Watch a Hyundai Elite i20 ‘drifting’ like a BOSS [Video]

Thanks to movies like the ‘Fast & the Furious – Tokyo Drift’ and video games like the ‘Need for Speed’, most of the youngsters are aware of the ‘drift culture’ that flourishes abroad. No surprise, then, that they even try to replicate the rather spectacular car stunt here. One such young driver can be seen ‘drifting’ his Elite i20 in the video we have below. Basically, the driver of this i20 is ‘power-sliding’ his car and not actually drifting. However, to the layman, this looks as dramatic as drifting.

Power-sliding vs Drifting – What’s the Difference?

You can’t drift a front-wheel drive car but making the car’s rear step out on a sandy patch of the road using the handbrake and then making steering corrections to control the slide makes the entire stunt look a lot like drifting. For most people, power-sliding is the same as drifting. It’s very common to see people calling any sort of controlled oversteer a drift. However, in spite of the visual similarities, power-sliding isn’t same as drifting. Also, with cars like the Hyundai Elite i20, which have a really light steering, it gets even easier to break traction on, say, sand, gravel, etc, and even unintentionally initiate a slide. But it’s really not a drift.

Powersliding a front-wheel drive car involves the act of getting the rear step out by breaking traction through pulling the handbrake. It can also be done by inducing oversteer on a sandy patch of road. Powersliding can be done only beyond the apex. On the other hand, drifting is a lot more complex procedure. It starts before the apex and requires a number of techniques to hold the slide. Drifting involves a mixture of braking, weight shifting, and accelerator and clutch inputs to maintain the momentum for as long as possible.

Why can’t you drift FWD cars?

Like you can see in the video above, you can surely slide your FWD car a fair bit. In this case, thanks to the high speed and the sandy patch of road, the driver even manages to slide dramatically. However, the trouble is that on a Front Wheel Drive (FWD) car, you can’t sustain the slide for a really long period of time. Actually, on an FWD, front wheels are used for steering as well as putting the power down. For drifting, however, you need to have a source of power pushing the car in a direction that is different from the one your front wheels are facing. While you can use the handbrake to initiate a slide, it gets impossible to sustain the slide for a long period of time.

Trying to ‘drift’ on public roads is dangerous

It’s true that the Elite i20 in the video you see above looks really cool while sliding. However, we urge all our readers to never ever try to ‘drift’ on a public road. The stunts you see in the aforementioned movies are shot under controlled conditions and are performed by experts. On a public road, sliding the car can easily make you lose control and have an accident. Also, it even leads to higher wear and tear of tires and brake pads. Hence, it’s best to restrict your drifting adventures to the video games.

Video courtesy – DRIFTLINE on Youtube