Handbrake Drifting: A Beginner's Guide
Drifting is not one input. It is three, in the right order, and the handbrake is only the first.
Read the guide →Barrel Roll or Backflip? A Scoring Guide
Compare flips, rolls and airtime scoring in Madalin Stunt Cars, then choose the highest-scoring trick for every ramp and combo.
Every landing in Madalin Stunt Cars pays out on three things: how long you were in the air, how many full flips you completed, and how many barrel rolls you completed. Then the whole total is multiplied by your combo. Knowing which of those to chase from a given ramp is the difference between a five thousand point run and a fifty thousand point one.
The numbers
| Element | Pays | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Air time | 120 per second | Counts from wheels-off to wheels-down |
| Front flip / backflip | 600 each | Rotation around the car's side axis |
| Barrel roll | 500 each | Rotation around the car's nose-to-tail axis |
| Big air bonus | Label only | Awarded past 2.2 seconds airborne |
| Combo | ×1.25 per landing | Stacks to ×3.00, resets after 4 seconds |
Flips pay more per rotation, but rolls rotate faster in practice because you are not fighting the car's landing angle. A barrel roll leaves the nose pointing where it was already going; a flip does not.
When to flip
Flips need height and time. The mega ramp on the west side is the only place in the arena where you can comfortably get two full rotations and still land on your wheels — you launch at around twenty-six metres and have a long descent onto the landing slope.
Press W as soon as the wheels leave the ramp for a front flip, or S for a backflip. Then, and this is the part people skip, stop rotating before you land. Tap the opposite key to kill the spin and get the wheels back under the car. A flip that ends on the roof still pays, but you lose all your speed and the combo timer runs out while you are sliding.
The 600-point trap
A second flip is worth 600 points. Landing upright is worth keeping your combo alive, which at ×3.00 is worth far more than 600. If in doubt, straighten out.
When to roll
Rolls are the better choice off medium ramps — the scattered kickers, the ramp up to the floating platforms, and the quarter pipes. You only need about a second and a half of air for a full roll, and because the car stays pointed forward, you land facing the next ramp.
That last point is the whole reason rolls out-earn flips over a full run. Landing pointed the right way means you reach the next launch inside the four second combo window.
Chaining for the multiplier
The multiplier is where the real score lives. Each landed trick adds ×0.25 up to a ceiling of ×3.00, and the timer resets to four seconds every time you land something. A run of eight linked tricks at the top multiplier is worth more than thirty isolated ones.
The best chain in the arena runs along the east side: quarter pipe, roll, land, straight across the flat, second quarter pipe, roll back. Each cycle takes about three seconds, which keeps the combo alive indefinitely as long as you keep landing clean.
Which trick for which ramp
- Mega ramp — double front flip, or a flip plus a roll if you are confident
- Quarter pipes — single barrel roll, land, repeat
- Spiral tower launch — you have seventy metres of altitude here, so this is the one place to try a triple
- Small kickers — single roll, keep the chain alive
- Half pipe — no rotation at all; use it to keep speed between bigger jumps
One more thing worth internalising: air time is the only element that pays with no risk attached. If you launch off something and you are not sure you can land a rotation, just hold the car level. Two and a half seconds of clean air at ×3.00 is nine hundred points and your combo survives.
