Racing in Rain, first time any advice?

Also, the less water spray you see from the tires of other bikes, the drier the track is getting.

Did I remember that correctly?

 

Stay off the paint and curbs for the most part.
If it's dry saturday and Sunday but rains Thursday and Friday. There will probably be weepers at barber, go and find a local wera guy, Charles Ive, Russell masecar, John dunhan etc and talk to them about the weepers if they pop up.

 

yes.. any rain tire. lower temp of course. Rains get warm on track. over 110F unless dreadfully slow. why would you go out with cold rain tires.
You don't have to, but why not ??

 

Not sure, but when I asked Quentin a number of years ago, he stopped dead in his tracks, and said "please don't"

 

tripple temp chicken hawks on low are perfect for a new set... although i've heard its not needed as well from other fast guys

 

maybe they'd be faster in the rain if they used warmers on low settings. Or, maybe they have skill set to work up to getting heat in them on track in the rain.. why does anyone use warmers in the dry? cause it's safer, sticks a better right out of the box. obviously the operating temp on dot/slicks will have a wider range from the ambient temp, and thus take a bit longer to get to 165-190F on track.. but it still baffles me why there is such resistance by some, to using warmers on lower settings, for rain tires.

 

.. I like Quentin M. , good guy. Even sold michelin tires for a short time... but i don't hold him as the authority on racing tires. I do admire his love of the sport, and his budget racing program. He gets out there, and mixes it up in the light wt classes on old OLD bikes.

 

NLC Quentin? That response sounds like him.

 

I will run the warmers on low. Weepers runoff water lines across the track? I try to poke around. My whole crew are guys from Wera West I dont think they will have the local knowledge either. All good stuff. Even about the helmet as mine fogs up any time there is humidity.

 

Shouldn't have to worry about weepers this weekend, not going to get warm enough to cause that.

 

Also, if they determine it a dry race and it starts raining do they red flag? Just want to be prepared.

 

Now I gave you actual race advice. Now I'll give you my personal advice. If it's raining leave your shit strapped down in the trailer. No one has ever created a giant parts bill by not racing in the rain. If you need the points to secure championship then suck it up buttercup but other than that I am a leave it parked kind of guy.

 

I’m driving down from CT and debated whether all that driving is worth it to ride around in the wet to finish in the middle or back from the pack and have added risk of needing more parts from TJ at ridersdiscount. But I want to ride Barber, I had blocked off the time at work and I’m going to stick with it. Weather underground says less than 0.1” rain on Friday and Saturday and none on Sunday.

I have raced in the rain a few times and I always felt like I was able to feel the little slides that said that’s enough though in the corners. Fun fact, at Miller years back with WERA, no one had rains to buy or DOTs since I was late to realize I needed something other than slicks. So Gougis and I borrowed a tire groover and taught ourselves to groove slicks..... they did not work well lol. Though the water now had somewhere to go and I could feel the tires squirming through the corners, the rubber never got near a temp where the tires worked. Didn’t crash, but also didn’t go fast. Those little 125 effers on wera came flying around me in turn 1 and that was all she wrote.

 

Yah, I am committed too. Im in the sportsman series in Novice. Clinched my region and want the bragging rights for the GNF, starting P1 and P2 in my races, Barber is also a bucket list. Enjoying these last wins before going to expert next season. Already passing experts now but still a few seconds to get to the top experts when there is no MA guys there. Im in it to win it. Flights are booked and there is no way Im sitting on the side lines. Not easy scheduling a trip cross-country for a weekend of racing. Especially on my level. Hope to see you guys out there that make the trip. Also hoping that Saturday is dry so I can finish this season properly and have a couple days on the track before then.

 

That's about the last time the Honda was competitive in WSBK.

 

There is a thread in the tech forum called rain tires that may help answer some questions

And if you're really worried about rain call your tire guy and book a set to make sure. Remember the tire guys either have too many or not enough rains.

 

How do you know where you are starting now? Can you see the prelim grids anywhere?

 

The Grids for Sportman GNF are based on total points for the season. Yes I went through and looked at all the regions for the points leaders and what they ended the season with pointswise. Put them into an excel file by name, class, points, and also lap times based on this season results in mylaps. So I have a target lap time in practice to make sure Im competitive in the race (Dry). I have the most points in Superstock from the different regions, and Superbike I have the second most points. I missed the first round of season.

 

I think the issue becomes when peeps put them on and bake the crap out of them so the tire guys, as a matter of avoiding any issues just so no. Plus at such low temps by the time you get out on track from your pit location the tires are cold anyway. But I always thought getting a little heat in them with the warmers wasn’t a bad thing so...........?

 

Yep, if you think it’s going to rain, get your rains prior to getting to the track. Don’t risk it.