Drift Clinic 101 by Ivan Khong

Edit : Bryan has put up the pictures he took that evening. View them at 'Sunday Drift Clinic @ Shah Alam'.

I got a message from Ivan Khong (the same Ivan Khong who instructed me during the BMW Driver Training Program) sometime in March telling me he was organizing a drift clinic teaching the basics of car control, focus on initiating, sustaining and recovering from a drift and wondering if I was interested to join...


Come May the 1st and I was sitting in a yellow 200sx with no air conditioning, glass replaced with perspex and full lock LSD at the car park of the Shah Alam Stadium across City Karting. Since it was a Drift Clinic, and you're supposed to bring your own car, you'd bring a drift car right?

When I arrived, I saw nothing but BMW's! An E36 M3 Cabriolet, E36 325, Z4 M and a 1 Series all lined up. Uhhh, wait, am I at the right place I thought...
Then I saw Ivan (he's a short fellow so it took me a while to find him =P) waving. Ivan asked me why I brought a drift car to which I replied, "Drift Clinic 101 = Drift Car, no?" *laughs*. He said I should have brought a 'normal' RWD car and learnt the basics before jumping into a Drift Car. Whoops...

Anyway, we started at 10.30 am with the use of handbrake to initiate oversteer. Little did I know, my handbrake was sheeet and wouldn't bite...

Here's me trying to pull of a handbrake turn. FAIL! *laughs*


Ivan was like, "You're not yanking the handbrake, pull harder!". After a while, he said he'd show me how. Okay...
Here is Ivan's attempt at a handbrake turn. He was like, "Sheeet, your handbrake is not working!" *laughs*


We moved on to power oversteer (half circle). The sun was scorching and I was baking in the yellow 200sx. I was showering in sweat. It was so hot, steering wheel began to cause blisters on my hands! Fortunately, I brought a pair of gloves.


We then braked for lunch. Ivan Tan dropped by to have a look before heading off to spend some time with his girlfriend.

Next, we tried doing power oversteer (full circle). This meant drifting in circles, much like doughnuts.
Here's Ivan explaining and showing me how it's done.


And after many, many, many attempts. I managed to do it, but only clockwise though. *laughs*


And another...


Looking at our progress, Ivan decided it wasn't a good idea to teach us how to do the 'Scandinavian flick' or also known as 'Feint'. Would prove to be too dangerous with the amount of space we were working in. So, he decided to let us try the reverse turn instead. I was a little worried as I couldn't see through the back because of the perspex but I did it anyway. (^_^)


Bryan dropped by later that evening and took some shots too.

We shall wait for more shots from him.

Next up was the figure eight. Our display here made Ivan very sure we weren't going to do the 'Scandinavian flick'. *laughs*
Here's my attempt at it. FAIL! (-_-)'


The day was finished with a Drift Circuit. I skipped this as it looked like it was about to rain and I didn't want to get stuck driving the yellow 200sx in it. I wouldn't be able to see a thing if it pours so I left early. True enough, after awhile, it started to pour! I took a nice cold shower and met up with the rest for dinner in Sunway Pyramid at a restaurant called Tarbush. Good stuff. Got a nice little thumbdrive with the clips you have just seen. After dinner, I left for home and I completely knocked out from being so tired. Must have been the heat. I was sunburnt, dehydrated and sore but I had such a great time and even better in the company of wonderful people. Fantastic experience!

Here are a couple of shots I took with my pocket camera.

Ivan telling us what to expect for the figure eight exercise.

Ivan's autocross monster!

Setting up the cones.

Andy Koh's autocross monster. He was Ivan's assistant for the day.

Our little tent.


If you're interested in his next session, drop him an email at khong.ivan@gmail.com.
Video credits go to Michael Tan.