How effective are wets?
Discussion
Interesting image taken at Copse corner at Silverstone. There had been rain earlier but the track had developed a dry line. I had found a patch of damp tarmac to cool my tyres prior to coming in and changing to Slicks. Despite there being relatively little moisture, the wet's ability to clear it is impressive.
Although I've never run wets on a car, I use them all winter and occasionally in summer on my bikes. Phenomenal levels of grip in wet conditions:
You can use them in damp conditions as well, but they wear fast:
Not sure how relevant it is for cars but on bikes you need to go fast to keep the wets warm enough to work. This creates a psychological barrier (at least for me) initially, essentially getting to race pace on wets. If you slow down the wets stop working (rubber cools down and closes the treads). I crashed badly at Brands (on bike) last year on wets. I was riding fast on wets and then a yellow flag came out and everyone bunched up, the pace slowed significantly, and I lost the front and crashed as the wets had cooled down and I wasn't paying enough attention..
You can use them in damp conditions as well, but they wear fast:
Not sure how relevant it is for cars but on bikes you need to go fast to keep the wets warm enough to work. This creates a psychological barrier (at least for me) initially, essentially getting to race pace on wets. If you slow down the wets stop working (rubber cools down and closes the treads). I crashed badly at Brands (on bike) last year on wets. I was riding fast on wets and then a yellow flag came out and everyone bunched up, the pace slowed significantly, and I lost the front and crashed as the wets had cooled down and I wasn't paying enough attention..
Steve Rance said:
Interesting image taken at Copse corner at Silverstone. There had been rain earlier but the track had developed a dry line. I had found a patch of damp tarmac to cool my tyres prior to coming in and changing to Slicks. Despite there being relatively little moisture, the wet's ability to clear it is impressive.
I recognise that car 
.
(tyre was Continental vmax)
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