Most of the buzz we hear surrounding Formula Drift and professional drifting in general is about power, and how much more of it drift cars nowadays have compared to tug boats, or the Space Shuttle. But what we have neglected to discuss is how steering angle has evolved in drifting over the years.

While drifting in general is a relatively new motorsport, in the past few years the engineering and crazy machines that teams are building these days have evolved in leaps and bounds – some say for the worse. At Round 4 of the Formula Drift Pro Championship at Wall Speedway in New Jersey, I chatted with a few drivers, as well as Stephan Papadakis, on the subject of steering angle, then paired the comments with some of my favorite photos from the event and my archives.

Fredric Aasbø: “Steering angle in drifting – that’s the number one thing that tipped the scale for me to risk everything to compete in Formula Drift in the first place. Because when I started drifting in Europe back in 2006, I thought to myself, the number one thing you need in drifting is steering angle.”

Continue reading The Evolution Of Steering Angle by Larry Chen