AMG on Space Savers

Chris Harris drives (drifts) an AMG Mercedes on four space saver tires. Gorgeous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_449135&feature=iv&src_vid=rGT7eqCNZVM&v=HPh90yNX-mY

David

DWNSHFT wrote: Chris Harris drives (drifts) an AMG Mercedes on four space saver tires. Gorgeous. http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_449135&feature=iv&src_vid=rGT7eqCNZVM&v=HPh90yNX-mY David

I think he's right. We're overpowered and overtired. If we simply reduced the tire section/stickiness, cars would regain the fun that MGTC's had.

Teh E36 M3 wrote: I think he's right. We're overpowered and overtired. If we simply reduced the tire section/stickiness, cars would regain the fun that MGTC's had.

I don't plan on removing the 145r13 6 ply Japanese kei ruck tires from my Yugo any time soon for that reason. Most fun I've had in a car, normal street driving uses 8-9/10 of its capability.

Seems like you can have a lot more fun at lower speeds. I don't plan on "de-powering" the MG Midget, but I certainly don't need to put wider tires on her. When I replace the E36 M3 tires, I might look toward the narrower end of the spectrum.

I've been toying with the idea of going from 15x8 6UL's with 205/50 down to some 14x7 RPF1's with 185/60 on my Miata. What I have now just seems overkill, and they weight difference between those two setups (each using Star Spec tires) is like 8lbs...

Also, I really want to drive said Miata around on space savers now

I was thinking a lot about this (not the space savers, but grip levels) when I went to star specs on the 2. Yes, they made the car faster at autocross, but they didn't make it handle better. In fact, I think the extra grip forced the suspension out of its happy place and sort of wrecked some of the great feel the car had. Now instead of being awesome right to the limit of the tires, it's awesome to about 80%. If I want to get it back to where it was then I need to go deeper into the suspension and I'm still debating whether or not I want to do that. All of this might be why I like rallycross so much, lower grip + more car movement = more fun.
Part of me would love to see an autocross class where the only rule was that you had to run on 4 space saver tires that were original equipment on the car. Of course the reality is that this would never work because there would always be some douche bag combing over the model years until he came up with the best ratio of tire/weight and then he'd be super competitive and screw the whole thing up. And yes, I'm suggesting that STF, the class I run in, the slowest class in autocross, isn't slow enough for me. Take that as you will.

I will agree with you on that with the Star Specs.. I have felt before that they are too good a tyre for the street and certainly ruined a lot of fun my Ti had.

But.. it was a LOT of fun to outhandle supposedly better machinery

Oh, don't forget to wet down the track or wait until it rains before comparing the 255s and 125s

Space Savers? Also known as "Suicide Spare"?

I dunno, I love the 275/40R17 fronts and 305/35R18 Nitto 555Rs on my Corvette. It still spins the wheels all through first. Adding a blower to it this weekend, so now it should get back that "spins through fourth" it had on all-seasons.

Don't know how many people here watch topgear (I'll say it's probably a fair few), but this is Captain Slows "slogan" of sorts. Slow cars driven slowly on skinny tires == fun.

Most fun i ever had in my Caravan was putting 175/80/13s on the back end.

fun video, but am I the only one who doesn't like this guy ? He comes off as a bit of a d-bag to me

I miss skinny tires

I think that sounds like great fun

Keith may not have coined the phrase, but he's got the site.

It's true. I like our WRX, but for crying out loud, even beyond having enough grip to just go where it's pointed video-game style at any sort of reasonable public-road speed, since it's apparently boost-limited in first and second, you actually have to already be doing freeway speed in third gear before you can even access something akin to full power...

I miss driving my 2002, and I'm a little afraid that all my clever "improvements" are going to ruin it by raising its limits too far...

DoctorBlade wrote: Space Savers? Also known as "Suicide Spare"?

They are quite tough, actually.

in the same vein, im going from 255/50 and 255/40 17's on my duster back to 215/70/15 and 215/60/15 on my body colored steelies. just for a little right foot fun. i have too much grip now with the 17s, and it took some of the fun out of it.

You idiots now have me simultaneously eagerly waiting for the new stickier star specs and searching for 145's. Holy hell I need help.

mazdeuce wrote: You idiots now have me simultaneously eagerly waiting for the new stickier star specs and searching for 145's. Holy hell I need help.

and that needs to go in say what.

now we need Star Specs in 145s

We need to start a what tiny tire is available from where in a decent tire style.

As much as I love a sticky tire and fast lap times, I sure have more fun on E36 M3 tires!!

Video looks much the same as driving the FRS to work on a rainy day.

Me, I think I will be going up in traction levels when the new tires go on.

I enjoyed my hunt for tiny tires...got the skinniest things I could find in the US that weren't motorcycle tires or spare tires. I got these 145/65R15s mounted on my Insight after machining the 4x100 bolt pattern into some Ford spare wheels. This shaved the already light OEM (165/65R14) setup down from about 23 pounds per corner to about 20.5 pounds per corner. I mostly did it to cut down on frontal area, but weight savings was a nice perk. Being such a light car, they actually had plenty of traction, especially for a daily driver.

Bryce