I got to thinking yesterday. If someone got the itch to build a perfect rain/wet race car, what would that be exactly? Would you just go for AWD + Hoosier H2O and be done with it? Would narrower tires help in the rain on track? Would you benefit from different alignment settings?
Is there a case to be made for RWD or FWD cars?
Autocross?
Formula One?
Spec Miata?
No prep drag racing?
$2000 Challenge?
I had a dream last night that we set up a drag strip at our rallycross site and the first person out ruined the start hose so bad that the finish hose got tangled up in it too.
For running in the rain, the absolute first thing I'd want would be effective defogging. This means an ultra-sealed cockpit, effective heating and dehumidifying, and possibly those baller windshields with defogger grids in the glass. (Because air dehumidifying sucks when it is 85 degrees out and raining, and blowing cold air in the car just makes the OUTSIDE of the glass fog up)
Nothing else is more important than being able to actually see where you are going.
Floating Doc said:Autocross?
Formula One?
Spec Miata?
No prep drag racing?
$2000 Challenge?
I was mostly thinking about hdpe/TT and Autocross but I would be interested in hear from people that know about those other ones as well.
$2000 challenge how would you change things if it was a 100% chance of rain known well in advance?
Knurled. said:For running in the rain, the absolute first thing I'd want would be effective defogging. This means an ultra-sealed cockpit, effective heating and dehumidifying, and possibly those baller windshields with defogger grids in the glass. (Because air dehumidifying sucks when it is 85 degrees out and raining, and blowing cold air in the car just makes the OUTSIDE of the glass fog up)
Nothing else is more important than being able to actually see where you are going.
I never thought of that. That is exactly the kind of consideration that I was looking for with this thread.
would a rear window wiper help? like the one on a FC RX7.
Just buy a Lancer Evolution (any year) with good rain tires and call it a day.
Back when I lived in Canada I daily drove an Evo VIII. There was one event I remember at Watkins Glen with torrential rain; absolutely coming down in sheets. I was able to run circles around everyone. By the end of the day, all the other guys had their cars back on their trailers and there were just two of us left: me in my Evo VIII and my buddy (also from Montreal) in his E46 M3 on Hoosier H2Os. We literally had the track to ourselves for a couple of hours.
Daeldalus said:Would you benefit from different alignment settings?
Off the top of my head, I'd want:
As in any form of motorsport, the single biggest advantage will be tire choice.
I think definitely AWD, something with nice, smooth power delivery, a reasonably soft (relative) suspension, safe, predictable handling and several tire choices for anything between damp and huge puddles.
I've done a couple track days in the wet, one in my RX-8 R3 when mostly stock and it worked quite well, then in my 2015 WRX, also basically stock and it was a blast, defilitely could hammer the throttle a lot more coming out of the corners.
There are fewer things twitchier on a rainy surface than something with too much camber. On dry roads, you want to pick a camber that squishes the tire flat as the cornering forces pull on the sidewalls. If you lose friction with rain, you break traction before the tires can "plant"
I use the pencil eraser metaphor. If you put a pencil eraser on a table, tilt it a bit to the side and push, the eraser deforms and lays flat on the table. Not enough camber and the eraser goes beyond flat and scrubs the outside. Too much camber and it slides before it pushes flat.
Now try the same eraser trick at the same camber, but put water on the table. At the same camber, the eraser slips sooner. You need to adjust the camber of the pencil to get it to provide maximum traction on the wet surface.
I had an E30 with some extra camber on the rear. It stuck like glue on dry roads with the sticky summer Michelins and 15" wheels, but get a little bit of water and you could find yourself pointed backwards really easily.
It also depends on the sidewall and compound. If you have a half-worn eraser (equivalent to big wheels/short sidewall), you need less camber. I would personally choose (because I'm an amateur racer) a bigger sidewall. Maxing out the wheel makes the transition from grip to slip a lot less progressive. Being not much of a racer, I can't always feel the transition into slip so I lean toward the safer side, especially if rain is in the forecast.
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