Chevrolet is here to answer the burning question on everyone’s mind when they look at the Tahoe RST: can this big SUV drift?
The answer might surprise you.
For every new fast SUV, humanity has looked upon the latest high-powered apartment building and wondered just what would be required to turn it into an insane drift machine. Most drift cars are light, low vehicles that don’t risk rolling over just because they’ve decided to take a turn sideways with its tires on fire. An SUV, sadly, has a much higher center of gravity and thus is far riskier even for professional drivers to drift around a track.
It would take a particularly daring drift racer to take a Chevrolet Tahoe into a drift course. And Chevrolet seems to have found one in Ahmad Daham.
At the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Daham proved that yes, the Chevrolet Tahoe RST can indeed drift. And drift quite well, in fact.
Helping the Tahoe in its sideways adventure is a 6.2-L EcoTec3 V8 engine producing 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque. Real drift racers prefer something in the range of 1,000 horsepower in order to ensure that their tires never quite find enough purchase on the concrete to truly grip, but 420 horses are just enough to kick out the Tahoe’s tail.
The Tahoe also enjoys a slight front-bias in its weight distribution (51.6%, according to Car and Driver), so this also helps with donuts and controlled fishtails.
GM fits the Tahoe RST with the latest generation of their magnetic adaptive suspension and, if provided the Performance Brake option, a set of 6-piston Brembo brake calipers and larger disk brakes. Performance radials cover each of the Tahoe’s 22-inch rims, which are shamefully turned into white smoke thanks to Daham’s antics.
Daham doesn’t quite perform the long, languid slides that drift racers are famous for, but you can’t blame him for not wanting to take a tumble in a Tahoe.
(via Motor1)