| Author | Message | ||
     Nsbuell |
A few general newbie racing questions: I'm doing a test & tune day on brand new DOT race tires tomorrow. How long or how many laps does it generally take to scrub them in? Also, it's forecasting rain for tomorrow. Do I still use tire warmers regardless of wet or dry? Put them on about 45 minutes before I go on the track? More, less? Thanks | ||
| Josh_cox |
Use tire warmers and do whatever your track side tire rep recommends. Settings are different for different tracks/weather conditions. | ||
| Rocketsprink |
Most race tires don't have mold release on them. As far as warmers? If it's raining, don't waste your time. they'll cool off by the time you reach the race surface. Just take it easy till they get some heat in them. they'll never warm up much in the rain though, but I'm sure you know that. D.O.T's in the rain can be a hand full. Take your time and have fun. | ||
| Slaughter |
Realistically, you can get the tires scrubbed in on a sighting/warm-up lap. Which DOT's are you running? I'm assuming you're talking race compounds, not street compounds? Generally, warmers is a pretty good idea BUT the true race DOT's are really iffy when leaned over since there's not much channelling cut in the tires for water to be "pumped" out. You might see if they have intermediates for sale if you expect to have rain most of the day. You'll just get one day's use out of intermediates however. Racing aint cheap. I just threw a bike away the weekend before last by mis-judging the weather. It's demolished! (pics posted elsewhere on Badweb) I put on Pirelli Diablo Corsa - really a street tire but for rain would have been better. Could have left the slicks on. I was marginal on traction with the harder rubber compounds on the street tire. Could have done fine with race DOT's. (Message edited by slaughter on April 27, 2007) | ||
| Nsbuell |
The tires are Bridgestone BT090s-race compound DOTs. They're on my FZR400 race bike. They seem to have pretty good treads in them for race tires so maybe they'll be ok in the rain. I think maybe I'll use the warmers anyway. Any heat I can get in them is better than none. I don't have extra wheels & rain tires and don't plan on buying any. But I also plan to race rain or shine all season so hopefully the DOT's will do the trick if I back off a little. Considering the low power output of the bike I'm told tires should last well too. | ||
| Josh_cox |
The problem with DOT's in the rain is that there is no rain channeling when you are leaned over. That can make for some rather fast sliding. | ||
| Slaughter |
BT090 has pretty decent side grooves BUT if you're on a truly WET track, you need to be on your tip-toes because you're still going to be iffy on traction. If you have the chance to practice on the wet surface, that'll really help you a LOT (keep in mind, my last wet race put me in a wheelchair for almost half a year so take my advice with a grain of salt) |
