Aww c'mon, don't make me put effort into going faster.
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So at this point, with the trouble and costs involved, is anyone still interested in this RA1 experiment?
I might be more interested in the NT01 or something else that would last longer and not fall off.
Who cares is my first response. If all you need is a set of tires for the whole year like 10 years ago then it's not a big deal and much better for the entire group. What's the tire rule for the WRL, Chump, Lemons etc? Could that be a factor in the increasing participation in those series?
I think we are going to see the tires fall off no matter what we use, I have a feeling CMC is significantly more competitive than 10 years ago and stickers of xyz tire are still going to net some time.
Yeah I'd like to see a lap time comparison between what people are running now vs. 10 years ago.
Another question I have is were folks in AI seeing the same tire life as the guys in CMC back in the good ol' days?
I can't see running a whole lot longer on NT01's than RR's. WRL limits tires to 200 utqg and on the Miata they are done after one day, but you really have to consider Mike's point about the tire curing. Race tires are not fully cured from the manufacturer, heat and age cure the rubber. Neither of these factors really impact the tire in an enduro because the tread is gone after a day before the tire cures and gets hard. There isn't much point in hoarding tires either because they will age harden. Why don't you run a tire test? I bet everybody would want to know if there is a grippy iron wearing tire that won't chunk out there. I doubt you would be protested.
I kill tires as much now as I did 10 years ago. But the Toyo bucks are much better now, so that helps ease the pain. A 3400# car kills tires, and if you want to run up front, and have the car handle correctly, and not chase setup on bad rubber, that lap time difference for good tires is needed.
At least I get 10-12 heat cycles on the RR. When I raced Touring 2, I'd have to ditch the Hoosiers after 5-6 heat cycles...
I'm in favor of looking into a 200 tread rated tire to see if it would last 5-6 events. I'm happy to be the guinea pig as well. I used 2 sets of tires this year for 3 events and not interested in doing that going forward as I don't understand the point in our type of class-again I only discuss CMC.
Not very relevant to compare lap times to 10 years ago-different tire, different compound, less power, less brake, less shock, less development, more weight for Camaro's, etc.
Previous RA1 nobody was cycling out a tire because it had 5 heat cycles and times didn't drop. The motto was the RA1 sucked but it sucked for a long time. Now we have a tire that is much closer to a Hoosier which benefits lap times but nothing else. Who cares what lap times we run anyway.
Faster laps means you're pushing the tire harder which means faster degradation.
I really don't think a 200tw tire is going to be any better. It may last longer, but you'll still have a drop off in lap times after 7 or 8 heat cycles. I've ran NT05's on my car and saw times drop after 8 heat cycles.
Maxiss rc1 is about $250.00 for 275/35/18 and $205.00 for 275/35/17. Pays free tires to !-3 in every class but AI and CMC
I will be a guinea pig with ya!
Nitto's NT-01 $214 ea free shipping
http://www.jegs.com/i/Nitto/726/40294/10002/-1
2 for 1 race and rain tire.
Dennis, we haven't tried them. Like everybody else we want to evaluate ways to cut cost. I have 4 sets of RR's with less than 3 heat cycles. If we decicde to run some races out side of AI, then I could see us trying a different brand. We do a lot of testing so we know pretty well where the tires start to drop off based on our car and driver. Results will vary from track to track. I don't see us putting the time and expense into doing the same with RA1's. We generally heat cycle a set and put them away,some times we use them for quaili. We always have a heat cycled set for the toyo races and run older tires for the inverts. It's a system that works for us.
Thanks Tam. I have heard good and bad about the Maxxis, but no relevant data. I was told it is a street compound grooved to look like a race tire, but on lighter cars not pushed to the limit it seems to last longer than the softer compounds. I was mainly interested in finding a practice tire I could run longer than the RR, but I think buying used RR's is the way to go for practice tires. I haven't run any new Hoosiers yet, only cycled out tires and they are terrible once they fall off. Mike hit the nail on the head, the car weight is the main factor with any tire run. He has been driving at the tire limit for a long time, just look at the consistency of his lap times. I believe that the group is just getting faster, there is not any tire issue, winning will mitigate tire budget issues and any unshaved street compound will chunk. JMHO
yah there will never be any magic tire that will last a season on todays cars with current speeds. just not a reality. and RA1's are not any better. shaving is a pain to have to deal with and pay for all the time. and getting tires that are shaved well and consistant is a whole nutha issue.
It would be nice if Toyo took the RR construction and just changed the rubber to a 200 tread wear formula and call it the RR-Endurance
Interesting idea Marshall, the tire molds for the RR have already been cast. It would introduce an F1 style wrinkle into the series.
Maybe a post-production "green stripe" or "red stripe" to designate the difference.
Well those jokers pitched the RR as a response to racer demand, so don't hold your breath. That said, I'm not seeing a significant drop in lap times on RRs in my region. This is part of what drives rule changes. What are the racing surfaces like here in RM vs there in TX or GL/MW? These are all factors that must be considered when making a change like this.
I have been thinking that too about RM, maybe different aggregate in the paving that doesn't get polished as easily as in the flatland. There are a handful of drivers in TX that fully understand setup and are driving at the pro level. Like EF Hutton when they speak about tires, I listen. We have some really fast wabbits to chase in TX.