Daytona 24 Weather
01-25-2012, 07:29 PM
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Daytona 24 Weather
I understand that part of the allure of long-distance endurance racing lies in a team's ability to deal with the unexpected: driver errors, mechanical malfunctions, fouled pit stops, bone-numbing exhaustion, and...yes...the unpredictable weather. Daytona is notorious for late January meteorological curve *****.
But not this year. For the first time in the 47 years I've been going to Daytona (beginning with the Continental), the predicted weather is SPECTACULAR. No rain on Saturday. High of 72 both days, LOW of 56. FIFTY-SIX!!! The LOW!!!
Over the years, I've seen it all. But I've never seen 24 hours of weather so perfect for the Daytona 24 Hours.
Not so much for Friday's Continental Grand Am race. A 50% chance of rain. Drivers will hate it. But it will be fun to watch those low downforce cars deal with the icy-slick infield course. The lovely new billiard table banking drains quickly. The infield, which hasn't been repaved in years, is treacherous when wet.
I'm really looking forward to an exciting Continental race. The Rolex, not so much. As always, it will be a flat-out crap shoot.
But not this year. For the first time in the 47 years I've been going to Daytona (beginning with the Continental), the predicted weather is SPECTACULAR. No rain on Saturday. High of 72 both days, LOW of 56. FIFTY-SIX!!! The LOW!!!
Over the years, I've seen it all. But I've never seen 24 hours of weather so perfect for the Daytona 24 Hours.
Not so much for Friday's Continental Grand Am race. A 50% chance of rain. Drivers will hate it. But it will be fun to watch those low downforce cars deal with the icy-slick infield course. The lovely new billiard table banking drains quickly. The infield, which hasn't been repaved in years, is treacherous when wet.
I'm really looking forward to an exciting Continental race. The Rolex, not so much. As always, it will be a flat-out crap shoot.
01-25-2012, 09:14 PM
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01-25-2012, 09:27 PM
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the infield honestly isnt that bad in the rain. they put a patch of something (I assume rubber-based) down around the apex of T6 which gets slick as hell... but overall it isn't that bad.
01-25-2012, 11:48 PM
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Having raced in the rain at the PCA race in October, I would say that the infield is a lot more hairy than any other place on the track, even the bus stop. The 2-3 turn area is slick, putting the power down after the horseshoe is interesting, the kink is scary and there's very little grip on the next horseshoe mid-turn. Other than that, yeah, the infield isn't that bad in the rain.
01-26-2012, 02:22 AM
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Having raced in the rain at the PCA race in October, I would say that the infield is a lot more hairy than any other place on the track, even the bus stop. The 2-3 turn area is slick, putting the power down after the horseshoe is interesting, the kink is scary and there's very little grip on the next horseshoe mid-turn. Other than that, yeah, the infield isn't that bad in the rain.
01-26-2012, 08:51 AM
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I was there at that event as well and didn't think those areas were very bad. use the sensitivity in your foot and you're fine. I did actually think the bus stop was very bad. the transition got very slick and was incredibly slippery on turn-in making it hard to set the nose smoothly for exit
What kind of car were you racing?
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01-26-2012, 08:54 AM
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Having raced in the rain at the PCA race in October, I would say that the infield is a lot more hairy than any other place on the track, even the bus stop. The 2-3 turn area is slick, putting the power down after the horseshoe is interesting, the kink is scary and there's very little grip on the next horseshoe mid-turn. Other than that, yeah, the infield isn't that bad in the rain.
01-26-2012, 12:14 PM
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I was there at that event as well and didn't think those areas were very bad. use the sensitivity in your foot and you're fine. I did actually think the bus stop was very bad. the transition got very slick and was incredibly slippery on turn-in making it hard to set the nose smoothly for exit
From braking into T1 (spun there myself) to transitioning back onto the T2 banking the infield was a skating rink if you tried to maintain any pace.
01-26-2012, 12:17 PM
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The kink in the infield section was pretty scary... I didn't think anywhere else was too bad. Yesterday I feared the Continental Challenge would have some pouring rain, but it's looking better for them now.
Last edited by analogmike; 01-26-2012 at 01:47 PM.
01-26-2012, 01:09 PM
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Having raced in the rain at the PCA race in October, I would say that the infield is a lot more hairy than any other place on the track, even the bus stop. The 2-3 turn area is slick, putting the power down after the horseshoe is interesting, the kink is scary and there's very little grip on the next horseshoe mid-turn. Other than that, yeah, the infield isn't that bad in the rain.
"use the sensitivity in your foot..." Wow, I wish I had thought of that.... What kind of car were you racing?
"use the sensitivity in your foot..." Wow, I wish I had thought of that.... What kind of car were you racing?
01-26-2012, 01:25 PM
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Having raced in the rain at the PCA race in October, I would say that the infield is a lot more hairy than any other place on the track, even the bus stop. The 2-3 turn area is slick, putting the power down after the horseshoe is interesting, the kink is scary and there's very little grip on the next horseshoe mid-turn. Other than that, yeah, the infield isn't that bad in the rain.
01-26-2012, 01:51 PM
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It's rain... what do you expect? for it to not be slick? I guess the reason I say that I don't think it's all that bad is by comparison to other tracks nearby. There are no "rivers" like you see at RA in the rain, and there isn't a concrete patch at almost every apex like you see at Sebring.
the "use sensitivity" comment was obviously sarcastic
the "use sensitivity" comment was obviously sarcastic