digistyl3

I had the opportunity to spend two days on the track at Red Bull Ring, in Spielberg Austria. Porsche Switzerland organized an "Introduction to Racetrack" event, which usually involves in following an instructor for a few sessions, then it's free practice. We go on track with others practicing for the Porsche Drivers Challenge, then cooling down while GT4 and GT3 cup cars devour the track. It's really well organized, and we get to drive on awesome F1 tracks.

One problem: it was raining like hell. First day, 7 °C. Second day, rain + snow and 3 °C. Not ideal. Fortunately the day before I decided to replace the Cup 2s with normal street tires (Pirelli P Zero). They were on another level compared to the semi-slicks. I was faster than the GT3 RS and Turbos, and I believe mostly because I had more grip and usable power. It was a really good learning experience. I had to be really careful with my inputs, and had to constantly read the grip levels with my hands and butt. The GT4 was very forgiving, and allowed me to experiment with different techniques.

Although, occasionally I messed up the steering, braking, throttle, or a combination of these. Here's a video of some of the screw-ups. The last one was really ***-tightening:


Lessons learned:

• the GT4 has amazing balance
• the GT4 is incredibly communicative on the limit
• no understeer if trail-braking is done right[ish]
• don't brake on the normal braking lines, wet rubber covered surfaces are slippery
• do late apex, come out of corner more straight, allows more acceleration in the wet

If anyone is curious, here are some photos from the event: https://goo.gl/photos/8jMKdbJ5Q95FCaP8A

O5C4R

the barrier on the right was coming up fast at the end there

aryork

Good gosh! That was serious pucker factor. You must have some cat-like reflexes to make all those saves. Unfortunately, my last rain event did not turn out well. I can say for sure (now) that I would have come in with the barriers that close!

Was that a GT3 RS driving off? Had to laugh at that one, and thought you were going to break loose trying to put more distance between you and him, but you had good composure.

digistyl3

Yes, I was overtaking lots of cars before, I got too greedy. The biggest scare was actually when I was going downhill with 190 km/h (118 mph), got on the brakes, and the car just started skidding. That, and the one when I was facing the wall, were the biggest "oh ****" moments. My whole chest was pumping afterwards, and I could feel the harness getting tighter after every beat.

I'm sorry to hear that Were you driving on semi-slicks? Is the damage reversible?

The GT3 RS, I suppose, was not able to stop. That day, someone else wasn't able to do so in the same corner, and ended up in the gravel. Fortunately there was no damage. There's also a black 991.1 4GTS which ended up in the gravel, you can see it at 0:30. That's why I wasn't confident to go flat out in certain parts of the track.

Here's a video of a few laps in the wet with some overtaking:

aryork

Was on sport cup 2s. Had several small slides like you did, although I am thinking they were not quite as severe. Usually just one counter-steer and all was good. There are 18 turns on the course and grip seemed reasonable enough. Oddly enough I was on a straight and hydroplaned - the rear end went out and I spun, then went into the wet grass and had enough momentum to "bounce" off the armco with driver's side rear wheel taking the brunt of it. Going to see it at the shop today. It is at a good shop that knows what they are doing - should look/drive fine afterwards, but will be expensive.

The mid engine nature of the car makes it easy to turn, but also makes it a bit easier to spin. I took the 2-day Porsche driving school in Alabama, and we drove the Carrera S and Turbo S (and boxter 718S) quite a bit. I believe I understand why people like the feel of the rear engine. The Turbo S had sport cup 2s, and we were in some heavy rain for quite a few laps. I was very surprised at the grip. It has some extra weight on the front for the all-wheel drive and maybe that helps. I only had a few, minor slides.

Leuz

Wow! Nice video! I don't think I'd have the b**ls to take the GT4 on a track with that rain.

O5C4R

good thing about wet track days is when you go to the next dry day you will feel like sebastian vettel

GeoJoe

digitalrurouni

This is such a great video! I loved it!

I really enjoyed the one time I did a wet track day like that and that was at AMP. In my E92 M3. That was scary but what a rush. A few times my instructor screamed like a little girl because of how low grip the surface was. I wish I recorded those sessions but I gotta say the car was doing a lot of the work to keep me going straight and true!

Drjimh

Nice video. You appear to running the dry line (racing line) and not a wet line. Did your instructor not adjust your line for you? When you run the dry line in the wet you will have less grip on the track due to the oils and fluids cars naturally drop. If you make the track more narrow and run more in the center of the track and stay away from the apex's and do not track out as much you will have more grip and less slip. This will allow you in a DE situation to carry more speed and have better grip under braking. Just and observation. Glad you had the chance to get out in the wet and cold. Will make you a better driver. I always love to get on track in rain conditions. You are spot on about really feeling the car and making smooth inputs. Second Video, you could really see improvement. Nice saves in the first video. Jealous of the change to drive that track. Would be long trailer for me. Post more video if you get on other tracks.

digistyl3

You're right, I instinctively took the dry line. I tried to keep away from the painted edges and the curbs. It felt like I need to retrain my brain. Towards the end of the day, I experimented with staying really in the middle of the track. I knocked off 2 seconds, had better grip, but then the session ended.

I feel like I left a lot on the table. However, this makes me want to go back on a wet track again

The instructor took late apexes, but he stayed on the dry braking line. I think he should've focused more on explaining and showing the wet line.

I have some track day recordings from Anneau du Rhin, France. I could upload a few laps of that.

Drjimh

I love driving in the rain on a wet track. Challenges you to be so smooth. My Buddy just got some Hoosier Rains for third set of wheels. He says he get about 50% more grip than using his streets for rain. Could be be tempting.