Drift Glossary

Drift Glossary

Here is a Drift Glossary of drifting terms I have complied. I hope people interested in the motorsport of drifting find these Drift Definitions helpful and informative. Please feel free to comment and add drifting terms that I may have omitted Here.

AE86

The Toyota AE86 is a classic car for drift enthusiasts. Years produced 1984-1987 Toyota Corolla GTS. Runs on the DOHC 4-AGE motor, rear wheel drive and LSD. In Japan and in the hardcore drifting community worldwide, the AE86 is commonly referred to as the “Hachiroku” which is the car’s Japanese name and translated literally means “Eight” – “Six.”

Body

Chassis preparation is similar to a road-racing car. Roll cages are sometimes employed for safety, and to improve the torsional rigidity of the car’s frame, but are compulsory in events that involves the 2+ cars tsuiou runs in the event of a side collision. Front and rear strut tower braces, B-pillar braces, lower arm braces, and master cylinder braces are all used to stiffen the chassis. The interior is stripped of extraneous seating, trim, carpet, sound deadening; anything that is not essential is removed to reduce weight.

Body kits are usually attached with cable ties. When the body kit meets the wall or curb, the cable ties snap, releasing the part, as opposed to breaking it.

As drift cars are pushed faster, aerodynamic tuning becomes more important as well. Rear spoilers and wings usually are useful only in large, open tracks where the cars develop enough speed to create a need for more downforce. Wheel arches are often rolled or flared to allow the fitment of larger tires. Airflow to the engine is critical, so the hood is often vented.

Due to the nature of the hobby, drift cars are typically involved in many minor accidents. Thus, those involved with the sport tend to avoid expensive or easily damaged body kits and custom paintwork. Typically drift cars will show signs of body damage: dents, cracked bumpers and applications of duct tape.

Bosozoku

Japanese word to describe groups of motorcycle and car riding hooligans who stop traffic with their wild driving antics. Bosozoku have been known to bash members with iron pipes for trying to leave the group.

Braking Drift

This drift is performed by braking into a corner, so that the car can transfer weight to the front. This is immediately followed by throttle in a RWD car causes the rear wheels to lose traction. FWD cars can also use this technique, as it does not depend on the rear wheels being driven.

Chicane

A quick left to right or right to left “S-turn” usually placed at the end of straightaways in order to slow drivers down before they reach the tighter - slower corners.

Choku-Dori (also: Chaku-Dari)

This is done by swaying the car’s weight back and forth on straightaways, using countersteer and throttle to maintain a large angle. This is a show maneuver that usually involves many cars following the same line.

*Here is an alternate definition for Choku-Dori, I include because I’m not sure which is true. A long sliding drift through a braking zone. Oftentimes in the US, Choku-Dori is misused to describe a side to side swaying drift typically used on straightaways (aka Manji).

Clutch Kick

This is done by “kicking” the clutch (pushing in, then out, usually more than one time in a drift for adjustment in a very fast manner) to send a shock through the powertrain, upsetting the car’s balance. This causes the rear wheels to slip. The foot should be at an angle so the brake and gas may be pressed as well, this being needed to control speed and stop from spinning out in the drift.

Countersteer

Corrective steering used to balance and maintain an oversteered condition. (turning the steering wheel in the opposite direction of the turn once the vehicle starts to oversteer).

D1 Grand Prix

D1 Grand Prix is one of the premier drifting competitions in the world held in various locations including Japan, USA, Europe, and Asia. Legendary driver “Drift King” Keiichi Tsuchiya judges the D1 Grand Prix.
The D1 holds a multiple round point competition in which drivers compete for both individual event wins and overall season points. Competitions typically consist of a qualifying day for competitors to determine the top 32 drivers. The top 32 enter competition and perform a solo pass for judgment and further elimination. The next round consists of the top 16 drivers who, from this point in the competition on, are competing in head-to-head “Tsuiso” tandem drifting format. The drivers are eliminated round by round until one driver emerges as champion.

Dirt Drop

This is done by dropping the rear tires off the sealed road onto dirt or gravel, or whatever low-grip surface borders the road, to maintain or gain drift angle. Also called “Dirt Turbo”.

Donut

Applying enough horsepower to the rear wheels of a vehicle to spin the tires, causing the car to rotate around the front end, again and again.

Drafting

To gain aerodynamic advantage by following closely behind a lead vehicle.

Drift

A Drift occurs when a vehicle’s momentum or horsepower exceeds the cars tire traction, thus causing the car to slide laterally or sideways. Through driver skill and certain car modifications, this seemingly out of control state know as drifting can be controlled and actually enables the driver to maintain higher rates of speed through corners.

Drift-zoku

Japanese term for racers who are in love with drifting, sliding their cars, and spining their tires.

Drift Angle

Drift angle is the angle a car maintains during a drift. Drift angle is important in competition and is often judged as part of a driver’s style - the more extreme the drift angle the better.

Drift King

A legendary Japanese race car driver by the name of Keiichi Tsuchiya. Keiichi Tsuchiya is truly a living legend in the world of drifting. Although many may claim to be as good, there is only one true Drift King – Keiichi Tsuchiya.

Drift Run

Refers to any vehicle proceeding through the designated Drift Course or Track.

Drive Train

A proper mechanical limited slip differential (LSD) is almost essential for drifting. Open diffs and viscous diffs cannot be controlled during a sustained slide. All other modifications are secondary to the LSD. Popular drift LSDs include OS Giken, KAAZ, and Cusco.

The most popular form of LSD for drifting is the clutch type, in “2-way” form; this is preferred for its consistent and aggressive lockup behavior under all conditions (acceleration and deceleration). Some drift cars use a spool “differential”, which actually has no differential action at all, the wheels are locked to each other. Budget drifters also use the welded differential, where the side gears are welded to give the same effect. This makes the car very easy to slide at high speed, but difficult to park, and is hard on the driveline. Torsen and Quaife (available on cars such as S15, FD3S, MX5, JZA8x, UZZ3x) diffs are adequate, but not generally available aftermarket.

The clutches on drift cars tend to be very tough ceramic brass button or multiple-plate varieties, for durability, as well as to allow rapid “clutch kick” techniques to upset the balance of the car. Gearbox and engine mounts are often replaced with urethane mounts, and dampers added, to control the violent motion of the engine/gearbox under these conditions.

Gear sets may be replaced with closer ratios to keep the engine in the power band. (Japanese drifters confuse the “L” and call these “cross-mission”.) These may be coarser dog engagement straight cut gears instead of synchronized helical gears, for durability and faster shifting at the expense of noise and refinement. Wealthier drifters may use sequential gearboxes or sequential adapters to make gear selection easier/faster.

E-Braking (also: Hand-Braking, Side-Braking)

In drifting, a vehicle’s emergency brake can be applied during the entry of a corner and with proper technique, lock up the rear wheels for a brief moment causing them to loose traction and skid thus inducing the drift. Emergency brakes only affect the rear wheels of a vehicle.

Engine

Engine power does not need to be high, and in fact if a car has too much power, it can be very hard to handle during a drift. Each driver has their own preference, and drift cars can be found with anything from 100bhp (74kW) to 1000bhp (745kW). Typically, engine tuning is oriented towards achieving linear response rather than maximum power output. Engines also must be equipped with upgraded cooling systems. Not only are the engines pushed very hard, creating lots of heat, but being driven at an angle reduces the airflow through the radiator. For turbocharged engines, intercooler efficiency is similarly reduced. Oil coolers are almost essential. V-mounting the intercooler and radiator improves flow through these components, and keep the expensive intercooler out of harm’s way in the inevitable crash.

Exhibition Drift

The purpose of drifting at the Drift Session is to cause maximum oversteer in a vehicle while maintaining speed. Vehicles are not judged based on time trials or speed but rather on the completion of clean and exaggerated drifts which maintain a reasonable rate of speed, drift angle and overall style. Exhibition Drifting includes techniques such as one hand drifting, opening the car door while drifting, hanging their legs and body out of the car, running behind the car, ect.

Formula D

Formula D is the American equivalent of drifting’s premier championship in Japan, the D1 Grand Prix. Formula D is sponsored by the popular video game series, Need for Speed. Its official name is “Need for Speed Formula Drift Presented by Circuit City.” It was inaugurated in 2004, and is a division of the Sports Car Club of America.

Guardrails

Concrete, cones, tires, sand, gravel or a combination of the bunch used to protect the drivers and pedestrian spectators from out of control cars. In drifting, as a demonstration of style and driver skill, drivers will get as close to the barriers without hitting them as possible.

Hashiriya

Japanese term to describe racers actively involved in the Japanese racing culture. Although these drivers often race on public roads, they try their best not to disrupt traffic or obstruct other drivers.

Heel-Toe Shifting

A drifting technique where the clutch is pressed with the left foot while the right foot presses the brake with the toes and the heel slides over to the accelerator to rev the engine up before downshifting the vehicle. Heel-Toe shifting allows for smooth downshifting, without jolting the vehicle. This is important during the drift in order to maintain consistent speed and drift angle.

Ikaten

Regional drift contests, started by Video-Option, open to the public and professionally judged.

Inertia Feint Drift (or “Scandinavian Flick”)

This is done by transferring the weight of car towards the outside of a turn by first turning away from the turn and then quickly turning back using the inertia of the rear of the car to swing into the desired drifting line. Sometimes the hand brake will be applied while transferring the weight of the car towards the outside to lock the rear wheels and help the rear swing outwards. This type of drifting causes the car to accelerate faster afterwards, because of momentum built up while drifting.

JDM

Short for Japanese Domestic Market

Kansei (also: Lift Off, Taking In)

By letting off the accelerator while cornering at very high speeds, cars with relatively neutral handling will begin to slide, simply from the weight transfer resulting from engine braking. The drift is controlled afterwards by steering inputs from the driver and light pedal work, similar to the Braking drift.

Limited Slip Differential (LSD)

Axle gearing that allows power to be transferred to the wheel with the most traction. Similar to Chevrolet’s “Positraction.” Limited Slip Differential allows both rear wheels to “lock up” and spin at the same time. LSD is essential when building a drift car.

Oversteer

During a turn, the car is said to oversteer when the REAR wheels do not track behind the front wheels but instead slide out toward the outside of the turn in a more straight-line trajectory.

Power Oversteer (Powerslide)

This drift is performed when entering a corner at full throttle to produce heavy oversteer through the turn. The excess power causes the drive wheels to lose traction in a RWD or AWD car. This is the most typical drifting technique for all-wheel drive cars.

Road Course

A racing course made up of actual roadways and/or highways consisting of various straightaways, corners, and bends. For example: a large parking lot with cones to designate a course would not equal a “road course” - nor would an oval-track.

Rolling-zoku

A Japanese term for extremely dedicated touge enthusiasts. Also includes bikers and anyone else who likes hard turns, winding mountian roads, and highways.

Roulette-zoku

Japanese term for racers who drive round and round on circular highways or racetracks.

Shift Lock (also: Compression Slide)

Initiated by downshifting (usually from third to second or fourth to third, and using a very fast shift) instead of braking, without rev-matching, causing the drive wheels to lock momentarily. Helpful for very tight corners, allowing the driver to approach the corner at a slower speed and lower revs, while allowing quick acceleration when exiting the corner. This technique can be very damaging to the engine if mis-used as the ECU is unable to rev limit when the engine is oversped by the rear wheels. Premature downshifters are called “Rod Stretchers”.

Short Course

The track used at Drifting events and most major racing competitions.

Silvia

Silvia is the Japanese version of Nissan’s 240SX. The Silvia’s latest models come in S13, S14, or S15 variations. Typically coveted for its low cost, sporty look, and relatively powerful turbocharged 4-cylinder engine the SR20-DET. The Nissan Silvia is one of the most popular drift cars.

Ski Drift

This extremely difficult and dangerous drift is done by drifting while the car is on two wheels. If not done perfectly, the car will likely roll over and crash.

Skidpad

A skidpad is a large, circular area of flat pavement used for various tests of a car’s handling. The most common skidpad use is testing lateral acceleration, measured in g.

The test is carried out on a circular track with a radius of 300 ft (100 metres). A car driving on said track is slowly accelerated until the outermost tires on the car begin to slip. Going any faster would cause the car to drive outside the 300 ft radius. At this point, the speed of the car is recorded, and given the centripetal force formula mv²/r, a car’s handling in terms of lateral g-forces can be derived.

Steering

With increased steering angle it is possible to achieve greater angle with the vehicle, it will also aid in spin recovery. This is often done with spacers on the steering rack, custom steering racks, custom tierod ends, or machining the spindles. Increased steering angle often requires other modifications, as at some point the tire or wheel will come in contact with other suspension pieces or the inner/outer fenders.

Suspension

The suspension in a drift car tends to have very high spring and damper rates. Sway bars are upgraded, particularly on the rear. Caster is often increased to improve the car’s controllability during a slide. Most cars use an integrated coilover/shock (MacPherson strut) combination. This type of suspension allows the ride height to be adjusted independently of the suspension travel. There is no perfect height setting or spring/shock combo for any car, but each driver will have their own personal preference. Many suspension manufacturers offer suspension tuned specifically for drifting, allowing many people to enter the sport competitively.

Bushings can be upgraded with urethane parts. Most Nissan vehicles have a floating rear subframe which is usually fixed in position with billet aluminum or urethane “drift pineapples”, to prevent the frame moving during drift.

One suspension tuning method, still popular in Japan, is known as “Demon Camber” (Japanese Oni-kamu). It involves setting the suspension with extreme negative camber in the front to reduce slide. Negative camber on the rear would only induce understeer, making the car more difficult to drift. The front of the car having better grip and less tendency to slide, it is easier to swing the rear of the car around to get a good drift angle. However stability, grip, and overall ability to control the car are compromised. It has thus fallen out of favor as a serious performance-minded suspension setup. However, many cars built for show (such as those driven by bōsōzoku) still use this style of suspension setup for its aggressive look. A few degrees of toe-out on the rear wheels in some vehicles (leading edges angled outward) can improve turn-in, and make setting up a drift a little easier.

Tires

Drift cars often have different tires on the front and back, and the owner may have quite a few sets. This is because a single afternoon of drifting can destroy a new set of tires. As a rule, good tires go on the front for good steering. On the back, hard-compound tires are used, quite often second-hand ones tend to end up in a cloud of smoke. 15″ wheels are common on the rear, as 15″ tires are cheap. As a driver gets better, they will most likely want to upgrade the tires used in the rear for a higher grip compound. Although cheap/hard tires are fun purely for their slipperiness and ease of drifting, they quickly become a hazard for high-speed drifts. More advanced drivers require the most grip possible from all 4 tires, so as to retain control adequately during high speed drifts. Competitive drifters often run DOT approved tires closer to racing tires, which is permitted, with the exception of some major championships including D1GP which only permits commercially available tires that are approved by them. The grip is required for control, speed, and a fast snap on the initial entry.

Some companies have started to create tires with special effects for drifting. One such company is Kumho. They recently released tires designed especially for the drifting crowd. These new tires produce colored smoke instead of regular grey smoke when drifted. Furthermore, they are not permitted in many competitions, as they are seen as giving an unfair advantage to teams with the funding to utilize them, as they are currently too expensive to be used by the amateur


competitor.Generally drifting consumes tires rapidly and multiple sets may be necessary for a single professional event.

Touge

A winding road suited specifically for drifting. Touge is a Japanese word literally meaning “pass.” It refers to a mountain pass or any of the narrow, winding roads that can be found in and around the mountains of Japan and other geographically similar areas.

Placing a series of turns or bends in the steep roads that provide access to and from the high elevations of the mountains was intended to be a safety measure, usually to prevent commuters from reaching unstable speeds or creating excessive wear on the vehicles associated with them. It is therefore ironic that these same passes have become popular with street racers and motorsport enthusiasts in the last two decades, providing a dangerous and therefore challenging course where nightly competitions sometimes occur.

Tsuiso Battle

When two drift cars go head to head in a tandem drift run.

Understeer

A loss of traction in a vehicle’s FRONT tires, caused by excessive speed in relation to a cornering angle, causing the vehicle to slide outwards during a turn. Understeer is the opposite of Oversteer.

Vanning-zoku

Japanese term for cruisers who turn their vans into eye-catching, music pounding machines in order to park, blast tunes, and dance. These vans are mobile dance clubs!

Zeroyon-zoku

Japanese term for racers, mainly in cars, who compete on a 400 meter straightaway.

tunings

Car Tuning means getting the maximum performance out of your car. Whether you own an exotic or just drive stock, with some car tuning tips and parts, you can not only increase the performance of your vehicle easily, but make it much more fun to drive and more attractive to others.

CarTuningCentral.com is dedicated to being your ultimate resource for all your car tuning needs. We cover practically all aspects of car tuning including the following major topics.

Car Babes

Tuning cars is similar to rock and roll in which many guys get into it for the babes. Just like many girls love rock musicians, there are plenty of girls out there that are turned on by guys that work on and drive high performance cars. Car tuning almost guarantees attracting attention to your vehicle, whether through a flashy body kit or a cool sounding muffler, heads will definitely turn when you tune cars for fun. Did you ever notice that there is always a beautiful girl standing next to a high performance car- this is not a coincidence.

Exotic Cars

Exotic cars are the ultimate in tuned cars. These vehicles come straight out of the factory tuned to perfection. While we all can’t afford exotic cars, many car tuning hobbyists create their own. In fact, with the right tuning car parts, know- how and maintenance, you can easily surpass the performance of even the most expensive and rarest vehicles on the road.

CarTuningCentral.com also recognizes that the vast majority of exotic cars are also a hot bed of innovative performance engineering. Most car tuners keep track of what many exotic car manufacturers are creating, which is why some of the best tuning car technology trickles down to the aftermarket companies and to car tuning enthusiasts usually in short period of time. Within a year or two or sometimes within a few short months, your stock car can enjoy some of the high performance perks that in the past only the most expensive and rarest vehicles enjoyed.

Car Maintenance

One thing is for sure, once you have created your ultimate tuned car, you will have to keep it well maintained to enjoy it. Just like any high tech machinery that operates in an extreme environment and under extreme forces, tuner cars must be well maintained not only to ensure high performance and power, but also for safety reasons. Car maintenance can include simple products for washing and waxing your car or heavy duty procedures that border on extreme modifications. While most car maintenance can be done by car tuning hobbyists, there are definitely situations where you want a professional to help out or provide specific services.

CarTuningCentral.com can help you with information, resources and tips on many common types of car tuning maintenance, as well as less common procedures that car tuners are interested in.

Car Parts

When tuning cars, you will need at the minimum to make slight adjustments to your existing cars and preferably overhaul your vehicle with high tech, high performance car parts. In many instances, a simple car part can be the key to unlock your car’s power and achieve incredible power and performance. CarTuningCentral.com is perhaps your best resource for a variety of car tuning parts. For instance, you can easily increase the horsepower of your vehicle with the help of car tuning engine parts, high performance mufflers and new engine chip technology.

Traction is another important factor when tuning cars. All that separates your vehicle from the road is a few inches of tire rubber. High performance tires and wheels can make a huge difference not only on traction, but your vehicles response to the road. Additionally, other car tuning parts that are important to almost any car tuner includes braking systems, transmission parts, body modifications and dozens of other car tuning parts that working together helps an individual achieve ultimate performance. No matter what your budget, you can usually find great car tuning parts that can unlock your car’s potential.

Car Tires

Car tires are one of the most important parts of a well tuned car. Unfortunately, many car tuner hobbyists focus on more flashier and more prominent parts of the car. However, something as simple as a few good high performance tires on your vehicle can impact the performance of your car greatly. As stated above, the only thing that separates your car and the road at any given moment is a few square inches of rubber. Whether driving at high speeds, in the rain or even on snow, the quality and response of your vehicle depends a lot on its tires.

CarTuningCentral.com has made it a priority to focus a lot of its attention on high performance tires built for maximum response, speed and safety. Whether you use your car to drive back and forth to work or take it to the track on the weekends, Tires & Wheels play an integral part.

Car Brands

With car tuning, you can start off with almost any brand of car. Whether it is a high performance exotic such as a Ferrari or economy class car brand such as Kia – rest assured you can achieve amazing results just by modifying a few parts of your vehicle. In fact, the majority of car tuners prefer economy and moderately priced cars such as the Honda Civic, Nissan Maxima, Toyota Matrix, Ford Focus, Chrysler 300 and many others.

What makes a car great for tuning? Well, for most car tuners, usually it a number of factors including a lightweight frame, an engine that can be modified easily and a vehicle manufacturer that embraces the tuning community and the aftermarket car part manufactures, allowing it and even offering valuable information to help tuners get the most out of the vehicles that a company creates.

Once again, thanks for visiting us and make sure you check out the many great resources we provide. Car tuning is a labor of love and we not only provide information for car tuning enthusiasts, but we also consider ourselves enthusiasts as well.

Areas of modification

Audio

Is a term used to describe the sound or video system fitted in the vehicle. A stock audio system refers to one that was specified by the manufacturer when the vehicle was built. A custom audio installation can involve anything from the upgrade of the radio to a full-blown customization based around the audio equipment. Events are held where entrants compete for the loudest, highest quality reception or most innovative sound systems.

Interior tuning

Interior tuning is a term used for modifying of the interior of a car. for example; removing the back seats to make room for a sound system, or taking out the front seats and replacing them with racing seats - commonly known as bucket seats.

Another recent form of interior tuning is the replacement of the OEM Shift Knob with an aftermarket version such as a weighted shift knob for cosmetic and/or for performance purposes.

Engine tuning

Main article: Engine tuning

Engine tuning as of lately has been marketed as the replacement of basic engine components with aftermarket versions that perform the same functions as those replaced while promising an increase in power output. Car tuners usually install new turbochargers, modify the car's engine cooling unit, and replace the air filters; but they could also install a more powerful engine on the cars they modify.

For example a tuner could modify the engine control unit to gain more power. Another example is the modification and/or replacement of the OEM manual transmission stick shift (also known as a gear stick) with an optimized aftermarket design known as a short shifter. For further "fine" tuning, the driver could fit a Weighted Gear Knob.

Suspension tuning

Suspension tuning involves modifying the springs, shock absorbers, swaybars, and other related components of a vehicle. Shorter springs offer greater stiffness, a lower center of gravity, and a lowered look. Stiffer shock absorbers improve the dynamic weight shifting during cornering and normally have shorter internals to stop them from bottoming out when shorter springs are used. Stiffer sway bars reduce body roll during cornering, thus improving the grip that the inside tires have on the surface; this improves handling response. Other components that are sometimes added are strut bars, which improve the body stiffness and help better maintain the proper suspension geometry during cornering. On some cars certain braces, anti-roll bars, etc., can be retrofitted to lower-spec cars from sports models.

For offroad vehicles, the emphasis is on lengthening the suspension travel and larger tires to increase ground clearance.

Lowriders with hydraulic/pneumatic suspensions use another unique kind of suspension tuning in which the height of each individual wheel can be rapidly adjusted by system of rams, even to the extent that it is possible to "bounce" the wheels completely clear of the ground.

Body tuning

Body tuning involves adding or modifying spoilers and a body kit. Sometimes this is done to improve the aerodynamic performance of a vehicle, as in the case of some wings or bumper canards, or, to lighten the vehicle through replacing bodywork components such as hoods and rear view mirrors with components made from lighter composites such as CFRP. Cornering speeds and adhesion can be improved through the generation of downforce.

More often however, these modifications are done mainly to improve a vehicle's appearance, as in the case of non-functioning scoops, spoilers, wide arches or any aesthetic modification which offers no benefit to performance. Very rarely does an after market spoiler or body kit improve performance, the majority add weight and increase the drag coefficient of the vehicle and thus reduce its overall performance.

Increasing the wheel track width through spacers and wide body kits enhance the cars cornering ability. Lowering the center of gravity is another aim of body tuning dealt with via suspension modifications. However, similar to the addition of non-functioning body kits and spoilers, oftentimes suspension tuners unfamiliar with spring dynamics will cut stock springs, producing a soft, bouncy ride. It is also common to lower the car too far, past the optimal center of gravity, purely for appearance.

Detuning

Detuning involves returning a modified car to its original factory status. It is akin to automotive restoration. The term detuning can also refer to the reduction or decrease of performance in a particular area of tuning. An example of this could be where the engine is "detuned" to allow increased traction on a day where the track grip is not sufficient to handle the increased power of the tuned engine.

Terms

"Streeted" or "Tuner Cars" are Japanese vehicles, such as a Honda Integra DC5, Toyota Supra, Nissan Skyline, Mazda RX-7, Subaru Impreza, and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution series. These cars are most commonly modified with the more expensive mods available. The most popular modifications include suspension upgrades, exhaust systems, and turbos.

Legal requirements

Many countries have legal requirements in regard to what car owners can and can't do in relation to vehicle modifications. For example, all vehicles in Victoria, Australia, must conform to construction standards to ensure vehicles provide drivers and passengers with a maximum level of safety.^[1] There are also restrictions for P Plate drivers which can prevent young drivers from driving modified vehicles.^[2]

In the United Kingdom and the Netherlands it is illegal for any car to have blue lights as they are used by the emergency vehicles.

In Scotland and Denmark, it is illegal for any car to have neon underlights on a car as it distracts other drivers. In the Netherlands neon is allowed under the car but only when the car is on display, if the car is on a public road the lights have to be switched off. Many police officers in the U.K are unsure on the exact legislation with regards to under body neons. Most say as long as the bulb is not visible itself then this is legal.

Recently, Belgium issued a new law which describes that bodykit parts need to be approved for safety issues.

Sanctioning organizations

Many organizations involved in competitive motorsports establish safety guidelines that far exceed legal requirements placed on civilian street legal vehicles. The NHRA, IHRA and SOLO programs all require that vehicles pass inspection to ensure that all regulations are being complied with.

Clubs

A big part of car modifications are car clubs or groups. Many are specific to particular car manufacturers. Clubs often attend national shows all over the country. There are thought to be over 100 car clubs in the UK.

Sports Parts

Line Lock

Line LockLine locks are designed to let the front and rear brakes work independently of one another. A line lock is a solenoid-activated valve that controls the flow of brake fluid. It is placed between the master cylinder and the brake calipers. A switch or button inside the car controls the line lock solenoid. Line locks are used in drag racing for burnouts and allow the front brakes to lock up while not affecting the rear brakes - allowing the rear tires to spin freely. Line locks protect the engine and rear brakes from undue wear.

When line locks first came out they were used as a launch tool for drag racing, but when trans brakes came out they became the better option. Now days, line locks are pretty much exclusively used for burnouts.

A line lock can work one of two ways: 1. Keep brake fluid from leaving the front brake lines, 2. Block brake fluid from reaching the rear brake lines.

When used in the first example that keeps brake fluid from leaving the front calipers, the line lock is placed on the brake line heading to the front brakes. Apply the brakes and press (hold) the line lock button. By holding the button the valve stays closed keeping the brake fluid trapped in the front calipers. Now you can release the brake pedal and the car will remain stationary as long as you hold the button – leaving the rear wheels free to spin.

In the second example of blocking brake fluid from reaching the rear lines, the line lock is placed on the brake line heading to the rear brakes. When you push the line lock button, and hold it, the solenoid closes the valve to the rear brakes, so when you do apply the brake pedal, fluid can only travel to the front brakes leaving the rear wheels free to spin. Installed in this fashion, you have more control over brake pressure and can creep forward toward the end of your burnout by slowly releasing the brake pedal.

Yashio Factory Coil Over Shocks for Silvia

Drifters know how important coil over shocks are to a drift car’s set-up and now Yashio Factory is introducing their own coil overs for the Nissan Silvia. Yashio Factory is known for their Silvia tuning prowess and the Spec Great coil over shocks are sure not to disappoint. After a test drive with the new coil overs, Okachan is quoted saying the new shocks are “Unbelievable!”

2 coil over types available: PS13 and S14/15. Front spring rate: PS13 type 8kg. S14/15 type 9kg. Rear spring rate: PS13 type 5kg. S14/15 type 5 kg. Regular price for both PS13 and S14/15 coil overs: $1850.00 USD/set (198,000 JPY).

Keep Your Cool with Yashio Factory

Yashio Factory is introducing an entire line of products designed to keep your Nissan Silvia running cool on the track and street. The Yashio Factory Digital Water Temperature Meter, Water Sprayer System, and Super Water Pump Pulley are designed to work in harmony to reduce harmful temps in your drift car’s cooling system.

The Yashio Factory Digital Water Temperature Meter indicates the exact degree of water temperature in an easy to read digital number readout and it can be connected to the Water Sprayer System through an incorporated relay (maximum 1 Amp), to automatically engage and cool the radiator.

The Yashio Factory Water Sprayer System is the world’s first and only automatic water sprayer created to help keep your car from overheating. Simple in design, the Yashio Factory Water Sprayer System sprays water onto the radiator core to further add to its cooling effectiveness.

The Super Water Pump Pulley is 10% larger in diameter than stock and reduces pump rpm by 10%, thus maintaining a lower temperature than stock.

Whether implemented alone or in unison, Yashio Factory cooling products are designed by Japan’s premier Nissan Silvia tuner and are meant to save your car from catastrophic failure.

Price: Digital Water Temperature Meter $180 USD, Water Sprayer System $430, Super Water Pump Pulley $150.

GP Sports G-Master Hyper Knuckle for Nissan Silvia

Normally drift tuning shops modify stock knuckles into their own original shapes to increase maximum steering angle. Now GP Sports has created an original die-cast knuckle specify designed for drifting that takes drift angle to the next level.

The G-Master Hyper Knuckle was battle tested during the 2007 D1 Grand Prix season on Masato Kawabata’s S15 Nissan Silvia and Kawabata attributes his success in the series to the GP Sports part.

“Many shops usually modify stock knuckles, but GP Sports made a 100% original knuckle in a 2 piece style which accommodates adjustable spacers. This miracle knuckle brought me the 2007 D1 Grand Prix Championship,” says Kawabata.

GP Sports’ goal with the Hyper Knuckle was to raise the roll center without sacrificing other factors necessary for drifting. The front roll center was raised by 20mm(0.8 inch) and can be further raised by a maximum of 50mm (2 inches) with the optional spacers. Even with the spacers the body height stays low since the length of the upper ball joint from the spindle is the same length as the stock knuckle. Since the center of gravity of the whole body stays at the same ride height no stability is sacrificed for increased steering angle.

Application Fitment: Nissan Silvia (240SX) 5 Hubs Type (4 Hubs Type should be modified to 5 Hubs).

Price: $1400.00 USD (pair). Spacer (5/12″): $180.00. Spacer (10/12″): $220.00 – Quantities are limited so email JDM Option to reserve product: info(at)jdmoption.com

There is also a less expensive one piece construction design Super Knuckle available for $950.

Yashio Factory Core Support Guard for Nissan Silvia

Okachan of Yashio Factory has developed his first suspension reinforcement part for the Nissan Silvia (240SX). The extreme weight transfer experienced when drifting puts tremendous pressure on the tension rods and in the long run this pressure damages the core support’s spot welding. Once the spot welding is damaged, it’s a big job to fix including dismounting the bumper, radiator, intercooler, etc. “The Extreme” Core Support Guard is designed to reinforce this weak point of stock Silvias. In addition to strengthening the tie rod core, the Yashio Factory Core Support Guard increases the direct feeling to the wheels in steering giving the driver quicker suspension feedback for enhanced handling. The Yashio Factory Core Support Guard sells in pairs for around $165 USD (17,700 JPY).

Toyota JZ Engine

Toyota JZ engines come both turbo and naturally aspirated and in two displacement variations - a 2.5L and 3.0L inline-6 cylinder configuration. Known for being the heart of the Toyota Supra, the JZ engine powers all of Toyota’s sports cars and has a wide variety of aftermarket upgrades. The JZ engine replaced Toyota’s M-series inline-6 engine and continues to be a favorite of import tuners. The Toyota 2JZ-GTE engine is seen as the rival to Nissan’s legendary RB26DETT, as both stock engine blocks can handle up to 1000 horsepower (745 kW).

1JZ

The naturally aspirated 2.5 liter engine is known as the 1JZ-GE and produces 200 horsepower (147 kW) at 6000 rpm and 185 ft. lbs of torque (250 Nm) at 4000 rpm. The turbocharged 1JZ-GTE engine uses two CT12A turbos and a side-mounted air-to-air intercooler to produce 280 horsepower (206kW) at 6200 rpm and 267 ft lbs of torque (363 Nm) at 4800 rpm.

Around 1996, Toyota released a reworked 1JZ-GTE engine that featured a single CT15B turbo design. The new engine had a new head incorporating Toyota’s continuously variable valve timing mechanism (VVT-i), modified water jackets for improved cooling, newly developed shims with titanium nitride coating for reduced cam friction, and increased compression ratio from 8.5:1 to 9.0:1. Officially, horsepower remained the same at 280 hp, but torque was increased to 279 ft lbs (379 Nm) from the original 267 ft lbs (363 Nm) at 2400 rpm.

2JZ

The 3.0L 2JZ engine was first released in the 1992 Lexus SC 300. Horsepower for the naturally aspirated 2JZ-GE ranges from 215 to 230 hp (158 to 169 kW) at 5800 to 6000 rpm and 209 to 220 ft lbs of torque (283 to 298 Nm) at 3800 to 4800 rpm. Two CT12B turbochargers raise the power of the 2JZ-GTE engine to the former Japanese industry maximum of 280 horsepower (206 kW) at 5600 rpm and 332 ft lbs of torque (451 Nm) at 3600 rpm.

A German engineering firm, Johann A. Krause Maschinenfabrik GmbH, originally designed the 2JZ-GTE for the Toyota Aristo. Toyota’s goal was to meet production car homogolation requirements for the former All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship.

North American and European automotive markets received a more powerful 310 horsepower (229 kW) at 5600 rpm 2JZ-GTE engine. The power gain is due to a different stainless steel turbo shaft instead of the ceramic Japanese shaft, improved camshafts, and larger injectors at 550 cc/min instead of 440 cc/min. Since the primary mechanical difference between the exported CT12B turbocharger and Japan’s CT20A is the easily replaced turbo shaft, you can replace the Japanese-spec ceramic shaft with the steel shaft from CT12B turbo.

1.5JZ

The 1.5JZ is not a production engine and is created by combining a 1JZ head with a 2JZ engine block. The 1JZ cylinder head will bolt directly onto the 2JZ block and allows for an additional 500cc of displacement.

Toyota Cars with JZ Engines:

• Toyota Altezza /Lexus IS 300
• Toyota Aristo /Lexus GS 300
• Toyota Chaser/Cresta/Mark II Tourer
• Toyota Crown
• Toyota Progres
• Toyota Soarer /Lexus SC 300
• Toyota Supra MK IV
• Toyota Verossa

Blow Off Valve

A blow off valve, BOV for short, is a vacuum or electronically actuated pressure release valve present in engines with turbochargers. Blow off valves release excess boost into the atmosphere when the throttle is closed. The purpose of a blow off valve is to reduce turbo lag and protect the engine from compressor surge.

Compressor surge occurs when the throttle plate of a turbocharged engine closes and the pressurized air is forced back into the turbocharger compressor housing, causing the turbo to slow down. Compressor surge not only decreases the spool of a turbo but can also damage its center cartridge.

When a blow off valve vents compressed air, it emits a distinctive “pfsssst” sound. Some blow off valves are designed to amplify this sound with trumpet shaped vents. HKS produces BOVs with interchangeable “sound inserts” that allow the driver to customize the frequency emitted by the blow off valve.

Wheel Spacers

Wheel spacers move the wheel out away from the hub widening the stance of a car. Wheel spacers are used to fit low offset aftermarket wheels, accommodate large brake caliper upgrades, make wheels look flush on a wide body kit, and even increase drift angle. If you are running stock length arms, up to a 1/8 inch spacer can be used without changing studs to give you a little more drift angle.

The two main types of wheel spacers are the cheap shim type ($15/pair) and the expensive hubcentric type ($135/pair) that bolts onto the existing hub and then the wheels bolt to the new spacers.

Wheel spacers can lower a car’s roll center and increase lateral stability. Some people say that wheel spacers are ghetto and unsafe but as long as you follow manufacture recommendations, there is little threat of malfunction. Some pro drifters use wheel spacers competitively so even in high performance situations wheel spacers can work.

DriftBox

DriftBox is an electronic device that uses a GPS engine coupled with motion and yaw rate sensors to measure speed, position, acceleration and drift angle of a car. DriftBox was originally designed to provide real time stats to D1 Grand Prix Judges to make evaluating drivers runs more precise. There are two versions of DriftBox – DriftBox and DriftBox Pro. The main difference being that DriftBox Pro can relay information in real time via radio signal. DriftBox Pro is the system used by D1 Grand Prix.

DriftBox has been used by the UK television program Top Gear and automotive magazines like EVO, Redline, Banzai, and Japanese Performance during track testing to calculate vehicle performance. In addition to the features above, DriftBox can also measure 0-60, 0-100, 0-100-0, braking distances, quarter mile times, and lap times using a virtual start/finish line generated from the latitude and longitude measurements from the GPS system. Plug the base model DriftBox into your cigarette lighter and it’s ready to go.

DriftBox is equipped with a MMC/SD Flash memory card slot and USB port that allows drivers to later download and analyze their results using a PC.

The GPS system used in DriftBox is a RTK system that gives an accuracy of 0.25 degrees, 0.1km/h and 0.01G.

DriftBox Website:

http://driftbox.com

Drifting Hipari Style Tires

In Japan, the word Hipari refers to a tire style that is achieved by stretching a narrow tire over a wider wheel like a 215 35 18 inch tire on a 9.5 wide wheel. The difference in widths causes the sidewalls to stretch from the lip to the tread giving the tire a unique low profile stance and increased sidewall rigidity. In drifting, less sidewall flex means smoother weight transitions, improved throttle response, better steering feel, and less body roll when cornering. There are higher end tires that can provide these same handling characteristics when drifting without the sidewall stretch, but they are expensive and herein lies another advantage of the hipari style tire – narrow tires are cheap.

Stretching a thin tire onto a wide rim decreases a wheel’s standard tire width resulting in a smaller contact patch and less traction. When learning how to drift this can be advantageous since you can get the car sliding sideways at lower speeds. However in pro level drifting events, drifters need as much traction as possible out of their tires to control their drift cars at 100+ mph so initially it seems that hipari tire would not be the best choice but pro drifters found a solution. D1 Grand Prix drifters get around the traction loss issue by using super wide wheels that fit tires they would usually use on their car so the overall contact patch stays the same. This gives the hipari look without loosing traction.

Stretched tires can be used on all four corners of a car but up front, usually you don’t stretch the tires to the same extent as they are stretched on the back. For example, a car with 8.5 inch wide wheels all around, would use 210-220 tires up front and 195-205 tires in the rear. This gives the drift car good grip up front for steering while maintaining the hipari style and handling advantages.

Another thing to note is that stretched tires require a higher psi than normal. 40+ psi is recommend for stretched tires.

The history behind hipari style stretched tires is two fold as poor people have been stretching tires onto wheels they don’t belong forever while euro tuners in Germany and Belgium started stretching their tires out of legal necessity. Local laws there require that the tire tread be within the fender line and with wider or lower offset wheels that can cause problems. To maintain the wide wheel fashion and keep the car street legal, narrow tires are stretched over the wide wheels.

Popular Tires for Stretching:

• Toyo T1-S
• Dunlop SP9000
• Dunlop SP8080E
• Falken FK451

Other tires will work. Find a tire with a rounded shoulder and lip protector. If you want to get the tire outside the fender, use wheel spacers.

Most wheel and tire shops will be willing to stretch tires and it will take a professional air compressor to help seat the tire as it can take up to 90lbs of pressure to pop the bead.

Critics of the hipari tire style say it’s all about fashion and anything that reduces a car’s contact patch is dumb. Some go further to say that stretching tires increases wear because of uneven heat dissipation and that may increase the potential of tire failure. As far as safety goes, there is little evidence that stretched tires are any more dangerous than regular tires. One problem though is that your wheels are closer to street and damaging potholes but you should stay away from holes in the ground anyway!

Drifting Feng Shui

Drift cars in Japan sometimes have their graphics reversed on one side of the drift car in hopes of improving balance. Perhaps no aspect of drifting is more important than balance and Japanese drifters take that idea to heart.

The idea that placement and arrangement of space will achieve harmony with the environment comes from an ancient Chinese practice called Feng Shui or “Kan-Yu,” that means “The Law of Heaven and Earth.” Like Yin and Yang, when a drift car’s graphics mirror one another, in theory, it improves polarity and energy flow.

Drift cars are works of art and the paint scheme can really show off a drifter’s personality or showcase a sponsor’s style. Before you look under the hood, you can get a feeling for what a drift car is about. With all the work put into tuning a drift car mechanically, it makes sense that extra thought is put into the paint and graphics.

Limited Slip Differential

Limited Slip Differential, or LSD, is a type of axle gearing that allows both wheels sharing an axel to lock up and spin at the same time when one wheel starts to slip. For this reason, limited slip differentials allow power to be transferred to the wheel with the most traction. LSD maximizes traction and makes controlling oversteer easier like when drifting. LSD is essential to building a drift car.

Advantages of limited slip differential include less inside wheelspin when accelerating out of a tight corner and more horsepower to the ground. Suspension tuning is needed to gain all the benefits of a limited slip differential. In drift cars, coil over damper kits and pillow ball upper mounts for camber correction are typically the suspension choice.

The two main types of limited slip differentials are torque sensitive mechanical LSDs like clutch and geared based LSDs, and speed sensitive hydraulically controlled LSDs like viscous and gerotor pump LSDs.

Clutch type limited slip differentials respond to driveshaft torque. The more driveshaft torque present, the harder the clutches are pressed together and the more closely the drive wheels are coupled to each other. Torque-sensitive geared mechanical limited slip differentials utilize worm gears to detect torque and lock the wheels accordingly. Geared LSDs are dependent on torque, not the speed difference between wheels.

Viscous limited slip differentials use silicone-based hydraulic oils and stacks of interlocking (but non-touching) perforated discs to lock the differential. Half of the discs are connected to the inner driveshaft and the other half is connected to the outer differential carrier. When under the stress the high torque, the hydraulic oil thickens and fills the gap between the discs effectively locking the discs together and locking the differential.

Gerotor pumps work by hydraulically compressing a clutch pack. When one wheel starts to slip, the pump pressurizes hydraulic fluid into the clutch pack area providing frictional resistance that transfers torque to the wheel with traction.

There are also electronic limited slip differential systems that use anti-lock brake sensors to electronically monitor wheel speed. If one of the wheels begins to rotate faster than the other, the computer briefly applies the brake to that wheel.

Another form of final drive that achieves a similar effect to a limited slip differential is called a spool that consists of a pinion and ring gear only. The axle is one solid piece. A mini-spool is similar, replacing the usual differential center with a solid piece, while retaining the factory axles. A third option, popular with the drifting community, is welding the spider gears together in the factory differential and using the stock axels.

A locking differential, or locker, is often used in off-road 4WD vehicles. In the default setting, both wheels are locked. A selectable locker is typically used by street cars that also drag race. On the street, the car would use the open differential setting and later be locked at the drag strip by compressed air, a cable, electric actuator, or hydraulic fluid locking mechanism.

If you want to know if your car has LSD, here is how to find out. Do a burnout and see if your car left one or two tire marks. 2 tire marks = LSD. If you know your car has a limited slip differential and it only leaves one tire mark, the LSD may need to be serviced or replaced.

Nissan SR20DET Engine

The Nissan SR20DET is a popular 4-cylinder JDM engine known for being the heart of the Nissan 180SX and Silvia. SR20DET engine swaps are popular in North America for 240SX owners.

Nissan SR20DET engine code:

SR - Engine Family
20 - 2.0 Liters Displacement
D - Dual Overhead Cam
E - Electronic Fuel Injection
T - Turbocharged

Nissan also produced a cheaper naturally aspirated (non-turbo) version of the SR engine called the SR20DE. The SR20DET engine replaced the CA18DET that originally powered the Silvia and 180SX. Different variants of the SR20DET engine have different color valve covers.

• Red Top SR20DET (1989-1994) S13 Silvia, 180SX, Pulsar, Bluebird
• Black Top SR20DET (1994-1998) S13 Silvia, 180SX
• Black Top SR20DET (1994-2002) S14 Silvia, S15 Silvia
• Silver Top SR20DET (1995-2001) Avenir

The SR20DET engine was first used in 1989 in the U12 Nissan Bluebird 2000SSS Attesa. From 1990 to 1994 the SR20DET was used in the Nissan Pulsar GTi-R (N14) but with a larger Garret T28 turbocharger. In both cars the engine is mounted in an East/West fashion but in the Silvia and 180SX the SR engine is mounted North/South.

Then the SR20DET engine was used in the Nissan Avenir in 1995, the Nissan R’nessa in 1997, and the Nissan Liberty in 1999. The S14 and S15 Silvia use a larger Garrett T28 turbocharger. The S15 Nissan Silvia Spec R trim level SR20DET uses a T28 Garret turbocharger with a dual ball-bearing center cartridge compared to the ceramic center cartridge present in the S14 Silvia. The Nissan Silvia was the longest running model to use the SR20DET engine.

VeilSide

VeilSide is a Japanese automotive company located near the Tskuba Circuit in Tokyo, Japan that produces high performance aftermarket car parts like: body kits, suspension, wheels, intake manifolds, steering wheels, gauges, racing seats, pedals, and shift knobs. VeilSide also produces a clothing line of VeilSide apparel. Currently, it seems that body kits have become the focus for VeilSide, since they discontinued some of their car parts and wheels.

VeilSide’s most notable products are their body kits or “aero-fashions.” One thing that makes VeilSide cool is that their body kits drastically alter the original lines of a car yet look stock. VeilSide’s aerodynamic parts catalogue was originally based on Japanese cars like the Toyota Supra and Subaru Impreza, but recently they have designed body kits for American and European cars. In Summer 2007, VeilSide released a new body kit for the 2005+ Mustang body style.

VeilSide was established by Yokomaku Hiranao in 1990. The name VeilSide is derived from Yokomaku’s name - Maku meaning “Veil,” and Yoko meaning “Side.” Initially, VeilSide focused on performance tuning and at the 1991 Tokyo Auto Salon custom car contest, VeilSide won Grand Prize in the Tuned Car Category even though it was the first time the company had ever participated in the event.

One of VeilSide’s most popular body kits is the Supra Combat series that was awarded the Grand Prize in the Complete Car Category at the 1993 Tokyo Auto Salon. According to Yokomaku, the Batmobile from the 1960’s television show Batman inspired the VeilSide Combat series. “In Japan, people think that superheroes are something for kids, but in the States I saw adults looking at the Batmobile with keen interest.” At first, even the VeilSide staff was surprised by the new Combat Supra styling, “But they just stared without backing off, and the more they looked, the more they liked it,” says Yokomaku.

After the Supra Combat was a success at the Tokyo Auto Salon, VeilSide began adapting the Combat series style to other car models. In July of 1995, VeilSide received the Japanese Ministry of Transportation authorization to produce all the Combat’s aero parts, so now the car could pass official Japanese inspection - a first in the aftermarket performance industry.

Another popular VeilSide body kit is their Fortune series. Most VeilSide Fortune series body kits replace every body panel except the roof. VeilSide is like a DJ in that they remix the body style of a car creating a new and exciting body style design.

Sample of VeilSide body kits:

Mazda RX-7 Fortune Body Kit

R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R VS-GT Body Kit

Nissan Z33 350Z Version-3 Body Kit

Toyota Supra ‘03 Fortune Body Kit

VeilSide Official Website:

http://www.veilside.com/

Nitrous Oxide

Nitrous Oxide, Nitrous, or simply NOS is a chemical compound (N2O) that when introduced to a car’s engine increases horsepower performance. Typically, nitrous is not used in competitive drifting, instead, nitrous oxide is most commonly used in drag and street racing applications - drifting requires delicate use of horsepower to control drift angle but there are drifters that use nitrous like Japanese drifter Shuichi Yoshioka in his Nissan S15 Silvia. “The car has only 400ps (395hp). If two cars go into a curve at the same speed, the car that has more horsepower has more control. I use NOS to get more power,” says Shuichi Yoshioka.

When nitrous is injected, temperature inside the engine is about 572 degrees F, nitrous breaks down and nitrogen and oxygen are released. The extra oxygen creates additional horsepower by allowing more fuel to be burned and the nitrogen helps control the combustion process by reducing cylinder pressure. In addition, nitrous has an intercooling effect that reduces intake charge temperatures by 60 to 75 degrees F, further increasing performance.

Potential horsepower gains with nitrous:

4 cylinder engine extra 40-60 HP
6 cylinder engine extra 75-100 HP
8 cylinder engine extra 125-200 HP

Nitrous oxide is 2 parts nitrogen and 1 part oxygen (N2O) and is stored as a liquid in nitrous oxide tanks or bottles. Alone, nitrous is non-flammable; however, the oxygen present in nitrous causes fuel to combust more rapidly – this is how nitrous creates horsepower gain.

When nitrous is injected into an inlet manifold this cooling feature causes a reduction in air/fuel charge temperature, increasing air density, and increasing the cylinder’s volumetric efficiency – increased cylinder efficiency means more horsepower.

The term NOS is derived from the abbreviation of the company Nitrous Oxide Systems who is one of the pioneering companies in the development of nitrous oxide injection systems for aftermarket automotive performance. More recently, the term NOS was made popular with the film The Fast and the Furious.

Nitrous equipped cars will “purge” the nitrous delivery system prior to a race to ready the nitrous system. A separate electrically operated valve is used to release air and gaseous nitrous oxide trapped in the delivery system. This brings liquid nitrous oxide all the way up through the plumbing from the storage tank to the solenoid valve that will release nitrous into the engine’s intake tract.

When the purge system is activated, one or more plumes of nitrous oxide will be visible for a moment as the liquid flashes to vapor as it is released. The purpose of a nitrous purge is to ensure the correct amount of nitrous is delivered the moment the system is activated otherwise the car will lag for an instant until liquid nitrous oxide reaches the intake.

The best time to use nitrous is at wide-open throttle only, unless you have a progressive controller. Due to the tremendous amount of increased torque, you will generally find best results, traction permitting, at early activation. Nitrous can be safely applied above 2,500 RPM under full throttle conditions.

It is possible to hold the nitrous button down until the bottle is empty, but 15 continuous seconds at a time, or less, is recommended.

The best position to mount a nitrous bottle is at a 15 degree angle with the valve end higher than the bottom of the bottle. The valve end of the bottle should point to the front of the vehicle and the valve knob and label should face straight up.

How long will the bottle last largely depends on the type of nitrous kit and jetting used. For example, a 125 HP Power Shot kit with a standard 10 lb. capacity bottle will usually offer up to 7 to 10 full quarter-mile passes. For power levels of 250 HP, 3 to 5 full quarter-mile passes may be expected. If nitrous is only used in 2nd and 3rd gears, the number of runs will be more.

The most reliable method to know how much nitrous is left in the bottle is to weigh the bottle to determine how many pounds remain. When a nitrous bottle is near empty a surging effect is normally felt.

The way to get the most out of your nitrous bottle is to keep bottle pressure around 900-950 psi. Most nitrous bottle have a pressure gauge that allows you to monitor this. If you live or operate a nitrous system in colder temperatures, it is recommended to purchase a bottle heater kit. Generally, ambient temperatures of 80-90 degrees F will allow for best power potential of nitrous kits.

There are no benefits to chilling a nitrous bottle. In fact, chilling a nitrous bottle lowers pressure dramatically and causes a lower flow rate of nitrous causing a fuel rich situation - reducing horsepower.

There are benefits to using nitrous with turbo and supercharger applications. In turbo applications, turbo lag is completely eliminated with the addition of a nitrous system. In addition, both turbo and superchargers compress the incoming air, thus heating it. With the injection of nitrous, a tremendous intercooling effect reduces intake charge temperatures by 75 degrees or more. Boost is usually increased as well, adding to even more horsepower.

Two types of nitrous systems are plate injection systems and direct port injection systems. The advantages of a plate system are ease of installation and removal, ability to change jetting combinations quickly, and in most cases, provide you with all the extra HP you will ever need (75 to 350 more HP).

Direct port type systems are recommended for in-line type engines like the Toyota Supra’s 2JZ-GTE or the Nissan Skyline’s RB26DETT engine to maximize nitrous distribution. Direct port injection is also desirable when the system is hidden under the manifold or when you need over 350 horsepower gain.

One of the advantages of using nitrous compared to other performance options is cost. Dollar for dollar, you can’t buy more performance with less money than nitrous. With a nitrous system, performance and reliability can be had for a much more reasonable price while still retaining the advantage of a stock engine for normal driving conditions. Plus, nitrous offers tremendous gains in torque without having to rev the engine to excessive rpm’s. These factors help your engine last longer than many other methods of boosting horsepower.

The danger of using nitrous oxide is detonation. Detonation is the result of too little fuel present during combustion (lean) or too low of fuel octane. An engine running with nitrous oxide depends heavily on the proper air to fuel ratio to prevent detonation from occurring. Too much ignition advance can also causes detonation.

In general, most nitrous kits are engineered for stock type engines using premium type fuels and minimal decreases of ignition timing. In racing applications, where higher compression ratios are used, a higher fuel octane is needed along with more ignition retard.

Trust: GReddy, GREX, GRacer

The Trust Company was founded in Japan in 1977. The Trust Company owns several popular automotive brands like GReddy, GREX, and GRacer.

GReddy is a popular manufacturer of street-legal JDM and Domestic automotive performance parts like: exhausts, headers, air intakes, turbo kits, superchargers, intercoolers, oil cooling systems, suspension kits, brakes, body kits, fuel injectors, camshafts and other engine performance parts.

GReddy, pronounced GUR-EDD-EY, not [n00b] “G-Ready,” is originally named after a Japanese mountain named “Great Eddy.”

GREX makes high performance aluminum alloy car parts like connecting rods, forged pistons, brake calipers, racing lug nuts, strut tower bars, and shift knobs.

GRacer is the aero parts brand of the Trust Company. GRacer specializes in body kits that improve handling by delivering maximum aerodynamic advantage - increased down force and increasing positive airflow effect to vital engine parts and cooling systems.

Since 1994, the development and distribution of Trust Company products within North America has been accomplished by GReddy Performance Products based in Irvine, California.

Trust Company Official Website: http://trust-power.com

GReddy Official Website: http://greddy.com

Turbochargers

A turbocharger, short for turbine driven supercharger, is an exhaust gas driven forced induction device used to improve engine performance by forcing compressed air into the engine. This compressed air allows more fuel to be burned resulting in more horsepower. Using a compressor to increase pressure at the point of cylinder air intake is referred to as forced induction vs. a non-turbo engine that is known as naturally aspirated.

A turbocharger consists of a turbine and a compressor linked by a shared axle. The turbine inlet receives exhaust gases from the engine’s exhaust manifold causing the turbine wheel to spin. This rotation drives the compressor, compressing air and delivering it to the air intake of the engine.

Superchargers operate in the same fashion as a turbo except the energy used to spin the compressor on a supercharger is taken from the rotation of the engine’s crankshaft as opposed to its exhaust gas. For this reason turbochargers are more efficient, since their turbines convert some of the thermal energy from the exhaust gas, that would otherwise be wasted, into useful work. Nevertheless, this is not totally free energy, as it always creates some amount of exhaust backpressure that the engine must overcome. Since superchargers use output energy from the engine to achieve their power, some of the engine’s total output is lost.

Turbocharged engines operating at wide open throttle and high rpm require a large volume of air to flow between the turbo and the inlet of the engine. When the throttle is closed compressed air will continue to flow to the throttle valve without an exit. This causes a pressure surge that can be destructive to the engine. To prevent this from happening, a valve is fitted between the turbo and air intake that vents the excess air pressure. These valves are known as anti-surge, dump or blowoff valves. They are normally operated by engine vacuum or by electronic control.

A wastegate is the most common mechanical speed control system used to protect the engine. The main function of a wastegate is to allow some of the exhaust gasses to bypass the turbocharger when the desired intake pressure, or boost, is achieved. Often times a wastegate is further augmented by an electronic boost controller.

Boost refers to the increase in manifold pressure that is generated by the turbocharger. The maximum possible boost depends on the fuel’s octane rating. Typically, engines running on pump gas cannot sustain a boost above 12 psi.

Turbo lag refers to the delay between pushing the accelerator pedal and feeling the turbo kick-in. This happens because it takes the turbocharger’s turbines a moment to spin and build up boost. Turbo lag can be reduced by a properly tuned wastegate, higher quality bearings, lighter ceramic turbine, or by reducing the surface area of the turbine’s rotating blades. Note: The directly-driven compressor in a supercharger does NOT suffer from lag.

An intercooler can be added to a turbocharged system to further increase horsepower. Intercoolers take the hot compressed gases from the turbo and pass them through a radiator to lower their temperature and increase their density before they reenter the engine. The cooler dense air allows more air and fuel to be combusted per engine cycle, increasing the horsepower output of the engine.

JDM Cars with Turbochargers

• Toyota Chaser - 1JZ-GTE
• Toyota MR2 – 3S-GTE
• Toyota Supra - 2JZ-GTE
• Nissan Silvia – SR20DET
• Nissan Skyline – RB26DETT
• Mazda RX-7 - 13B-REW
• Subaru Impreza WRX – EJ207
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution – 4G63T and 4B11T

Nissan RB26DETT Engine

The Nissan RB26DETT is a 2.6L straight-6 four-stroke engine best known for being the power plant for Nissan’s premier sports car the Skyline. The “D” indicates a double overhead cam, the “E” stands for electronically fuel-injected, and the “TT” means the engine has twin turbochargers.

If you want to buy a RB26DETT Click Here!

Originally, the R32 Skyline GT-R was planned to have a 2.4L RB24DET (single turbo) in order to compete in the 4000cc class of Group A. But when Nismo engineers added the AWD system to the R32 Skyline it made the car heavy and less competitive. At that point, Nissan made the decision to add twin turbochargers to the now 2.6L engine and compete in the 4500cc class. The resulting engine would be known as the RB26DETT that is popular today.

The first 2.6L RB26DETT engine featured in the Nissan R32 Skyline produced around 276HP (206 kW) @ 6800 rpm and 260 ft lbs (353 N·m) @ 4400 rpm. The last series of the RB26DETT present in the R34 Skyline produced 280 PS (206 kW) @ 6800 rpm but increased torque to 289 ft·lb (392 N·m) @ 4400 rpm.

These horsepower numbers appear modest at first but stock RB26DETT engines have been dyno tested close to the 320 horsepower mark. The reason some RB26DETT engines put out 320HP and others don’t is due to environmental restrictions. In Japan, every production car is restricted to 276HP. Therefore, Japanese versions of the engine put out 276HP and unrestricted or non-Japanese versions put out 320HP.

HKS

HKS is a Japan based automotive engineering company that produces high performance aftermarket parts like: exhaust, intakes, suspension, turbochargers, superchargers, blowoff valves, fuel management components, intercoolers, and camshafts for JDM vehicles. HKS has sponsored many famous drivers over the years and competed in many forms of motorsports including D1 Grand Prix, drag racing, F3, and JGTC.

HKS is led by former Yamaha Motor Company engineer Hiroyuki Hasegawa and partner Mr. Kitagawa, the two secured funding from Sigma Automotive Co. solidifying the name “HKS.”

In 1973, HKS began tuning engines in a dairy-farming shed at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan. A year later, Mr. Hasegawa designed and built the first aftermarket turbocharger for a passenger car. HKS also delivered the first commercially available electronic turbo timer and boost controller. Since these revolutionary developments, HKS has continued to set trends in the JDM aftermarket performance industry and is now a publicly traded automotive accessory company.

How to Build a Drift Car

I get asked often “How to build a drift car?” Here is a short overview on how to make your car drift ready.

Since most of the cars you guys will be tuning have higher miles, they need a little love. The first thing I would suggest is making sure the car is in good running condition. Make sure all the belts are good, check all the fluids, and change the oil. If the air filter is dirty replace it.

Next, check the brakes. Make sure brake pads have life left and the rotors are not too worn. Since you will be using the e-brake to initiate drifts and to correct drift angle once the car is sliding sideways, you need to make sure the rear brake pads are in good condition. Otherwise, you will have a hard time getting the rear wheels to lock up when you pull the e-brake. If they are worn out go to Napa, Auto Zone, or Oreilly’s and buy the brake parts you need - most of these auto parts stores have lifetime replacement policies.

So now your car is running like new. If you have the money buy a set of coilover struts, if not, get a set of springs. You can also get strut bars on eBay for cheap. Now your suspension is tighter. I would get used to this before doing any more suspension modifications.

Now if this is your second car, or you don’t do much street driving, I’d strip out everything you can except the driver’s seat! Get a heat gun and a putty knife and remove all the sound deadening material - like 50+ pounds on a S13 Silvia.

Next thing I would suggest is getting a bucket seat. You can get a decent one for under $200 plus the mounts and everything else for about $70. You don’t need harnesses right away, but I’d recommend them. This will help keep you planted in the turns while drifting instead of fighting to hold on.

The most essential modification for any drift car is going to be a Limited Slip Differential, or LSD. These are expensive but sometimes you can find used ones. If it’s used, get it rebuilt! A cheap alternative to buying a LSD, popular with the drifting community, is welding the spider gears together in the factory differential and using the stock axels.

Now your car is ready to drift! Spend the rest of the money on tires because you’re going to need them! A good place to get cheap tires for drifting is a used tire shop.

Of course there is any number of additional modifications you could make to increase the performance of your drift car but this overview is meant as an informative starting point for drivers interested in drifting.

Top Secret Performance Engineering

Top Secret Performance Engineering is a Japanese motor vehicle tuning company that makes performance car parts for Wangan, Circuit, Drag, and Drift forms of racing motorsports. Top Secret has won awards and been featured in many import car tuning magazines. In recent news, Top Secret took home Best of Show honors at the 2007 Tokyo Auto Salon for their “Final Evolution” JZA80 wide body kit V12 twin turbo Toyota Supra.

Founder, owner, and active president Kazuhiko “Smoky” Nagata has been tuning and creating performance vehicles under the Top Secret name since the mid 90’s. The first tuned cars Kazuhiko Nagata created under the Top Secret name were green in color but later, after finding inspiration from the Olympics and the gold medal, Nagata decided to use gold paint to distinguish the Top Secret cars.

Aside from tuning and building incredible cars, Kazuhiko “Smoky” Nagata is known for reaching extreme top speeds, like 340 km/h (211 mph), on highways and public roads. Some of these street racing exploits have been captured by Video Option and make for some awesome street racing videos.

Top Secret specializes in car parts like body kits, electronics, engine parts, exhaust, suspension, turbo kits, and wheels for JDM import cars. They are also known for their custom tuning. If you want, you can ship your car to Japan to have Smoky Nagata tune it at Top Secret’s Shop, or, Nagata can come to you! One thing is clear when admiring Top Secret’s vehicle portfolio…these guys love fast cars!

Sample of Top Secret Cars:

GT-300 Supra
Base: Toyota Supra (JZA80)
Engine: 3SGTE 2.2L
Drivetrain: RWD
Output: 720 ps/8500 rpm
Notes: JGTC Inspired Body and tuning
300 km/h New Zealand High Speed run

Fusion RX-1 V35 GTR Skyline
Base: Nissan Skyline (CV35)
Engine: VK45 V8 Twin Turbo SPL
Drivetrain: 6 speed Getrag, ORC, RWD
Output: 720 ps /7000 rpm
Notes: TAS 05 - Best Tuned Car
Max Power 05 - Best Tuned Car
341 km/h Autobahn Attack

Super Taikyu Integra
Base: Honda Integra Type R (DC5)
Engine: K20A
Drivetrain: FF
Notes: Super Taikyu Competition Vehicle

How to Drift Using the E-brake

Brakes are an important part of any drift car. In most cars, the parking brake, hand brake, side brake, emergency brake or e-brake as it may be known, only affects the rear wheels. Since you will be using the e-brake to initiate the drift and to correct drift angle once the car is sliding sideways, you need to make sure the rear brake pads are in good condition. Otherwise, you will have a hard time getting the rear wheels to lock up when you pull the e-brake.

Here is an outline of a basic drifting technique that makes use of the e-brake and why it works. This drift technique has many names like Side Brake Drifting, Hand Brake Drifting, Emergency Brake Drifting or just E-brake Drifting but they all do the same thing to get the car sideways and drifting:

1. Brake for upcoming corner – This transfers the vehicle weight to the front wheels for traction while lightening the rear end and enabling the rear wheels to lock up more freely once the e-brake is pulled.
2. Turn the steering wheel to enter corner – You got to tell the car what direction it’s going.
3. Depress the clutch – This disengages the transmission from the engine and enables the rear wheels to lock up when the e-brake is pulled.
4. Pull e-brake momentarily (like 1 second) – This will suddenly lock the rear wheels causing the rear end to slide. Now you are drifting! If you do this correctly, it will be hard for spectators to even know you pulled the e-brake.
5. Release the e-brake
6. Countersteer - Countersteering is turning the steering wheel in the opposite direction that you first turned the steering wheel in - to initiate the turn. For example: Say you are about to drift a right hand turn. When entering the corner you turn the steering wheel to the RIGHT to get the car going in that direction. Once the car starts sliding, you would then turn the steering wheel to the LEFT to counter the skid.
7. Now wait until the car is facing the corner exit and gently give the car gas – how hard you step on the gas depends how much you are countersteering and sliding.

A common mistake is to floor the car as soon as you see the corner exit but this can make you spinout. Drifting is NOT about horsepower. Drifting is about weight transfer and maintaining the car’s momentum through a corner. However, there is a drifting technique called the Power Over Drift where you DO floor the car while exiting the corner but that is another subject.

Increasing Drift Angle

Drift angle is the angle a car maintains during a drift. Drift angle is important in competition and is often judged as part of a driver’s style - the more extreme the drift angle the better.

The most common way to increase drift angle is to upgrade pre-existing tie rods and tie rod ends with high quality aftermarket tie rod parts specifically designed for drifting. Kazama Auto and Tein are popular manufacturers of these aftermarket tie rod parts. Stronger tie rods with longer threaded portions allow for a greater range of adjustment. While special tie rod ends have adjustable spacers to correct tie rod placement for extremely lowered vehicles that have issues with tie rod ends binding and snapping.

Increasing the length of the tie rods will add much needed play in the steering wheel and give you that much more control over your car’s drift angle. This increased steering angle will also make recovering from drifts or slides a little easier since you will have more room for correction.

Increased steering angle often requires other modifications as well because at some point, the tire or wheel will come in contact with other suspension pieces, the fenders, or wheel wells.

Other options to increase drift angle include custom built steering racks or machining of the spindles.

Colored Smoke and Scented tires

Kumho has created some super cool tires that produce colored smoke instead of regular grey smoke when warmed up and drifted! The Kumho colored smoke tires cost $1995 per tire! The Kumho tires are not permitted in many drift competitions, as they are seen as giving an unfair advantage to teams with the funding to utilize them. The tires come in Blue, Red, and Yellow.

Here is the Kumho tire product description:

If that wasn’t enough to blow your mind…Kumho has also produced scented tires that smell like Lavender and Rosemary when smoked!

The Kumho ECSTA DX Aroma tire will be sold in three sizes:

• 205/60R16 (MSRP $119)
• 215/60R16 (MSRP $125)
• 235/60R16 (MSRP $138)

Drift Car Suspension

Perhaps the most important modification to any drift car is suspension. Competitive drift cars use an integrated coil-over strut combination. A suspension system has many variables - adjustable caster and camber angle, toe-in and toe-out angle, adjustable compression and rebound damper, adjustable ride height, and variable anti-roll bar (sway bar) stiffness. A suspension set-up that allows for these variables is ideal for drifting; since a driver can fully customize the way their suspension feels and reacts to their specific drift car and track conditions.

The purpose of caster angle is basically to allow the front wheels to self-center while under the stress of cornering. Too much caster and you can get what is known as wheel shimmy. This is when the front wheels flick side-to-side rapidly reducing tire to surface grip. Too little caster and the car will oversteer. Caster angle is adjusted by sliding the front wishbones on the hinge pins. To increase caster, slide the top wishbone back or the bottom one forward or a bit of both, do the opposite to reduce caster angle. It is very difficult to measure caster angle so it is more a case of trial and error to get the correct setting. The best starting point would be both wishbones in the center of the hinge pins as there is positive caster built into the steering hubs naturally.

Camber angle is the angle of the wheel when viewed from the front or rear of the car. There are three possible angles, positive camber, neutral camber and negative camber. If the top of the wheel leans into the center of the car you have negative camber. If the wheel is vertical you have neutral or no camber and if the wheel leans out you have positive camber.

One suspension tuning method for drifting still popular in Japan is known as Demon Camber or “Oni-kamu,” in Japanese. It involves setting the suspension with extreme negative camber in the front to reduce front tire slide and improve grip. Negative camber on the rear will create understeer, making the car more difficult to control during a drift.

When viewing a car from above, Toe is the angle at which the tires tilt into or away from the center of the chassis. Generally, on a rear wheel drive car the front wheels will have neutral toe or toe-out. A few degrees of toe-out on the rear wheels, in some vehicles, can make setting up a drift a little easier. With the correct toe angle on the front and rear you will have a stable car that has good traction through the corners.

Shortening or lengthening the steering links or tie rods adjusts toe angle. Shorten the links – more toe-out, lengthen the links – less toe-out. There are different methods to adjust the rear toe angle depending on which make and model of car you drive, almost all adjust the rear lower wishbone to give desired angle.

Higher end drift suspension systems will let you separately adjust the compression and rebound damper rates of the strut to further customize your suspension setup and feel.

Almost all modern cars use the MacPherson strut suspension system. This type of suspension allows the ride height to be adjusted independently of the suspension travel. There is no perfect height setting or spring/strut combo for any car but many suspension manufacturers offer suspension tuned packages specific to certain car models for drifting.

Ride height is adjusted on the collars of the shocks, screwing them down increases the ride height while the opposite is true when lowering the car. Set the rear end a couple of millimeters higher than the front. In general, you want to run the car as low to the ground as possible without scraping the chassis on the ground. A lower center of gravity will increase stability and help reduce body roll while drifting.

Anti-roll bars, or anti-sway bars, provide a link between the left and right side suspension and keep the suspension at nearly the same level vertically when under extreme weight transfer conditions as when drifting; thus, decreasing body roll and increasing stability.

Sway bars should be chosen to match your springs. If you are planning on installing stiff springs for drifting, there is no need for a large diameter sway bar. The combination of stiff springs and small sway bars is enough to control body roll. However, large diameter sway bars are necessary if you will be using relatively soft springs. This is a popular configuration for daily drivers since the ride is not as harsh but this is not necessarily the best setup for drifting.

Soft springs with large sway bars and stiff springs with small sway bars accomplish virtually the same goal of providing a stable suspension while reducing excessive weight transfer. However, a stiff spring/small sway bar setup is generally better than a soft spring/large sway bar setup because stiff springs reduce front-to-back weight transfer. With soft springs, side-to-side weight transfer is controlled by the sway bars, but there is a fair amount of uncontrolled front-to-back weight transfer due to the soft springs. In other words, using soft springs can result in brake dive and acceleration squat which are detrimental to overall drift handling.

Here are some general rules when using adjustable sway bars:

• Wet track = disconnect or soften as much as possible.

• Damp or slippery track = soft as possible

• Grippy dry track = stiff as possible.

Bushings can also be upgraded with urethane parts to help further stiffen the chassis and reduce body roll. Most Nissan vehicles have a floating rear subframe which is usually fixed in position with billet aluminum or urethane “drift pineapples” to prevent the frame from moving during drift.

Overall, suspension in a drift car is stiff with high damper rates, sway bars are upgraded to reduce body roll and caster is often increased to improve the car’s stability during a drift. All of these suspension modifications are done to keep the tires where they belong during a drift - on the road.

RC Drift Cars

Radio-controlled drift cars are equipped with special low grip tires that allow the RC drift car to slide. Typically, the higher end RC drift cars are all wheel drive (4×4) and have swappable shocks, motors, wheels, and brakes.

Yokomo is a popular high-end brand. Yokomo RC cars start around $300 – that includes a factory pre-assembled chassis with radio electronics, transmitter, and battery charger. To complete the set, you will also need to buy a body shell ($45 - $70), wheels ($50), and a set of tires ($12). So without any “extras,” like led lights, graphite parts, ect. – you are looking at spending around $450 and the price goes up from there! Not cheap by any means but there are less expensive alternatives.

One idea is to place electrical tape around the rear wheels of any RC car to reduce grip and induce drift. Also, you can find cheap versions of RC drift cars at pretty much any large electronic retailer.

Yokomo RSR Toyota Supra RC drift car body - driven by Manabu Orido 1/10 scale

Yokomo Toyota AE86 RC drift car body 1/10 scale

G4TV Formula-D RC drift car video segment

Best Tires for Drifting

Currently, Yokohama Advan Neova ad07 tires are popular with many D1 Grand Prix drift drivers.

The ADVAN Neova AD07 is the Extreme Performance Summer tire member of Yokohama’s global family of ADVAN performance tires developed for sports car, sports coupe and performance sedan enthusiasts who love sport driving. Used as Original Equipment (O.E.) on the Lotus Elise, the ADVAN Neova AD07 is designed to provide high levels of traction, responsive handling and driving control in dry and wet road conditions. The ADVAN Neova AD07 is not intended for cold temperatures or snow.

The ADVAN Neova AD07 molds a “fine particle” Micro Silica (MS) tread compound (to provide greater road surface adhesion) into a directional tread pattern that features massive tread blocks with rounded edges to increase cornering stability and steering response while promoting more even wear. Five large circumferential and multiple directionally aligned lateral grooves resist hydroplaning and enhance wet traction. The tire’s structure includes two wide steel belts reinforced by spirally wound nylon to provide strength and uniform ride quality and high-speed capability while the sidewalls are tuned to resist lateral deflection providing handling control and cornering stability.

Like the motorsports tires this Extreme Performance street tire has evolved from, the ADVAN Neova AD07 radial’s construction and compounds have been tuned to maximize the tire’s traction and performance within a specific range of ambient temperatures. Therefore, unlike less highly-tuned tires, Yokohama’s care instructions specify that due to its compound characteristics, ADVAN Neova tires must be used and stored at temperatures above -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) to maintain its performance and avoid tire damage.