More durable/affordable tire option?

[Supercharged111]

FWIW I had the 615s when they first came out, so pre-K, and they got greasy and scary when hot. This was on a 2400# car in the touge of Okinawa, no way in hell I ever heated those the way I have heated tires on the Camaro and Z06 here on real tracks. That's always stuck in the back of my mind. I know the compound has changed, but I never really hear of people raving about these tires for track days, HPDE, etc even if they are the Formula D tire of choice. I'd caution you about trying to get a contingency deal from Falken though, you'd be stepping on NASA/Toyo toes.

[ShadowBolt]

The NT01's make more since to me but if we get a tire that last we don't need a contingency.


JJ

[Sook]

The NT01's make more since to me but if we get a tire that last we don't need a contingency.


JJ

The NT01 is still a Toyo, I'm skeptical that one way or another we won't get screwed again.

- Josh

[drecords]

FWIW I had the 615s when they first came out, so pre-K, and they got greasy and scary when hot. This was on a 2400# car in the touge of Okinawa, no way in hell I ever heated those the way I have heated tires on the Camaro and Z06 here on real tracks. That's always stuck in the back of my mind. I know the compound has changed, but I never really hear of people raving about these tires for track days, HPDE, etc even if they are the Formula D tire of choice. I'd caution you about trying to get a contingency deal from Falken though, you'd be stepping on NASA/Toyo toes.

My understanding is that the 615K+ fixed the greasing issue...haven't read anyone having trouble with new compound tires specifically.

On contingency, my thought would be that we wouldn't pursue it given than the number of tires needed per season was drastically reduced. Even winning an event a weekend and finishing well in another, a top guy is spending 3-500 per event to stay on sticker RR's depending on how close to the top step of the podium he was. If Azenis last say, 3 weekends we're spending $250-275 per weekend on tires. If you don't get contingency, well...you guys can do math

I'm not looking to step on toes w.r.t. toyo and NASA, just trying to find a way to make our racing more cost effective and still just as much fun. TOYO makes the R1R which is a 200TW street tire, maybe we consider that option?

The NT01 is made by Nitto...so we'd still be leaving the toyo umbrella with that one, though I liked those tires on the ecobooze at COTA.

[ShadowBolt]

My understanding is that the 615K+ fixed the greasing issue...haven't read anyone having trouble with new compound tires specifically.

On contingency, my thought would be that we wouldn't pursue it given than the number of tires needed per season was drastically reduced. Even winning an event a weekend and finishing well in another, a top guy is spending 3-500 per event to stay on sticker RR's depending on how close to the top step of the podium he was. If Azenis last say, 3 weekends we're spending $250-275 per weekend on tires.

I'm not looking to step on toes w.r.t. toyo and NASA, just trying to find a way to make our racing more cost effective and still just as much fun. TOYO makes the R1R which is a 200TW street tire, maybe we consider that option?

The NT01 is made by Nitto...so we'd still be leaving the toyo umbrella with that one, though I liked those tires on the ecobooze at COTA.

I think Nitto is made by or owned by Toyo.
My question is how many more racers could we get if we had a tire that lasted three weekends?

JJ

[Sook]

The RR is durable, it'll last 3-5 weekends in terms of rubber. It's the first weekend that's 2 seconds/lap faster that's the issue. If Toyo baked out the tires before they sold them we'd probably not be having this conversation.

A tire that's equally bad for 3 weekends would be excellent. A tire that's fast the first weekend and horrible forever after doesn't make for a good amateur race tire IMO.

- Josh

[drecords]

I think Nitto is made by or owned by Toyo.
My question is how many more racers could we get if we had a tire that lasted three weekends?

JJ

I don't know the answer to this, I don't know that it's something we can count on...most people who look to get into the sport come at it from a car cost perspective and less on what consumables cost initially. At least that was my experience.

I'm coming at this from the angle that it's unsustainable to have a $10k race car and spend $6-8k on tires per season to be competitive.

That being said, I think CMC will be a more attractive landing spot for folks making the step to W2W if we have competitive operating costs. To attract more racers I think we should look to what Spec Corvette is doing w.r.t. social media presence, etc. Different subject for a different thread though...

[mach1]

It would be great to stay Toyo and maybe work some kind of contingency, I hear the R1R falls off pretty quick after a few laps though. I wonder what the best 200TW tire is for our application.

[drecords]

It would be great to stay Toyo and maybe work some kind of contingency, I hear the R1R falls off pretty quick after a few laps though. I wonder what the best 200TW tire is for our application.

A quick Google says they get greasy in higher temps and were more aimed at being an AX tire. We're limited by the 275/40/17, and my goal was to keep that size because we would be able to keep same wheels, etc. I'll do some more research on all the tires in 275/40/17 in the 200TW range and report back this evening. My main priority is a tire that's consistent through it's life and still fun to drive on...

[Trublu]

Ahh, the annual tire thread. My two cents: Wouldn’t it be simpler to have a tire allowance per season retaining Toyos and contingency they offer? Plenty of race classes manage this fairly easily