Raceway. Taka's instruction was flawless and enabled me to do things in a car I never dreamed possible. I don't know how long it will take to get the smile you and Taka put on my face. A thoroughly enjoyable and unforgettable experience that I would recommend to anyone with a bucket list!

Best Regards, Gary Church

Learn from the Judge: It is "NOT What You Think You DID!"

Have you competed in drifting events?  Are you planning to compete in drifting events soon?


"Yes, I can drift!" doesn't mean you can qualify the competitions.

AND,

Since drifting is a judged Motorsport, "I did great!" would not work unless judges agree.

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Want to know WHAT you need for competition runs?   But, if you are shy to ask during or after the competition for feedback?

Our Chief Instructor, Taka is one of the Formula D ProAM series Judges.  

Take a private lesson / group lesson and get better!

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Check out our "Competition Course"



Good luck to all competitors!


Happy Drifting!

How Far 1-Day Lesson Will Go without Previous Experiences?

We get many inquires like, "How far I can learn in 1-day course?" 

It depends on the previous Motorsports experiences, how physically active you are, how quickly your body could adjust to the exercises, how much knowledge you have about physics of car motions, the physical condition of the day of lesson, and lastly...how much bad driving habits you have.  

Based on our graduates' average performances on a private lesson or up to 2 drivers from 2006, we would say about 90% of the beginner students would stay in 1st gear exercises in 1-Day Course.

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Anyway, just as an example, in order to perform counter-steer Donuts consistently, you need to:

1. Keep the certain wheel speed
2. Feel of breaking the traction
3. Counter-steer at right moment
4. Catch the counter-steer at right moment
5. Keep the drifting angle and control the steering and throttle work

Next step will be adding the transitions.  It normally would take longer to master since you need to perform transition motion with consistent left and right donuts together.

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All above exercises are very new to most of the students. 

They all told us even doing a few successful donuts were really difficult.  They felt difficult because of the drifting videos they have been watching made them think easy things to do.  We call it "different" than "difficult", tho.

It is very important how consistently you could perform the given exercises.  Also, understanding both theoretical knowledge behind drifting techniques and practical exercises will make the learning process better and quicker.    

How quickly you move on to the next exercises without consistency will end up going back to basic exercises because you don't understand why you make mistakes.  Do you plan to come back to the fill out the missing parts?

Most of the students get exhausted (most didn't feel exhausted because of the Adrenalin effect until they went back to hotel or home.) by activating the brain cells and unused area of muscles, and they start loosing focus around 2pm.

New challenges always take time to master, and out-of-focus won't help you any better. 

Coming back refreshed next day, students usually say, "Why did I even struggle that much yesterday?

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Anyway, above 1st gear exercises are just "PREREQUISITE" of learning drifting.  If you would like to experiences actual drifting lessons and drift mini course in 2nd+ gear, we would recommend to take minimum of 2-Day course.  


Happy Drifting!

Track Usage Types

Exclusive Venue Usage (Closed to Public)

*Great for any days as long as dates are available.

PROS:

Be able to secure the date in advance (no reschedule)

For You or Your group ONLY

 

CONS: 

Costly

Open Practice Usage (Open to Public)

*Works better on weekdays, especially Tu.-Thur.

PROS: 

Reasonable price

CONS:

Need to share the seat time with non-student drivers who come to practice.

Possibility of rescheduling unless making a reservation with AVS 7-day in advance or less.

Yoshie Shuyama

Yoshie Shuyama: 

Love and have 2 daily AE86 because of Initial D... (?)

Have 2-time SCCA SOLO II National Champion and multiple SCCA SOLO II National and PROSOLO wins. 

The 1st Japanese female driver who received SCCA SOLO II National Championship title. Because of her result, invited as a CSCC SOLO II Ladies school instructor.

The 1st female drivers competed in Formula Drift with AE86 and qualified top 32 back in 2005. 

Driven as a demo drifting driver at the Champ Car World Series at Long Beach and competed team drift at Long Beach GP and San Jose GP as the first and last female driver. 

One of the original members who brought drifting in the US around early 2000s.

Supported Taka as a spotter for his drifting career.

<<...Visit Facebook page!>>

Taka Aono

Taka Aono: 

Graduated from Creighton University as Physics Major and Cleveland Chiropractic College.

Love driving, cars and Starbucks. 

Have SCCA SOLO II National Champion and SCCA PROSOLO National Champion titles and multiple SCCA SOLO II National event wins. 

Competed in Formula Drift from the very beginning as professional with his loved AE86. His Formula Drift competition vehicle, AE86 is known as Flying 86 because of the way of his driving style with his AE86.

One of the original members who brought drifting in the US around early 2000s. Support many local drift / grip events and competitions as an instructor.

Created original basic drift lesson programs back in 2006, along with Hiro Sumida, his driving partner and Yoshie Shuyama. 

Judge at Just Drift Formula D ProAM competition series (Current). Judged at some of Vegas Drift Formula D ProAM competition and also multiple drifting judge experience at multiple drifting events.

Technical adviser for car set ups. 

Did several stunt driving and sound recording works for major TV shows and movies.

<<...Visit Official Facebook Page!>>

Learn as a New Language

Drifting is still new, comparing with other motorsports history in the US. 

Even if you know the alphabet, it doesn't mean you could speak fluently or understand perfectly for other than your native language most of the time, right?

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Some says, "Well, I slide my rear in rain or snow. I know how to drift."

Alright, please be careful..  

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Some says, "Well, I did that when I was in college.  It's easy." 

Oh...like, you mean around 20-30 years ago? 

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Some says, "What is the point doing / learning drifting?  It is just waste of tires and gas.  Just wanna look cool & being wasteful?"

Oh, it is just greatest ultimate RWD car control techniques. Looks cool and wasteful are just part of outcome for the extremity...?  Just in case, if I didn't tell you yet.  😂

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Over 90% of our graduates told us learning drifting, even donuts, wasn't as easy as they thought in the beginning.  Why?  They said, "By watching drifting videos, it just looked super easy."

1 min. length of videos can be...guess how many hours of video shootings have happened?  😱

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One said, "A much greater understanding of how weight transfer works, how wheel speed and steering angle are intertwined, and how to better control hands and feet.  The most important takeaway, at least for me, was the basic knowledge of how to analyze a spin."  The comment from one of our proud graduates who has good amount of track experiences with no previous drifting experiences.

When people apply both "Theory" and "Practice" together, everything will make sense...Learn step by step.

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Again, even if you know the alphabet, it doesn't mean you could speak multiple languages without the processes of understanding and trial-and-error stages.

You know how to drive already.  You know how to start the engine, accelerate, turn the steering wheel, and step on the brake.  

But...you might not have learned how to keep the car sideways...

Also...you might not have learned how to control the car sideways in higher speed...

Point is...drifting techniques could be...not as same as you have thought.

A worthwhile challenge?  Let's Drift!  🚗💨💨💨