Really wet? Seriously? He has a roof and wiper. Try an H-Production Fiat 850 in the rain that is "Really wet".
Photography Credit: Gary Whipple
Racing in the rain might have made a loving, touching movie, but the actual experience? As Team Sahlen’s Will Nonnamaker reports, it can also be wet. Really wet.
“Sometimes in racing, an event goes from trying to win and place well to a pure survival mode,” he tells us. At ChampCar’s recent eight-hour contest at Nelson Ledges, it was all about survival thanks to a rainy weekend at a facility already soaked from a week of downpours.
“The Carousel turn was flooded 25 yards into the grass, with 2 feet of the apex underwater,” he explains. “The back straight was just pavement and ponds on either side up to the tire walls. Turn 12 had a small river that you had to release your brakes to avoid hydroplaning.”
Despite the conditions, the team’s Boxster finished second overall. “But that is why endurance racing is such a metaphor for life: Just surviving sometimes is the victory in the end.”
Really wet? Seriously? He has a roof and wiper. Try an H-Production Fiat 850 in the rain that is "Really wet".
You are car racing having fun. Wining about it raining is like complaining that your supermodel wife / husband is too hot and too smart and too nice a person. I somehow don't have any sympathy for them.
Feel sorry for us that we are driving in the rain on the race track and we got wet in some of the coolest cars. It was such a struggle. . . . Ya It just does not resonate with me.
L5wolvesf said:Really wet? Seriously? He has a roof and wiper. Try an H-Production Fiat 850 in the rain that is "Really wet".
Oh Yeh. A Jaguar D type at 150 MPH at 3 straights on the track? Tires are 5.3 wide too. Yes treaded so probably 4 inches of actual rubber. A windshield designed to look over, forget about wipers or staying dry. You practically need a snorkel.
I’ve raced a Z32 “speedster” in Champcar on several occasions. It doesn’t even have a windshield. The only time it really sucks in the rain is during cautions, of which there seem to be a lot of when it rains...
The reality is that golden retrievers pass on too soon. 
I had never really felt hydroplaning until being the first car out in a Super 7 with 9.5" wide slicks on all four corners.
It is totally like snowboarding on fresh powder, only zero control. You just wait until you wash ashore, figure out where you beached, and then head back out on course.
frenchyd said:L5wolvesf said:Really wet? Seriously? He has a roof and wiper. Try an H-Production Fiat 850 in the rain that is "Really wet".
Oh Yeh. A Jaguar D type at 150 MPH at 3 straights on the track? Tires are 5.3 wide too. Yes treaded so probably 4 inches of actual rubber. A windshield designed to look over, forget about wipers or staying dry. You practically need a snorkel.
You've got me beat with the 150 MPH and 5.3 wide tires (I had 7" wide) and treaded rain tires
I had a short wind-diverter designed to look over (SCCA allowed removal of the windshield).
I wore a full face helmet with plenty of anti-fog.
Another reason why I'm happy to just do autocross. I like rain, it cools it off. It's also a good equalizer for me.
Pfft, I've been on a wet track on a motorcycle with slicks..............sissy.
Seriously, while I do well racing in the rain I can't say as I like it. The just trying to survive pretty much sums it up.
In reply to L5wolvesf :
Remarkably even with a 88" wheelbase and 50" track width. Plus locked rear end !!! I was actually comfortable at 150. I did have a fair amount of caster since it's fast and short. But with a full face helmet I pretty much had to lock my neck straight ahead to keep my neck from being twisted off.
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