We drove a Porsche on GLASS to show you this

Опубликовано 25 ноября 2025, 20:09

Tires are the only part of your car that’s actually touching the ground—and the only part you can never see. But what if you could? Well, you'd learn a big secret to driving smooth and fast.

Slip angle is basically a way to measure the difference between the direction your car’s tires are pointing and the direction you’re moving. 0 degrees is driving straight, 40 degrees is full-on drifting. But somewhere in between, there’s an optimum point where your tires are both slipping sideways AND propelling you forward with maximum grip.

Why? Because tires are made of flexible rubber, they deform under loads. You can see that on any parked car. The part of the tire that’s touching the ground—the contact patch—is flattened out by the weight of the car. And when you turn the wheel or drive around a corner, the tire twists AROUND that contact patch, which continues to point straight ahead. The difference between the tread direction in the contact patch and the actual direction of the wheel is your slip angle.

Then as the tire rotates, the bit of rubber in the contact patch leaves the ground and reverts back to the direction of the rest of the wheel, while the new contact patch is twisted into that deformed position. When you’re at the optimum slip angle, the edges of your tire are slipping, making noise, and it looks like you’re sliding. But in reality, you’re right at the limit of what the tire can take, and the contact patch in the middle is creating maximum grip.

How much slip angle a tire can take before that center contact patch also starts to turn depends your tire compound, tread depth, temperatures, pressure, and your suspension setup. But the concept applies to every tire out there. You can only find that sweet spot with practice—just be careful where you test it out. We’re not paying for your tickets.

Learn more about Nik's coaching business here → fastsideways.com

Produced by → instagram.com/joeyrassool
Hosted by → instagram.com/nikromanoracing
Hosted by → instagram.com/kylecheromcha

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Instagram → instagram.com/thedrive
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WORK WITH US → youtube@thedrive.com