DanGT86 said:
Loss of traction around a turn at speed is what makes it fun.
I appreciate that it slides out, and that alone is fun, yes. I used to autocross and of course, with a Nissan 240sx, I did some drifting. So, I will just say that I HIGHLY encourage you to try it first (car or trike) before powering the front wheels - that is, try
real drifting.
Using your legs to force the side out and simulate loss of traction is a very different sensation than using throttle and weight-shift to lose traction. I have never ridden a front-wheel drive trike, so I say this knowing I may be wrong about how it feels on a trike, but I caution you on a front-drive build.
Drifting is extremely fun, being sideways in any vehicle is also fun. However, genuine drifting is a feeling that cannot be matched without rear-wheel drive (or enormous power and AWD) IMO.
As you can see, this rider can make the rear slide out even going in a straight line just by pushing with his legs. That's just forcing the trike sideways, not really inducing a loss of traction.
DanGT86 said:
Overpowering the rear tires in a car makes them lose traction and become too slippery to make the turn that you are trying to make. This is the same as a trike with plastic sliders on the rear tires. They call them drift trikes because they drift around turns just like a car while still being steered by the front. Just like a car if you get too greedy the back end will walk around the front and you will spin out.
You are right, steering in front, with rear wheels out is why they are called drift trikes, but that is a misnomer. As stated above mitigating slip vs grip with throttle on the rear is drifting. Going sideways is just going sideways. The risk of swapping front to back is exactly the difference between sliding and actually drifting - this is what makes drifting exciting. Even powersliding is similar in principle, but ultimately, not nearly as exciting because you start the powerslide as or after you approach the apex of the turn, versus drifting in which you enter the turn in a drift and exit in a drift.
Sorry to nitpick.
SHiFT