Sam, Author at Texas Drift Academy

About Sam

Sam is serial entrepreneur and partner/co-owner of Texas Drift Academy. He's a performance driving enthusiast and coach across track, rally, stunt and drifting motorsports.

Samuel Hubinette (Fast & Furious Stunt Legend, First Drift Champion): Exclusive Tips & Techniques Interview

We had the privilege of interviewing Samuel Hubinette (@samuel_hubinette). This interview is unique from hundreds he’s done before. This is the first to dive into his tips and techniques for drifting, stunt driving, car set up and more. Still, we should give an introduction to the first FD drift champion and stunt driving legend who got his start with Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift. Who is Samuel Hubinette? The highlights: Most people call him Sam. Friends and family call him [...]

By Sam|2023-10-15T07:18:51-06:00October 14th, 2023|

How Drifting Enhances Racing Skills: with Dave Ogburn, Goodyear Test Driver & Accomplished Race Car Driver

Weight transfer. Throttle finesse. Feel grip. Oversteer. Countersteer. Control. Speed. These things are not just related to drifting. These are about car control. Drifting teaches valuable skills, habits and muscle-memory that help drivers progress in multiple motorsports. And, helps avoid accidents in daily driving! To elaborate on these points, with an engineering-type explanation, we interviewed Dave Ogburn, a TX-based accomplished race car driver AND a professional test driver for Goodyear tires for the last 13 years. Who is Dave Ogburn? [...]

By Sam|2023-10-09T10:31:28-06:00October 7th, 2023|

How to Accelerate Car Control Progression / Learn Drift Skills Faster with “Spacing Effect”

At Texas Drift Academy we pride ourselves in offering more seat time than any other performance driving school. AND, we also pride ourselves in PROGRESSION of our students to learn new skills, maneuvers and techniques of drifting, stunt driving and car control. In our courses, a student progresses from one maneuver to the next when they can perform the maneuver 70% of their attempts. So, when a student is stuck, there are several methods we use to progress them. We [...]

By Sam|2023-09-30T08:03:18-06:00September 30th, 2023|

Exploring the Thrills of Drifting! There are 11.

Want to get analytical for a moment? For starters, drifting is where the driver intentionally oversteers, causing the rear wheels or all tires to lose traction. Duh. And, this activity can make people feel excited and alive. Duh. But perhaps it’s enlightening to understand the physiological and psychological factors as to WHY we find drifting (including other motorsports and high performing driving experiences) so enjoyable. Let me reveal the 11 truths as to why you want to be doing this. [...]

By Sam|2023-09-25T16:23:57-06:00September 25th, 2023|

Pushing Limits with Drift Training — A Secret Weapon in Racing

Drift training is an overlooked and unsuspecting avenue for race car drivers to refine their skills. In a world where every millisecond counts, exploring the uncharted territories of drifting can indeed be the secret weapon for those striving to leave an indelible mark on the racing tracks. Two experienced racers, Jose Garcia Jr and Vinnie Baratta, share their experiences how drifting augments their car control, builds unshakeable confidence , and has improved their racing performances. Mastering Car Control Jose Garcia [...]

By Sam|2023-09-23T06:22:10-06:00September 23rd, 2023|

3 Navy SEAL Training Principles for High Performance Driver Education (HPDE)

Three Practical Takeaway from Coaching a Former Navy SEAL at Texas Drift Academy At Texas Drift Academy, where we specialize in High-Performance Driver Education (HPDE), we recently had the opportunity to coach Jeff, a former Navy SEAL from Team 4. Jeff's training in the military opened our eyes to the striking similarities between SEAL methods and our performance driving training. Lesson 1: "Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast" One of the first things Jeff noticed was our emphasis on starting [...]

By Sam|2023-09-04T12:59:13-06:00September 4th, 2023|

How to Master Road Vision to Transform Your Driving Experiences

Try this new habit next time you’re daily driving… Imagine a horizontal line about ⅓ up from the bottom of your windshield. As you drive on streets and highways, try to keep your eyes ABOVE that line (especially at higher speeds). In other words, try to keep your vision focused on the top ⅔ of your windshield. Look ahead further than the car in front of you. Look through the next turn. Occasionally scan the area, left and right, seeing [...]

By Sam|2023-06-19T13:45:10-06:00June 19th, 2023|

How I Build My Skill Set – Inside the Mind of a Winning Race Car Driver

There are two ways to become a better driver. Learn from your mistakes and/or learn from successes. And in both, you can also learn from others. I met Thomas Merrill (Instagram) years ago when I attended AMG Driving Academy at COTA. He was a master at analyzing track data and coached me to better track times. He also coached me to win the drift championship at the academy. Drifting a 4,000 lb automatic around a course has unique challenges! In [...]

By Sam|2023-03-19T10:43:22-06:00March 19th, 2023|

Lessons in Car Control: My Story of What I Learned From Hitting a Fence

Let's admit it. There's a lot of ego in driving. It's hard to admit, let alone analyze, driving mistakes. However, the best drivers are, one might say, 'mistakenly great'. As Niki Lauda said once, "Really, you should always discuss the defeats because you can learn much more from failure than from success." And as Dale Earnhardt Sr. said, "You win some, you lose some, you wreck some." So, in the mission to train great drivers, I welcome our students and [...]

By Sam|2023-06-19T13:46:47-06:00February 24th, 2023|

How to Do Donuts

Are you ready to learn how to do donuts in a car? The bare essentials for a drift car are a handbrake, a good working clutch, and a welded diff. The rest of the car can pretty much be open, as long as it's rear-wheel drive and has enough power to do a standstill burnout. And private property to practice this! Or our track. Step 1: Initiate the Donut There are several ways to initiate a donut. With an ebrake, [...]

By Sam|2023-02-15T17:06:24-06:00February 15th, 2023|

What Differential for Drifting? Open vs. LSD(s) vs. Welded

Here’s the short of it… 2-way Mechanical Limited Slip Differential are used by pro drifters A Welded diff is a cheaper option and works well for drifting Open differentials are NOT good for drifting. Here’s the long of it… Image credit: Engineering Learn Team The differential is a critical component of a rear-wheel drive car, transferring power from the drive shaft to the wheels. This allows the wheels to turn at different speeds, as required when making a turn. [...]

By Sam|2023-07-24T05:23:36-06:00February 9th, 2023|

10 Characteristics of Advanced / Performance Drivers

Some of our students come to Texas Drift Academy just looking for a fun driving experience. And some are "advanced" drivers who participate in various high performance driving experiences or racing, and they study the techniques and perfect their skills, day in, day out. They are 'awoke' drivers, conscious of what they are doing. For example, when I'm on the road, I make each turn with the same habits formed from the track...braking in a straight line, trail braking into [...]

By Sam|2023-01-22T18:34:53-06:00January 22nd, 2023|

53 Car Drifting Terms & Slang

We have advanced drifters and race car drivers as students. And we have students who have never heard of "drifting". So, we put together this list (may not be comprehensive) of terms related to drifting to serve as a reference guide if there's a word you've never heard before. Hope this is helpful. And if there's a term you don't see on here, drop us a line! Angle kit: A modification to the car's suspension that allows for more steering [...]

By Sam|2023-01-11T10:55:48-06:00January 11th, 2023|

70 Really Good Reasons to Book a Drift Course

Sometimes you (or someone close to you) needs just the right reason to take a day at the track. Well, here's 70 to choose from... Show off your driving skills in a safe environment without fear of crashing/breaking your own car Learn how to finesse the throttle and brake to control a car and preventing spinouts Understanding the physics of driving and how it affects your vehicle's performance Experience the thrill of drifting and stunt driving in a controlled environment [...]

By Sam|2022-12-24T13:34:52-06:00December 24th, 2022|

Put the TDA Drift Car Anywhere! Try Augmented Reality here

From your phone you can drop a 3D Texas Drift Academy drift car, in your living room, at the dentist office... anywhere! Our car is in Augmented Reality through your phone! Drop it in your reality and take a phone screenshot to send it to a friend. Use it when you're ready to give the gift of drift! How to do it: Just press the play button below. Then press the [AR] button on the bottom right Click the screen [...]

By Sam|2022-12-08T18:14:18-06:00December 5th, 2022|

Training Videos to Progress Quickly in Drift Class

You don't HAVE to prepare for your first drifting course. You can just show up to a Texas Drift Academy class and have fun and it can all be new to you. But, there are those who want to 'get the most' out of their drifting class. Those who like to study ahead; to be as up to speed as they can to progress quickly. If that's you, below are the definitive collection of videos for learning to drift and [...]

By Sam|2022-11-13T19:41:19-06:00November 13th, 2022|

6 Ways Drifting Class Helps Avoid Accidents

If you found this article searching for “drift class near me” or a “drift course” you not expecting an article that fits “drivers safety course”. Well, this is a twofer. Drifting, stunt driving and precision car control is fun. It’s a feeling of freedom. We teach performance driving on a closed track. But then you go out into the world. You’re on the road, every day, in a non-peformance car, surrounded by drivers not nearly as interested in driving skills [...]

By Sam|2022-10-24T13:30:16-05:00October 24th, 2022|

How to Do a J-turn. Or Moonshiner’s Turn. Or Rockford Turn. Or Reverse 180.

And now for something most of you will (or should) never do in your own car, or on public roads! And this is a stunt move, not a drifting technique. And we don't teach this typically in our drift courses. So with all that out of the way, here's some more info on our most popular video! The J-turn is a clever little driving maneuver in which you spin your car around backwards and continue on facing forward! The J-turn [...]

By Sam|2022-09-13T16:40:35-05:00September 13th, 2022|

How Did Texas Drift Academy Start? Watch these…

It all started with Josh Robinson moving from Australia to the US on a Formula Drift Pro 2 deal. When he got here he saw there were people asking him "Where is a drift class near me?". And Texas Drift Academy was born with two 350zs. See these two news stories to hear the story from Josh on KENS5 and KSAT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKWyrqjejts&t=5s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJQdgDjiPow

By Sam|2022-09-13T16:03:50-05:00September 11th, 2022|