usccharles

Did my first wet track day today with my .2 4 GTS. I would have never purposefully picked a wet day to track. I don't even like to drive on the streets when its wet out. I'll be honest i'm scared of wet surfaces, especially in my 911 and my Cup2 tires. But today was the day I could go track and low and behold pouring rain. Turns out, today was probably one of my most, if not fun, educational days at the track.

I didn't realize how stable this car is in the wet. I was expecting oversteer everywhere but the car would always save me with understeer. unless I purposefully flung my car into oversteer the car would always understeer first to let me know i'm going over my limit.

Cup2s are surprisingly good in the wet. My tires are near the end of its life with three dry track days in its belt and they still gripped pretty good today in the wet.

I was very impressed at how much grip this car has in the wet. I was driving pretty hard considering all the water and it was still far harder than I would ever be comfortable driving on the street wet. it gives me so much peace of mind and confidence now. I now know how much this car can handle in the wet and I feel I will be very comfortable wet driving now because I would never drive as aggressive on the street as I did on the track today. and the understeer makes the car very forgiving and safe.

If any of the 911 owners are like me, hate (scared of) driving in the wet, I highly recommend a wet track day. Amazing how much one can learn and gain.

I'm curious how rear wheel drive 911s are on wet tracks. please let me know if anyone has experience. I'm curious if rear wheel drive also understeers in the wet.

911seeker

They allow you to do track time with the windows closed in Korea?

usccharles

Korea is the wild west when it comes to track days. as long as there is no standing water they keep the track open. you just need helmet and gloves. they even keep the track open in the dead of winter, where I slipped on black ice and had to replace my bumper and headlight T.T

drcollie

I like instructing in the rain with students (as long as we are not hydroplaning and not getting too wet with open window rules). Most everyone is amazed how well their cars do in the rain on good tires, there's not as much performance or grip degradation as they anticipated. The takeaway from the day is exactly what you describe - more confidence in wet-road driving on the street long after the school is over. On good tires, I would guess that most only give up 7 to 10% of the car's dry potential in grip and cornering performance and if you asked students ahead of time they would tell you they thought it would be more like 50%.

usccharles

i'm in the same camp. i thought it would be more like 50%. sure one has to be careful of standing water or heavy rubber-ed asphalt, but the grip was amazing in the wet.

911seeker

So basically you drive off line to avoid rubber, right? Interesting that you don't loose much grip... counter intuitive. I have attended driving events where they would purposely wet some areas to force oversteer... and it worked well...

usccharles

yes i drove off line to avoid the rubber. maybe i was not driving hard enough, but it was difficult to force oversteer. it understeered first before i could get the tail to whip out.

Ski Porsche

I would love the opportunity to do a track day in the wet. Sounds like your wet driving confidence and capability went way up. At Porsche Sport Driving School they discussed wet driving because they don't shut the track down unless there's standing water. As I recall they told us you only lose around 15% of your grip in a straight line and maybe double that in corners. I might be off on the numbers, it's been five years and I'm oldish. They also taught that in the wet you square off the corners in order to lengthen the braking and accelerating zones to optimize the difference between straight line and cornering grip.

911boy

I did a track day in the rain and it was awesome. Totally different line and you don't go through brakes and tires....or underwear.

ipse dixit

And at a lot of places in the U.S., as well as Europe, and lots of other countries around the world.

seapar

We have plenty of rain days in Seattle area. We won't run if there is standing water on the track.
A 4S is great in the rain. Driving skills days also is often wet as well. Good for car control. August is the month the lawns turn brown FYI.

chuck911

Wet driving is so beneficial, we pay a water truck guy to come wet down the course for our Driver Skills classes.

At the track, one of my most memorable days was one session when we had a rain shower and hardly anyone went out, leaving me with a nearly free track. Even better, the few cars out were MUCH more capable than mine. Which is what made it so memorable. Because I passed them all! (But I was right on the edge!)

Only thing better than driving on water, driving on snow. Only thing better than driving on snow, driving on compact snow and ice. One winter in Pullman I perfected the ability to do a 360 with my 240Z any time I wanted. Only thing better than compact snow and ice, black ice.

You want to be a driver, set out to master the full range of driving conditions.

go.illini

Try a two hour stint in the rain at a 24 Hours of LeMons race.