I Love It Wet and Slippery So Will You

Like anything else, for those interested in learning how to drive a car at its limits, there is the right way and there is the wrong way. The simplest way to put this into proper perspective is to remember that old saying, "we must learn to crawl before we can walk." Or in this case, we need to learn how to handle a car before we can make a car go fast and keep it under control.

The best way to learn about car control is to allow the car to take you past the edge of the envelope. And the best car to learn in is the car that allows the wheels to break traction easily. If a new driver wants to improve, they must learn what it feels like as the car begins to go away on them. One mistake beginners often make is trying to learn what this sensation feels like in a car that is too fast and sticks too well.

One of the best ways to learn to drive a loose car is by doing what almost every famous race car driver did (and many still do), and that’s go Kart racing. You can take some buddies to an indoor kart track where the karts are typically very loose on slippery tracks. Or get involved with someone who already has a kart. Karts are for the most part very affordable, and you need not worry about having a high dollar kart since the key word here is loose. Continue reading…

The gloves drying on the Toyo rain tires are mine the first time I won the 25 Hours Of Thunderhill.

Personally I feel the best way to teach a student to find the edge is the same way I was taught. Take a car out on the track on a day when it’s pouring down rain. This need not be a fast car, and the smaller the tires the better. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? But the truth is, assuming you have a great coach, not only is it a blast, but in fact you will be amazed how much you will learn about car control in a single day. I have seen it many times–a student with a good instructor will learn more about car control on a single day of driving in the rain than they can after driving for a whole summer. I guarantee it.

The first time I took one of my race cars out on the track during a rainy day I was feeling pretty cocky because I had grown up driving in the rain on the coast of Oregon. But things didn’t go exactly the way I thought they would. This is a story I have heard hundred of times since. Even with the best rain tires money could buy, most new students will find themselves being lapped. Talk about humiliating. Even with a great car that is set up properly for wet conditions, and with very good rain tires, driving on a wet racetrack can be overwhelming for a new student. Race tracks are far more slippery when wet, and not at all like driving on a public highway. For obvious reasons this tends to scare many students, but the fact is THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO LEARN.

When driving on a wet/slippery track there are host of things you need to learn. One of the most important things to understand is that you never drive the same line through a corner that you do when the track is dry. The line you use when it’s wet is called "the wet line," and learning the wet line is almost like doing everything the wrong way. But what’s fun and extremely rewarding is being able to go slowly into a corner and then speed up just enough to feel the rear of the car begin to get away from you. The most common reaction for beginners is to lift off the gas, or worse yet, hit the brakes–both of which will cause the rear of the car to come around and cause you to spin out.

The good news is that by learning to drive like this on a wet track you will never be going fast enough to slide very far, and thus you very seldom slide far enough to hit anything. A good instructor will begin to teach you to feel your way as you begin to get that sensation in the seat of your pants. And then he will help you learn to feed the gas just enough to make the car stay in your control. At first you might be reluctant to give it gas when your brain is telling you something is wrong, but once you begin to feel the car control come back as you give it gas you will be amazed. When I teach students to drive in the rain, it’s as if someone flipped on a switch as the student feels the car come back when they gas it. From that point on they will begin to learn and feel their way as they become faster and faster, even on a rainy day. This same sensation found in the seat of your pants will be very familiar the next time you are going fast on a dry track and the car breaks away, except this time, more than likely you will not panic as you find yourself in total control.