Wet weather tyre choice and setup

By Gary Slabbert, 14 January, 2012
Gentlemen, since the choice of tyre for wet weather racing is open (Rotax max), there must be various ideas on what is the best tyre to use. Can you please share your opinions/ test data on outrite speed and also durability for different brands?

Also, how does the setup change for a wet race and is the raceline more or less the same as for a dry race or is it way off the normal raceline like in sprintkarts.

Thanks,
Gary.




Comments7

The Cook

12 years 11 months ago

Tyre of choice for most is the Dunlop KT11-W11. Most kart shops will not have heard of these as they are not a sprint tyre but they can order them in from the Dunlop distributor. Set up does not change a lot. Just make sure the rear wheels are pretty much in line with the fronts. Driving line with these tyres is pretty much where you want to put the kart it will go, within reason of course. They do require some water to keep them cool when the track is drying.

Gary Slabbert

12 years 11 months ago

Thank you for the reply. Is the Dunlop KT11 W the tyre of choice because everybody uses them
(monkey see monkey do) or has it been proven thru testing that its the best.

The Cook

12 years 11 months ago

In the Dunlop range of 5" wets these are the ducks guts. Around Sandown, compared to the W10, they were 3 seconds faster a lap. The usual Dunlop wets in sprint are the W6 series and they are like bricks. Turn the wheel and wait for them to bite while with the W11 you drive like it is dry.

The nearest that comes to these are the Mojo wets, in the hands of a decent driver.

Gary Slabbert

12 years 11 months ago

Ian, thank you for the very informative reply.
Do these KT11-W run better on standard dry rims (5 inch wide front and 8 inch on the rear) or do they work better on 4,5 inch front and 7 inch rears?

Gary Slabbert

12 years 5 months ago

Ok, thank you all for the great advice on wet weather tyres.

We usually run Maxxis slicks at 10-14psi in the dry.
If the track is wet but we(all) still have to use slicks, then how do we need to adjust the pressure and setup and also race line?
Remember we are running a Arrow Sprint style chassis with a Jmax.
Gary Slabbert

jays busy racin

12 years 4 months ago

Dunlops are not the only wet tyre there are also MG WHITES. Very good in the wet and very forgiving if you miss your set up. Cheers jay 0450563128