You’ve got 500 horses under the hood. Here’s how to hold the reins.

Driving cars at the limit is incredibly fun and exciting, but when circumstances get wild it can become overwhelming fast. From street and drag racing to road racing and drifting, and from 100 to 1500 horsepower, I have done a little bit of everything in motorsports over the years. Reflecting on that progression today, I realize the skills I learned are transferable to any type of high-performance driving. Here are four of my favorite driving tips.

Always Be Smooth

Launching a car its quickest is actually a very aggressive action, but it needs to be both smooth and aggressive. And when you’re cornering, don’t saw at the wheel. Instead, think ahead and choose a cornering line, and then try to complete it with the least amount of steering corrections possible. Big steering inputs change the car’s balance and affect grip. And when braking, squeeze the pedal smoothly. Jumping hard on the brakes can un-weight and destabilize the rear of the car, and releasing the brakes too fast lets the front springs rebound, un-weighting the front of the car.

Be a Machine

A car’s performance is only as good as the driver’s. To give yourself an advantage, choose shoes that fit the footwell and interact with your pedals well. Then before you start any focused drive, get alone somewhere and quiet your mind. Whatever skills you have are already in your head. You’ll drive much better calm and focused than you will amped up like a monkey on energy drinks. Speaking of which, drink plenty of water—it’s hot in the car. And finally, if I’m doing any kind of high-performance driving, I always stretch first.

Feel the Car

As much as possible, set your car up so that you can feel it working. If you can’t install a racing seat, minimizing the padding in the existing seat can help. Leather-wrapped shifter handles can be bothersome, so I always try to replace mine with a simple round cue ball like the classic Hurst shifter. It’s not glamorous, but tells you more about gear engagement. Then locate essential controls where they’re intuitive. When I ran nitrous, I’d put the button on the shifter so I’d be able to find it instantly. And I always located gauges and shift lights up high, close to my line of sight.

Reduce Distractions

Whether on the road or track, before you set out to drive hard take all the loose stuff out of the car. This means everything, including Big Gulp cups, loose quarters, garage-door openers, hockey sticks, and that Nerf ball under the seat. Same goes for whatever’s in the trunk. Also remove the floor mats, as they can get caught up in fast-moving feet or pedals. Finally, turn off the audio system and empty your pockets so you’re sitting evenly in the seat. Combined with the few other simple adjustments above, this puts you one step closer to driving like a pro.

Now go prove it.

Ed Bergenholtz is a 2-time NHRA Pro-FWD champion.

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