Racing in the wet. Take advantage of half the grid losing their mojo
Racing in the wet. Take advantage of half the grid losing their mojo
If you learn to love the wet, when it rains suddenly you get a huge advantage, because at least half the grid suddenly is not so confident. Take advantage!
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I’m like ‘Billy no mates’ wondering why the hell no other drivers are watching all the secrets being given away for fee!
It’s too easy to hate the wet. It’s grim. I mean I’m sitting here writing this and falling into the trap myself - remembering:
Leaky boots
Cold hands
Foggy visor
Can’t see even with a 200 quid double glazed clear visor!
Everything is all manky, kart, tools, everything - yuck
Then you’ve got all the new problems with set ups:
Inters or full wets (but you haven’t got either, just kinda worn wets that are neither)
Gearing is wrong
Pressures are wrong
No time to change the caster or ride heights
Or, we changed the caster and the track dried!
The set up problems list goes on forever…That’s before you get to driving problems:
I have to take kerbs I don’t like
I can’t drive in the wet :(
What are the wet lines
I don’t know where to brake or even how to brake
I can’t see at the start
I am always spinning
Why oh why is it raining - I was soooo quick in the dry!!
I’m not even finished yet!
What about the atmosphere? Everyone around you is either fully pissed off, or just a bit fed up. The general mood takes a nosedive when it rains.
So you’ve got it all against you. You are full of your own doubts, generally feeling cold and fed up, and surrounded by a bunch of grumps. And naturally, you go trudging to the grid feeling a bit meh…
And feeling a bit meh means you are far less likely to win!
How to conquer all the wet racing vibe killers
Ok, obviously I want you walking to the grid with a completely opposite mindset - I want you buzzing, delighted with the rain and full of evil intent!
Here’s what would be ideal to have floating around in your head:
Oh yes yes yes, I was fast in the dry but I know half of you whinging lot will be feeling the pain now it’s raining - I’m gunna smash the life out of you.
By full of evil intent, I mean looking at other drivers feeling sorry for themselves, and feeding from their suffering! Like some sort of wet weather demon, loving watching their misery - it should fill you with glee.
Now that’s fine as a fantasy, but you have to earn it right?
You need to know what you are going to do in the wet, there’s no just winging it.
So let’s get into some short-cut routes to getting the wet figured out fast
Here’s the first doubt to knock over - it’s the easiest:
In the wet you are always on the wrong set up
It doesn’t matter what you do, the set up for the wet is always wrong, so you may as well forget about it. You can put on your best guess set ups in the time you have, and that’s it. Everyone else is on the wrong set up too.
Everyone is thinking the same, should I have changed the gearing? Should I have left the gearing? etc etc. It applies to everything, nobody knows what the track will be for the whole race, because wet conditions change continuously.
It’s actually very liberating if you think about it, everyone is in the same boat and the pressure is off. If you realise there’s no real chance of getting it perfect, you can forget it. Just drive!
My Number 1 tip for wet driving excellence… Observe
Watch every other race and observe what the fast drivers do. Don’t watch the racing and enjoy the drama, watch the lines!
The fast way in the wet is radically different to the regular way, and if you leave that learning process to your own time on the track, when it happens to be raining, then it will take you forever.
So, the fast way to get fast in the wet is to watch the fast drivers. Obvious isn’t it, but how come I’m the only person going to every corner to watch when I’m at the track?
I’m like ‘Billy no mates’ wondering why the hell no other drivers are watching all the secrets being given away for fee!
It’s mega important for you to watch for the right things, I’ll tell you them now so you know what you are looking for. This makes a big difference, because when you see what you expect to see it sticks.
Are they using kerbs?
This is usually the most prominent difference to notice. Kerbs that are entirely out of bounds usually become essential points to hit in the wet. Watch carefully how drivers approach the kerb:
How much steering angle do they have?
Are they slower than others on approach, or faster?
Do you hear things scraping under the kart? Often it sounds awful - you need to remember to expect the same.
After the kerb, how long do they wait to get back on the power?
After the kerb what line do they use?
I recommend you take notes, because you will have an absolute mountain of information and who knows when you will need it again.
Avoiding the dry line - staying off the rubber
Anywhere on a track where there is heavy braking has rubber ingrained into the surface. Its super grippy in the dry, and a disaster area in the wet. That means drivers tend to stay off the normal dry line into a corner, especially under braking.
That’s dead easy to spot. Very often you’ll see a quick driver braking as if they are defending, but with no other driver anywhere near them. You might also see less experienced drivers on the normal dry line having an absolute nightmare trying to slow down!
It’s not just under braking that you will see drivers, taking all sorts of weird lines, trying to stay away from the rubbered-in parts of the track. Take note of every weird line you see, and watch where one driver catches, or drops the others.
Here’s an old video of mine that spells it out:
So, now you know what to look out for. Watch every other session when you aren’t driving and go and watch as many corners as you can.
I guarantee you will have an ‘aha’ moment every time you watch a kart either do something really smart, or lose a load of time. You just have to remember and apply it yourself.
More cardinal rules of the wet
Outlaw wheelspin
Most of what you do in the wet with a kart is to avoid getting into a wheelspin death spiral. If you spin the wheels up through getting on the power too early you lose rear grip, lose traction and lose time. Then you have to lift and start over. Wheelspin is so bad in the wet, each time it happens expect to lose half a second each time.
Chill
Don’t rush or try to push hard in the wet until you have got everything sussed out. If you push before you feel that you’ve got all the wet techniques nailed down you will lose seconds a lap. Just drive to the grip that’s available, and expect to feel slow. Being quick in the wet usually means zero drama driving.
That means big slides are out, engine screaming wheelspins are out, along with much of the other super-fun stuff. Relax, think grip and traction - and when you lose one or the other, then you have to relax even more.
Conditions change fast - be ready to read the track before everyone else
Nothing is set in stone on a wet track. At some point the wet line that you have started to feel secure on, becomes less effective than the original dry line.
So somebody during a race twigs on, and decides to give the dry line a try. They may find more grip, or less…
In this case I think fortune favours the brave, but its called brave for a reason - it might go wrong!
But, fortune favours the observant even more in this case, watch as much on-track action as you can before you go out and you will see what works with zero risk!
Summary
If you find yourself getting anxious because it might rain, then you know you should be better prepared. Therefore prepare better!
If you are anxious then you know you aren’t the only one. And that means when you have done your bit of homework, and they still haven’t, you are gaining an advantage.
Watch the others race. It’s basic intelligence gathering, everything you need to know is being demonstrated on the track.
Don’t wheelspin, relax and be ready for the conditions to change all the time.
Try to get ahead, next time it rains, if you aren’t racing go and watch. Then you can get yourself educated!
And please please please, do this before you find yourself on pole for a final, looking at the skies and praying that it doesn’t rain. Figure out the wet as much as you can now, so that the chance of rain makes you feel even more cocky!
It’s probably all on youtube! Go search videos of every track you use in the wet.
Thanks for reading!
Terence