What we've learned on the track

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Originally Posted by Frodo

I absolutely cannot imagine racing in rainy conditions. To me, it borders on insanity. (But maybe that's just me. )

i've only driven on track in the rain a couple of times, and it is a BLAST! scary at first, for sure, but it is AMAZING how fast you can go if you plot the right line. my first couple of laps are always 'recon' laps to figure out where the water is pooling and where the roughest track surface appears to be. since the friction coefficient between the road and tires decreases in the rain, your grip has to come from the 'mechanical keying' effect where the rubber deforms and 'keys' to the roughness of the road.

once a good line is determined, slowly bring up the pace. the worst thing for me is to have the car break away unexpectedly while in the wet. to avoid this, i've found it best to slide the car IMMEDIATELY on corner entry. horrifying at first for sure. once you're 'in the zone', it's possible to get exceptional lap times only maybe ten percent lower than dry!

granted i've never tried this wheel to wheel; THAT would be insane.