TeamLemon-aid wrote:If there is a lot of standing water they Conti’s may help. 98% of wet lap time advantage is driver and the ability to get power down.
I was on RS4’s at Autobahn in the rain with a rear wheel drive car that had the fastest lap in the dry on the day before. Outside of Derek driving the TaTa’s car I wasn’t passed in the wet till ShitBox passed me with someone driving who was very confident in the wet line grip. In fact, he made me better. Then my times improved.
If it is wet but not puddling badly, I’ll stick with the RS4’s so I can destroy the guy in the Conti’s when it dries out a tiny bit.
One thing that I've noticed is that 200TW tires fall off a lot with wear. We won B last year in the rain at Joliet with a set of new direzzas. They did us very well, and just like you described, they lost some time in heavy rain to the conti's, but gained a good bit of lap time back in the dry. That said, I put the same tires on this year at Joliet, and in less rain I had much less confidence in the tire. Also, to answer the obvious question, there was still a good bit of tread left on the tires, so age may have played a factor in their performance, but on the other hand, I did not experience any hydroplaning, which is another big issue with half worn tires with aggressive tread.
IMO, it's a tradeoff in wet vs. dry speed, but it seems to me that difference for most Lemons drivers in the wet, is closer to 10 seconds a lap vs 2-3 seconds a lap in the dry the other way. However, to your point, this gap reduces with driver skill. the most important thing really, is giving the driver a tire that they're comfortable on. Giving somebody who may have a little less confidence in general a set of RS4's in the wet in a RWD car may be a recipe for disaster.
Owner of the Knights Templar Neon
A&D of middling proportions