My dad put a cup of water in my car during tofu deliveries to a hill resort. He said it was to ensure the tofu didn’t get damaged in transit. But he was secretly developing my downhill racing technique. Apparently if I didn’t spill the water, it meant that my cornering technique was ‘smooth’.
Also the kiddie version of ‘wax on wax off’ is ‘hang your jacket on the hook, take your jacket off the hook’.
Initial D!
Also, that technique has no real-world application. The father told him to try and make the water spin in the cup instead of splashing back and forth. But that’s not possible just from driving a vehicle, no matter how you drift corners.
I lived in Japan back when that anime TV show was releasing, and I can tell you, it’s pure fantasy. Although it’s much closer to real Japanese street racing than that awful Tokyo Drift film. That film was basically American street racing with Japanese actors. Actual Japanese street racers are science, math, and physics nerds, pushing the boundaries of their cars for the fun of it. Not hardened gangsters or Yakuza wannabes, decking their cars out with neon lights and massive spoilers and body kits. Hollywood invented their own concept of drift racing for that film.
What i dont quite understand is that if the street racers wanted to go up or down as fast as possible, why did they drift?
Its not like drifting is any faster than racing with grip but maybe that was like a cultural obligation if you wanted to participate?
Initial D is a great anime non the less :)
When the corners are very, very tight, and there’s hardly any straights, it’s often beneficial to maintain entry speed and get the car rotated in the right direction quickly, assuming you’re capable of recovering the slide at the appropriate time. Look at how rally drivers take tight hairpins even on tarmac. Imo big showy drifts aren’t fast but they do serve as good practice for understanding the car at the limit and reacting in low-grip situations.
When the corners are very, very tight, and there’s hardly any straights, it’s often beneficial to maintain entry speed and get the car rotated in the right direction quickly, assuming you’re capable of recovering the slide at the appropriate time.
Especially downhill where the car needs more front brake bias to stop harder, and that means even more understeer coming into the turn. Snapping into oversteer so you’re pointing the right way, then ending drift when the car’s ready to put that high rpm back into traction, that’s one of the rare occasions where drifting will get through faster. And as you said, it certainly doesn’t make for big showy slides. Even in tarmac rally, they’re floating the car through the turn, not getting its ass way out the side for 20m.
Yes, that makes sense. Drifting around hairpins is most of the time faster. It also makes sense to drift when you are unable to maintain proper slip angle, just as you stated when the ground offers low and unpredictable amounts of grip.
it is sometimes faster to loosen the grip on your rear wheels to point the front end in a better direction. they call it tail braking iirc.
I mean… using the water as an indicator for directional Gs is technically correct lol.
It won’t help you learn to drift better, but it does work as a bargain basement indicator for roughness of driving, which could be important if you’re moving food and don’t want it to spill.
Alternatively, you could just use a car with good suspension and not drive like a maniac lol.
You lived in Japan but you seem to ignore the existence of the bosozoku when you say that people don’t deck their cars (motorcycles too) out with ridiculous body kits?
Serious drift racers don’t do that. Yes, there is a subculture in Japan who loves to deck our their vehicles with body kits and LED lighting and heavy sounds systems. But mostly for show, not for racing.
I was comparing Tokyo Drift’s idea of Japanese drift racing with reality. That film is just Hollywood trying to make drifting look sexy and sleek. In reality, it’s just a bunch of nerds who find ways to shave every little ounce off their vehicles to improve results in their calculations and charts. Body kits, neon-colored lights, and beefy sound systems are just added weight.
I mean, throughout the course of the Fast & the Furious film franchise, the main characters go from illegal street racing punks to international spies, saving the world from global threats. So you really shouldn’t be looking to those films for any sense of reality anyway.
“Always let a horse know where you are.”
Accidentally surprising a horse can lead to sudden injury and/or hilarious internet videos. When moving around them, it’s a good idea to talk quietly to them (or to yourself) so that they can hear you and know where you are. if you have to get up close to one, gently place your hand or forearm against them as you move past.
The same advice works if you are around someone concentrating on a physical task like cooking, construction, soldering, etc, especially if they are holding something that could hurt if it poked you. You want them to know where you are without breaking their concentration.
Professional kitchens do this. Well some, at least.
To avoid collisions with other staff members scurrying around a busy kitchen, it’s considered polite to clearly say, “Behind,” as you pass behind another person. This is even more important if you are carrying a full tray of food, a hot pan, or a rack of glassware.
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/article/511/kitchen-slang-phrases.html
When I worked in a kitchen, i was taught to say “Knife!” any time I was moving from one station to another holding a knife, same with “hot pan”. The person who trained me did not respond verbally when I asked if there were any particular reasons for the “knife!” instruction, but I heard from others that there was good reason for it.
there were any particular reasons for the “knife!” instruction, but I heard from others that there was good reason for it.
I can think of one: I’d hate to turn around to walk in the direction of someone walking towards me with a knife.
Reminds me of the scene in, like s1 GOT where the Bravosi teacher talks to Arya about how people are bags of water…
Oh, here it is:
[All men are made of water, do you know this? When you pierce them, the water leaks out and they die.] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rwPa3H1MFU)
This one time, during the 80s, I watched a lot of popular movies of mediocre quality, and now I can participate in cultural shorthanded discussion on the internet.
As a professional juggler practised early on to do things with either hand - whether it’s washing dishes or putting a key in the door… just paying attention to how you do things. Now can take juggle 3 balls in either hand
Not exactly what you want but I heard about people in the military practising things and they learn. “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.”
By doing that it makes you quicker. Sometimes when I’m late and start rushing I end up forgetting things or knocking things over or dropping. So I take a breath and say slow is fast. Also my career history is big on “right first time” doing something twice is a huge waste.
Also I remember Adam Savage said he got close to death (or was getting close to being rescued from death) then he told himself “Calm people live. Tense people die.” and he managed to free himself.
Taking a moment might not just save you time or money it might save your life.
It was far from a life and death situation, as it was a highly controlled activity.
But it was meant to mimic a life and death situation for practice: Anyone who travel by helicopter in the North Sea are required to go through this course which includes an emergency water landing drill. It involves sitting inside this thing that is reasonably close to one of the common helicopter models used in the north sea. Same seats, same belts, and similar windows.
This “simlator” hangs from a crane over a pool. So that you can practice escaping from a ditched helicopter. “Brace brace brace!” dunk
This is done while wearing a survival suit that has a rebreather. Each passenger has a dedicated scuba frogman to make sure you don’t panic and drown.First dunk emulates a successful water landing. Helicopter remains floating for a while, but then goes under. Release window, unclamp, and swim out.
It gradually increases in fuckery, to the poin where it’s emulating a helicopter that goes under right away and flips around as it does.
I’m fairly light weight, so this survival suit gives me a lot of buoyancy, and this collar-like thing around my neck tended to catch on the window as I was going through. In the beginning, this was not a problem, but it became a pretty big one on the last test.
The disorientation from being flipped made it hard to compensate for the extra buoyancy, so I got stuck, upside down in the water. I immediately knew what happened, but I remained calm, moved back a little bit. With one hand to keep track of the window, I used my other hand to pretty much pack and squeeze collar as close to my neck as possible, preventing it from catching. There was no panic, but there was a slight worry that the frogman hadn’t intervened. Thanks to the rebreather I could stay pretty calm and focus on what needed to be done to get through the window.
When I reached the surface the frogman explained that he saw that I was having some problems, but decided to let me continue, as he saw that I was calm and reasonably in control. In a real scenario such as this, panic would’ve killed me.
Slow is smooth. Smooth is survivable.
