Anyone who has been to Summit Point in the rain knows it is quite a unique circuit. It is the only track where you find yourself considering riding on the dirt next to the pavement because you can get a better drive on wet dirt than on the wet pavement. This is all fine and dandy when the whole track is wet, but its an entirely different proposition when only a couple of places are wet. Such was the case last WERA weekend at the point. While cruising through the pits I noted that several of the top racers had some interesting methods for preparing themselves and their bikes for the digital traction environment that they were going to be in while racing.
One top racer advised that by lowering the pressure in his tires to 15 psi front 18 rear he had a advantage in the wet sections of the track. This was due to his tire coming up to temperature when it normally wouldn't. Unfortunately this racer had to put new tires in his bike every time he went out on he track. I was told by WERA officials that he also was blacked flagged because tire kept tossing chunks of tread at the other racers.
Another racer was seen inflating his tires to their maxim rated pressure before going out for practice. His reasoning was that the high pressure would make his tire have a smaller contact patch. This would therefore prevent hydroplaning in the standing water because the smaller contact patch (having the same weight on it) would be able to chisel its way through the water to the pavement beneath below. This racer also had a set of knobbies that he was going to try in the next practice, the outcome of which we will never know, as his tires exploded. Apparently he had been using a metric pressure gage, and his tires were inflated to 15.3 kPhals or 93 psi.
One racer altered the handle bar kill switch so that it only shut two cylinders down, blunting the power deliverer of his claimed "over 100 hp" engine for the slippery sections. In theory when he got to turn ten he would hit the switch and rocket down the straight. Strangely he never made his practice or races, owning to his EX500's unwillingness to start.
He also had a nice chat with a racer who went through three and a half cans of water repellent that he sprayed on his tires...
One racer entered a 440 Jet-Ski in Sportsman, but was bumped up to middle weight superbike on account of engine displacement. We are please to say that he took forth in class, tenth overall.
A guy pitted adjacent to us to had a problem with braking in the water for turn one. Specifically he was experiencing substantial wheel lock which was upsetting the chassis and the MARRC workers. His solution was to remove the brake lever, which I'm told stopped the wheel lock problems.
In order to brake in the same area, one a rider attached a drogue chute to his back that he popped after coming off the hill. This of course only worked once, so he wore a jacket over his leathers (yes it was that cold on Saturday) which he would unzip at pit out and use as a air brake.
For special rider preparation for the slippery conditions several racers had some good tips. Universally all racers spoke of the necessity to be smooth. One novice found an interesting method to attain smoothness. He took a shot of morphine in his right wrist before going out for a race. This was to prevent him from shutting the throttle on or off abruptly. Fortunately when he almost highsided on the exit of two, and sprained his wrist, he was able to finish the race because he felt no pain.
Another racer advised to wear a Coast Guard approved personal floatation device in case you crashed in the water going into three. Fortunately this probably wouldn't be necessary as the crack MARRC SCUBA Safteycrew had a Zodiac and 35hp outboard engine in that area are more than capable dealing with the water. Although wearing a wet-suit under you leathers wouldn't be a bad idea.
The best piece of advise for wet preparation that we heard of was the use of Nitrous Oxide. A few hits of that stuff and you didn't even care whether or not you made your race, wet or otherwise.
A unnamed top racer, for dealing with the different traction conditions, had a double visor attached to his helmet. The first visor was slightly shaded, the other was opaque. For most of the turns he would look through the shaded one, but as he came to the wet turns he would flip the opaque one down. After all, its unsettling to look at turn three when you are going that fast in the wet.
To avoid the disturbing pavement transition at the exit of newly repaved turn nine, one racer said to get most of your turning done early on the good pavement. It would appear that the logical extension of this idea would be to do all of your turning at home before you got to the race track.
The wisest personal testimony that we heard all weekend was that of the racer who after tech inspection decide that he would rather cornerworker than risk a perfectly good race bike. He withdrew his entries, got his fees returned, and went to work for the MARRC Safety Crew.