Anyone think we should be using wets?
 

As a rough summation:

We now have a control tyre with less tread than before,
we now have a race series that declares Wet Races,
we are now spending more money on entering race meetings where it might rain.
Many people have spare wheels.
Modern wets don't need warmers, especially with the time taken to form up before racing.
A set of wets would last all season with our 50-65bhp bikes.

Anyone think we should be using wets?

Discuss :devil:

Yes

But do riders of our standard understand how to use wets? when they will work and when they will chew up and certainly not last a season. Can our speeds in the wet get them up to temp? These are not road tyres which are easy to get heat in? (I dont know just asking)

In principle I am 100% for it after watching Race 1 from the pitwall, it look pretty scary for all (except Ron).

Plus the cost of the repairs to dropped bikes at these wet races will more than cover the cost of wets.

I dont really understand why we arent using them? I understand the reason not to have warmers & slicks but wets were designed to keep people racing in the rain. Road tyres are designed to get you home in the rain by driving like Miss Daisy.

if a rep from Dunlop had been there I'm sure he/she would not allow us to have raced in those conditions on those tyres. We had Brands stopped for less than that.

Yes, did I say yes although I may have meant yes however, I think yes we should have wets.
For one reason and one reason alone "SAFETY"

One set of wets will last a year (no need for warmers) £250
Used wheels & discs at top money £200
(I bet half of us have a spare set already)

Total £450 divided by 16 points races = an extra £28 per race over the year.
(even less if you do the non points).
That's less then the price of a genuine brake lever.
How many of you have spent £100's of pounds on trick bits over the year and they have no performance or safety value?
I'll bet we are a laughing stock when the other Hottrax racers watch us in the wet.

Adding wets to the series bungs up the price,

This year we have only had Saturday at snetterton where wets would have been usefull, would it have been worth the expence for one race ?, if racing had started on time we would actualy have had a dry race. the race was red flagged due to an incedent but then again so was the dry race on Sunday, yes you can argue there were more fallers in the wet race, but i have seen as many in a dry race (Mallory last year for one)

Some people even given the option to race on wets would not go out,

So from my point of view i am happy to race on the tyre we have and race according to the conditions.

All,

I wasn't there, but can only guage the conditions from a few picutres I saw.

My answer fro this series is NO, as there is too much hassle deciding whether to fit them or not, will conditions change in the race, is there a dry line.

I have raced where we had the choice of wets, and yes they are great, in fact fantastic in the wet, but sometime the choice is marginal and that can make it dangerous also.

In the end we are all on the same tyre, some will have more confidence than others in the wet.

Steve

No

most of the top riders know and understand how far to push the Dunlops. For the once or twice a year we would use wets would people be able to understand and feel how hard they could push the wets??

As for the conditions at Snet a pair of canoes strapped either side would be more appropriate than wets!

Just my thoughts

Bearing in mind we have an exclusive contract with Dunlop to supply the tyres for the series, do they actually have a suitable wet tyre for the series?

There's a lot of questions that would need debating and serious research into the effects on the series, such as: if we can get wets in the right size, whether they will heat up enough to be of any use (I seem to recall this discussion about issues with the newer Pirellis last year? ;) ), the true cost of adding spare wheels and disks into the series, how often they would actually get used (not just cost over the whole series - it's how often you use them that counts), and the overall safety aspects of letting the riders out on them in what is effectively a novice series, and whether or not we enforce the races as "wets only" (based upon a wet-race declaration) and if we should exclude those who don't pay for wets from being able to race...

It's not just a case of "let's switch to using wets" I'm afraid, and it's certainly too late for this year anyway.

I'm more than happy to open up the debate now to allow us all to come to a sensible conclusion at the end of the year to ensure that the rules for 2012 can be fixed as early as possible.

I've used wets this season on my 600ss racing with both W100 and PDMCC and they work fine. The rear wheel cost me £50 off here, spare disk about £20 of ebay, and I already had a spare front & disks from my S4R. I don't use warmers as i am not going as fast, as long as they have sharp edges they work just fine.

Anglesy race was declared a wet race, but it was not wet, it was not even damp if a wet rule was enforced for that race the outcome would have been different and a pair of wets would have been wasted.