Once upon a time, we had race tires and we had street tires, and all seemed right and easy with the world. Today, well, we have a number of options. So. Many. Options.
Want a street-capable tire that consistently delivers lots of quick laps over a long period? Choose from the Endurance 200 class of tire. Want to win an …
I anticipate buying a car in a few months that will serve as my motorsport platform for the foreseeable future. I plan to drive it to local events though I may trailer it to tracks that are further away. I've been reading the GRM Ultimate Track Tire Guide for a while but I'm still not sure what tire I'd like to run, at least initially. Any recommendations?
Hankook RS-4 is what we use for an endurance tire but it also makes an excellent track day tire. Consistent over the lifespan and last far longer than I would have believed. For the money it's pretty decent and seems better and cheaper than the Toyo R888R (which I also quite like). I tried a set of Federal ZM-201M and did NOT like them. Took forever to warm up (no grip cold) and never got great grip out of them... of the flip side, they last forever.
Are you competing? If so, what class/org?
If not, how important is pace versus longevity?
Do you care about wet performance either on the street or track?
Is it typically cold or hot where you run?
The answers to these question, along with the chart in the Guide, will narrow down the choices.
Andy Hollis said:Are you competing? If so, what class/org?
If not, how important is pace versus longevity?
Do you care about wet performance either on the street or track?
Is it typically cold or hot where you run?
The answers to these question, along with the chart in the Guide, will narrow down the choices.
I expect to compete in some time attack/time trial events but that will not be the car's primary purpose. Initially longevity may be more important but as I develop the car outright pace will take priority. The car will likely never see wet weather so only dry performance is a consideration. I live in Michigan. It will be cooler at the beginning and ends of the season. Part of the choice will be cost and ease of getting the tires.
QuikMcshifterson said:Hankook RS-4 is what we use for an endurance tire but it also makes an excellent track day tire. Consistent over the lifespan and last far longer than I would have believed. For the money it's pretty decent and seems better and cheaper than the Toyo R888R (which I also quite like). I tried a set of Federal ZM-201M and did NOT like them. Took forever to warm up (no grip cold) and never got great grip out of them... of the flip side, they last forever.
Thanks!
Looking at the first chart, it's amazing how much weight savings a racing slick offers over an Endurance 200. Even Endurance 200 vs. Super 200.
J.A. Ackley said:Looking at the first chart, it's amazing how much weight savings a racing slick offers over an Endurance 200. Even Endurance 200 vs. Super 200.
When you don't have to worry so much about real-world puncture resistance or pot-holes, you can leave a lot of steel out of a tire.
You can thank Firestone and the Ford Exploder crisis for that.
And if you think these slicks are light, next time you are at an IMSA race, go to the Michelin tent and pick up one of their "Confidential" slicks. Super high-tech internals like Kevlar for even lighter weight. All that comes at a cost, though.
Andy, question for you to see if I'm evaluating the data correctly.
Looking at the tread pattern, the Conti ExtremeContact Force would appear to be more dry-fast focused than the Conti Extreme Contact Sport (or Sport 02). But the chart would seem to indicate that the Sport is equally fast in the dry while faster in the wet, but wears more rapidly. Given the more rapid wear and better wet performance of the Sport, my gut says that the Force is about the same dry performance because of the tread shape despite the harder compound - fair conclusion?
I'm really just surprised that the Force isn't markedly faster in the dry but I guess that's the trade off for longer wear. Thx.
For our first race in 3 years I just bought the Maxxis VR1s. We loved the RS4s but none were available in our size and the last tire test said the VR1 was a comparable tire. I'm very interested to see how they do.
My favorite Enduro tire was the Rival and I'm sad it's no longer a thing. More grip than the others and lasted just long enough we could do a 14.5 hour race on 6.
In reply to Andy Hollis :
Know for the real test -R7 vs A055 vs new A005. And also Hoosier A7, A005 vs Pirelli Slick too! thanks Andy. I have friends that run the run the A7 to take an early lead in sprint racing with the other drivers in Pirelli's. I like your expanding testing to TT testing as well.
I was really looking forward to this test. I race a Pinto in DP and have always wondered if the full slicks offered any advantage over the more autocross specific R-comps. Most of your tire type comparisons stop at R-comps with little more than a mention of the full slicks. It's unfortunate this set of slicks were so out of date. I'll keep looking for the next comparison.
Olsenkj06 said:I was really looking forward to this test. I race a Pinto in DP and have always wondered if the full slicks offered any advantage over the more autocross specific R-comps. Most of your tire type comparisons stop at R-comps with little more than a mention of the full slicks. It's unfortunate this set of slicks were so out of date. I'll keep looking for the next comparison.
The thing that makes slicks harder to quantify is their application specificity. If your use case matches that for which they were designed, they can be a big win. If not, an r-comp might actually be better. And it's not always that easy to discern exactly what a particular slick's design criteria actually is.
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