varkwso

It was definitely a wet one at Roebling today. Started wet, stayed wet and ended wet. About half the original 54 people showed up to actually run and several of those never entered the track. The ones who did brave the intermittent torrential rains and 6 inch deep puddles learned quite a bit about smoothness in throttle and steering. They also learned the world does not come to an end when you hydroplane a little. My student, Fred, and I have a history – it seems every time we get together at Roebling is pours rain like water out of a boot.

Fred and I watched it rain for a while then we went out to play in it. We always knew when his session was about to come up since the rain intensity would kick up about 75-100%. But since both of us are proud retired USAF we decided a little thing like foul weather would not hinder our good time. He never left the track and really picked up speed as the day went on. When he went out with me in the FRC the rain slacked off and we were able to make some pretty good laps on a very wet track. We had fun chasing down a few PCars and a C6Z. T2 at Roebling is like a skating rink when it is wet, the puddles at Turns 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 require modifications to avoid hydroplaning 295 tires and the puddle near the start finish line makes the tail end shimmy a bit on high speed run of the front straight.

It did get a little wild with the fence jumping Miata in the paddock. Apparently you can start a spec Miata in gear without anyone in the car. Luckily, it missed my car and hit the chain link fence in front of the tech shed. Richard was really impressed I could tell. There were the expected offs due to the wet and youthful exuberance. A 2003 C5 ZO6 with a Mongoose drivetrain managed to coat its entire surface with mud but damaged only the pride of the instructor and the driver at T1. A 2007 C6 ZO6 did a little bit more damage when it tried to climb the berm past T1/T2 – luckily the trees stopped it from rolling. The two occupants walked away and the car was not really tore up that badly. C5 and C6s crash very well. They had a great attitude about it – he hit the brakes at 4 to go but the car liked the vector it was on apparently.

Lightning finally shut the track down about 1600. Overall, it was a wet, wild and fun time at Roebling. I did not have to fix a thing on my car at the track – life is good….

SouthernSon

Jeff, I have been fortunate not to have had much rain in the few HPDE's I've done. I know it will happen some day but maybe not too soon. You are a brave man to ride right seat in that (but I always knew that..... )

Would that be Fred as in FT? Was he running a 402?

varkwso

Nope that would be the Fred from Pooler. FT does not venture that far south yet...

As I told Fred - driving in the rain is like driving a low time lap on race tires - lots of slipping at the edge of adhesion - except a whole lot slower. You have to be smooth and "feel" the car...

Helps me drive my wore out tires on dry pavement.

SouthernSon

What concerns me most, being ignorant of high speed driving in the rain, is getting the vehicle back under control after 'that little break-away'........

varkwso

If you are smooth you avoid that little breakaway - failing that - spin into a soft spot....

LS6Vette02

Sounds like a lot of fun! Unfortunately (not really), I haven't been to a rainy event yet, except for my very first autocross when it poured constantly. Needless to say I didn't do very well, but managed to keep control of the car. Lets you learn a lot faster!

racerjon1

The trick is to stay relaxed. I think the biggest mistake people make when it rains is getting tensed up.. then when they have a little slip it turns into a bigger slip, they tense up more, the slips get bigger and the confidence spirals down.

I really have a blast in the rain, yesterday had I gone on track (funny how you never get to drive at your own track days it seems) It would have been my favorite conditions.

Also.. BIG thanks to Jeff for coming and helping out, I had a bout with food poisoning the day before and wasn't in really good shape still yesterday, having him there to take care of tech and a student was awesome.

Another thing, we actually had about 32 of the 45 registered people show, so it wasn't even that low of a turnout. Nine of the DE students came out to learn in the rain, and seemed to get a good baptism during the day.


Jon K

Bill Dearborn

It isn't just about avoiding the slip it is about doing the right things when the car does eventually slip. Its just a matter of throttle control and countersteering. When to step on the gas, when to steer and when to lift and how much. You learn that type of stuff if you learn to drive in winter weather. One of the things you learn in winter driving is brakes are not your friend and require judicious application.

The same things apply to driving on a wet, oily puddle covered track.

Bill

Aardwolf

Any video?

I had my first wet track event last fall, I had been dreading it but knew it would happen sooner or later and that I should drive. It was fun but it was much more stressful at the same time. I kept thinking that it will be so much easier to wreck. I did two afternoon sessions in the rain and left when the puddles started to get real deep, it wasn't as fun to run after conditions got really bad. And I felt bad for the corner workers.

I had read the Going Faster book last year which saved my butt on one corner. I got into a death wiggle and remembered reading to straighten the wheel and accelerate. That got me right out of it, I bet the corner worker had fun watching. I kept trying to correct the oversteer by turning.

There were two WRX that kept lapping me and then there was a C5 that kept up with them, I wondered if the driver was sane.

SouthernSon

Thanks, Jeff, Jon, Bill. I have done low speed autox in pouring rain and learned to appreciate greatly the gripping powering of Firestone WO's and, of course, the great AH on the Z06. But, inducing a slip angle at high speed on a roadcourse with a 3500 lb. car is just a little intimidating. I'll reserve judgement until I actually push the envelope a little at a track in pouring rain. Hopefully, maybe Putnam (if it HAS to rain)

varkwso

It is no different than what you do at the uphill esses at VIR. It really is more mental then you think - high speed is relative on a wet track - I have no idea what my laps times were at Roebling on Friday but they were as fast as I was willing to go with a student in the right seat (we did hit 140+ on the straight, ~90 in T3 but slow in T7 since it was under water completely). All the Rolex 24 hour drivers this year appreciated any earlier wet practice I am sure. You need to put your car on diet!


Jon - my pleasure and I hope you are feeling better...

V8 Juice

[QUOTE=varkwso;1564242139]It is no different than what you do at the uphill esses at VIR.

Explain a bit more about "what you do" on the uphill esses at VIR - I experience car motion on the uphill that feels like the car has traction, but is wiggling on the tread depth Michelin PS2 tires. Is the uphill continuous power application until tap the nose down at the turn in on top?

varkwso

[QUOTE=V8 Juice;1564242445]That wiggle is like you feel with water on the track. I modulate the throttle a little bit on the uphill esses to move the car where I want it without moving the wheel very much - I brake/lift enough to load the nose at the turn in fot T10 (I believe) and hit the throttle again. It is a combo of wheel and throttle (mostly for me there) input to stay at the edge of traction. But I am nowhere near the fastest up the hill there and some may flatfoot their 400-500 HP beasts up the hill..

How do you have time for the forums at this time of year???

V8 Juice

[QUOTE=varkwso;

How do you have time for the forums at this time of year???[/QUOTE]

Although I am at the office all day and night, I still try to get my priorities straight!

ragtop_88

I heard about the C6 on Saturday. I was there for the weekend event, and had a blast. It was wet Saturday morning which made for fun the first couple times out on the track.....got loose but it was good trying to pushing the limits and understand what the car would do. ALthough it got really fun when it dried out. I got to solo on Sunday for the first time so I enjoyed that and felt good about being able to add speed with every time out on the track.....although I finally were finding the limits of my street tires as they felt good for the first 20 to 25 minutes of the 30 minute sessions they felt pretty good but they started to fade the last few laps. Hopefully for the next time I'll have some track tires and a way to get them there and back.

varkwso

That is the important part and we need to rub it in for V8 Juice working hard and peaking at the computer when he can....

Kanmer

Hey Jeff, are you and the offspring coming to VIR at the end of March with NASA? We can save a spot on the hill for you if you are getting in late Friday.

Bob