Above is one of the possible track layouts we may use for next Sundays event, the red line is the approx drift line I would score qualifying on. The clipping points are marked on this drawing with different coloured circles.
Blue – Entry clipping point.
Yellow- Apex clipping point(s).
Green- Exit clipping point.
The Blue and the Green require the rear wheel of the car to be closest to the point, the Yellow require the front wheel to be nearest. The drifting line is set out so as to encourage the drift cars to carry a lot of speed and to enable the cars to connect one corner to the next.
I generally favour late apex’s on a lot of courses I lay out, with a late Apex the car is usually on full throttle as they pass the clipping cone thus enabling them to carry the drift further up the straight and hopefully far enough to connect the next corner.
Above is an example of the incorrect line being taken through the corners, the entry clip is ok but the car turns in for the first apex clip too soon and doesn’t pass the clip point at right angles (as indicated by the black arrow) this takes him out to the wall and now he is in the completely wrong position for the next corner, this causes him to miss the next clip by a million miles and again he is pushed out to the wall and that puts him wrong for the next clip, passing that clip at the wrong angle puts him out to the wall way before the exit clip, so that clip is missed as well. Another problem for this car is it has no hope of connecting the next corner as it hasn’t carried its drift far enough down the straight. From a Judges point of view that series of corners would be scored as one corner and to the untrained eye might look spot on, “drifted every corner, never straightened once, connected them all” To the Judge it was, “wrong line on entry, missed apex clip 1,2,3 missed exit clip, didn’t carry drift far enough up the straight” and the excuse of “I only have 160bhp I cant carry the drift up the straight) the point is the Judge is only concerned with the line the car takes as it passes the final Apex clip, if the line is correct and the car is on full throttle and it cant carry the drift far up the straight then its down to power, and allowances are made. I often tell drivers in the briefings not to get hung up on clipping points, the clipping points are there only as an indication of the line the judge wants the cars to run. OK if you want to score 100 points you have to nail the line and the clipping points and carry lots of speed, but a driver who has the correct line, passed the clip points at 90 degrees but is a bit off distance wise will still score highly, a driver who makes the clipping but is running the wrong line will be scored down.
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