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GUIDE · ADVANCED · 4 MIN READ

How to speed flip

A speed flip is a diagonal flip you stop early and level out with air roll, so the car stays flat and fast. It’s used to reach the ball first at kickoffs.

To speed flip in BonnetBall, boost off the line, jump and flip diagonally forward, then pull the stick back against the flip straight away to stop it turning you over. Air roll the other way to keep the car flat, land on all four wheels and keep boosting. Players use it at kickoffs to reach the ball first.

What a speed flip is

A speed flip is a diagonal flip you stop before it turns the car over. You get the flip’s burst forward without tipping onto your nose, so the car stays flat and fast.

It uses the same flip cancel as the half flip: pushing the stick against a flip stops its spin and hands you back control in the air straight away. The half flip cancels a backflip; the speed flip cancels a diagonal one.

There’s no speed flip button, drill or menu item in BonnetBall. It’s the name players give the move, and you build it from a flip, a cancel and an air roll.

How to speed flip, step by step

  1. Hold BOOST from the start, angled slightly off the ball. A diagonal flip carries you sideways as well as forward, so point a touch right of the ball if you’ll flip left, or left of it if you’ll flip right.
  2. Jump. A quick tap of JUMP, so you stay low.
  3. Flip diagonally forward. Push the stick up and to one side, then tap JUMP again.
  4. Cancel it at once. As soon as the flip starts, pull the stick straight back against it. On touch controls, a cancel only counts when your thumb points within about 60 degrees of straight against the flip, and for a diagonal flip, straight back falls inside that.
  5. Air roll the other way. The flip tips the car onto one side, so roll against it: flipped left, hold ROLL R; flipped right, hold ROLL L. On STANDARD or CLASSIC STICK, hold DRIFT and push the stick the opposite way. CASUAL has neither roll buttons nor DRIFT, so add ROLL L and ROLL R in EDIT LAYOUT.
  6. Land on all four wheels and keep boosting. If you’re not on the ball yet, flip into it when you’re close.

Speed flips at kickoff

The KICKOFFS drill times you from GO! to your first touch. FAST means 2.05 seconds or less from the corner, 2.45 from off-centre and 2.5 from the back. A straight run holding boost misses all three by a tenth to a fifth of a second, so beating them takes a flip, and a speed flip is one way to do it.

Every kickoff starts you with 33.3 boost, a third of a tank and about one second of boosting, so hold it from GO! and waste none. CLUB and PRO bots both use speed flips, and PRO bots speed flip at kickoff. PARK bots don’t flip at kickoff at all.

Which layout is best for speed flips?

One with roll buttons. On the PRO layout, the default, ROLL L and ROLL R take the roll off the stick, so the stick only has to flip and cancel. CLAW (iPhone only) has roll buttons too, and it’s the layout that puts BOOST and the roll buttons on different fingers: BOOST top right for your right index finger, ROLL L and ROLL R top left for your left index finger.

STANDARD and CLASSIC STICK have no roll buttons, so you roll by holding DRIFT and pushing the stick. The stick is then doing the cancel and the roll at once, which is fiddly. Add ROLL L and ROLL R in EDIT LAYOUT (pause a match, then Settings › Controls › Layout), or switch to the PRO layout. On a controller, the shoulder buttons roll. The control layout guide compares every layout.

The CONTROLS screen: STANDARD, PRO, CASUAL and CLASSIC STICK, each with TRY IT

Practise it

Use TRAINING › ADVANCED DRILLS › KICKOFFS: three kickoffs, from the corner, off-centre and the back, each after a 3, 2, 1 countdown with a third of a tank. Each attempt is rated FAST, GOOD or SLOW and shows your FIRST TOUCH time and your BEST. Miss FAST and it also shows the time to beat. Best times last only until you close the game.

Then speed flip in a straight line in Free Play. Watch the SPEED · KM/H readout as you land each one, and use REWIND to try again.

ADVANCED DRILLS: wall driving, aerials, air roll, half flip, recovery and kickoffs, each with its steps

Common mistakes

  • The flip carries on all the way round. You didn’t cancel, or cancelled too late. Pull back against the flip the moment it starts.
  • The car lands on its side. Too much roll, or none. Roll against the flip until the car is level, and let go just before it lines up with the floor.
  • A double jump instead of a flip. The stick was too close to the centre on the second tap. Push it firmly up and to the side first.
  • Ending up beside the ball. You set off pointing straight at it, and the flip carried you sideways. Start angled a touch the other way.

Do I need to speed flip?

No. A plain flip into the ball is what the drill’s own hint asks for: “HOLD BOOST ALL THE WAY · FLIP INTO THE BALL WHEN YOU ARE CLOSE”. The kickoffs guide covers it. Learn the speed flip once your front flip is reliable and the drill’s FAST times keep slipping away.

Updated 20 October 2026

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