Learn Rain Driving Skills from the People Who Wrote the Book on It

A Must for Northwest Drivers: ProFormance Racing in the Rain Skills Clinic and Traction Sensing  Lapping Session – Register Now!

Driving on a wet racetrack takes a special set of advanced car control skills that can only be developed by experience.

It all began when our chief instructor Don Kitch, Jr. put his vast experience in the subject into a paper entitled “The Art of Racing in the Rain.” It it he made it clear that experience is the main factor in gaining the skills needed to be proficient in high performance and competition driving in the rain. “Get out on a wet race track every time you can” is Don’s byword. The German “rain meister” race car driver Hans Stuck would agree. Stuck was not born one of the finest sports car rain racers in the world: he became one by getting out on a wet race track every time he could. 

Incidentally, Don’s paper inspired a bestselling novel by the same name, which in turn inspired a movie.

In the ProFormance Rain Driving Skills clinic you’ll acquire skills the way the rain meister did. You’ll learn how to anticipate what your car will do in every situation in the rain with a set of driving exercises designed to test and develop your skills on a wet racetrack.

ProFormance Racing in the Rain Skills Clinic

Morning Session

1. Check-in
2. Classroom session defining goals for the day:
3. “Becoming comfortable with discomfort.” Commonly, sport and competition drivers are uncomfortable with the car active, busy, or sliding. Proficient driving in the rain on a racetrack mandates being comfortable with the car moving around. If the car is “planted and on rails” you are slow.
4. Driving exercises:

• Power Circle – Rotate the car around a pylon to learn how to use the steering wheel and throttle to find the balance or “sweet spot” between understeer and oversteer.
• Figure Eight – Experience using the brakes to initiate rotation and directional change. Timing and rate of release of the brake pedal is critical. Learn patience with the throttle and how to initiate throttle-induced oversteer to complete directional change and drive to the center pylon. Learn to anticipate oversteer at center pylon, be ready to “catch it” with the wheel.
• Turn 8 Exercise – This exercise gives you experience with throttle-induced understeer on entry and trailing throttle oversteer from apex to exit to help you learn advanced car control. This exercise trains the driver to always look in the direction you want the car pointed dictating degree of wheel correction.

Lapping with Traction Sensing

Open Track – You’ll have the opportunity to use all of the car control skills you’ve developed in the exercises in a full-on track experience. Participants will use this session for “traction sensing” – driving off line to find the grip.

You’ll come away from the Racing in the Rain Skills Clinic with confidence and a higher level of car control skills while navigating a wet race track.

How to register

We control a lot of things at ProFormance, but the weather is not one of them. Look for these clinics to be scheduled during the late fall and winter months.

Watch our Facebook or Instagram feed and/or subscribe to The Inside Line to make sure you know when a Clinic is coming up. Of course, if the rain doesn’t materialize you’ll get a full refund which will apply to the next event.

Prerequisite

One Day High Performance Driving Clinic or equivalent is required for Racing in the Rain Clinic participants.