FIRST, START PRACTISING

1. Find a car with both rear-wheel-drive and a manual transmission. Ideally it should be a sports car with as close to a 50:50 ratio as possible, and enough power to keep the tyres spinning.

2. Head to an open area (i.e. an enclosed racetrack), free of pedestrians and motorists.

3. Set up a cone in the middle of the tarmac. Drive up to the cone and rip up the handbrake in an attempt to do
a handbrake turn. Practise until you are no more, and no less than 180- degrees from where you started.

4. Learn how to counter-steer by ripping the handbrake from a speed of 40-50km/h (anything less means an inadequate amount of momentum to get you around the cone) and trying to control the car to a destination until the it stops.

5. Increase speed in each of these skills until you are comfortable

6. (Try mastering the 180-degree cone.)

HONE YOUR HAND BRAKE TECHNIQUE

1. Accelerate and shift into a gear with room to rev. Second gear is best because it allows the widest variance of speed and is great for harnessing the engine’s torque.

2. This is the part where you push in the clutch.

3. Flick the steering wheel to the inside of the turn as if you were going to turn around it, while simultaneously pulling the hand brake.

4. Immediately put some pressure on the petrol pedal, let out the clutch and steer the car in the direction of
the slide: using throttle to control the angle of the drift.

Source: Michael Kelton, pro drifting and competitor in the National SupaDrift Series

DISCLAIMER: Only to be attempted on a track under expert supervision!