Photo credit: Cal Club

FastLane Racing School is located at Buttonwillow Raceway Park about two and a half hours
north of Los Angeles, California. You don’t need to be a native Californian to know that it
doesn’t rain much here. However, we’ve had a very wet winter and come rain or shine, we still
conduct our racing and High-Performance school programs.

It’s important to know how to deal with these conditions and overall lack of grip. Depending
upon how hard it’s raining, that also depends on how hard you can push the limits. For a light
rain with just generally slick conditions, going flat-out down the straights is not an issue. When
you get to the braking zone, you can still bleed-off speed quite well although you must be careful
not to “dynamite” the brake pedal initially as it’s easy to lock the brakes. Same thing for the final
bit of the braking zone – you must modulate the pressure to keep from locking up.
When it comes to negotiating the corners, it can be helpful to drive off line in the “dirty” part of
the track as that area rarely gets driven on. Normally in dry conditions, that area would be low
grip. However, when it rains, any marbles on the track acts as extra “tread” to help prevent
hydroplaning. Furthermore, since that part of the track rarely gets driven on, the asphalt surface
tends to be more jagged which enhances grip. The normal racing line has had those asphalt “tips”
worn off by continuous use as well as having a buildup of rubber. This leads to rubber-on-rubber
contact with water in between which reduces grip.

If you’re entering a corner, prepare for the front end of the car to encounter big understeer
moments, rear oversteer moments and huge four-wheel drifts. Quick hands and good “eyes up”
vision focus help you to deal with these slides and help keep you pointed in the right direction. It
can also help to use a later apex to where you can cross that area with the vehicle pointed
straighter. Smoothness in throttle application and steering inputs is also critical to maintaining
control of your vehicle.
As summertime fast approaches, there will typically be no rain until the fall of the year at
Buttonwillow, yet you can still practice these understeer and oversteer moments on our wet
skidpad and gain a greater understanding of how your steering and throttle inputs affect your
car’s handling.

Finally, we also conduct our Defensive Driving Academy (DDA) and corporate fleet training
programs to get your drive teen or team ready to hit the road with much more confidence and
skill. Give us a call at: 877-731-3140 or visit us at: www.raceschool.com

NOTE: These programs are conducted on a closed course with professional driving instruction.
Do not attempt sliding maneuvers away from the race track.

By Larry Mason

Copyright © 2026 Larry Mason