It is raining in sheets here today and I started thinking about rain track set-ups? Do you guys have a wet wether track set-up and how does it differ from what you normally run?

Of course, this depends on how much adjustability you have on your car. I'm interested in hearing specifics and general comments on how to set up for the wet...

 

Ugg, I hate driving my car in the rain. Good thing its parked safe in the garage

 

Well polyurethane engine mounts are a good idea if you don't want your front end bouncing up an down.

wet weather setups really arent that much different from dry IMO. your tire selection and driving style are much more important.

generally very smooth driving inputs are necessary - but fear not the R is awesome in the rain. I've done some high speed lapping at Portland raceway in the pouring rain and scared the crap out of my instructor (he thought we were going to spin for sure)

as far as setups go - i run a little less tire pressure and usually don't have to bleed off as much because the tires don't heat up as much.

A032Rs and Toyo RA-1s are great in the rain.

 

juju, I just drive my Land Bruiser on rainy days.

But if I were to take a a stock R out to the track, there's not much you can do to the car so I'd just take it slower and drive the "wet" line around the course. If you have adj shocks, it'll help to lower the damping rate (esp in the rear).

yoshi - who just read about driving the CTR under wet conditions

 

street tires in rain

 

This is the wet setup on the track :

-lower the tire pressure
-dial your suspension to the softest at the front and a bit stiffer at the rear

My opinion is, you will have heavy understeer during low speed corners but you will afraid oversteer during high speed so I ran the F&R tire pressure @ 30 psi. My idea is to try to make the car more neutral.

 

If your car has adjustable suspension, you want to soften your shocks to almost full soft in the rear, while having them a little firmer in the front. If you have a rear sway bar and are running high spring rates, disconnect it. Any full tread kumho v700s, toyo RA1s, A032Rs are excellent for rain. Street tires have a harder compound, which makes them grip significantly less than R rated tires once they get heated up. You want to run higher pressures in the rain, not lower. Two main reasons for this: first, you want to start at a higher initial cold temperature because the tires will not heat up as much as they do in the dry. Second, you want the extra air to give the tires a slight U shape to reduce aquaplaning. A flat contact patch is more prone to aquaplaning. Another approach I've seen people do is to run lower pressures. The extra flex in the tire will cause it to heat up faster, but make sure you have good tread if doing this. As a reference, on the ITA crx I run the rear shocks set to full soft, with the fronts 1/2 firm. No sway bars and starting pressures (cold) of 35-37 on full tread Toyo RA1s(lower on dirt stockers). The Hoosiers dirt stockers simply cannot be touched in standing water conditions, but they burn up really fast in anything less than a flooded track.

I've driven a stock type r on worn out kumhos v700s on a track before and it was simply great. This car is the perfect rain car, it does not need to be touched. It is an absolute pleasure to drive it in the rain because it is very predictable and easy to drive in the wet. Much more fun than driving the IT car. Having ABS is also a huge plus.

Learning to push a car in the wet is invaluable (as well as tons of fun!). The key is to practice it as much as you can, but do it on an open track with not too many walls, or even at an autox at first. Any racer nows that if you can drive a car hard in the rain, you can definitely drive it hard in the dry. But it does not always go the other way around.


[Modified by Hracer, 11:48 PM 11/15/2001]

 

i love racing in the rain. I used to use full tread kuhmo victoracers, i have yet to find a better rain tire.


fais


[Modified by SpeedPak, 9:02 PM 11/15/2001]

 

Yes, raise pressures for the rain.. Just like Hracer said... I don't know why you would want to lower them because you are actually going to build less heat to get them to operating temps and be more prone to hydroplaining with a flat tread..

 

Great responses!!

I'll add two things. Be positive about it and you will learn to love it. Rain X Baby!! I swear by the stuff.

Get Wet!

VictorPenner

 

I agree, great responses - thanks guys. I learned a lot today...