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Star specs for me. I ran thru a set of 18″ that I used for street and autocross. They lasted me about a year and 13k miles. They grip like crazy and have a firm sidewall, something I like. As a street tire, they get very loud as they wear down. As an autocross tire they are excellent. Unlike Aleksey’s experience, i don’t think they get greasy towards the end of my runs. I do monitor tire pressure and don’t like them over 40psi hot, 38-39psi is more my preference.
I now have a dedicated set in 17″ that I use for autocross and occasional track day. I have been running r-comp tires for track days for a few years and last summer switched to the Star Spec. Reason being, I do more autocross than track and wanted a dedicated set for both. I ran them for two days in 100+ degree heat at Buttonwillow last July and was very impressed with them. I’m not the fastest advanced student out there, but I found they gripped just as good as the r-comps I was running. I had trust issues on the first day thinking they were not as up to the task as the r-comps were, so I didn’t push it. But, as the day went on, they proved they were up to the task and I really pushed it on Sunday. I was very impressed with them at the track too.
IMO they lose their grip as they approach the wear bars, so I like to replace them at that point.
I run the Hankook V12 Evo’s on my street wheels and love them. They are quiet, comfortable, and plenty grippy for my frequent mountain twisty driving (I live in the Santa Cruz Mountains). I prefer them to the RE11 for street driving. My DSC light flickers far less with the Hankook’s, hard to believe for the price, but that’s my experience. I have not autocrossed them and think I would not like them over the Star Specs. The soft sidewall on the Hankook is the deal breaker for me there. Excellent street tire though.
Some folks run the RS3, which I read and hear is another excellent autocross tire. Apparently they wear fast though, like 7k-8k miles for mixed use. I get almost twice that out of the Star Specs, so they trumped the RS3 for me.
I can say if you’re a novice/low intermediate driver, you may still be working on your technique and style of autocrossing. If you get a lot of push and power thru it, you’ll eat up the fronts quickly. I’m not saying you do that, but based on my experience, it took me a season or so to dial myself in. Grip is good, but if you eat tires, might be good to use something less expensive to start. If cost is not an issue, then go for the good stuff right off the bat.
You’ll see many cars wearing Star Specs tomorrow. I was a big Bridgestone S-03 fan on my previous car and the Star Spec reminds me a lot of that tire. Similar tread pattern, tons of grip, firm sidewall, everything I like.
I let more people in after reg close yesterday and I’m trying to split us up into 3 groups now… less cars per group = shorter wait times, which I know people prefer. Problem is, not quite enough workers to cover all the positions.
If we could get 5 more people to sign up, hint hint hint, we’d be golden. I’ve tweeted and facebooked the membership… rattle some cages of your friends and get them to contact me before noon tomorrow.
65 drivers registered, 51 workers… two run groups. Since all of our systems are setup for 8 official runs (1 practice) that’s all we can do for competition.
But, we’ll have tons of time for fun runs if people want to stick around.
You can drive any c-class car and still earn points. So far I do not see Laszlo Jr. on the reg list.
This could be a very strategic event for some of you.
We teach… slow in, fast out. fast in, spin out. 🙂
Totally agree with both comments… you can’t ask your car to do two things at once, like turn and accelerate. You get on the gas as you unwind the wheel and straighten the car out. If the tires are shouting, open the wheel until they sing instead. Even an inch movement in the wheel can do wonders. A singing tire is a happy tire! Treat your tires like a Faberge’ Egg and they will reward you with grip and speed.
Watch all of the videos in the 4/14 video thread, listen to throttle application and tire noises, and watch the hand work on those where you can see it. You won’t hear any screamingly upset tires by those folks, just happily singing tires. Autocross is not track… you can cheat at the track by exercising your right foot on the straights, but at autocross you cannot do that. You must keep the car dancing on the edge of grip and balanced at all times.
Unfortunately, Star Specs are not available in 19″ sizes. Tim settled on the Bridgestone RE11 for the ISF for that reason. You will roast tires until you prefect your technique, so I suggest going less expensive while you’re working yourself thru that. Hankook Evo V12’s are inexpensive and decent enough.
Mod the driver before the car. If someone is out there running faster than you in the same car, it has to be technique vs equipment. Get rides with those people and have them ride with you, observe, listen, learn.
To add to what Hal said…
DWS example, there are 4 16″ sizes available with a measuring rim width of 7″, which is: [i]the industry standardized rim width upon which the tire must be mounted in order to confirm it meets its dimensional targets[/i]. This is what Hal means by “too wide will move around on the rim.” Stick with a tire with a measuring rim width that matches your rim width.
Of those four tires, the 205/45/16 is the smallest diameter = more revs per mile. This effectively raises your rear diff ratio without taking the point hit.
http://www.mysporttrac.com/mysporttrac/projects/TireSizeChangesAndGearing.pdf
This is good for autocross. If this is the way you want to go, looks like the Conti is your only choice in that size.
On weight, it is a good thing to consider as well. I believe the general understanding is, one pound of wheel/tire (unsprung weight) is about the same as 8-10 pounds of sprung weight. Our classification system does not consider wheel weight = free weight savings. My stock wheel/tire combination weighs approximately 53# per corner, but what I run for a/x is approx 42# per corner. Do the math. 🙂
Treadwear ratings are only comparable to tires by the same manufacturer. A 540 rating on a Conti does not equal a 540 on a Bridgestone or other make. This number is pretty useless other than to compare a 500ish to a 100ish, obviously the 100ish is a stickier tire. But, a 140 on a BStone compared to a 180 on a Conti doesn’t necessarily mean the Conti isn’t as soft or will last longer – too close to compare like that.
Tire Rack has a boatload of tech information on their site: http://www.tirerack.com/about/techcenter.jsp
This is because the shirt color is part of the design, right? Are five colors possible? ‘Mo money probably.
All can learn a lot from your video Eric. Notice how aggressive he is… constantly feeling the grip and working the wheel as he [b]charges [/b]through the course. He’s super tight on the cones and hits all his marks. It looks like you’re inches away from the slalom cones.
We can’t see Hal’s hands, but you can bet he’s working the car similarly. He has a nice tight line as well. Line is super important to fast times.
I think my #1 observation when I’m in the right seat with less experienced folks is – shyness. If the driver has good car control, I’ll try to break them out of their shell. I rode with Brendan P for a few runs, got him attacking the course harder, then he went out solo on his last run and knocked almost 2 full seconds off his best time. Right on!
Maybe some other coaches had a similar experience.
[quote=”isfnfast” post=179]Thanks Brian for the quick turnaround…and the coaching![/quote]
Ditto! My middle runs were getting worse until you pointed out my brain phartz. And we are direct competitors in the same class now, which speaks volumes about the spirit of our autocross program.