Drifting Experience

I suppose it all depends on where you are located and how far you are prepared to travel.

I would highly recommend drift elite, they are based at throckmorton airfield.

 

Learn2Drift are very good, My first ever drifting experience was with them, and I also teach there now every now and again with them, very friendly people and more than happy to help.

Well worth the money

 

I'd take a look at those mentioned above, they are all good choices and I would add Driftlimits in Hertfordshire to that list - Full disclosure, I have worked with these guys in the past and know the venue and instructors well. I've never been a customer on a drift experience with anyone, but I've been to / driven at most of the venues in the UK that are used for experiences.

I also know Driftlimits have up to 50% off at the moment.

Anyway, loads of price brackets, loads of cars from basic to highly modified and a dedicated drift track at the venue which will genuinely see you working your way up to entering drifts at 50mph+, faster if you can keep up with it - I think this is something unique to their experiences. The track is dry unless it rains, so no deliberately wet track.

I'd be very wary of basing things on "time" - lots of experience days (and also experience day retailers like red letter day etc) quote various time frames, but all of this is relative when you're at the venue - this is even something you will see even with vendors selling Driftlimits products. Some experience days include everything from the briefing to tyre changes in their time quotes, some don't, some quote the amount of time they expect you to be at the venue in full etc, some the amount of laps you do (which means you might take 6 hours to do the laps or 15mins depending on how you drive etc) - it can all be a bit confusing and misleading and I almost feel like its left deliberately unclear by some vendors in order to sell something "bigger".

Also be aware that most drift experiences in the UK are held on stock car ovals, in paddock areas or on runways. Though some of these venues are at racing circuits, like Brands Hatch and Rockingham, you won't be drifting on the circuit. Firstly, there are very few circuits that offer on track drifting to anyone and secondly its far safer you have a big open space to learn in. Don't be fooled by the location, it will still most likely be a coned out area.

You'd be better basing your selection on your budget, location and the specifics of the tutoring. Don't be put off or impressed by those that bash other days for what cars they use, it isn't a bragging competition and most drift experiences use the same range of vehicles you'd expect to see at a practice day - from mx5s and BMWs to S14's and Skylines. If someone says an MX5 isn't capable they're talking out their ass, one of the most well balanced, responsive and fun cars to drift.

All experience days are "1-2-1", theres only two seats in most of the cars. All experience days cover the cost of the car, fuel and tyres. Again its just marketing talk. You will almost certainly be a part of a group however, even if you do have a car and instructor to yourself for the day.

I know Driftlimits offer additional track time you can purchase on the day, and its really reasonably priced - so even if you get one of the shorter sessions you can always budget a bit extra to get more laps if you feel like you want them.
As a rough idea, another 10 laps (about 15-30mins driving time depending how much you spin, see what I mean about time?) in an MX5 will cost you £45. I would advise you book a session before lunch if you plan to hang around and do more driving, it will give you ample time to do whatever you want.

All of their packages other than their drift car collection see you start in an MX5, though as I said, you have the option to do all or some of your session or extra sessions in anything from M3's to a turbo AE86 to a V8 powered geomaster S14a.

There are also, as with many other experience providers, hefty discounts on their packages for christmas. Spending nearly £600 will get you an awful lot of driving with almost anyone you go with.

Hope it helps.

Here's a link to a completely unedited 4min video of the Driftlimits venue, shot from a drone. You can see the layout and size of the circuit and people in MX5's and their V8 S14 learning.

Track overview

Driftlimits Facebook

 

Ollie that was a damn good response.

Jonathan - £600 seems loads to me, do some shopping about and some calls to a few companies and talk through what you will actually be doing.

 

Just to throw another option in - I've heard positive things about Flatout Factory days too.

 

Hey Jonathon,

I run the Flatout Factory Drift Academy, or at least I am 1 half of it. The other is Rich 'Chunk' Newton. Chunks is the ex head judge of the British Drift Championship and we work together at the drift academy along with a core team of professional instructors.

Our main base is at Birmingham Wheels. We use both the main track and also our own dedicated training area where we have our permanent base. This area allows us to create various layouts to get the best results possible and we can drift there late into the night if needed.

We also operate at Brands Hatch in the Lower Paddock area as well as Teesside Autodrome on both the tracks, the National circuit that is used for BDC and also the West Circuit that is used for DriftCup.

When it comes to drift training, just like anything else, you get what you pay for. We offer introduction experiences for pupils from 12 years old and upwards in dual control cars, we also provide Academy based training packages including our Drift Ninja Academy Course.

The Drift Ninja Academy course is what I would suggest to your self from what I have read. It is a 15 step training plan that takes you from complete beginner all the way through to Professional drifter, or as far along the road as you want to go. This course was designed by Rich / Chunk, myself and current head judge of the BDC, Ryan Pothecary. The levels teach the different skills needed to naturally progress onto the next stage. Training is bought in half day sessions, these are currently priced at £259. There is no limit to how much you can learn in a session, some people may take a good few hours to complete a level, others may sail through in a few minutes. We never hold anyone back and as you come to the standard required to complete grading at that level, then you start the next level. You would be in a group of 3 people to an instructor for this course and expect to see around 1 1/2 hours 'seat' time on top of the classroom theory sessions.

If you wanted to make a full day we can look at your individual requirements and possibly do a little deal on the price too. We pride ourselves in being able to tailor sessions to clients individual desires. We often have clients that book the entire venue to themselves for exclusive training when flying into the country to visit us. Some people want to drop in only for a couple of hours after work, others want to train for 2 or 3 days constantly. We always try and accommodate people where possible.

Our instructors are the best in the business and most of them have been with us for a long time and the majority of them teach exclusively for FF. The team that would be working with you on the Ninja courses include the Grandfather of UK Drifting, Kenny Lam, original DW crew and he's been at it as long as just about anyone else in the country. He has a wealth of experience and a very technical driving style. Yohann Quaziz is another of our senior instructors, an international driver who now resides at the FF sharing his experience with others. There is of course myself and Chunk on hand and on occasion other guest instructors like Martin Richards, Ryan Pothercary and when in the UK, Luke Fink is a regular (one of the founding members of the FF too).

The cars we use are Mazda MX5's, these are perfect cars for entry level training and have amazing handling with the modifications that we have performed on them. The fleet also includes BMW E36 Compacts with either 1.8, 2.5 or 2.8 engines. These cars are light and powerful and capable of making their way to a podium at medium level competitions. Higher level training cars include our Nissan 350z, BMW E30 V8 and if you want to go really wild theres even a RX7 with a 1JZ that will be available very soon. We also have a hand control car for disabled drivers to use, we were the first drift school in the UK (possibly in the world?) to provide this type of training and it has gone down very well over the last year or 2. Its a lot of fun trying drifting that way even for the able bodied, a completely new challenge.

Take some time to have a google about and see who we are and what we do, how people find their time training with us and if you want to talk drop us a message on Facebook and one of the team will give you a call back and chat about it.