This question was on my mind for some time, in your opinion.

What is the better form of drifting when it comes to beating the clock if given a point A to B course? And explain your reasoning why you feel one is better over the other.

And in case you're wondering: No, I'm not some street racing punk who's gonna terrorize the back roads. This is just simply a thought I had in my head for some time.

Rally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5GvwUh4dW4

Fancy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-igd6tAHT4k

I THINK RALLY RACING SINCE IT IS THE ORIGINAL FORM OF DRIFTING, BUT I DO LIKE THE NEW JAPANESE STYLE FORMULA DRIFTING COMPETITIONS ALSO!

In terms of going the fastest if you have to drift rally drifting is faster. Fancy drifting as you call it on pavement causes the rear wheels to lose grip. Which if you lose grip you can't accelerate or change directions at the full potential. To go fast you want to go as fast as you can without losing grip. In rally when you have loose surface and decreased grip already the drift is a tool that helps the car rotate around the corner and be able to accelerate quickly off. However if you notice on pavement rally races they rally cars do not drift. Except in the incredibly tight corners. On a tight hairpin turn the car may not have the opposite lock to get around the corner without running off the road or crashing. So you drift it to get the car turned a straight to apply the gas as soon as you can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7R_buZPSo

In a low traction surface it is faster to slide the tail than slide the nose.

On a normal surface it is faster to not slide.

100 meter freestyle vs synchronized swimmin.

The orginal post appears to be based on the misconception that sliding through corners is fast. "Fancy" drifing is NOT fast. It is strictly for show.

Rally "drifting" works because of the low coefficient of friction of the surface (dirt, mud, etc). Basically, it represents a situation where the surface deforms just as much or more than the tire does when cornering.

On asphault a tire's grip increases with the slip angle up to the point that the tire breaks loose. After that, the grip increases up to about 105%-110% of the "break loose" point. That is where the car develops max g's and maximum velocity through the corner. After 110% the tire's traction drops off the proverbial cliff and g's fall rapidly. When you see a race car spin, it often is because the driver exceeded the 110% point and lost grip.

So, to go fast you "drift," but only a little. A big part of racing is finding the line through a corner that puts you in that 105-110% range.

In "fancy" drifting the point is to EXCEED the 110% max and cause a lurid, showy slide. It might look fast, but it is not as the cornering g's actually drop once this amount of sliding is created.

I'm not kidding: In a fast racer you definitely can FEEL the g's drop when the rear breaks loose. If I have to countersteer, even for a split second, I know it has cost me time. In fancy drifting, they'll countersteer all around the track. From a pure racer's point of view, fancy drifting is the art of making slow driving look cool.