Topic: rain tires.
Looks like it will be wet at least one day at NJMP. We plan on running a new set of Falken Azena's. Are these decent in the rain? We also have a set of used (maybe 14-16 hours) Direzza ZII Star Spec's.
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Looks like it will be wet at least one day at NJMP. We plan on running a new set of Falken Azena's. Are these decent in the rain? We also have a set of used (maybe 14-16 hours) Direzza ZII Star Spec's.
Yup! We had 185-wide Azenis on our Sentra at CMP and they totally kicked ass in the rain. We were totally (TOTALLY!!!) dominating during those 15 minutes when the rain was coming down hard
Honestly, anything that's not super-fat for your car's weight, with full tread, should work well. I'd keep Star Specs for the dry, they'll be nice for that.
Break them in (like, a few autocross-like runs around a parking lot) if they're brand new.
Yup! We had 185-wide Azenis on our Sentra at CMP and they totally kicked ass in the rain. We were totally (TOTALLY!!!) dominating during those 15 minutes when the rain was coming down hard
Honestly, anything that's not super-fat for your car's weight, with full thread, should work well. I'd keep Star Specs for the dry, they'll be nice for that.
Break them in (like, a few autocross-like runs around a parking lot) if they're brand new.
Thanks we run a big heavy 84 Trans Am, the Azenis are used and are 255 40 17, the Falken's are 275 40 17.
Yeeeeeah, 275-wide might be a little much, but still, fresh tread is better than a slightly narrower tire with half the tread left.
FWIW in my experience 245-wide tires are plenty wide for a heavy-ish car. These days you can even get them in 15" size, which really helps keeping your wheels light and your tire/wheel budget small.
We ran 225-wide tires on the Geo and, while grippy, it was downright boring. Tires ate up whatever little ability to accelerate it had left, and didn't add enough grip to compensate. On the Sentra, 185's produced identical lap times to 205's, and the car is way more entertaining on narrower tires.
Yeeeeeah, 275-wide might be a little much, but still, fresh tread is better than a slightly narrower tire with half the tread left.
FWIW in my experience 245-wide tires are plenty wide for a heavy-ish car. These days you can even get them in 15" size, which really helps keeping your wheels light and your tire/wheel budget small.
We ran 225-wide tires on the Geo and, while grippy, it was downright boring. Tires ate up whatever little ability to accelerate it had left, and didn't add enough grip to compensate. On the Sentra, 185's produced identical lap times to 205's, and the car is way more entertaining on narrower tires.
well we are pushing 300+HP with a heavy nose so we wanted something a little fat to take those fast hard turns w/o slowing down so much.
O:
I'm retracting everything bad I've ever said about 305's.
O:
I'm retracting everything bad I've ever said about 305's.
yeah we are stupid.... the smart thing would have been to build a 350. here's our car last year at NJ, this year the motor is fresh and SHOULD have a few more ponies...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJQT9Zo0_1E
Which car is this? It runs great.
Which car is this? It runs great.
1984 Trans-Am mighty 305 power!
I think I saw you Sunday. We had the killer Tomato mustang.
I think I saw you Sunday. We had the killer Tomato mustang.
cool, Sat was a wash, we did about 25-30 laps, Nobody wanted to run in that mess. Would have liked more laps Sunday however we had an oil leakage we had to fix... On a side note our new brakes worked ASSSSSSUUUMMMLEY.
I don't know why everyone was bitching so much on Saturday. My radio was full of people constantly complaining about how terrible it was. We had a freaking blast. I enjoyed Saturday more than my laps on Sunday. Even when the track got oiled at the end I just switched to snow driving technique and kept on passing people.
We were on the Falkens as well.
I don't know why everyone was bitching so much on Saturday. My radio was full of people constantly complaining about how terrible it was. We had a freaking blast. I enjoyed Saturday more than my laps on Sunday. Even when the track got oiled at the end I just switched to snow driving technique and kept on passing people.
We were on the Falkens as well.
I think it had more to do with just sitting there, in the rain putting around the track. Depending on your car (ours is a 84 Trans Am) you'd be better off driving your street car. We couldn't go more than 30% and any attempt to hit the go pedal resulted in excessive wheel spin Of course if you have a nice light FWD or AWD car things are different. our best on sat was 2:26...
I drove our 3.8 Firebird for about an hour Saturday and loved it! No acceleration in the turns or it would result in a little sideways action, but gun it on the straights. My lap times were about 50 seconds off compared to dry, but it was still a hoot. Passing in the rain was very cautious but a great learning experience. I still prefer the dry over wet, but do appreciate the learning of new skills.
I think it had more to do with just sitting there, in the rain putting around the track. Depending on your car (ours is a 84 Trans Am) you'd be better off driving your street car. We couldn't go more than 30% and any attempt to hit the go pedal resulted in excessive wheel spin Of course if you have a nice light FWD or AWD car things are different. our best on sat was 2:26...
Well, your fastest lap was faster than ours in the wet. I managed a 2:27. Big heavy FWD car and I was laughing the whole way. I had so much fun in the rain.
TheEngineer wrote:I don't know why everyone was bitching so much on Saturday. My radio was full of people constantly complaining about how terrible it was. We had a freaking blast. I enjoyed Saturday more than my laps on Sunday. Even when the track got oiled at the end I just switched to snow driving technique and kept on passing people.
We were on the Falkens as well.
I think it had more to do with just sitting there, in the rain putting around the track. Depending on your car (ours is a 84 Trans Am) you'd be better off driving your street car. We couldn't go more than 30% and any attempt to hit the go pedal resulted in excessive wheel spin Of course if you have a nice light FWD or AWD car things are different. our best on sat was 2:26...
I'm not gonna lie....I was nervous all week about racing in the rain. I've never done it before and was even doubly nervous because I'm always first stint......but once that green flag dropped, I had a blast in the rain. Our car is RWD and I was going back and forth with the Silly Nannies Audi all morning. And I passed more than a few AWD and FWD cars throughout my shift. Granted....you can't push as hard as you would in the dry, but that was part of the fun. How hard could you push without going over the line. Can you push to 32% while everyone else was only going to 30%. I loved it. River crossings and all. Lol
I don't know why everyone was bitching so much on Saturday. My radio was full of people constantly complaining about how terrible it was. We had a freaking blast. I enjoyed Saturday more than my laps on Sunday. Even when the track got oiled at the end I just switched to snow driving technique and kept on passing people.
We were on the Falkens as well.
I actually totally agree. Even though I wimped out and did not drive during the rain in Thompson, I had fun in NJ! Different strategy, totally different feel, hydroplane racing can be fun!. OK, you get wet...but better than the stifling heat at Thompson. Being wet from rain is better than being wet from perspiration...and you smell better too.
And yes, it was more fun than Sunday. I had the last hour of the race on Sunday, and seems to me there were constant yellow, and white, and black flags, people spinning off the track, tow vehicles, etc. Usually the last hour is fast and clean, and I could get into a really good, fast groove...but this was not...
But still, a great weekend! With fantastic themes, epic builds and cars...better that some recent races I have been to...
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