Tire Issues

[marshall_mosty]

Guys,
I think we can all agree that the Toyo RR has perceived “issues” with lifespan. Toyo only provides a very minimal contingency that doesn’t get even close to supporting the tire budget for anyone other than the winners. Here is a thought…
“AIX – Heavy” (AI Cars)
“AIX – Light” (CMC Cars)
Cars that are running an “open tire” class with a gentlemen’s agreement to follow their parent ruleset. We can agree on a commonly available DOT tire that can be used in lieu of Toyos. The idea would be to get a tire with less total grip, but a longer lifespan. We could use a rule for a minimum treadwear (150, etc). This would allow folks to possibly run a set of tires an entire season and not worry about the effects of heat cycling.
Granted, there would be no Toyo contingency, but your total tire bill would be less than if you had used Toyos.

For the trophy girls:
Toyo RR ($1100/set) * 3 sets per year, assuming two weekends per set = $3,300. If you get an average of $300 per weekend in contingency (winner of a 7+ field), you would have $1,800 in contingency. That would put your total tire budget at approx. $1,500 per year. A decent 275/40 17 tire (Kimho Ecsta XS) would run $200/tire ($800 per set). Assuming one set per year, you would save $800.

For the rest of folks who stretch tire life:
Toyo RR ($1100/set) * 2 sets per year, assuming three weekends per set = $2,200. If you get no contingency, it would put your total tire budget at approx. $2,200 per year. A decent 275/40 17 tire would run $200/tire ($800 per set). Assuming one set per year, you would save $1,400.


We could still do the same split grid, based on sub-class. Points would have to be figured out, but if that is the most difficult part of the equation, we are miles ahead.

Think of this as a baby version of the AIX outlaw class on the west coast...

[Suck fumes]

We have run the kumho XS at the driveway for 5 yrs and they are great but they will not last a season. I can't see any tire lasting a whole season. Yah you buy less of something but on a racecar all tires will get destroyed somehow. Either by chunking, chording, or tread flare.

[ShadowBolt]

I like the idea to at least look at doing something but I doubt there is anyone that runs a full schedule that can get by on two sets of tires. With the current RR's if you run a half day practice on Friday with three sessions ands then the race weekend you are putting 11 heat cycles on your tires every race weekend! The savings would be way better than that you are saying. I don't know but have always wondered how many more racers you could get into the sport if you could get a season out of even two sets of tires.


JJ

[ShadowBolt]

We have run the kumho XS at the driveway for 5 yrs and they are great but they will not last a season. I can't see any tire lasting a whole season. Yah you buy less of something but on a racecar all tires will get destroyed somehow. Either by chunking, chording, or tread flare.

I assume you would need to shave them. I think two sets per year should be our goal but I don't know if it is possible.

JJ

[Tilton]

Nitto NT01 $205/tire $820/set

[kbrewmr2]

I'm just going to drop this here with the note that AIX (and many other open tire classes) are eligible. I've seen some good things out of them thus far from some of my budget TT guys that run them. They seem to be fairly "RA1" like in terms of their degridation curve but I've not run them to see for myself yet. No shaving, and will probably take some racing abuse for sure.

http://www.nasaproracing.com/conting...gency_Info.pdf

[mach1]

Nitto NT01 $205/tire $820/set

AKA 6/32 Toyo RA1??

[Rob Liebbe]

I am all for a non-contingency tire. The current RR and rumor of two-race weekends has me really reconsidering coming back to CMC. I'll take the new car, put a passenger seat in it and go run DE's in the instructor class with open passing on NT01's. I would really like to see some serious thought into running one spec tire for all or have CMC on one tire and AI on a more racy/aggressive tire. It could be CMC and Spec Iron on Nitto NT01's and AI on Toyo RR's for example. Adding extra classes will only get confusing, and more difficult to keep track of. We already had that with CMC1, CMC2, AI and allowing wings on all cars. The different colored windshield banners didn't do enough to help spectators know what was going on.

In the end, we are NASA customers, people who NASA should listen to, people who could stop coming to their events, people who could stop buying Toyo tires, etc. I really like the idea of running the NT01 if it still the equivalent of an RA1 which they seem to be for now. Nitto is part of Toyo if I remember correctly, spec Nittos and change the required sticker and everybody wins.

Your mileage may vary, and your viewpoint and goals may be different. Mine are to run a few race weekends a year, have fun with my buds, not wreck anybody else's car all while not spending a huge amount of money on tires for no good reason.


Cheers.

[Suck fumes]

I'm all for a tire that doesn't require shaving!

[blk96gt]

I've talked to a number of people who run NT01's at DE's and they seem to be able to get at least 2.5-3 weekends (most get 3-4) out of a set with a minimal performance degradation (< 1 second). This is on cars weighing anywhere from 2800lbs to 4000+lbs.

I've been impressed enough with the 01's from talking to others that I'm planning to buy another set of rims and put some NT01's on for DE weekends. I can report back with my experience.