shomesomesho
G-force addict
The last two autocrosses were conducted in moderate to heavy rain. Just thought I'd share some thoughts from these 'unique' learning experiences.
- I did a lot worse in the rain, no question there. 39th out of 136 entrants, and 26th out of 96, respectively.
- My car, which is set up for neutral handling in dry weather, oversteers quite dramatically in the rain. I got to practice countersteering and spin-out recovery quite a lot.
- Although it is the best dry tire I have ran, the Hoosier A6 makes for a truly lousy rain tire.
- The Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's, which are my current street tire, have been touted by Tire Rack and C&D as one of the very best rain tires available. I don't know how much Goodyear paid them to say this, or what flavor crack they were smoking that day, but the GS-D3's fail miserably on a wet autocross course (48th-place finish of 96).
- My old Kumho Victoracers were a pleasant surprise. They actually did fairly well in the rain, leading to an overwhelming 26th-place finish out of 96 entrants. 2.3 sec faster than the GS-D3's. It could have done a lot worse, believe me.
- Cars that finished in the top ranks were running Falken Azenis RT-615's, Kumho ECSTA V710's, and Hoosier Wet Radials.
- I was surprised that the V710's, which are basically radial slicks with a couple longitudinal grooves, did so well in the rain. Figure that one out.
- Mini Cooper S's haul some major ass in the rain.
- If you've stripped out your heater/defroster, coat the inside of your windshield with RainX so you can see the course.
So the 2006 season is officially over. We start again in January. It will still be raining through April at least. I need to decide which wet tires to run. Probably the Falken Azenis or V710's. I've heard that the Hankook Ventus r-s2 z212 are good rain tires, but I've yet to see someone use them around here. I already have the idea I need more negative rear camber and/or less rear toe-out to counteract the oversteer tendency in the rain.
- I did a lot worse in the rain, no question there. 39th out of 136 entrants, and 26th out of 96, respectively.
- My car, which is set up for neutral handling in dry weather, oversteers quite dramatically in the rain. I got to practice countersteering and spin-out recovery quite a lot.
- Although it is the best dry tire I have ran, the Hoosier A6 makes for a truly lousy rain tire.
- The Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's, which are my current street tire, have been touted by Tire Rack and C&D as one of the very best rain tires available. I don't know how much Goodyear paid them to say this, or what flavor crack they were smoking that day, but the GS-D3's fail miserably on a wet autocross course (48th-place finish of 96).
- My old Kumho Victoracers were a pleasant surprise. They actually did fairly well in the rain, leading to an overwhelming 26th-place finish out of 96 entrants. 2.3 sec faster than the GS-D3's. It could have done a lot worse, believe me.
- Cars that finished in the top ranks were running Falken Azenis RT-615's, Kumho ECSTA V710's, and Hoosier Wet Radials.
- I was surprised that the V710's, which are basically radial slicks with a couple longitudinal grooves, did so well in the rain. Figure that one out.
- Mini Cooper S's haul some major ass in the rain.
- If you've stripped out your heater/defroster, coat the inside of your windshield with RainX so you can see the course.
So the 2006 season is officially over. We start again in January. It will still be raining through April at least. I need to decide which wet tires to run. Probably the Falken Azenis or V710's. I've heard that the Hankook Ventus r-s2 z212 are good rain tires, but I've yet to see someone use them around here. I already have the idea I need more negative rear camber and/or less rear toe-out to counteract the oversteer tendency in the rain.
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