RC Drift Cars

RC Car drifting is becoming one of the most popular areas of RC Car hobby. Theres no better way to enjoy drifting than around the track with your friends or competing in your rc scale drifter. Professional drifters require a highly customisable rc car with the ability to configure their suspensions, steering and power to match their drift rc car to different circuits.

Drifting RC Cars

Drifting cars is fun but don't expect to grab the old monster truck from the garage and start pulling skids, while you could convert your old rc car to drift spec, in reality making a fresh start is always better practice. If you want to start pulling skids with your friends then you're better buying a dedicated drift chassis to start with, then build on the chassis with all the race spec parts you need.

Drift RC Cars have many styles and with a huge choice of bodyshells to fit on the rc drift chassis, they're easily interchangeable, so if you want to run a rx-7 one day then a mustang the next its as easy as changing the bodyshell to have a fresh look.

As most rc cars are 4WD and drifting is normally associated with RWD cars people like Ken Block prove that if you've got enough power in a 4WD car it can do skids all day long. Something as twitchy and powerful as an rc car too, having power to the front wheels helps prevent spinning out which is a great help for beginner drifters. Unexperienced drifters that are new to this area of rc cars would benefit from having a traditional 50:50 front/rear power split if perfect, but while its great run, adding more power to the rear wheels than the front is the way to go for the full drift experience and to achieve this you need a CS setup.

CS or knowing as Counter Steer, just like traditional drifting, this is a key car-control skill needed for this setup. The reason counter-steering is vital because while there is still power fed to the front wheels, adjustments are made to differentials to the rear wheels which are turning faster than the fronts. CS setups of around 1.5 to 1.8 is common, though more is possible, which mean rears turn 50% to 80% faster than the fronts, making the drifting look more realistic than straight 50:50 4WD cars, and it’s a little trickier to control too, needing more real-world drift techniques.

For the most realistic drift movement you would need a full RWD. Without any power to the front wheels is the most realistic, but also the most difficult setup there is. Without the right suspension and tyres, not to mention a gyro, it can feel next to impossible. With the right gear, a good bit of practice, and the perfect gyro, the results are not only life like, but great fun

Gyros are electronic kit originally used for rc helicopters to stop them spinning wildly out of control, while this is not something you generally use in drift rc cars, it helps the rc car handle better and looks more realistic. Drift gyros try to prevent things from rotating on a certain axis, but if the gyro is set too high then it would prevent it drifting but theres a sweet spot in the middle of both where you can hit and the RWD drift cars become more controlled, but a lot more realistic too.

While you can use an RC drifter practically anywhere there’s a flat surface, dedicated tracks make RC drifting a lot more fun and help you build your skill level much faster. While there are countless RC tracks around the UK, some notable ones used frequently or exclusively for drifting include GetYourDriftOn in Middlesbrough, WRCC in High Wycombe, and Midlands Drift Society in Tamworth. A quick Google search will find your nearest track.

We are here to help and with a huge range of stock rc drift cars such as the Maverick Strada, Tamiya Skylines, FTX Banzai and many more. If you have any questions with RC Car drifting then get in touch with us and we will be sure to point you in the right direction!