Sleeper_08

I ran a track day yesterday at the Mosport DDT (Driver Training Track) which is abot 1.5 miles long and has some interesting turns and elevation changes. It is run in second and third gear in a GT.

It was my first time on the track and I was running in the novice group. For the first two half hour sessions it was dry I got to the point where even with my limited experience I was getting waved past by a variety of cars, including a Corvette (C05 I think).

Then it started to rain and it kept raining for the rest of the day. After a while I softened the Tokicos to 4, dropped the tires pressures 2 lb on the KDW2s and asked an instructor to help me learn how to drive in the rain. It was exciting, tense and humbling!

The main problem was that even going only in third gear the difference between accelerating and sliding was really hard to find. After doing one 180 onto the grass with no damage I was even more cautious.

The humbling part was getting passed by everything, including a bunch of VWs and the Corvette mentioned above. While following the Corvette he just seemed more able to get the power down better than I could.

My questions are;
1) Does the IRS on the Corvette provide a better traction in the wet than a solid axle
2) I realized later that the tires were actually running at about 32 lb instead of my planned 38 as they weren't heating up at all. Was 32 lb too low?
3) Any one else have experience with the KDW2s in the wet? How did you fnd them?

Any comments or suggestions on how to improve traction in the rain would be appreciated.

Stoenr

Its a whole nuther ball game when its wet out. I think tires and driver mod matter more than the IRS against the vette.
I had a blast on my track day last year when it poured. Lotsa of fishtailing thats for sure lol.
I ran fast and hard, passed everything up but an all wheel drive turbo VW.
That bastard!
I was also running probably the best tire for a wet track.
No experience on the BFG's

This is probably the more fun of the 4 vids of that track day in the rain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BclKOxUSChQ

Sleeper_08

What brand and size tires were you running?

I found out all about fishtailing including once at a good clip in third gear! Fortunately kept it on the track that time.

Stoenr

I "was" running the Goodyear F1 GS D3's. 255/45/18. They Dont make them in my new size I run.
I think it was good to have a track day in the rain to get the feel of the car in all situations. Its all about having fun and learning at the same time. I know your hooked already.

Argonaut

Colin - I know exactly how you feel. I was at Summit Point Shenandoah last weekend in a pouring rain all day. First time at that track. Its a highly technical and fairly short track. Seems like they tried to throw every possible turn type into it (off camber, decreasing radius, double apex, blind corners, etc) and to make it worse, there is practically no runoff and lots of concrete barriers. The rain, the track and my very limited exp driving in rain made for a high pucker day. It wasn't much fun but was a very good skills builder. I got passed by almost everyone including a C6 Vette. I started out on Nitto NT01s (it wasn't raining at 8AM) and did a 270 into the grass (thank God I was going slow and there was enough runoff to keep me out of the wall) on my first session. So I switched to the stock Pirellis and, if anything, they were worse. They had a skid pad open, so I did some testing, played around with the tire pressures, nothing worked. The front end push was horrible and, with just a little too much throttle the rear would whip around. HT-10 pads didn't help any either, the front ABS would kick in very easily. It really taught me how precise you need to be with your steering inputs and pedals. In the dry R-comps provide you will lots of lattitude, make a small mistake and its no big deal. In the wet its a whole different ball game.

I thought the KDWs were suppose to be good in the rain, so much for that thought.

Sleeper_08

Argonaut

Sounds like you had a day similar to mine. The only benefit I had was that at the Mosport DDT there is lots of runoff and not much to hit so that helps to lower the stress factor.

As you said it was a skill building day, but the dry is a whole lot more fun!