We have a Portland race coming up in about 10 days. Wondering if there are any wet situation stories out there?

jim flynn wrote:We have a Portland race coming up in about 10 days. Wondering if there are any wet situation stories out there?

I think Bob Breton drove his in the rain at Buttonwillow.

About half my test days had rain sessions at both Buttonwillow and Thunderhill in relatively light rain conditions, from damp tracks to misting rain. First comment is our rain tires <fill in the blank>. There's little difference between dry and wet tires unless there's standing water (The esses at Buttonwill can get "interesting" with only a minor amount of rain (dropped about 20 seconds a lap vs. dries)...

One thing I wish I had done is to put in the "rain" switch; this car has a lot of torque given the lower gearing, and the lighter flywheel and snappy clutch can cause the car to easily break loose. I don't know how much the switch altered the torque curve but I expect it's better than without. The higher RPM range also makes the car a bit of a handful, but also fun to drive as you have much more throttle control to play with. At the tight corners at Buttonwillow I found it better to be up a gear and down in the RPM range (4k range) to lessen the drama. Touching anything painted easily spun the wheels (hitting the rev limiter to make it that more exciting,though probably better than "pegging" the tach.)

Did not play much with dialing in a rain setup as these were primarily "break-in" days at an open track event, but normally I'd do the usual bar/shock changes. The lower weight of the car, especially in the back, is helpful, but as I noted earlier, a light touch on the throttle, keeping it lower in the rev range and pointing the car straighter out of the corners seemed to be the best approach.

Overall, very fun to drive; if only we had rain tires that didn't <fill in the blanks>!

Thanks Bob ! Portland extended forecast is calling for wet. Sure would be nice if we could have actual rain tires

All I can add to Bob's comments is that the rain map when turned on that the Gen 3 will respond more like the Gen 2...which was nice to have turned on with a cold damp track...I miss the real rain tires we used to have.

One area I don't recall hearing about is whether there are "newer" rain tires this year based on the new dry tires. Don't know if it would help (except potentially lowering the unsprung weight). I've decided from now on that I'm not calling these "rain" tires but "grooved dry" tires instead, because that's all they are. BTW, I did run a session at Buttonwillow on dry tires on a damp track - no difference in times from the "grooved dry" tires...

At Mid-Ohio last year, Erik said it was unlikely that we would have a new rain tire for 2015 but we should get a new rain tire in 2016. I have not heard anything new since then.

peterjank wrote:At Mid-Ohio last year, Erik said it was unlikely that we would have a new rain tire for 2015 but we should get a new rain tire in 2016. I have not heard anything new since then.

2016 will bring an entirely new tire package (may/may not be Goodyear). Cooper (Avon), Pirelli, Goodyear (other?). Exciting stuff.

No new rain tire for this season, Bob.
There should be a new one for next year along with the rest of the tire package.

I was out testing today on the ProDrive day and heat cycled the new slicks (they ARE greasy initially). I was wondering if the "rain" tires ordered now will be from the new dry tire compound, or whether they will be from the old compound?