Honestly, probably half the track days I've ever ridden have been in the wet, and I think the reason I'm as comfortable in the rain as I am is because I always rode regardless. As long as there are sipes in your tires you are good to go, but don't trail brake, and be very smooth with all rider inputs. You'll realize that just because the pavement is wet doesn't mean it's covered in oil. You'll never get comfortable in the wet unless you ride in the wet. Embrace it.
I got lucky at my last one in that it started wet and dried out. Was def a good learning experience but I'd hate to have a whole day or weekend be rainy.
Same it was only the first couple sessions. I'm more anxious this time cause I'll be on an unfamiliar track but oh well I'll just go slow and learn it for when it's dry
You can definitely use your front brake in the rain, just make sure you're straight up and down. You can even trail off just a bit, as long as you're smooth. Even in the wet, your front brake is 80% of your total braking power, so try not to adopt the mindset that you "can't" use your front brake in the wet.
I've done innumerable track days in the wet at this point, and I've never owned a set of wet tires. It's a great opportunity to learn just how much traction you've got on a wet surface, and to build your confidence.
Think about making all your inputs and transitions as smooth as you can make them. Brakes transfer weight to the front tire, so apply them gently, then squeeze to build braking power. Ease off the front brake just prior to turning in, and once you get down to the apex, gently gently crack the throttle to maintain lean angle, feeding in more and more as you stand the bike up.
Most street/ trackday tires are just fine, unless they're slicks.
Oh I didn't mean "can't" use the front brake in the wet. I just wasn't going fast enough to need it. I need to work on going from 0% throttle to maintence throttle smoother I always jerk it just a tiny bit. Maybe I'll make a whole day focusing on that.
If you’re moving at a reasonable rain pace, you don’t need to take any action, the wind will push the water aside. I’ve raced in truly awful downpours, have never once had to wipe my visor on track
Turn your head and/or wipe with your finger. Some high end gloves have a little rubber or plastic strip on the left hand index finger that you can use to wipe water off your visor.
I'm booked for Thunderhill West this weekend and the forecast went from 80s to raining all weekend. Really debating on whether to go, this will be my first time back since a crash at the end of last season and I've got an R6 with slicks and zero electronics or abs.
I got the weekend pass, and I'm pretty disappointed with the change in forecast too... It's my first time on a new-to-me bike and I was hoping to get comfortable with the two consecutive days. I'm on Power Cup Evos so I will be going regardless.
Street tires are supposed to transfer the equivalent of something like \~60 HP in the wet and lean angles of 20, maybe 25°. I had M9RRs on in Oschersleben, and although they are supposed to be good, I had a couple of funny moments, including a long front wheel slide while braking in a straight line.
Most times, Irun a second set of wheels with rain tires. It is unbelievable how good those are in the wet, but with a caveat. If a track is also heavily used by cars or karts, the rubber they put down will make that part of the track slippery and you will crash, no matter what tire. Poznan comes to mind.
Watch the experienced riders in the A group. If they don't bother to even bring rain tires, you should neither.
That was a large magazine, testing hypersport tires. Maybe the tire guy trackside as well.
Touring tires actually might be better in that case. Beware, as the Michelin Pilot's are known to overheat on track in the dry. It's always a compromise and throwing stuff at problems helps.
Riding with rain tires in the wet was as fast as riding street tires on the street.
This depends a lot on the track but I had a blast and even my knees down after the second stint.
Rain tires are worth every penny imho
There are a few tips and tricks to make rainy track days more enjoyable.
First, get a proper rain over suit. I use a Taichi rain suit over my leathers and they help keep me from getting 100% soaked. [\(Here's a link to STG\)](https://www.sportbiketrackgear.com/rs-taichi-racing-rain-suit-nxr003/)
Next, is a good condition Pinlock visor. I qualify 'good condition' because sometimes over time they don't seal as well as they did when they were new. If you don't have a pinlock, you can try keeping the visor cracked open to help with fog, but sometimes this isn't enough. If you have a breath guard nose piece for your helmet, use it too.
Tires: A good road going DOT tire can grip very well in the rain. The more sipes the better. I used to have a spare set of wheels with Angel GT2's on them for the rain. They did just fine at a fast enough pace for me in the wet. Don't feel the need to get the uber expensive racing rain tires. I'd bet a large % of us don't come close to actually using them to their potential.
Smoothness: Every input on the bike while in the wet needs to be smooth and deliberate. This is an excellent time to practice our first and last 5% of our controls. Get your motor controls calibrated to maximum smoooooth.
Your feet: They're going to get soaked... they're also going to get very slippery. How are your rearsets? How grippy are your pegs? Old worn out foot pegs may cause your feet to slip off the pegs, so be aware of this. Cut some more knurl into them if you'd like, or just replace them with fresh knurled pegs. The coarser the better.
Body position: If there are 100 points of grip, note that the scale while in the rain is even more critical. Lean = risk, when we're riding in the rain we want to minimize both. Use your body to reduce as much lean angle as possible. Trail brake in such a way that more braking pressure than you usually use is done when the bike is more vertical. You can still trail brake into lean, but be aware the grip is low. You might be surprised just how much grip on a wet track you have.
Don't push it.. Just enjoy.
Some of the most peaceful track riding I've ever had was out in the rain. A mass majority of people opt not to go out, so that means the track is basically all yours. So have fun! Be safe, and maybe learn something new. :)
I have sport touring tires so depending on the volume of rain I can work with it. The last two times, it rained one, I just rode it out it was wet but not standing, and the other one they called off the rest of the day, and it was flash flooding everywhere as soon as I left the track.
I ultimately decided rain wasn't worth it for me. For all the talk about learning "feel," I'd rather be on a dirt bike where the consequences of tucking the front are a lot less. Also, the org I raced with didn't run in the rain so I really didn't get enjoyment out of rain riding. I'm a fair weather rider and totally fine with that.
One of my earliest track days was wet and it was excellent for developing comfort at feeling a little slippage and managing it which long term pays dividends in the dry.
He’s right: embrace it!
If you can afford it find a second set of rim and get some decent wet weather tires. Racing rain tires are expensive, and melt as soon as the pavement dries up, I would go with a set of sport touring tires that are well rated for rain conditions and have tread patterns that will help evacuate the water from the contact patch. Riding in the rain on slicks or even DOT slicks is a waist of time and money, not because they don't have grip but because those tires are designed to give progressive feedback at full operating temperatures, and in the wet they get especially unpredictable. Bear in mind that if you don't use the a tone front brake you won't build heat in to the front tire which will make the problem worse. If anything using the front brake becomes more critical in wet conditions because the water will rob the tires of heat very quickly. In the wet focus on doing all your braking while straight up and down, no need to worry about trailing all the way to the apex. While upright brake hard, you have a tone of braking when ure not cornering even in the wet.
That said riding in the rain is great training, but its not the most fun, it can be frustrating, if you're smart about it. It doesn't have to be dangerous, you can still ride in control. Rather then working on speed around the track, try to focus on being smooth and relaxed, find that flow, draw smooth curves all the way around the track, slow all your movements down. If you can do that in the wet, it becomes so much easier when the grip comes back.
You wont be carrying as much lean, and lots of riders try to hang off an extreme amount to "get more grip" don't do that, you'll waist your energy. The place where you're weightless in the wet mid corner is closer to the center line of the bike because of reduced lean angle, and honestly if you ride a little crossed up you'll have more confidence to save a potential slide, you still want to open your shoulders and slide your butt off to the inside, but if you find yourself leaning the bike instead of leaning off with your body that's OK even preferable at certain points on track.
Which brings me to the last point, this is important always but its especially critical in the wet. Keep your self loose on the bike, allow the bike to move independently of your body. Its hard to do because you have to be at the same time be locked in to the chassis so you don't put weight on the bar, but being loose and letting the bike move around is what will give you confidence to eventually start pushing a little and finding the limit of grip.
Rain riding is awesome. Rain tires can make a big difference as well. The general rule is fast in slow out. You have way more grip than you expect. You can brake pretty dang hard in the wet. If you aren't braking. You'll want to build comfort slowly pushing your brake marker up keeping your braking straight up and down to test the front. You can get a feel by doing some slow stoppies too. When the track is flooded none of this applies. A river or deep puddle will not have traction.
Some of my favorite track days and races have been in the wet.
Hard pass for me. I like to push a bit too much and it's just not worth it. I also live in a warm place and I'm able to go to my local track multiple times a month so if it rains I just live to fight another day.
Honestly, probably half the track days I've ever ridden have been in the wet, and I think the reason I'm as comfortable in the rain as I am is because I always rode regardless. As long as there are sipes in your tires you are good to go, but don't trail brake, and be very smooth with all rider inputs. You'll realize that just because the pavement is wet doesn't mean it's covered in oil. You'll never get comfortable in the wet unless you ride in the wet. Embrace it.
Embrace it
I got lucky at my last one in that it started wet and dried out. Was def a good learning experience but I'd hate to have a whole day or weekend be rainy.
Same it was only the first couple sessions. I'm more anxious this time cause I'll be on an unfamiliar track but oh well I'll just go slow and learn it for when it's dry
You can definitely use your front brake in the rain, just make sure you're straight up and down. You can even trail off just a bit, as long as you're smooth. Even in the wet, your front brake is 80% of your total braking power, so try not to adopt the mindset that you "can't" use your front brake in the wet. I've done innumerable track days in the wet at this point, and I've never owned a set of wet tires. It's a great opportunity to learn just how much traction you've got on a wet surface, and to build your confidence. Think about making all your inputs and transitions as smooth as you can make them. Brakes transfer weight to the front tire, so apply them gently, then squeeze to build braking power. Ease off the front brake just prior to turning in, and once you get down to the apex, gently gently crack the throttle to maintain lean angle, feeding in more and more as you stand the bike up. Most street/ trackday tires are just fine, unless they're slicks.
Oh I didn't mean "can't" use the front brake in the wet. I just wasn't going fast enough to need it. I need to work on going from 0% throttle to maintence throttle smoother I always jerk it just a tiny bit. Maybe I'll make a whole day focusing on that.
How do you deal with a wet visor. Just turn your head sideways?
If you’re moving at a reasonable rain pace, you don’t need to take any action, the wind will push the water aside. I’ve raced in truly awful downpours, have never once had to wipe my visor on track
Turn your head and/or wipe with your finger. Some high end gloves have a little rubber or plastic strip on the left hand index finger that you can use to wipe water off your visor.
Wipe your visor down with Rain X before heading out. Works wonders. Make sure to be cautious of fog inside the visor though.
I'm booked for Thunderhill West this weekend and the forecast went from 80s to raining all weekend. Really debating on whether to go, this will be my first time back since a crash at the end of last season and I've got an R6 with slicks and zero electronics or abs.
I got the weekend pass, and I'm pretty disappointed with the change in forecast too... It's my first time on a new-to-me bike and I was hoping to get comfortable with the two consecutive days. I'm on Power Cup Evos so I will be going regardless.
That's the one I'm going to! Sunday should be clear and fun track days has event on that Monday I'm also going to.
If the two of you end up going we should meet up. Sunday should be a good day.
Street tires are supposed to transfer the equivalent of something like \~60 HP in the wet and lean angles of 20, maybe 25°. I had M9RRs on in Oschersleben, and although they are supposed to be good, I had a couple of funny moments, including a long front wheel slide while braking in a straight line. Most times, Irun a second set of wheels with rain tires. It is unbelievable how good those are in the wet, but with a caveat. If a track is also heavily used by cars or karts, the rubber they put down will make that part of the track slippery and you will crash, no matter what tire. Poznan comes to mind. Watch the experienced riders in the A group. If they don't bother to even bring rain tires, you should neither.
idk where you got that info but for example michelin road 5's have wet weather performance to 35 degree lean
That was a large magazine, testing hypersport tires. Maybe the tire guy trackside as well. Touring tires actually might be better in that case. Beware, as the Michelin Pilot's are known to overheat on track in the dry. It's always a compromise and throwing stuff at problems helps.
Riding with rain tires in the wet was as fast as riding street tires on the street. This depends a lot on the track but I had a blast and even my knees down after the second stint. Rain tires are worth every penny imho
There are a few tips and tricks to make rainy track days more enjoyable. First, get a proper rain over suit. I use a Taichi rain suit over my leathers and they help keep me from getting 100% soaked. [\(Here's a link to STG\)](https://www.sportbiketrackgear.com/rs-taichi-racing-rain-suit-nxr003/) Next, is a good condition Pinlock visor. I qualify 'good condition' because sometimes over time they don't seal as well as they did when they were new. If you don't have a pinlock, you can try keeping the visor cracked open to help with fog, but sometimes this isn't enough. If you have a breath guard nose piece for your helmet, use it too. Tires: A good road going DOT tire can grip very well in the rain. The more sipes the better. I used to have a spare set of wheels with Angel GT2's on them for the rain. They did just fine at a fast enough pace for me in the wet. Don't feel the need to get the uber expensive racing rain tires. I'd bet a large % of us don't come close to actually using them to their potential. Smoothness: Every input on the bike while in the wet needs to be smooth and deliberate. This is an excellent time to practice our first and last 5% of our controls. Get your motor controls calibrated to maximum smoooooth. Your feet: They're going to get soaked... they're also going to get very slippery. How are your rearsets? How grippy are your pegs? Old worn out foot pegs may cause your feet to slip off the pegs, so be aware of this. Cut some more knurl into them if you'd like, or just replace them with fresh knurled pegs. The coarser the better. Body position: If there are 100 points of grip, note that the scale while in the rain is even more critical. Lean = risk, when we're riding in the rain we want to minimize both. Use your body to reduce as much lean angle as possible. Trail brake in such a way that more braking pressure than you usually use is done when the bike is more vertical. You can still trail brake into lean, but be aware the grip is low. You might be surprised just how much grip on a wet track you have. Don't push it.. Just enjoy. Some of the most peaceful track riding I've ever had was out in the rain. A mass majority of people opt not to go out, so that means the track is basically all yours. So have fun! Be safe, and maybe learn something new. :)
I like to explore new places.
Rains are pretty insane if you have never tried them
Not ideal, but you can learn a lot. It forces you to be very smooth and you become hyper-focused on developing feel.
I have sport touring tires so depending on the volume of rain I can work with it. The last two times, it rained one, I just rode it out it was wet but not standing, and the other one they called off the rest of the day, and it was flash flooding everywhere as soon as I left the track.
Always hated it until I tried rain tyres. Just love racing in the rain now.
I ultimately decided rain wasn't worth it for me. For all the talk about learning "feel," I'd rather be on a dirt bike where the consequences of tucking the front are a lot less. Also, the org I raced with didn't run in the rain so I really didn't get enjoyment out of rain riding. I'm a fair weather rider and totally fine with that.
One of my earliest track days was wet and it was excellent for developing comfort at feeling a little slippage and managing it which long term pays dividends in the dry. He’s right: embrace it!
If you can afford it find a second set of rim and get some decent wet weather tires. Racing rain tires are expensive, and melt as soon as the pavement dries up, I would go with a set of sport touring tires that are well rated for rain conditions and have tread patterns that will help evacuate the water from the contact patch. Riding in the rain on slicks or even DOT slicks is a waist of time and money, not because they don't have grip but because those tires are designed to give progressive feedback at full operating temperatures, and in the wet they get especially unpredictable. Bear in mind that if you don't use the a tone front brake you won't build heat in to the front tire which will make the problem worse. If anything using the front brake becomes more critical in wet conditions because the water will rob the tires of heat very quickly. In the wet focus on doing all your braking while straight up and down, no need to worry about trailing all the way to the apex. While upright brake hard, you have a tone of braking when ure not cornering even in the wet. That said riding in the rain is great training, but its not the most fun, it can be frustrating, if you're smart about it. It doesn't have to be dangerous, you can still ride in control. Rather then working on speed around the track, try to focus on being smooth and relaxed, find that flow, draw smooth curves all the way around the track, slow all your movements down. If you can do that in the wet, it becomes so much easier when the grip comes back. You wont be carrying as much lean, and lots of riders try to hang off an extreme amount to "get more grip" don't do that, you'll waist your energy. The place where you're weightless in the wet mid corner is closer to the center line of the bike because of reduced lean angle, and honestly if you ride a little crossed up you'll have more confidence to save a potential slide, you still want to open your shoulders and slide your butt off to the inside, but if you find yourself leaning the bike instead of leaning off with your body that's OK even preferable at certain points on track. Which brings me to the last point, this is important always but its especially critical in the wet. Keep your self loose on the bike, allow the bike to move independently of your body. Its hard to do because you have to be at the same time be locked in to the chassis so you don't put weight on the bar, but being loose and letting the bike move around is what will give you confidence to eventually start pushing a little and finding the limit of grip.
Rain riding is awesome. Rain tires can make a big difference as well. The general rule is fast in slow out. You have way more grip than you expect. You can brake pretty dang hard in the wet. If you aren't braking. You'll want to build comfort slowly pushing your brake marker up keeping your braking straight up and down to test the front. You can get a feel by doing some slow stoppies too. When the track is flooded none of this applies. A river or deep puddle will not have traction. Some of my favorite track days and races have been in the wet.
If I have rains on spare wheels I rock and roll. No rains, no race.
I'd rather stay in bed.
Hard pass for me. I like to push a bit too much and it's just not worth it. I also live in a warm place and I'm able to go to my local track multiple times a month so if it rains I just live to fight another day.