[Swiftgringo]

Many of us have been shocked and saddened by the the discovery that the GR Corolla does not in fact drift... stock... on stock tires... on dry pavement... Hmmm. After watching Ken Block annihilate tires for an hour this morning I've been thinking, what if you "set up" the Corolla to drift?

The knobs we can turn:
-"track" conditions

• tires
• power
• suspension

-probably others

I have little experience with AWD drifting of the "car" variety but I'm sure that some of you can flesh out the concept more fully.

My first thought is that the GR-four system is "good bones" to start with. It seems that the 30:70 mode is for real (actual rear bias) but the car is just lacking the power to break friction in an exciting way under ideal grip conditions. If that is the case, then there is much hope.

Questions on my mind:

• what are the GR Yaris skid pad tests like? (I've only seen one and it looks like the guy failed to actually turn TCS off)
• exactly what kind of AWD system does the Hoonicorn have?
• how close are we to the Focus RS drive system, what have those owners done, how successful were they?
• Meta question: is it really just as simple as reducing the road/tire friction?

 

[Swiftgringo]

1. What's with the broken bullet lists on this forum XD
2. If you put PS4s on my '99 Miata I don't think that it would drift on dry pavement either.
3. Anyone have experience with doing gymkhana stuff on frozen lakes? (Sorry Southerners)
4. What happens if you put trash tires on the back of a GR Yaris XD

 

[kazoobaru]

• If you want to drift buy RWD not AWD
• If you want to make it more tail happy put skinny all season tires on. (Formula that Toyobaru used with BRZ/FRS/86…factory 215s),increase power:weight ratio (Hoonicorn has 1400hp), and Stiffen rear suspension

 

[Swiftgringo]

Yes, I agree that there are better "out-of-the-box" drifting cars than GR Corolla. But that doesn't mean there isn't value in evaluating this car's potential as well. This is a GR Corolla forum after all. I understand that 30% of this forum is dedicated to discouraging people from buying the car in a bid to reduce the wait lists but let's imagine that you have decided to buy the car anyway.

Barely relevant: I'm not interested in an AWD because I need more drifting in my life. I want AWD so that I can leave my driveway in the winter (note the flag). But, that doesn't mean I can't invest some time, money, and thought to get it drifting too. To my thinking, the whole concept of an econo hot-hatch is to have a little bit of everything in one vehicle (at a bargain). Otherwise yeah, you should get a track car and a drift car and a van for the kids and a truck for getting through the snow and a hellcat for drag racing your buddies on a back road.

As far as your technical points: I agree that tires and power are likely to be 90% of the solution but at this stage I also want to open minded about the power train being the limiting factor. Can you explain how the rear suspension helps?

 

[ryno9100]

Anyone have experience with doing gymkhana stuff on frozen lakes? (Sorry Southerners)

I'm in Alabama.

I'll never get this.

Maybe it's the excuse I need to visit my family in Wisconsin.

 

[Jeonsa]

Yes, I agree that there are better "out-of-the-box" drifting cars than GR Corolla. But that doesn't mean there isn't value in evaluating this car's potential as well. This is a GR Corolla forum after all. I understand that 30% of this forum is dedicated to discouraging people from buying the car in a bid to reduce the wait lists but let's imagine that you have decided to buy the car anyway.

Barely relevant: I'm not interested in an AWD because I need more drifting in my life. I want AWD so that I can leave my driveway in the winter (note the flag). But, that doesn't mean I can't invest some time, money, and thought to get it drifting too. To my thinking, the whole concept of an econo hot-hatch is to have a little bit of everything in one vehicle (at a bargain). Otherwise yeah, you should get a track car and a drift car and a van for the kids and a truck for getting through the snow and a hellcat for drag racing your buddies on a back road.

As far as your technical points: I agree that tires and power are likely to be 90% of the solution but at this stage I also want to open minded about the power train being the limiting factor. Can you explain how the rear suspension helps?

People don’t discourage people to drop their deposits. Lmao We just don’t want people to buy it just to flip it or buy it because it’s the newest shiny thing.

On the topic of drifting, using the hoonicorn is a interesting (kinda pointless) example just because that’s essentially a ground up purpose built car.

Most of the drifting you’ll do is simple “rally” like slides in wet/snowy weather, with that you won’t need to modify. At the end of the day it’s a fwd based AWD car.

 

[ccrook06]

I'm sure there are many who know more of the mechanicals details than me and could explain better, but doesn't the GRC lack the rear axle torque vectoring required to put all power to one wheel? Both the Focus RS and Golf R are not only able to send more power to the rear wheels, but they can send 100% of that power to one wheel which assist them in their "drift modes". I'd look at either of those AWD hot hatches if loosing the back end is a preferred trait for your car.

 

[sugarfish]

I'm sure there are many who know more of the mechanicals details than me and could explain better, but doesn't the GRC lack the rear axle torque vectoring required to put all power to one wheel? Both the Focus RS and Golf R are not only able to send more power to the rear wheels, but they can send 100% of that power to one wheel which assist them in their "drift modes". I'd look at either of those AWD hot hatches if loosing the back end is a preferred trait for your car.

This is correct

 

[Swiftgringo]

People don’t discourage people to drop their deposits. Lmao We just don’t want people to buy it just to flip it or buy it because it’s the newest shiny thing.

On the topic of drifting, using the hoonicorn is a interesting (kinda pointless) example just because that’s essentially a ground up purpose built car.

Most of the drifting you’ll do is simple “rally” like slides in wet/snowy weather, with that you won’t need to modify. At the end of the day it’s a fwd based AWD car.

Precisely. It is probably the world's most famous, apex, drift machine. It is the unattainable ideal of four-wheel drive drift cars. But as an example it illuminates some of the challenges (ie, power to weight).

 

[2JZ-GZE]

Hoonicorn uses a Sadev AWD system, center diff can lock and send power to both axles, which are both standard diffs to my understanding. As said by others, not a great comparison since that is a purpose built racecar with over 4x the power.

While the 30/70 split sounds nice and probably helps with sliding on loose surfaces, people have been voicing concerns about the clutch pack in the rear overheating. I'd be concerned about that happening if you're sending extra power through it and trying to break the rear end loose. If there really is a "cooldown" program built in to the ECU that pulls power to the rear until the clutch pack cools down you'll be fighting that too. Not sure if any GRY people have tried fluid coolers for the clutch pack, and I'm only talking based on internet hearsay so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Jeonsa]

Precisely. It is probably the world's most famous, apex, drift machine. It is the unattainable ideal of four-wheel drive drift cars. But as an example it illuminates some of the challenges (ie, power to weight).

The amount of control that system gives someone is insane too. Linking drifts on a regular road, inbetween tight spaces. Lol

But again, that’s a pointless comparison for the Corolla.

 

[Swiftgringo]

Hoonicorn uses a Sadev AWD system, center diff can lock and send power to both axles, which are both standard diffs to my understanding. As said by others, not a great comparison since that is a purpose built racecar with over 4x the power.
View attachment 3733
While the 30/70 split sounds nice and probably helps with sliding on loose surfaces, people have been voicing concerns about the clutch pack in the rear overheating. I'd be concerned about that happening if you're sending extra power through it and trying to break the rear end loose. If there really is a "cooldown" program built in to the ECU that pulls power to the rear until the clutch pack cools down you'll be fighting that too. Not sure if any GRY people have tried fluid coolers for the clutch pack, and I'm only talking based on internet hearsay so take it with a grain of salt.

So... 3 LSDs? (Front, rear, and center)