Hoosiers in the wet--possible, dumb, or just plain stupid?

[chris1866]

Well the second points event of the 2007 season is coming up this Sunday, and the forecast is "showers and wind".
Not so good for the lone MSP sitting in a class of like 8 Subarus.
Sure, i kick their butts in the dry in DS, but the wet may be a different story.

I've autoxed in the wet several times before, and actually done quite well--but that was on street tires.
I have heard that Hoosiers are still better than street tires on wet pavement, provided there is no standing water.

Can anyone verify or comment on this?
thanks

 

[Shadow102]

that comment is definatly true. If the pavment is just wet the hoosiers will still have more grip than street tires. Its not until you get rivers/standing water on the course will you have problems.

 

[moxnix]

that comment is definatly true. If the pavment is just wet the hoosiers will still have more grip than street tires. Its not until you get rivers/standing water on the course will you have problems.

+1
In DC we always have a slope to the lot so rain runs off the whole lot and people have tried R Compounds VS streets and found R's better on our lot even in the pouring rain.

 

[Jas00x]

R-Comps are going to be the way to go. If you can get some full tread Kumho V700's (ecsta or Victoracer), they might be a good option.
I ran my V710's at the last event where it was pouring rain and we had a nice little river running through the lot. It hydroplaned like hell over the river spots, so I had to slow down and be careful. For my last run, I switched to streets (Kumho 711's), and it was much slower...the car just doesn't turn like it does on R-comps. Any speed gained through the rivers was lost in the braking zones and tight turns.
You may get better results on certain street tires like bridgestone Eagle F1's, or Falken Azenis- but I don't know for sure.
I'm pretty sure the R-comps are still the fastest, but it makes for a frustrating event. Driving in the rain can be fun on the right tires. After the last event in the rain, I am going to be looking for a set of rain tires.

 

[Shadow102]

R-Comps are going to be the way to go. If you can get some full tread Kumho V700's (ecsta or Victoracer), they might be a good option.
I ran my V710's at the last event where it was pouring rain and we had a nice little river running through the lot. It hydroplaned like hell over the river spots, so I had to slow down and be careful. For my last run, I switched to streets (Kumho 711's), and it was much slower...the car just doesn't turn like it does on R-comps. Any speed gained through the rivers was lost in the braking zones and tight turns.
You may get better results on certain street tires like bridgestone Eagle F1's, or Falken Azenis- but I don't know for sure.
I'm pretty sure the R-comps are still the fastest, but it makes for a frustrating event. Driving in the rain can be fun on the right tires. After the last event in the rain, I am going to be looking for a set of rain tires.

I ran my azenis in the last run group after alot of the rain went away and i still think the r-comps would have been better. I think the biggest problem i was having though was being able to get heat in the tires and keep it there.

 

[moxnix]

Hoosier Dirt Stockers or Hoosier Wets are going to be the best in the rain but I say that full tread RA-1's work pretty well in the pouring rain (See PAX results) For comparison purposes the guy in the mini right in front of me in PAX finished 3rd at nationals in GS in 05 about a month before that event.

 

[chris1866]

why the weather channel sucks!!

Well.......i think hoosiers WOULD have been the way to go--if i would have gone!

Got up at 5:30 and was talkin to my buddy to see if we were going to make the trip or not (the event was 2 hours away).
Checked weather dot com and it was calling for heavy thunderstorms for a better part of the day. Went and looked outside and it was absolutely pouring here as well. So we decided to not go.
I stayed up and watched the formula 1 race at 7 and periodically checked the weather as i did so......it went something like this:
cloudy
cloudy
light drizzle
cloudy
cloudy
partly sunny
......niiiice. Think i'm a little pissed!?
Honestly i can't believe it. I could have ran my hoosiers and probablly won DS again (and i needed those points today too).
Oh well. The advice was much appreciated anyway---now i know for the future!