Wet weather handling

Martin Perry · May 4, 2004

Had in interesting day at Castle Combe on Fridy (bookatrack.com). A dry morning gave way to heavy rain all afternoon. My 82 Targa's handling turned from it's usual communicative/involving (dry) to sliding with what felt like no feedback or warning (wet). A couple of 360 spins went off without incident, fortunately. I'm all too pleased to have explored this 'limit' on the track and not on the road!

I was surprised by the almost complete absence of feedback in the wet before all goes pear-shaped. Is this typical SC stuff (or is it my diving!)? Are there any obvious mods to improve matters?

For the record I was running Avons at normal pressure, full fuel tank for some extra weight at the front. The car is an unmodified 'Sport'.

Suggestions gratefully received (getting track instruction already tought of!)...

Martin

Melv · May 4, 2004

Martin -how much tread have you got on the rears?

'Normal' pressure could be too high, although there is a school of thought to up the pressure when it's wet in order to let the centre of the tyre cut thru the water and to aid dispersal.

I tried this at a wet Bruntingthorpe on road tyres (S02's) and the car seemed quite stable up to top speed.....

"or is it my diving" -was it THAT wet!!!!!!!![

]

Mel

Martin Perry · May 4, 2004

No pun intended - just poor typing! It was pretty wet though...

The tyres are not that old on the rear and have several mm of tread left. Your tip sounds interesting - how much extra psi/bar do you need to achieve this effect?

That said, the lack of grip was so complete that the effect would have to be pretty good to correct it, but it's got to be worth a try.

Martin

Melv · May 4, 2004

M6? -Isn't that a motorway Maurice??

Drainage at Combe v. poor. I've watched small rivers cross the track, one after Quarry......

Pressures to go up 2-4psi. Bit suck it and see though.

Mel

Martin Perry · May 5, 2004

Thanks guys - interesting info.

Hope your M6 didn't end up in a tyre wall by the way Maurice - they're pretty close to the track on most of the corners at Castle Combe.

I'm reassured that Combe is a poorly drained track, but it didn't stop a 944 Turbo from going about twice as fast as me in the wet (we were pretty evenly matched in the dry)!

Hey ho...

Martin

937carrera · May 5, 2004

I have particularly good memories of a race I had in my Carrera 3 at Castle Combe in very wet conditions back in 1989.

I did have one Avon tyre on one of my cars once.......absolutely useless in the wet & marginal in the dry. If you had been running with for example Bridgestone S02, or Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres I thing you would have found the car handled much better in the wet. Just as importantly the feel from the tyre would have been so much better.........what tyres was I running in 1989 ?...good old Bridgestone RE71s

I would support Melvs advice about cold pressures being set 2-4 psi higher for wet conditions, maybe even more.

Depending on suspension type and settings, it's probably worth dropping the links off both anti roll bars for wet conditions too. FWIW I got more feedback in the wet from my 2.7RS than I do from my 924 CGT.

Guest · May 18, 2004

I had my first trackday last November at the llandow circuit in Wales. The weather was attrocious - stormy, bucketing down - I was expecting the worst. I had fairly recently fitted a new set of Goodyear Eagle F1's and I have to say the grip and handling was fantastic. No spins - just very controllable drifting. I was very pleasantly surprised. I think in those conditions tyres can make a huge difference.