Originally Posted by
Adam Ginsberg
Unfortunately, I don't have any copies of the test sheets, nor the results, as we weren't allowed to keep them. There were a total of 4 sets of Toyos bolted to my car - my original set (went out just to make sure everything was good on the car), a brand new set of freshly shaved RA1's, then two different compounds of RR's (also brand new).
S1 involved going out and running on my existing Toyos, making sure the car was ok. S2 was the fresh set of shaved RA1's to get a baseline. S3 was RR-A, S4 was RR-B. I was instructed to run the ENTIRE session (20+min), taking ~2-3 laps to get up to speed/temp, then run them as hard as possible for the rest of the session. Engineers were on hand to take tire temps/pressures, answer questions, and collect data sheets from the drivers after each session.
There were NO changes made to my car, at all, beyond bolting the rims and tires onto my hooptie. We used the same pressures I normally run.....AAMOF, that's exactly what the engineers wanted me to do.
The RR's were used in the 3 hour enduro that evening (not sure which compound, likely both but I'm not positive), but I don't know what the outcome was regarding longevity. Testing involved an SM, a 944, my car, and an AI car. It was a very interesting day, and I was quite tired (ha!) at the end.
For those "doubters" (DL and MFW) - I can tell you, honestly, from my discussions with the NASA and Toyo folks in the days leading up to testing, during the day of testing, and that weekend......they (particularly NASA) had no desire to repeat the previous R888 tire-change clusterfuck. It was very much at the forefront of their minds.
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