Trackday dry, greasy, and wet tyre options.

[banhama]

I have a trackday at Lydden Hill tomorrow and it looks pretty certain that the afternoon will be very wet.
However there is a chance that the morning might have a dry session, or at worst maybe a bit greasy from all today's rain.

I have a decent set of part-worn 15" slicks on the car, and will be taking 4 brand new Rainsport 5s on 16" wheels, and a pair of part worn Federal 595s also on 16" wheels.

So obviously the Rainsports when it's really wet, and slicks all round if the track happens to be dry.

In a slightly greasy situation I was thinking of trying slicks on the front and the Federals on the rear. I don't think there's any chance of heating up rear slicks in those conditions, but Lydden's quite abrasive so I might get the front slicks to work.
I haven't had much wet or damp running in the Clio, and have never tried Rainsports, so any advice welcome.

 

[JamesBryan]

Worth a go.

If there's no physical standing water, you don't need tread... Although it can help to generate heat with the treadblock moving around.

You should be able to heat the front slicks from radiant heat from the brakes as well.

 

[banhama]

You should be able to heat the front slicks from radiant heat from the brakes as well.

Good point, being a sessioned track day there is an obligatory 3 lap warm up at the start of your first session. I'll use that to get the brakes hot.

( I would call these 'yellow flag laps', no overtaking etc., but they are actually under waved green flags! The logic being the yellow is still there to be used if someone has an incident on the sighting laps.)

 

[JamesBryan]

Good point, being a sessioned track day there is an obligatory 3 lap warm up at the start of your first session. I'll use that to get the brakes hot.

( I would call these 'yellow flag laps', no overtaking etc., but they are actually under waved green flags! The logic being the yellow is still there to be used if someone has an incident on the sighting laps.)

Touring car warm up style it is then 😂

 

[Coops Mk1]

Slicks all round and send it, be reet.

 

[banhama]

Slicks all round and send it, be reet.

That's exactly what I ended up doing, and I'm still here and the car's still in one piece!

That was for the first 2 sessions anyway. It was a bit damp in places and cold, but no spray coming off the tyres so I went for slicks all round. Once warmed up they worked well, and any slip was on the front so fairly easy to judge and correct with steering and throttle. I could have stiffened the rear dampers a bit, but my cajones are too small!
I couldn't push as hard as in dry warm conditions, so the best lap was 1.3 seconds off my best on slicks, but only 0.3 off the best with semi-slicks in perfect conditions.

Then the rain came, so I put the Rainsports on. Very impressed with them in both semi-wet and soaking conditions. Apart from full wet race rubber I doubt you'd get much better for a really wet track. Quite predictable, and even with rivers running across the circuit they found enough grip to wear the outer edge off the hardest working tyre. Great fun trying to find where there was enough grip to use the FWD and LSD to pull the car into the corner. It seemed to work best in the single left hander, not sure why, but it could be because that's where my fat arse is pushing the loaded wheel into the tarmac! They say weight can help in the wet!

Altogether a good day!

 

[Superwoman90]

That's exactly what I ended up doing, and I'm still here and the car's still in one piece!

That was for the first 2 sessions anyway. It was a bit damp in places and cold, but no spray coming off the tyres so I went for slicks all round. Once warmed up they worked well, and any slip was on the front so fairly easy to judge and correct with steering and throttle. I could have stiffened the rear dampers a bit, but my cajones are too small!
I couldn't push as hard as in dry warm conditions, so the best lap was 1.3 seconds off my best on slicks, but only 0.3 off the best with semi-slicks in perfect conditions.

Then the rain came, so I put the Rainsports on. Very impressed with them in both semi-wet and soaking conditions. Apart from full wet race rubber I doubt you'd get much better for a really wet track. Quite predictable, and even with rivers running across the circuit they found enough grip to wear the outer edge off the hardest working tyre. Great fun trying to find where there was enough grip to use the FWD and LSD to pull the car into the corner. It seemed to work best in the single left hander, not sure why, but it could be because that's where my fat arse is pushing the loaded wheel into the tarmac! They say weight can help in the wet!

Altogether a good day!

Thanks for the feedback, very helpful.

 

[banhama]

Off topic, but I also learned something completely new........Toyota Yaris GR!
I've never heard of it, it looks like a bigger version of my daughter's Aygo.

So I was chatting to this guy in a fairly normal looking car who said he was going out with the circuit instructor, Bill Richards, in the next session.
I've raced against Bill for almost 10 years and he must have done a million laps of Lydden Hill. I've only ever beaten him there when he's had issues, never on equal terms, though god knows I've tried and have hours of video to prove it!

So when I caught up with this normal looking car I knew it had my Nemesis in the passenger seat....ok, you may not be driving but I can still say i got past you on track!
Trouble is I couldn't, bollox! I caught up, but just couldn't find enough to make a safe pass.
I was really impressed with the cars punch out of the corners in the wet, and it was taking the sort of lines I used in my Impreza. I know Bill's a good instructor and the guy seemed a very capable driver, but what the heck?????

Later discovered this a 260bhp, 4WD rally replica..... basically the new era Impreza! Bloody awesome and I want one!

I had a good few laps chasing this thing in the soaking wet, unfortunately the camera battery didn't have the stamina.
Here's a short clip to illustrate how wet it was, and that I should have put Fog-X on the screen and side windows!
Great fun, made possible by Rainsport 5s......the ultimate in predictable slip