Performance & Race Driving Tip
Speed Secret: Racing in the rain, and being fast in it, is more about your mindset than any technique or skill.
Summer showers… and we’re heading into the Fall when we’ll see more rain… While there are techniques specific to being fast when driving in the rain (I’ll share some in the next tip), your speed will come more from your mindset – and your belief system – than any of these skills or techniques.
Henry Ford once said. “If you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re probably right.” I wonder if he was talking about being fast when driving in the rain?
Drivers who walk around saying that they hate driving in the rain, and then wonder why they are slow on a wet track… well, they just don’t get it.
So, get it. Get that your attitude and belief about driving in the rain will impact your performance more than anything. If you don’t like driving on a wet track, change your programming. Start liking it, even if you have to “fake it until you make it.” Tell yourself how much you love the feeling of the car slipping and sliding around, and the lack of visibility. Use mental imagery to change your mental programming, your belief about your love for driving in the rain. The more you work on your mental programming (I have an eBook called Mental Imagery Guide For Drivers – click here to get it), the more you take the attitude that you love this, the faster you’ll be. And of course, that will lead to you loving racing in the rain even more.
I can’t think of anything more fun than driving a car at the limit in the rain.
Check back here often for more tips and advice for performance drivers, race drivers, high performance driving instructors, and anyone else interested in learning to get around race tracks quickly.
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I guess I am ‘somewhere in between’ on this… I DO enjoy “playing” in the rain and on wet surfaces…as well as Snow and Frozen surfaces!
But I do NOT enjoy driving in these conditions when safety and ‘cost of damaged property’ is involved…
For example, if I am in an empty shopping center parking lot, or an empty track with no other vehicles, or an empty highway…I will slip and slide and ‘drift’ to my heart’s content.
BUT, if I am driving a public road, with other drivers and trucks and buses and power-poles to run into, and my car at risk of expensive body damage, or even passengers in my vehicle that could be injured… then my whole level of ‘caution’ changes. My Risk and my Responsibility changes…and a ‘mistake’ or sudden surprise loss of traction no longer means a ‘spin-out’, but now means vehicle damage and possible human injuries… NOT FUN!!
That’s exactly why all of these tips are aimed at driving on the track. I strongly support doing this type of driving only on a track, where it’s safe.