Ducati Sporting Club UK > DesmoDue Race Series > DesmoDue - General Questions and Chat > Anyone think we should be using wets?

[steve41]

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

[ells]

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

[antonye]

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.

[PDL]

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.

[Bionicle]

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.

[bradders]

Originally Posted by Bionicle

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.

agree and it would add an extra 'choice' for us novices to make. But IMHO they should have stopped it at the red flag; if not long enough to decare the result then a couple of laps or whatever it took to complete or just call it.

but then others seemed to be going ok, Phil loved it! and the boys at the front seemed to manage....

having never used wets I'd like to try them, see what they are like.

[ChrisBushell]

I cant for a minute remember over the seasons how many races we have actually had where wets would have been a serious option - but I would speculate that there have probably been less than 10 in all.

As has been already stated earlier in this thread, it is potentially more dangerous to have a situation where one might have people with insufficient experience ending up on inappropriate tyres out there, by giving them a choice of tyre. At some point after west were introduced, someone will then put forward the idea of intermeadiate tyres as well and that again raises the cost of cometition. If all riders are on the same control tyre then it is the same for everyone and as has been shown it forces lap times to slow, which is safer.

Ultimately if you get caught out in a deluge on the road, do you park the bike and wait for it to dry out completely before heading home? Of course not - you slow down and get on with it!

[Monty]

My 2p's worth-when Johnny B was racing my TZ we had 3 sets of wheels, wets, inters, and full slicks-caused amazing problems when the weather was variable. The track is drying out so I think we should be on slicks-no no, leave it on inters. Hells teeth, it's starting to drizzle again-lets put the wets on. So you go out on wets, most of the rest are still on slicks, the track is drying-and you come last-and trash a perfectly good pair of wets...........
Sometimes having too many options is a bad thing.

John

[Chaz]

Originally Posted by ChrisBushell

I cant for a minute remember over the seasons how many races we have actually had where wets would have been a serious option!

That's because you've only been to about Three

[Sorted]

[quote=bradders]agree and it would add an extra 'choice' for us novices to make. But IMHO they should have stopped it at the red flag;

I agree Paul because I was leading by about 8 to 10 bike lengths at that point.. And that lead from 5th on the grid in those condition was bottom clenchingly earnt!