Riding In The Wet?

I have nothing to offer to this, however i did a track day in the p*ssing rain last week at brands on diablo rosso corsas, no real issues to speak of.

But giraffe on ice springs to mind.

 

Can't advise you on pressures that work for you. Warmers for sure.

Wet is where you learn more about yourself.

 

Can I register some concerns here on wet riding?

"Smooth and steady" is the advice I always hear regarding wet track days (or "spirited" wet road riding, for that matter).
Surely this is bad, or at best, incomplete, advice.

Surely it is better to get on the gas hard when you are straight up & down, and go hard on the brakes likewise, in order to maximise the heat in your tyres? Smooth and steady in the bends, sure, that's good advice for the wet and for the dry too, but smooth and steady doesn't heat your tyres quite as well as hard accelerating and hard breaking.

I just wish to register my dissatisfaction with the idea of "go smooth and steady in the wet".

I am now ready for my forum beating, and to roundly corrected by better, more experienced riders than me.

 

don't bother with warmers, they warm up really quickly anyway. by the time you get from the garage to the end of the pit lane the wet track will have taken all of the heat out of the tyre anyway.

riding on a sopping wet track on wets it great fun, have a chat to the tyre guy at the td to get your pressures on the day.

 

Howdo monkeyboy! I leave mine in the garage when it rains!

 

Some like them on the warmers for half hr but no biggie. Smooth is best, it's amazing how hard you can brake and get on the gas. Brake straight line, gas straight line is a principle I took as good advice

 

You can ignore this, just some observations really.

Wet weather. I hear people talking about dropping tyre pressures a couple psi. You hear things like making the tyres more compliant. I used to do this, take 2 psi out and soften the suspension a couple clicks.

Then, I had an experienced guy help me one weekend, one of the MotoGP's teams top data guys and he said put more air in! 1) it helps keep the tyre the shape it was designed to be, standing water cools tyres down and it's about reaching the target pressure, that pressure goes up with heat. You need to push the water away, the tyre will get hot and you will get grip they are soft compound, it's about getting the tyre to work as it's designed. The construction of the tyre works as intended at that pressure. If you drop the cold pressure, you've got to generate more heat to get that tyre up to the correct operating pressure when your going round the track, rather than if your cold pressure was higher to start with. You can drop more pressure out once you've got the heat in to get it where it wants to be, some trial and error involved.

On a cold day with slicks you might run a couple psi more because they want to get up to (what ever the manufacture states works best)

Our crude method was to use a heat / temperature gun across the tyre and a tyre pressure gauge but it's a bit of a waste of time unless it's a hot dry day, by the time you pull in the pit lane and take readings the tyres are cooling down. I have also heard some people prefer the tyres a couple psi softer than what the race tyre manufactures state so you could argue take it all with a pinch of salt but..

I have been told by several race teams they do this and have watched teams carefully monitoring tyre temps / pressures, going too hot to hard obviously reduces grip and over heats tyres too.

I guess it depends on personal preference, tyre design and pace to some extent. Probably not very helpful.

 

+2 psi for me as well.

 

Oh heah good point, back all your suspension off by a couple of clicks and some preload. You want the bike to behave exactly the same, ie use as much travel, in dry and wet so it works effectively

The psi point I have heard experienced guys so both more and less...more opens the thread but doesnt allow the ture to flex as much undrer braking: less warms the tyre quicker (it moves more) and allows squish

Take your pick lol

 

... unless you have a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System fitted, in which case you can get readings off the tyres really quickly, or even continuously.

 

stay home....
if i was doing some championship, or if some one was to give me a free bike then maybe for the fun,, but my own bike,,,, no fkn way buddy..

 

Wet track with wets can be fun. Actually, on a multi, wet track with PR4s can be fun

 

Donington is a joke in the wet, always was back in the day and still is, very little grip.
The theory banded about was the aviation fuel/vapour off the aircraft out of East Mids and I really believe it to be true, there's no other explanation.

 

I've done a track day at donnington in the wet, not particularly a pleasant experince as if I binned the bike in the kitty-litter...the day or 'experience' was over. I did get my back wheel squirming out by about a foot too my surprise on one exit

 

Donington in the wet. No problem.

 

Bradders, and your point is what exactly ? What does this prove ?

 

That at Donington you can run road tyres and still catch and pass some on wets. In the fast group. So grip is what you ask of it.

And that I am a hero. Clearly a hero. Of heroic propotion.

HTH

 

I think the type of bike can matter a great deal. It's one of the reasons I don't tend to buy sports bikes now. On my old KTM SMR, I did a trackday at brands and the first sessions were wet. Didn't see another rider pass me and I was running road tyres. All changed when it dries of course. Got passed plenty then [emoji6]
Actually had a guy come find me in the garages to ask me what brakes I had because I "took the piss out of him in the wet".

I find sports bikes run on such a finite window. When grip is bad you worry about everything. On sit up bikes, slides become part of the fun.