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please help me settle a debate

I need your help to settle a debate me and my brother are having. Well, We were talking and someone brought up the movie Tokyo drift. We were talking about the scene in the parking garage, where they drift around the half circle that leads up to the roof of the parking garage. My brother said it is possible to continually drift a spiral up two or thre levels. I told him that the car would eventually slow to a stop, or you would run into the the wall in front of you cause the tires would catch and take off forward.

Now I am no expert at physics nor am I a expert at drifting, but I Just don't believe that someone could drift that close to a wall with out hitting it or stopping.

Here is a link to a clip of the drift I'm talking about ( Its the one at the begining in the parking garage):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FUNhD0LAOY

What do you think?
 
Dude....living in Houston you should know that not only is that possible, but there are people that are much, much better than that. Ever hit Rankin lol (unless the cops have shut down the events there). I've been in a variety of cars that could handle it, with a driver at least that good. I've been in a 240sx that drifted continously in a circle around a street light pole (about 2 inches away) for 5 minutes without losing speed or hitting anything. Now a Joe Sixpack in a corolla couldnt do that, but for hardcore drifters in a skyline or even a 240sx, thats cake.
 
the way I worded it made it seem like I thought no one could do it. My point was that it would take a VERY skilled drifter to ride a continuous drift. I didn't mean that no one could do it. Ive seen it don at a dog track. What I meant was that it would take someone who has been drifting for years and they would probably make a mistake the first couple times. My brother wanted me to believe that most amateurs could do it as long as they had a powerful car.

Actually a lot of the events In my town are legal (accept for the high schoolers who think there cars can do anything)
 
As phissionkorp said, it's possible, but takes skill. Essentially, you have to perfectly balance the centripetal force that would tend to make the car crash into the guardrail, the tire friction that would slow it down, and the propulsive force that keeps it going. If you balance them perfectly, you can 'drift' in a circle indefinitely (or until something changes). For the mathematically inclined, you'll have two perpendicular vectors, centripetal force and friction, and their vector sum must be precisely opposed by a propulsive vector pointing inwards and forwards relative to the car on the loop. Change the propulsive vector, and you'll see all possible modes of failure.

Mokele
 
I know of at least two parking lot attendants that can do that...and not only that, they expect a big tip for burning the tires off your car. :-D
 
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