Drift and tracks
 

Ok where are my fellow drifters at and who's got track time under there belt?

I live in Central Illinois and im sick of trying to improve my drifting skills in the streets and searching for good parking lots. Plus its hard to drift with one eye on the road and the other looking for cops. So does anybody no of any tracks around the illinois area that i could practice at? Right now i dont even care if im not drifting. i just want to get on a track and eventually get into drifting.

Please dont clutter this thread up with useless opinions of how drifting sucks.

haha i feel the same way. we have Gateway International Raceway here in St Louis but i dont think they have drifting. i dont even know if they allow use of the infield track by the public or that they even have an infield track. (not very helpful, i know.) I find empty parking lots on rainy days too but the sad thing is that I have the stock open diff:frown: and well even if i do get sideways it doesnt last too long. But look on the bright side1 winter is coming up and those empty parking lots will become a lot more fun! at least for me. open diffs suck.

Find out the name of your local BMWCCA chapter and find out if they do driver education schools in your area. You'll also want to check any of the areas around you that are not to far of a drive...

You can also check sites like clubregistration.net for PCA events, or check with NASA or SCCA for events in your local area. There really is no excuse for drifting, racing, whatever you want to call it on public streets.

Yea i went there for Nopi 07' pretty cool but they didn't even use the track. Only the drag strip and the parking lot for drifting. The track looks pretty sweet online though.

Yea i think i checked BMWCCA but didn't find much in the peoria area as far as track/auto-x events. I'll keep check into it more. thanks.

yea drifting on the streets im sure is just ignorance but its all i got for now.

I'm open to more advice for getting into drifting/auto-x/school events if you got any. Just call me sponge bob. I'll soak it up.:biggrin:

well Spongebob, I know how you feel, there are no auto-x events or tracks anywhere near where I live, the closest one is a several hour drive and it's just an oval track for regular racing :(

When the cops pull you over for reckless driving, just tell them that you seen it in a movie and you want to do what they're doing:lol: Seriously though, is your car setup for drift? What kind of tires are you running, % of lock, and how much hp are you puttin down? Do you have a rollcage/harness and do you wear a helmet while you're drifting on the street?

You have Gingerman raceway in South Haven, MI.

Autobahn country club is in Joliet, IL.

Gratten Raceway is in Beilding, MI.

Road America is in Elkhart Lake, WI.

That is what I found in the Great Lakes are pretty quickly. I didn't include Mid-Ohio as that might be a bit of a drive. But you have plenty of tracks in your area.


I would imagine that you could get to all of those tracks with just a few hours of driving.. It is not like you are going to be able to find a ton of event 20 minutes from your house. Most people that do a lot of track events travel several hours to the tracks.

I know this cross road where both roads are 5 lanes wide, and there are no houses, buildings, construction, cars, or people near the road. Perfect place to hit your car's max speed, or practice drifting. Only problem is, there are curbs. Though, it's not much of a problem when you're drifting sideways on a 5 laned road.

I hit 125mph once, but according to peeps, 116mph is the max speed, and that dash lies when it comes to higher speeds. 116 or 125, i'm gonna brag about my 125 :-P

i got the needle to nudge 120 while following a z4 through highway traffic once but i let off because, well...i was in highway traffic... and my friend in the passenger seat was freaking out partly due to the weaving through highway traffic and partly because of the freaking rpms and the noise! hell he was telling me to slow down when i was doing 65 but he didnt know that. i wouldn't know either if i saw 3500 rpms in 5th gear.

Wow, Maverick didn't you just get a thread locked for talking about boneheaded adolescent ignorant shenanagins?

Yup, and i'll stick to my story :biggrin:

Boneheaded? Yup my skull is made out of bones
Adolescent? If 18 is adolescent, then call me pop eye!
Ignorant? I "taped" a "pepboys" scoop to my hood, yet I still refuse to heed the advice of forum members asking me to remove it.
Shenanigans? Nope, was a true story that actually happened.

The only life I risk is me, myself, and I. I have Ulcerative Colitis. In a few more years I will have colon cancer, if there is no cure in the next 3 years. So I have death coming.

Im not sure if your serious or joking but im going to answer your question anyways. My car is in the process of being set up for drift. I've spent so much money fixing my car that i haven't been able to spend much on upgrades. Im probably not ready for track drifting yet but i'd be happy with auto-x for now till i get some more hp and more lock up. (only 25% on the lsd now) I probably got a little over stock hp from different exhaust and intake. I got 3 sets of wheels and tires from the sticky icky to the slippery when wet. Safety hasn't been addressed yet cuz i dont get to crazy on the roads which is why i need to get on the track to improve. Hp will be addressed when i decide what to do and when the funds are available. Im debating on doing a swap or rebuilding the 4 banger and boosting it. Not sure whats the most bang for the buck or if building up the 4 banger will be enough hp.

oh yea and i gotta brag a little about the new suspension.

-Ireland engineering rear camber/toe kits
-eurethane bushings.
-bilstein struts/shock with h&r springs (sport)

thanks to you guys my suspension purchase and install was made easier!
Big thanks! I love this forum

Keep the wealth of drift, track, and auto-x info coming.
Anybody with experience got any advice?

There are several of us that have a lot of track experience, but most of us that have track experience want nothing to do with threads that seem to advocate street racing, or wreckless driving...


Got any pictures of the rear camber/toe kit installed?