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Hi -- I've never taken the car out on a track, but reserved time this weekend to do a beginners sort of event. The issue is that there is 100% chance of moderate rain (1/2 inch), and the track will absolutely be wet.
Will it still be fun? Higher probability of sliding off the track? I've no special tires or anything...
Slipping is where you learn. Back when I would track my Boxster, there were noobs who came with slicks... talk about getting their lap times down.... they scared me. You only learn when car is moving around. When it sticks, you will be going faster and bad things happen faster. Fast is fun but you learn in the slip zone. Just take it easy, listen to your instructor, and listen to the car.
Your street tires are the best option (assuming they aren't bald or aged out). Like Bruce said, it's the best learning condition--gotta be smooth on all the controls. Hopefully you'll have in instructor that can help you, particularly with the line.
Google this or go to you tube and watch this. "Porsche 911 Carrera 4S v Carrera 2S evo TRACK BATTLES" Very cool test on a wet , rainy day. I would go to the track day. I totally agree with Bruce, with my limited DE experience, It was a blast in the dry, but I think I would have learned more about my cars handling if it were wet.
I believe track time in the rain can still be fun, and can improve your abilities - but you need to make appropriate adjustments vs. dry track. If you moderate your driving, the biggest risk is most likely what other drivers are doing that could impact you (literally).
Are your tires in good shape with appropriate tread depth?. Since this sounds like your first track event take it slow. Focus on control, Get a feel for when you are approaching the limits of the tires and your ability.
Your two biggest objectives should be safety and having fun.
If you've never done a DE (i.e., tracked the car on a real track with other participants around you), I would advise not doing your first one in the rain. It is not a whole lot of fun running in the rain even if you've done a lot of these events. The first one is what gets you hooked, and running in the rain will not allow you to get anywhere near the limits you'd approach as a new driver on a dry track on a non-rainy day. Very different experiences. And yes, with regular tires running in the rain, if you push at all, and hit an apex wrong, your chance of going off track is pretty high. Not to mention other non-experienced drivers sliding into you. DE's are great, so don't spoil it. If you already paid and cannot get a refund, then go ahead, but understand that it is a lot more fun than what you'll experience.
also, and it may be too late for you now, you definitely want fresh, hi-temp brake fluid, a nice track pad in the calipers (I prefer EBC yellow stuff, but there are many opinions on good pads), decent tread on you tires. No need to invest in a second set of track tires unless/until you get hooked and better as a driver. But remember - brakes are everything - good fluid, good pads. Porsche makes great brakes so your system should be fine.
If you've never done a DE (i.e., tracked the car on a real track with other participants around you), I would advise not doing your first one in the rain. It is not a whole lot of fun running in the rain even if you've done a lot of these events. The first one is what gets you hooked, and running in the rain will not allow you to get anywhere near the limits you'd approach as a new driver on a dry track on a non-rainy day. Very different experiences. And yes, with regular tires running in the rain, if you push at all, and hit an apex wrong, your chance of going off track is pretty high. Not to mention other non-experienced drivers sliding into you. DE's are great, so don't spoil it. If you already paid and cannot get a refund, then go ahead, but understand that it is a lot more fun than what you'll experience.
also, and it may be too late for you now, you definitely want fresh, hi-temp brake fluid, a nice track pad in the calipers (I prefer EBC yellow stuff, but there are many opinions on good pads), decent tread on you tires. No need to invest in a second set of track tires unless/until you get hooked and better as a driver. But remember - brakes are everything - good fluid, good pads. Porsche makes great brakes so your system should be fine.
While I agree a rain day would make for a not so great start to DE, the chances of going off in green on street tires are pretty slim. 1, you have an instructor. 2, everyone will be going so slow, even if you go off, chances of damage will be low; 3. With all the nannies in a 997, you'd have to do something much worse than just miss an apex, especially if your instructor has you turning in late.
Separately, his stock pads will be just fine, especially in the rain where he is not gonna get a lot of heat in the pads.
Originally Posted by matt997
Most HPDE type events require you to run with windows down right? How is that handled in the rain? Windows down still mandatory?
Running at mid ohio here soon and that crossed my mind when reading OP's post.
Unless its monsooning, most regions go windows down. If you have full leather, you may want to take precautionary measures like some sort of plastic wrap on the door panel. with plastic, its no biggie.
I've been a HPDE instructor for 13+ years and most of that with various PCA groups. I would not be scared off driving in the rain. All of the PCA clubs I've run with for HPDE do require the windows to be down. I recall when I first started doing HPDE's also being concerned with driving in the rain. One track session a Cayman S was crushing everyone on the track in the rain. I was thinking, man, they must have incredible tires to be that much fast than others in the rain. I spoke to the guy after coming off the track and he had the exact same tires I was running! It was all driver. At that point, I really started working on getting better in the rain. Learning to drive in the rain really teaches you smoothness. In the dry, you can have some pretty rough inputs with steering, throttle, braking, etc...and get away with it. In the rain, if you master smoothness of all of the inputs and start getting faster in the rain you will get a lot faster if you retain these skills in the dry. Learn to search for the "wet line" and then start optimizing from there. If you are headed to a HPDE event I would suggest tracking down an instructor that is good in the rain and ride with them so you can see how they find the wet line and see how smooth they are. After all these years of trying to get faster in the rain, I think I'm getting pretty good and I now love it. In the dry, my car is no where near the fastest. In the rain, it's a great equalizer and I start to feel like one of the faster cars. Lots of fun.
Personally love rain track days. Smoothing out inputs and having traction brake loose at much lower speeds helps with understanding weight shift that much more. Any day you can make it out to the track is a good day in my book.
To be clear, I don't think the OP should be afraid of driving a DE in the rain, I just don't think it will be that much fun for a very first timer. Yes, those of us who have good DE experience (and then some, like Zoiks, who really have experience), do find it fun to occasionally have a rainy track session or two, because it allows us to learn and experience things we would not normally get to experience on a regular, dry day. But in our Club, our DE's are two day events (3 days for "A" group and instructor), and doing that all in the rain kind of sucks.
The OP is doing his first ever DE, according to his original post. I just don't think that doing it in the rain would be the optimal introduction to a truly wonderful, fun, exhilirating thing we have become addicted to with our Porsches. Thus, if he is able, I'd get the money back and go another time. If not, do it and have a blast anyway. YMMV.
One of my all time favorite photo's in my 350Z... The sheer volume of water was amazing. The track closed a few laps later due to the magnitude of standing water.
02-09-2018, 12:27 PM
tracking car in the rain
