This post is for you if you compete or do HPDE. The article is another useful article from Dion von Moltke at Blazye Coaching. You can subscribe to their free newsletter at this link: Blayze Newsletter.
We ran our inaugural Top Dog Championship in the rain at Summit Point. Who knows what 10/1/2023 will bring?
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1. How To Adjust Racecraft in the Wet
Thanks to Graham for the great question this week! If you have a question you want me to cover, simply reply to this email with your question.
Trying to give general coaching points, like those we can cover in an email, about anything related to rain is exceptionally challenging. However, some of the variables we have to consider include:
How much grip the track has in the wet
How hard is it raining
How is the drainage at this track
Ambient temperatures
How much grip the rain tires you're running on have
I'm calling this out because while I want to give some general pointers about racecraft in the wet, it is often something that is very situational. Okay, now that we have that covered let's get into the good stuff! Here are a few things I think about when I'm racing in the wet: Conservative Overall, I am much more conservative in every situation in rain races. The grip is lower and mistakes are more prevalent, often just making it to the end of the race without going off the track will equal a good result. This includes everything from speed to overtaking and defending, etc. Overtaking Overtaking in the wet is all about corner exits and not brake zones. There is usually a big drop-off in grip when we have to move off the ideal grippy line in the wet and that's usually what we have to do to out-brake and overtake someone. This is why in the wet my focus is all about getting a drive off a corner. I want to maximize the exit and try to overtake someone down the straight before we even arrive at the braking zone. Defending Once again I'm totally focused on corner exits here! Very rarely does someone overtake us mid-corner by rolling in more entry speed. I turn my style of driving into more of a "point and shoot" style. If I simply get good exits it becomes 10x harder to overtake me. So, even if my overall lap times get slightly slower because I reduced my mid-corner speed I don't care about that, I care about being harder to overtake and I do that by maximizing corner exits.
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Our Top Dog Championships have cars running at 30-second intervals so we don't need to worry about overtaking. However, the author's focus on corner exit speed is spot on.
Registration is open for the 3rd Annual Top Dog Championships at Summit Point Raceway on 10/1/2023. Don't miss your chance at joining our exclusive Top DGZ club!
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