Got some WOW with the 750 so will definately be going out if it rains on the 11th june, just wanted some tips/info from you lot about riding track in the rain.. How fast can you go? I know it's relative to the track/conditions/traffic/rider etc. but compared to riding dry. How far in terms of lean? Is KD out of the question? Tyre warmers or no tyre warmers? Number of warm up laps? Any other advice Thankyouplease
The first time i rode on wets it blew my mind, there is sooooo much grip its shocking. the old zx7r aint the most powerful bike but i ride it flat out on wets, and brake as hard as the old girl can stop ! knee down is possible but i tend to try keep the bike more upright so there more tyre contact so i dont bother KD but like said theres still grip if you wanted to. I dont use tyre warmers the rain makes for a cold track so tyres are cold, but they very quickly get warm enough to give lots of grip from the off really but i try do 1 steady lap to find out where the standing is rather than waiting for the tyre to get grip,if that makes sense ?
Following John Reynolds round a very very wet cadwell a few years ago on metzeler dry tyres showed me how much actual grip there is I use wets and all I try to do is no harsh breaking and roll the power on they will spin side grip is a lot better than upright grip I have found . You will find your own rhythm on them
Picture shows it all, it's psychological. The thing is, the dry is very sympathetic to unsmooth riding, if you are smooth in the dry you will be OK in the wet. I remember once as a newish rider thinking I was going fast in the wet round a pretty tight corner on a multi lane road, I was under the impression I was on the limit of grip when a dude in a huge Beemer 1200 undertook me with no effort at all. There's loads of grip out there, you just need to be silky smooth and progressive on the throttle.
Last year I did 15 track days and 9 of them was wet! As you can imagine I got the hang of wet riding. What I did a few years ago was go up to one of the instructors and tell him it was my first time on wets and he helped me. I do run warmers for 10 mins before going out but there is no logic behind it. I got within 3 seconds of my personal best around Anglesey in the rain on my 600 but I think I'm just slow in the dry! Knee down is a bigger gauge of lean angle in the wet than dry in my opinion. I now just get on with it if I'm instructing,racing or just doing a track day for fun!
smooth is the key,dont be too aggresive on the throttle,braking is as hard as ypou do in the dry,just be more progressive to allow the suspension to compress,and again be more progressive on release. to give you an idea,this is me being filmed by Mike Edwards,just gives you an idea of how much grip there is in the wet....
just dont make the coffee to hot when your sitting in the pit box , watching the others wobble around waiting to crash
