Kyoko: Winter Mode complete.

I never thought of the winter season, as an ‘off-season’. Rather, it was just a season where everything was just really cold. Although the summer racing season is over, it doesn’t mean that you can’t still be a car guy during the winter.

Here are just a few ideas, I came up with on the fly:

1) Garage time- Winter is always a good time to bring the car into the garage for some routine maintenance. Take a moment to put the car up on jacks, and change of the fluids and wear parts that you can afford to replace. Winter can put a lot of stress on a car, and it always feels good to get your baby freshened up before going out into the brisk weather.

If the car stays in the garage all winter, this is also a good opportunity to plan out any updates or upgrades to your car(s), and spend more time learning about the mechanical bits.

It’s not like the car is going anywhere.

2) Snowfall shenanigans  If/when the snowfalls, it’s always good fun to enjoy a nice open parking lot with some fresh powder. Get some winter tires, some cones and practice some car control, while having a blast doing it!

3) Hit the gym- This is a perfect time to get started doing gym work that you said you were going to do over the summer. Driving exercises consist primarily of cardio and core exercises,  so it will be helpful as a driver to get in better physical shape during the winter months to improve endurance and strength.

4) Karting- With the sun going down early in the winter days, drivers can still get some extra seat time by spending some time at the kart track. During the weekdays you can sharpen your skills on the indoor kart track, and on the outdoor tracks over the weekend.

Karting is another great way to improve on working on developing your driving technique, so when you get back into car events during the spring, you will have worked on re-programming better driving habits.

Just make sure to bring a good jacket…It gets cold, fast.

5) Play racing games- Video games are a quick and inexpensive way to work on keeping the mind sharp during the winter season. Picking up games like Forza Motorsport 4 (Xbox 360), Gran Turismo 5 (PS3), or R-Factor (PC) allow you to play online again other sharp racers and work on developing your mental strength, if you choose to think of it that way.

6) Go for a cruise with some buddies- Sometimes it’s good to just take time and go for a drive. Grab a map, charge your cell phone and find some place interesting. Bring a camera, so you can take some snaps of the neat places that you’ve been.

Bring some friends, so it’s not lonely.

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Just because it gets colder outside, doesn’t mean that you have to sit around idle. Taking advantage of the time during the winter will always pay dividends during the spring.

Or if it’s all too much work, you could just take a page out of these guys’ book…

off seasons from Drift Alliance on Vimeo.

What do you guys do during the winter?