In this issue, my husband wrote an article about running the GT3 in the rain in early July. Please take a look if you like it.

It's been a month since I took delivery of my GT3...

It has been more than a month since the GT3 was delivered to us, and we decided to test its performance in the rain, which we had been curious about.Dare to take GT3 out to Rokko in heavy rainI decided to do this.(No one would normally do that...)

On the day of the event, checking the weather forecast app on my phone, heavy rain was predicted. According to the rain cloud radar, bright red rain clouds were approaching the Rokko mountain range, and it was said that 30-50 mm/h of rain was about to fall. We hurriedly prepared and got into the GT3.

It's the best testing environment.

By the way, I am a self-proclaimed "Bad Weather Driving Mania' and I actually quite like driving in the rain and snow (laughs).

The point to check this time is that the GT3 is newly installed.Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2" tiresThe wet performance of the "M" is the same as that of the "A". Since I like long-distance touring, I often encounter guerrilla downpours. Therefore, I have to be prepared in advance.We wanted to know how well it would perform.

Incidentally, there are two main indicators of wet performance of tires.

The first is.Grip performance on wet road surfacesOne is the "one. And the other is.Water drainage performance (hydroplaning resistance)It's not. I wanted to clarify this because, as far as I can tell, Michelin's website and the technical information on tires do not make a distinction between the two, and they are all lumped together as wet performance.

Running GT3 in heavy rain

Take the K16 (Akashi Kobe Takarazuka line, also known as the "East Rokko Driveway" section) to the top of Mt. (Akashi Kobe Takarazuka Line, commonly known as the "East Rokko Driveway" section) to the top of Mt.This road is good before 8 AM if you want to run on a holiday.After 8:00 a.m., many minivans start heading for Rokko, so the safety car is always leading the way.

However, because of the heavy rain that day, as expected, there was no traffic and the area was almost completely rented out.

While increasing his pace fearfully, he tests the feel of the Cup tires.
No problem at all for normal driving. I don't feel any difference from normal tires.Next, while increasing the pace a little, I try applying sideways Gs on a curve. Again, the car grips more normally than I expected.

What, it's surprisingly good.

If you try to pick up the pace a little more, it is no problem at all if you drive at a slightly faster pace on ordinary roads. When accelerating hard from second gear at the exit of a curve, the rear end slides a little, but the PSM controls it immediately. The rear end slides, but the PSM controls it immediately.

As for grip performance on wet road surfaces, theI felt that as long as the car was driven at a sensible speed on public roads, it was at a level where it could be driven safely.This would make me less nervous in the event of a sudden heavy rain.(But be careful in winter or when the temperature is low.)

In addition, the "Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2" had the best grip in the wet that I have experienced so far. It gripped really well on wet roads. Even though the Boxster is mid-ship, for example, I felt totally safe even when I drove the Fuji Skyline (a circular section) in heavy rain with guns blazing. Compared to the Boxster, it is not as good as the Boxster, but I think it still has enough performance to meet our needs.

Next, we will test the drainage characteristics. This Pilot Sport Cup 2 is what we call a shallow-groove tire.Even new tires have only 5.4 mm grooves, which is distinctly shallower than the 7 to 8 mm of typical tires.However, this is still said to be about 231 TP2T deeper than the previous generation Sport Cup, which is an improvement in groove depth.

In testing the drainage characteristics, it would be risky to actually test it by driving at high speeds, so we did not do so, but decided to feel the change in ground contact on a public road where water was flowing down the road like a river.

First.On a road surface where there is a few millimeters of water on the road surface, it is not different from a normal road surface at all.In particular, there is no hydroplaning-like phenomenon that occurs, nor is there any steering wheel being taken away. Perhaps it is theThe permeable pavement used on many modern highways would not have much of a problem with the rain there.

On the other hand, if the road is obviously puddled or filled with water to the point of flowing, it is indeed easy to be taken off the handlebars. Since the Cup 2 tire has no longitudinal grooves on the outside of the tire, it would be better to be especially careful on curves. It is a subjective judgment, but I would say that the difficulty of steering is about 5 to 7 if the difficulty of steering of normal tires is 10. Therefore, it is recommended to useWhen driving on the highway in the rain, depending on the conditions, it is better to drive at 80 km/h to 90 km/h and be careful of large puddles.

In particular, one should drive with caution on highways that suddenly change from permeable pavement to regular pavement. It is easy to get carried away with permeable pavement, but hydroplaning is likely to occur the moment the pavement suddenly changes to regular pavement.

Sohyo (General Council of Trade Unions of Japan)

Until I tested them, I thought they'd be a more unstable tire in the rain, but in terms of common sense driving.Wet grip does not seem to need to be that nervous.This would work well in sudden rain or bad weather on long-distance touring trips.
On the other hand.In terms of drainage, it would be prudent to be cautious about the number and depth of the physical grooves.

moreI had planned to replace it with the all-mighty Pilot Sport 4S as soon as possible, but this seems like a good idea to give it a little more time.It's not too late to get a little shallower in the groove and experience more different situations. If I discover anything new, I will follow up with a review.