Starting Line Conditions at Night
 

This is a general question about how cooler NIGHT weather affects tracks like Englishtown/ Atco or Island. When you can see a mist on your car, do all the tracks loose their grip due to the moisture in the air. I saw quite a bit last night at E-Town around 7:30 pm when a lot of cars were going up in smoke that did not have a problem 1/2 hour earlier. :-?

really man? you cant figure this out for yourself??? i mean...you SEEM like a smart guy....im just not understanding why youd post this

Not being totally STUPID, 99% of the time, I race during the day! I was wondering that IF the track officials are aware of this, do (or should) they put down some extra traction compound. Asking for help is not an admission of someones lack of intelligence!

well if your experience was that everyone was going up in smoke...then id come to the conclusion that they didnt do anything extra to prep or try to counteract such conditions. :lol:

they already have your money and waiver, at this point you are a burden to them in their eyes

they don't usually add more prep unless someone oils down the track. condensation is usually only an issue on humid nights or certain times of year... and since the track guys are STANDING on the track im sure they were aware.

i think you noticed how slippery it was in the lanes and are assuming the track was terrible. if the track was so bad it wouldn't hold 14 second cars, they would have stopped running...

Yeah, I was talking with some of people that actually work at the track, and traction compound is put down in the morning and TUFF SHEET if it doesn't hold up long into the afternoon. $$$$$ is the reason. Just wish ATCO had a DRY side to pull into the staging lanes. Water and STREET tires do not mix well. The reason nothing extra was put down (I think) was because we were coming to the end of the event. At 7:00 nobody had a traction problem, but at 7:30 it was. I would guess that the mist in the cool air was just starting to accumulate more and it affected cars with street tires more so than with slicks!

again, a small burnout and you will be fine. there was a z06 at my rental last week running 11.6s at 128+ on all 4 stock wheels, he was rolling through the water......

Your fighting 3 conditions:

1) Dew on the track, but probably the least effect. Most often the Dew will effect faster cars past 1/2 track. Probably because they have the suspension to hook harder off the line. But when you see dew on your car you need to realize the track will be going away and dial up accordingly, you're going to need to soften your launch.

2) Loss of heat in the track. Once the track surface starts to cool no VHT is going to really help. They would need to drag, reglue and drag again to attempt to get the surface back. And if the surface is too cold even that isn't going to help. Getting the track to bite in the cold isn't an issue of spraying VHT, it needs heat as well to really get sticky.

3) Bald spots. Once street tires start spinning in turns into a snowball effect and the rubber is pulled off the starting line and it continues down the track. Again, you would need to dust/drag/glue/drag to fix it. And would probably last one round ( after everyone waiting 30-40 minutes to reprep the track.

I cut my best 60' (1.93) in the G8 on the 19" rubber doing a small burnout after slowly going through the water so I don't see this being an issue.

agree