Cold day autox tire questions.

I have a autox shootout coming up here in new england. The tires I have to choose from are the 3/32" tread depth ra1s that are less than 1 season old, in 205/5015f and 225/45/15r and 225/50/15f/r hoosier slicks that are 3 seasons old that have been stored in my (relatively warm basement). The temps are likely to be fairly low, probably in the 40-60f range (hopefully warm but who knows, it might snow and end the whole thing, it's new england)? Now the questions are:

1)Should I deal with mounting the slicks, and transporting the car 1.5hrs to the track vs the drive it there, drive it home ease of the ra1s that we run on the street? Will it be much faster in these conditions with slicks than low tread depth ra1s around a 19sec coarse?

2)Whichever I run, what pressures should I baseline at in the cold temps that are expected? I get 1warmup lap and 3 consecutive flying timed laps (of which the fastest will be recorded.

Thanks!

Huh...

I've never run slicks, but have experienced even my Kumho R-Comps disliking cool temps (40s ish?).

But the flying laps thing is interesting. I've never run an autocross like that, and I wonder whether you might be able to get some heat into the slicks by the end of that.

I'm afraid I don't have enough info to give advice, but it's an interesting dilemma.

If it werent for the flying laps thing i'd say dont even bother mounting your r-comps. I've never heard of flying laps at an autocross.

What do you normally drive around on?,if those are a decent street tire I say those.Leave the hoosiers in the basement,the age combined with the temps won't be fun.

I just bought a set of Kumho Ecsta XS's for my Saturn, we have an event coming up this weekend and weather is supposed to be 45 degrees. I'm a bit nervous as well about the cold temps, but we're dual driving it so I hope we can get some heat in them.

I want to hear more about this event

gofastbobby wrote: I just bought a set of Kumho Ecsta XS's for my Saturn, we have an event coming up this weekend and weather is supposed to be 45 degrees. I'm a bit nervous as well about the cold temps, but we're dual driving it so I hope we can get some heat in them.

to the best of my memory .. the XS love heat ...not sure that they tolerate cold all that well

Stick to the RA1s, the slicks will handle the cold even worse. Especially if they're crusty.

You should increase your pressures slightly over your normal optimal pressures since the tires won't get as hot, and higher pressures means faster heat build-up which is good in this case.

Run a little more tire pressure. That will help them come up to temp a little faster.

I ran V700s on a sunny day with temps in the low 50s and spun 3 times... on my first pass. I'd stick with the R1s.

The event is the open autox invitational at limerock park. It's an interesting deal, the track is actually a mini roadcorse with banks and elevation change. There are open autox days throughout the year (which are a super good deal) and each day has a portion where there are 3 timed laps for each competitor, the fastest times are recorded and the 20 fastest people of the year get invited back for a shootout at the end of the year. We ran the wife's car and ran pretty well, despite my very poor driving (I almost spun on my fastest flying lap and almost had to stop to recover it). It's basically open in terms of car setup so some of these cars are really wildly modified (I'm told some are full racecars on slicks). It's really more of a time attack than an autox, but on a small track.

These are the final standings:

1. Gordy Wagner, 1997 BMW M3, 18.98, Sept. 9 Coaching Day
2. Adam Totter, 2009 Audi R8, 19.35, July 9 Open Autocross Day
3. Dean Cusano, 1984 Jaguar XJS, 19.36, Oct. 8 Open Autocross Day
4. Ryan King, Toyota MR2 Spyder, 19.39, July 29 Nutmeg Miata Autocross Day
5. Erik Carlson, 2008 Ford Mustang GT, 19.40, June 18 Open Autocross Day
6. Matthew Dunham, 2004 Chevrolet Corvette, 19.47, Oct. 8 Open Autocross Day
7. Jon Isaacs, Porsche 911, 19.57, August 3 private group Autocross Day
8. Kevin Kerr, 2006 Porsche Cayman, 19.59, Oct. 22 Open Autocross Day (w/private coaching)
9. Stefan Jackson, 2010 Mitsubishi Evo, 19.64, Oct. 15 Open Autocross Day
10. Jose Vergara, 2012 VW Golf R, 19.72, March 22 Open Autocross Day
11. Timothy Copp, 2006 Honda S2000, 19.73, June 18 Open Autocross Day
12. Fred Messore, Porsche Boxster S, 19.82, August 3 private group Autocross Day
13. Cyrus Clark, 2005 Honda S2000, 19.84, Oct. 22 Open Autocross Day
14. Shawn Quint, Subaru WRX STi, 19.88, Oct. 15 Open Autocross Day
15. Matt Persanis, Lotus Elise, 19.93, Oct. 23 Pelham Motorsports Club Rental
16. Mike Doyle, 2007 Saleen Mustang, 19.94, Sept. 9 Coaching Day
17. Jason Miller, 2005 BMW M3, 19.98, July 9 Open Autocross Day
18. Skaria Thomas, Lamborghini Gallardo, 20.04, July 9 Open Autocross Day
19. Mike Gussis, 2006 Porsche Cayman, 20.04, Oct. 22 Open Autocross Day (w/private coaching)
20. Chris Araujo, 2011 Audi S4, 20.05, August 23 Open Autocross Day

So, where would you guys be in terms of baseline pressures for the ra1s on a 2000lb car on a cold day for best grip in 3, 19 second laps?

Duke wrote: I ran V700s on a sunny day with temps in the low 50s and spun 3 times... *on my first pass.* I'd stick with the R1s.

I feel much saner now. I think I also had some setup issues on some of my colder autocrosses, but the lack of grip was pretty stunning...

In reply to carbon: I want to do this quite badly.

Yes you do. Carlisle! That's not too bad of a ride. What, 2 hrs?

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Any insight as to baseline pressures? I ran 30psi all around on a 75ish degree day and seemed pretty good. I really didn't take it all that seriously, was kind of drifting around and having fun, focusing on having it be a learning day for the wifey. But now that I've seen the times, and ours are so competitive, it seems like a good setup could set fty/ win the whole thing, which would really make me happy. Thanks guys!