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At this point I’ve covered the basics and shit that I wish I knew from day one at the track. Following the similar vein of “shit I wish I knew” I’ve written about Handbrake usage. Now before I start I want to admit that yes, I personally use the handbrake a lot and I know I shouldn’t be but I am working to remove it from my driving style. I had been getting lazy since owning the S13. I had the power to use handbrake to adjust my line to link corners rather than just take a decent line to start with like I had to learn in the mx5.
I’m not going to provide info on how to make your handbrake good enough to lock the rear wheels. Plenty info about this online, you could always go hydro but Japanese cars have some pretty shit hot handbrakes out there.
For anyone completely new to tugging off whilst driving as well you have to dip the clutch to kill the drive to rear wheels if not you’re just going to be battling your engine/drivetrain and that will not end well.
Before we start on this too I want to make the point that past Snap initiation’s (where you wanna be Nomuken) the handbrake should be left alone when learning. Then when you start to play with more aggressive style entries etc you should start using the other techniques but be mindful of not developing bad habits, such as using it to adjust line all the time instead of learning to use a better line to start with or use the footbrake as a substitute.
If you drive an underpowered car such as an NA Mx5, my advice is to leave it alone full stop and work on footbrake techniques and better lines.
So there are various scenarios as to when a handbrakes used and I’m going to have a breakdown of situations I’ve seen them used in.
Spinning out – Although this isn’t a “Technique” I want to address it here again for the people who haven’t read my progression article. When spinning out you want to be as predictable as possible as well as trying to stop as soon as possible. Handbrake, footbrake together will be the fastest way to come to a stop. Also you want to try and get your wheel straight where possible so the car doesn’t snap unpredictably. If you spin out and do a burnout you’re a twat.
Snap initiations – You see this in Drift bible, Drift Tengoku and various other videos, aimed at beginners. Quick jab of the handbrake with a flick before going onto the power. Normally used in S13’s etc as a basic initiation technique. I say normally, I’ve seen a lot of drivers use this technique and still have some savage entries. One of my favourite entries I’ve done was off a “snap initiation” with a bit of footbrake to throw the car in more aggressively on a tight corner.
“Wizard parties” – 90% of “Drift spec” BMW’s and 100% of Formula D. Everyone’s seen this. Straightline, yank hydro, drag your arse like a dog with worms for eternity until you put power back on. Literally no effort put in from the driver and it just looks fucking terrible. I’ve also started to see this has gone past initiations too and recently saw a video where someones car had come off drift, but just held the hydro to “Link” the track… Just don’t do this. If you’re not providing car input, go take up golf or knitting.
Adjusting your line – This is when you’re coming short on a corner, yank the handbrake to push yourself a few extra meters, then back on the power. This is what I use the handbrake for the most and all this does is mask a shitty line. In my opinion people should aim to pull this from their driving as much as possible. Its not terrible to use the handbrake to adjust your line but almost all of the time it is avoidable, also if you can avoid using it then of course you’ll be going faster, on better lines and easier to follow.
Early initiations – I hadn’t noticed this until recently. This is where you throw the car in with a flick/feint/clutch kick, super early and you use the handbrake to push you deeper into the corner. Some people will also use this technique if they’re fucking flying and want to scrub speed after initiation. One thing you need to keep in mind with this technique is that you have to be going fast enough to get away with it, if not you’re going to look like you’re at a Harry Potter convention.
Twinning/Scrubbing speed – This is is the most legitimate use of handbrake in my opinion. When you are trying to get up close to someone but keeping on power will see you into their door. A quick jab of the handbrake will scrub your speed but keep your car angle as is, before getting back onto the power. Watch footage of people twinning and you will see this. You can also learn to be able to be left foot braking in this situation but that will be for another write up on Twinning/Tsuiso driving as I’m needing to grill some competition lads for breakdowns on left foot braking vs handbrake on chase runs.
So thats all of the situations that I’m aware of for using handbrake. So to summarise:
Initiating off the handbrake is NOT a bad thing, no matter what the internet warriors say, its HOW you use it to initiate.
Using the handbrake will slow you down, make sure you’re going fast enough when you use it.
Finally, If you’re using the handbrake theres a very high chance you have improvements to make to your driving. Take note of when you use the handbrake and use that knowledge to come up with ways to improve your driving.
Thanks to Shand and Alex for their contributions on this.
Insurgent 