Wet weather track day help please - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

EarlyApex · 06-26-2014, 04:59 PM

Tomorrow is my second track day with my Camaro and I am looking for some advise. The weather forecast is for showers (60% chance) so a good chance I will be on a wet track. I mounted my second set of tires/wheels with the Michelin PSS as they should handle the wet better, any suggestions on air pressures to start with? In dry conditions I turn off all of the nanny's but I will leave them on if wet. I plan on being very mellow until I get some seat time on the wet track. I am way more nervous than excited which is a big change from other track days I have done. I just want to come home in one piece with no busted/broken stuff.

jeremywes · 06-26-2014, 05:11 PM

Typically you do not need to air down as much because the temps won't be as high. I use street pressure to start and reduce as necessary between runs.

TBone · 06-26-2014, 05:28 PM

GET A COACH and learn the rain line. You will have a ball, trust me. Yes your speeds will not be as high as if it were dry but you will probably learn way more. Do not be afraid, after you learn the rain line, to turn off the nannies. You are on a track going slower and this is a great time to learn to control the slides, loss of traction and other slippery types of car control in this controlled environment. Just remember to use caution on where and when you do it.

Oh yea, water will keep your tires cooler so you will probably keep more air in them but check them anyway when you come off track to be sure. If you have coilovers set them a little looser so you have more control in the rain. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Stay off the race line because that will be slick, you will notice it when you cross it.

Most of all have fun, you're still on a track.

T.

Synner · 06-26-2014, 05:58 PM

Wet weather track days are a blast. You may never exceed 50% throttle but you will learn your car and improve your driving exponentially.

EarlyApex · 06-26-2014, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TBone

GET A COACH and learn the rain line. You will have a ball, trust me. Yes your speeds will not be as high as if it were dry but you will probably learn way more. Do not be afraid, after you learn the rain line, to turn off the nannies. You are on a track going slower and this is a great time to learn to control the slides, loss of traction and other slippery types of car control in this controlled environment. Just remember to use caution on where and when you do it.

Oh yea, water will keep your tires cooler so you will probably keep more air in them but check them anyway when you come off track to be sure. If you have coilovers set them a little looser so you have more control in the rain. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Stay off the race line because that will be slick, you will notice it when you cross it.

Most of all have fun, you're still on a track.

T.

Thanks for the advice. I wasn't scheduled for an instructor but I will ask for one in the first session. At PIR, most of the off track areas are grass so they are very slick. My goal is to stay on track and learn as much as I can.

This will only be the second time she has seen rain

MJanowich · 06-26-2014, 08:26 PM

My first ever track day was medium/heavy rain all day, remnants of a tropical storm. Be VERY easy with the throttle coming out of corners. There were several Mustangs that spun out, one of them hitting an embankment and it messed up the car pretty good. My wife in her Abarth was passing a lot of the RWD high horsepower cars. The cars with FWD and AWD did great. It was still a lot of fun and I definitely learned quite a bit about driving in the rain.

Make sure you have a tarp to cover up all of your gear in the paddock and maybe have something to sit it on to keep it off of the ground. All of our stuff got soaked just from opening up our tarp and having the water that had pooled in the crevasses run into it. Big zip lock bags would be a good idea for any paper type stuff, like registration, insurance, other glove box things. Since we had to drive with our windows down, the seats got soaked. They dried out fine in the garage with the windows down though. Bring lots of towels to dry things up for the drive home.

Here's a picture of one of the Mustangs that spun coming out of turn 9 at Summit Point.

NotYetLegend · 06-27-2014, 12:41 PM

The second day of my first track weekend was in the rain as well. I had just been passed to HPDE2 as well so my first solo lap session was also my first time driving in the rain. MIR's main straight doubles as a drag strip so the traction compound they put down makes it super slick when wet, rest of the track is year old asphalt so that felt fine. I loved driving in the rain (other than the open window thing, whatever) its quieter and more graceful, slides don't slow you down as much which is fun. Your brakes will work way better than your throttle so I wouldn't worry about it too much, just start slow and work up just like in the dry! Have fun! I'm jealous

TBone · 06-27-2014, 01:58 PM

Here, you want rain.....

This was an interesting weekend. It was raining SOOOO hard all weekend they decided we could run windows closed and our turn signals determined which side YOU passed on. First and ONLY time I have ever run this way but as you can see from the video it was POURING. I think Road America got like 2-3 inches of rain this weekend, it was epic.

If you watch to the end you will be able to enjoy me passing Mustangs in the Rain.

T.

NotYetLegend · 06-27-2014, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TBone

If you watch to the end you will be able to enjoy me passing Mustangs in the Rain.

T.

Oh the glory!!! Love it, badass man.

tw78911sc · 06-27-2014, 09:32 PM

Most road courses have no pitch/crown like a public highway so standing water is likely. 1st few laps take a lot of mental notes of where it is or where it starts accumulating, also, track may dry on one area before another, again, inch into it, cake on the rain-x.

IMO the absolute worst is when it just goes from dry to wet, it just get greasy so fast, I wait until the rain really comes down, then there is a lot of track room because a lot of folks won't track in the wet.

EarlyApex · 06-29-2014, 12:46 PM

Thanks for all of the advice.

Well, the day started out very wet with my first session a full on monsoon. I tippy toed around getting the feel of the track and working on the line and marks. I didn't get any video from the first 2 sessions, not really much to see. The second session was a mix of wet and dry areas. It was mostly dry the last couple of laps so I was able to get the speeds up and felt a lot better. At the 5 min mark before the 3rd the rain dumped on the pit area but most of the track was still dry so it made for an interesting run. Parts of the track you could run hard and parts you had to really be gentle on the throttle or the back end would kick out. The last session I got a lot of video and was passing cars working to the front when a full on race car spun on the back straight and stuffed into the wall, ending the session early.

The blue Mustang is a 1970 vintage racecar with the meanest sounding cam. He came by afterward and said his brakes started to fade so he let me by but during a section in the early part of the video I was having to let up on the gas in the curves so I was faster every ware than him. This Camaro is a wicked machine on the track.

06-26-2014, 04:59 PM	#1
EarlyApex Drives: 2013 IOM 2SS 1LE Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Damascus Or Posts: 403	Wet weather track day help please Tomorrow is my second track day with my Camaro and I am looking for some advise. The weather forecast is for showers (60% chance) so a good chance I will be on a wet track. I mounted my second set of tires/wheels with the Michelin PSS as they should handle the wet better, any suggestions on air pressures to start with? In dry conditions I turn off all of the nanny's but I will leave them on if wet. I plan on being very mellow until I get some seat time on the wet track. I am way more nervous than excited which is a big change from other track days I have done. I just want to come home in one piece with no busted/broken stuff. __________________

06-26-2014, 05:28 PM	#3
TBone Negative Camber Junkie Drives: 2010 1SS LS3/6MN ABM 1 of 23 Join Date: May 2009 Location: ChiTown, IL Posts: 1,824	GET A COACH and learn the rain line. You will have a ball, trust me. Yes your speeds will not be as high as if it were dry but you will probably learn way more. Do not be afraid, after you learn the rain line, to turn off the nannies. You are on a track going slower and this is a great time to learn to control the slides, loss of traction and other slippery types of car control in this controlled environment. Just remember to use caution on where and when you do it. Oh yea, water will keep your tires cooler so you will probably keep more air in them but check them anyway when you come off track to be sure. If you have coilovers set them a little looser so you have more control in the rain. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Stay off the race line because that will be slick, you will notice it when you cross it. Most of all have fun, you're still on a track. T. __________________ "Horsepower is something that looks great in a Magazine article, but suspension is what actually gets you around the track fast.." Jack Olsen The drag strip is like sniffing glue, it's cheap, it's a decent buzz, it doesn't last long and they are all the same. Road racing is like China White Heroin, the buzz is stronger, the high lasts for hours, it's extremely addictive and they are all different. I can't wait for my next Track fix. DA HAWKS OWN DA CUP!!!!!

06-26-2014, 08:26 PM	#6
MJanowich Door ding magnet Drives: 2010 Black 2SS/RS Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Leesburg, VA Posts: 288 View My Garage	My first ever track day was medium/heavy rain all day, remnants of a tropical storm. Be VERY easy with the throttle coming out of corners. There were several Mustangs that spun out, one of them hitting an embankment and it messed up the car pretty good. My wife in her Abarth was passing a lot of the RWD high horsepower cars. The cars with FWD and AWD did great. It was still a lot of fun and I definitely learned quite a bit about driving in the rain. Make sure you have a tarp to cover up all of your gear in the paddock and maybe have something to sit it on to keep it off of the ground. All of our stuff got soaked just from opening up our tarp and having the water that had pooled in the crevasses run into it. Big zip lock bags would be a good idea for any paper type stuff, like registration, insurance, other glove box things. Since we had to drive with our windows down, the seats got soaked. They dried out fine in the garage with the windows down though. Bring lots of towels to dry things up for the drive home. Here's a picture of one of the Mustangs that spun coming out of turn 9 at Summit Point. __________________ "When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."

06-27-2014, 12:41 PM	#7
NotYetLegend Drives: 2012 1SS/RS Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 344	The second day of my first track weekend was in the rain as well. I had just been passed to HPDE2 as well so my first solo lap session was also my first time driving in the rain. MIR's main straight doubles as a drag strip so the traction compound they put down makes it super slick when wet, rest of the track is year old asphalt so that felt fine. I loved driving in the rain (other than the open window thing, whatever) its quieter and more graceful, slides don't slow you down as much which is fun. Your brakes will work way better than your throttle so I wouldn't worry about it too much, just start slow and work up just like in the dry! Have fun! I'm jealous __________________ "Driving is the only thing I love about f1." (Kimi Raikkonen)

06-27-2014, 01:58 PM	#8
TBone Negative Camber Junkie Drives: 2010 1SS LS3/6MN ABM 1 of 23 Join Date: May 2009 Location: ChiTown, IL Posts: 1,824	Here, you want rain..... This was an interesting weekend. It was raining SOOOO hard all weekend they decided we could run windows closed and our turn signals determined which side YOU passed on. First and ONLY time I have ever run this way but as you can see from the video it was POURING. I think Road America got like 2-3 inches of rain this weekend, it was epic. If you watch to the end you will be able to enjoy me passing Mustangs in the Rain. T. __________________ "Horsepower is something that looks great in a Magazine article, but suspension is what actually gets you around the track fast.." Jack Olsen The drag strip is like sniffing glue, it's cheap, it's a decent buzz, it doesn't last long and they are all the same. Road racing is like China White Heroin, the buzz is stronger, the high lasts for hours, it's extremely addictive and they are all different. I can't wait for my next Track fix. DA HAWKS OWN DA CUP!!!!!

06-26-2014, 05:11 PM	#2
jeremywes Drives: 2012 Camaro SS Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 504 View My Garage	Typically you do not need to air down as much because the temps won't be as high. I use street pressure to start and reduce as necessary between runs.

06-26-2014, 05:58 PM	#4
Synner Drives: cars Join Date: May 2011 Location: Oversneeze Posts: 4,544	Wet weather track days are a blast. You may never exceed 50% throttle but you will learn your car and improve your driving exponentially.

06-27-2014, 09:32 PM	#10
tw78911sc Drives: 14 1SS Camaro 1LE, NPP, Recaros Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: NC Posts: 819	Most road courses have no pitch/crown like a public highway so standing water is likely. 1st few laps take a lot of mental notes of where it is or where it starts accumulating, also, track may dry on one area before another, again, inch into it, cake on the rain-x. IMO the absolute worst is when it just goes from dry to wet, it just get greasy so fast, I wait until the rain really comes down, then there is a lot of track room because a lot of folks won't track in the wet.