Dozens of Old Ladas Take Part in Russian Winter Drift Fest, Go Fully Sideways

An important part of the country's sideways community revolves around the Lada brand, with the affordable nature of these rear-wheel-drive machines making the choice obvious.

Even so, seeing dozens of Ladas drifting at the same time feels like a trip back in time - many of the models seen in the piece of footage at the bottom of the page aren't too far from the 1970 VAZ 21-01 - the first Lada ever saw Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ borrowing the Fiat 124 blueprints (no 2017 Fiat 124 Spider pun intended) and this is how we end up talking about a car that entered production five decades ago.

With outputs kicking off at around 60 hp, it's almost impossible to achieve proper drifting moves on dry surfaces. However, the winter wonderland seen in the clip below means these drivers could easily play the tail-out games that keep their cars under the spotlights.

While many of those who have never set foot outside the modern car realm could label these Ladas as agricultural-grade machines, there are certain assets offered by the Russian drift machines.

The non-assisted steering offers interesting handling characteristics - for instance, when one is fully sideways and willing to swiftly initiate the countersteering maneuver, in order to keep the car on the course, a swift flick of the steering wheel could see the wheels instantly reaching the other side of the steering rack travel when sliding on snow.

You can check out such spicy slip angle moves behind the "play" button below - those of you who want to skip the tuning-related bits, which make up an important part of the footage and jump straight to the powersliding action can head over to the 12:30 point.