what tire setup for a short road track?

[tuj]

Hi all:

I'm wondering what the best setup is for a short road course. The track is twisty and the straight has a chicane that prevents getting out of 3rd gear at my current stock hp levels. So I'm confused if I should choose an autocross tire or a track tire? I need them to last about 6 track-days a year, with a day consisting of perhaps 4 sessions of short running (6 laps).

Also, I'm going to want to put more power down so I'm considering a staggered setup. I have always been a fan of square setups for tight autocross courses but I think it would be beneficial to have more rear tire here.

Some of the tires I'm thinking about:
V710 - I've had these before for my autocross Miata.
A6 - I have driven these on a Miata, preferred the V710.
R6 - haven't tried.

Others worth thinking about? What sizes will fit out back without modification?

[Kgolf31]

With 6 laps you might be able to get away with an A7.

Have you ever ran on Hoosiers?

[tuj]

I did some autocross in a Miata on A6's. I also did the same in a 350Z a while back on the R6's. Both were obviously better than street rubber, but they didn't feel as good to me as the V710's I used on my Miata at autocross or the Dunlop SSR R-comps I had on my RX-8 on the track.

I have not driven the A7.

We do 6-lap sessions here so you need tires that heat up quickly, which is why I was thinking about the V710's. And our track features many corners that are what I would consider similar to fast-sweepers in autocross, fairly tight 2nd gear corners.

I'm open to any suggestions as I've been out of the tire game for a while. I hear the RE-71R's are a good 200-treadwear tire and are close to r-compounds?

We usually do four 6-lap sessions a day, 5-6 events per year. Ideally I'd like a tire that can handle at least 3 events in terms of heat cycles.

Here's an idea of our track:



Those were the speeds I was hitting on the stock OEM run-flat Dunlops. To give you an idea, a quick time on this track is considered 1:30 or under.

[hoki06]

What's your budget? Is this for competition? If it is competition, what are the rules? What is your level of driving experience?

I often feel that people use r-comp tires too early in their driving career. There is so much to be learned by driving street tires at the limit and it's much safer for learning car control.

As for your original question... Unless you feel like dumping tons of money on Hoosier A7s, I'd go with a sticky street tire like the RE-71R. Hoosier R7s will not heat up as quickly as you'll want for that type of course.

[Kgolf31]

I run RE-71Rs, it's really a great tire but still not R-Compound. It however is a great void in the marketplace from Typical High Performance Tire and R Compound.

I run them, you can expect more than 3 events easily. You can run them to the cords and they keep on getting quicker. If you like shaving you can shave them as well

[tuj]

My experience is 5 seasons of autocross with several cars (NA Miata, NC Miata, RX-8), along with 2 SCCA Evolution schools, and multiple track days at Mid-Ohio, and successfully completing 5 fast laps of the Nurburgring in a rented Mercedes 190 (seriously). I did almost all of that on r-compounds after my first season of autocross on sticky street tires. The two tires I have owned are the V710 (in multiple sizes, multiple times) and the Dunlop SSR original R-comp. Also I placed 2nd in B-Stock the in 2004 in the Midwest SCCA regional and 1st in the local Cincinnati division. I consistently PAX in the top 1/3rd of drivers.

The OEM Dunlop runflats are a very nice perk around here in Puerto Rico, where potholes abound, but they are incredibly disappointing at the track. Therefore wifey understands my go-fast need and will let me get a set of wheels and tires. I need the tires to last at least 3 events, four 6-lap sessions per event. That's a total of 12 mini-heat cycles (we have about 20-30 minutes between sessions) or 4 major heat cycles.

Again, we have many sharpish corners as you can see from the track map data I posted above. So I need something that will warm up on lap 1 because usually by lap 3 or 4 you are encountering traffic, either from in front or from behind. We space the cars, but it is inevitable over the course of a session usually.

This is for competition, however we use a points system of classifications. There is no penalty for 200-treadwear tires, there is 1-point added for r-comps. Therefore I can technically run any r-comp or I could run the RE-71R's plus have room for something else like coil-overs (1-point).

So my question is, I see basically 3 choices:
-a hard r-compound like the R6 which will easily last a season, but may not reach operating temps.

-a really soft autocross tire like the V710 or the A6, but they may not last a whole season.

-RE-71R's but they may not be fast enough?

-some compromise in-between?

Budget is not a concern; I buy once, cry once. Just don't make me have to buy twice! :-)

[Kgolf31]

If you don't have camber you're going to cord those R-Comps fairly quickly I'd imagine...especially with the slow autox corners.

I've pulled 1.45 max G in turns on concrete with RE-71Rs, they are a different crop of high performance tires from last year with the RS3s. Not even in the same ballpark. We were seeing easily a 1 second delta over 60 seconds AT LEAST with RS3s to RE-71Rs. Plus the stiff sidewall will help with the camber challenge.

[tuj]

Whoa... No one down here is running the RE-71R's either....

[tuj]

what do you guys suggest for sizing? Staggered or square? 18's or 17's?