Maybe wet track day - tyre options

[SP_]

Hi all,

In short, I am doing an eve track day next Tuesday. I don't have time to change wheels on Monday / Tuesday morning, so I need to basically decide today what to do.

I can choose either Cup 2 or PS4S. The weather is not certain to be raining, but it's around a 40-50% chance

Anyone have any thoughts what I should do?
Car is currently on Cup 2, but given we're end of summer I'm tempted to chuck the PS4S on as will be expecting rain more and more now...

Cheers

[Panamax]

SP_ said:

The weather is not certain to be raining, but it's around a 40-50% chance

With that 50% chance you could hedge your bets, Cup 2 on the front and PS4S on the back.

[SP_]

Panamax said:

SP_ said:

The weather is not certain to be raining, but it's around a 40-50% chance

With that 50% chance you could hedge your bets, Cup 2 on the front and PS4S on the back.

Is it recommended to drive with mixed tyres?

[RandomCarChat]

Unless its a deluge i'd leave the Cup 2 on. Just make sure you get some heat into them before going for it.

[samoht]

I've run PS4S on track and they were ok, taking relatively short stints to keep the temps under control and was fine. So not a bad option if you want the insurance in case it's wet.

[WH16]

SP_ said:

Panamax said:

SP_ said:

The weather is not certain to be raining, but it's around a 40-50% chance

With that 50% chance you could hedge your bets, Cup 2 on the front and PS4S on the back.

Is it recommended to drive with mixed tyres?

A diagonal split would be safer. Is it a CW or CCW track?

[SP_]

WH16 said:

SP_ said:

Panamax said:

SP_ said:

The weather is not certain to be raining, but it's around a 40-50% chance

With that 50% chance you could hedge your bets, Cup 2 on the front and PS4S on the back.

Is it recommended to drive with mixed tyres?

A diagonal split would be safer. Is it a CW or CCW track?

It's Donington Park GP so CW

[brillomaster]

Id go ps4s. If it rains at Donington, you're not going out at all on cup2s.

I also dont have the means to swap wheels over easily, so given I live in the uk where it could do almost anything at any time, I stick to tyres that have a decent amount of tread.

[Throttlebody]

Go PS4S due to the chance of getting a dry session on the Cup2s versus a guaranteed performance on the 4S in all conditions.

[brillomaster]

Currently saying cup2 weather... what tyres did you go for?

Also im intrigued now, what car is it? Obviously the optimal choice is to take two sets of wheels with you and decide and change them on the day, but depending on the car whether you can fit them in. Only takes 15 minutes to change wheels if you have the right tools.

[SP_]

brillomaster said:

Currently saying cup2 weather... what tyres did you go for?

Also im intrigued now, what car is it? Obviously the optimal choice is to take two sets of wheels with you and decide and change them on the day, but depending on the car whether you can fit them in. Only takes 15 minutes to change wheels if you have the right tools.

Cup 2's are still on
It's a BMW M2 (original one)
It's looking dry, so I think I'm going to stick with them !

[brillomaster]

Nice. Should be a good day if it stays dry, enjoy!

[sabid]

SP_ said:

Hi all,

In short, I am doing an eve track day next Tuesday. I don't have time to change wheels on Monday / Tuesday morning, so I need to basically decide today what to do.

I can choose either Cup 2 or PS4S. The weather is not certain to be raining, but it's around a 40-50% chance

Anyone have any thoughts what I should do?
Car is currently on Cup 2, but given we're end of summer I'm tempted to chuck the PS4S on as will be expecting rain more and more now...

Cheers

Jumping in on this a bit late, I guess, because I'm thinking you're already out today on the Cup2's and it's not raining!

I'm sure you'd have had fun on both tyres. Personally, if it was raining, I would have gone PS4Ss, just purely for the tread pattern.

I don't know if you've ever seen the tread pattern when it's going through water, but the centre of it can often lift if you haven't got enough pressure in the tyres.

Regardless, again for future reference, if you do find yourself in a situation where it's starting to rain, and forgive me if you already know this, but what's really worked for me is to increase your tyre pressures to what you'd be targeting in the dry, or maybe a little bit more.

I'm not sure how "into" tyre pressures you normally get, but I'd highly recommend grabbing a tyre gauge and getting some awareness over your tyre pressures.

It might be that you already do it but it's not something we normally do on a road car so if no one's pointed it out to you, then hopefully this helps you.

I've written a little bit more about tyre tuning in the wet at this link below, but the main thing is there's an image that you might really like to see, and it shows you the tread pattern for tyres in the wet with different levels of pressure.

For me, that was eye-opening to see. So if you're ever in doubt about not only what tyre, but what tyre pressure to run in the wet, I would always recommend putting in a little bit more pressure in the tyres in the wet because you get more tyre in contact with the road.

Anyway, hope you've had a really good day. Donington's one of my favourite tracks, love that place, and let us know how you've got on.

https://www.yourdatadriven.com/wet-tyre-pressure-g...

[SP_]

sabid said:

SP_ said:

Hi all,

In short, I am doing an eve track day next Tuesday. I don't have time to change wheels on Monday / Tuesday morning, so I need to basically decide today what to do.

I can choose either Cup 2 or PS4S. The weather is not certain to be raining, but it's around a 40-50% chance

Anyone have any thoughts what I should do?
Car is currently on Cup 2, but given we're end of summer I'm tempted to chuck the PS4S on as will be expecting rain more and more now...

Cheers

Jumping in on this a bit late, I guess, because I'm thinking you're already out today on the Cup2's and it's not raining!

I'm sure you'd have had fun on both tyres. Personally, if it was raining, I would have gone PS4Ss, just purely for the tread pattern.

I don't know if you've ever seen the tread pattern when it's going through water, but the centre of it can often lift if you haven't got enough pressure in the tyres.

Regardless, again for future reference, if you do find yourself in a situation where it's starting to rain, and forgive me if you already know this, but what's really worked for me is to increase your tyre pressures to what you'd be targeting in the dry, or maybe a little bit more.

I'm not sure how "into" tyre pressures you normally get, but I'd highly recommend grabbing a tyre gauge and getting some awareness over your tyre pressures.

It might be that you already do it but it's not something we normally do on a road car so if no one's pointed it out to you, then hopefully this helps you.

I've written a little bit more about tyre tuning in the wet at this link below, but the main thing is there's an image that you might really like to see, and it shows you the tread pattern for tyres in the wet with different levels of pressure.

For me, that was eye-opening to see. So if you're ever in doubt about not only what tyre, but what tyre pressure to run in the wet, I would always recommend putting in a little bit more pressure in the tyres in the wet because you get more tyre in contact with the road.

Anyway, hope you've had a really good day. Donington's one of my favourite tracks, love that place, and let us know how you've got on.

https://www.yourdatadriven.com/wet-tyre-pressure-g...

It's an evening today, so not started yet!

Great article, thanks for sending and writing. I was aware of keeping an eye on pressures, but not how to adjust during rain so that's very useful, thanks

[rdjohn]

It follows that if you get your tyres nice and hot when the track is dry. You do not need to change much when it rains and the track cools down and pressures drop below recommended on their own.

On Friday, I dumped nearly half bar from recommended pressures during early outings. In the afternoon, it poured down, most people went home. 3 of us stuck it out and had great fun. The article was written for racers not Trackday fun. No racing; no timing; only your ego to compete with and that is the biggest problem for most folk who exit the circuit sideways.

Driving the car close to its upper capabilities in the wet, is tremendous fun, possibly more so than in the dry.