Track riding in the rain

[adouglas]

Yesterday had a great time with Tony's Track Days at Palmer, MA. A cold and very wet morning finally broke and the last three sessions were lovely, with all the water gone by mid-afternoon.

Tony (@TTD) posted this guidance about rain riding. I was doing this pretty much all day (especially the advice about engine braking and throttle) and had a really good time (rain tires sure helped):

If it wasn't for that second shower, we almost had a 50/50 split in wet/dry conditions.

Oh well... it was still great to get back to Palmer. I did 3 wet sessions on Renee's 600rr with Pirelli Rossa Corsa's and didn't have one slip. I wish we could still sell those tires!

When the dry came, I switched over to the 1000 (which was on slick rear and race DOT front), and really had fun!

This track has so much grip! If you go down, it's likely you violated one of these basic rules.

1 - Have good tires. Crappy rubber ends up costing you more in body parts... both yours and the bike.

2 - Brake Progressively... no "stabbing". I actually did most of my rain riding without front brakes... using only engine braking and one or two gears. Engine braking is similar to rear wheel braking. Many of the braking areas are uphill, so I would just close the throttle and engine brake until I was through about 1/3rd of the corner (then went to maintenance throttle). This worked great for 1, 4, 6 and 12.

3 - Lean, and RELAX. (light bar input) It's very easy in the wet to get the death grip going... you have to work hard to overcome this... relaxing your grip on the bars often starts with letting your shoulders droop. Don't have them lifted up to your neck! Relax your shoulders and then let it go through your arms.

4 - Slight Positive throttle mid-corner. Going down the steep Turn 7 left hander, being off throttle means extra load on the front. A slight positive throttle will help balance the tire load.

5 - Never add real throttle without lifting the bike - and when you do add throttle, do it incrementally ("ratchet throttle). With each additional throttle turn, pay attention to what the rear tire is doing. (You can only stand the bike up when accelerating if you get the bike turned early and then accelerate out while letting the bike stand up and drift toward the exit point). If you are not able to stand the bike up when you want to add gas, then you screwed up the corner earlier by not getting the bike turned and pointing correctly. Don't screw up again, by highsiding on your way out! Hold the maintenance throttle a little longer until you are truly lined up, then lift and accelerate out and remember to do it right next time.

[Foxrider64]

I found that riding in the rain on the track made me ride smoother than normal. As we all know, smooth is fast

[toEleven]

Good guidance. Perhaps worth a re-post in the skills section, as it isn't really exclusive to the track.

[Sirref]

I've learned more from my track time in the wet than I have from any time in the dry

confidence in the wet leads to supreme confidence in dry conditions later on in both speed and safety

The biggest point to remember is to be smooth with your inputs at all times. The biggest thing I took from my day at palmer with TTD was to watch the rear as I add throttle, especially in the wet but it works in the dry as well