re: track tires [long and boring]

[Tess McMillan <tessmc@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Dana!

At the risk of starting a somewhat hottish thread, may I offer my
penny's worth? I'll start with the neutral bits first!

Are you sure the Comp T/A R1 is not available in 14"? When I got my Comp
T/As, it was still impossible to find anything in the G-Force in a street
sized wheel (i.e., 16" and under). I was told by one of the BFGTire 
representatives that the older R1 would continue to be manufactured for a
while because the G-Force was hitting the race circuits first, and would
not be available for the average adventurer.

Second: we've driven quite a bit on the Yoko A008RSII -- which some say is
the follow-up to the A008RS, but that's not really true. The sidewalls and
compound are different, so that one is better for autocross and the other
is better for track. What impressed me the most was handling in the wet;
the Yokos were not squirrely. They survived a year and a half of track
events at SIR and Bremerton, plus four or so events at PIR, and I think
four autocross events. That was two people driving the car, I suppose I
should add, at each of the events. The odd thing is the way they gave out.
I've ridden in race cars whose owners said "I can tell these (BFG) R1s are 
beginning to go away, I can feel less adhesion". There was none of that
'over time' stuff with the Yokos. One day we started out with a ton of
rubber underneath, and then the tires got squirrely for about 2 runs, then
really hot and sticky, and then they corded. It was quite an impressive 
spectrum of events. Of course, I've only had my Comp T/As less than a 
year, so we haven't gotten to the wear point yet. I can tell you I do not
like the way the R1s perform in the wet -- I feel like I'm throttle
steering all the time -- but I know fistfulls of guys who swear by 'em
(they're cheaper, too).

Another fellow I know just bought the new Kumho tire this summer -- at the
time he couldn't find a GForce or Yoko that would fit. He took top time in
his class for a national PCA autocross event on those tires. Earlier in
the summer he said he really liked them (he's an autocross junkie), but at
the last track event at SIR, I noticed he was on a different tire... could
it be the AVS S1? Is that the newest Yoko tire? It was the performance
tire with the gobs of tread, and it was incredibly noisy. I don't know
how he could put up with that sound; you could hear him coming even with a
passle of other cars driving with him.

One last tire: the Yoko AVS Intermediate. I have these on my daily driver,
and they are a *really* nice tire, very grippy, in the dry. Not quite a 
high performance tire, but a durable and performing tire which could be 
driven quite reliably at the track. However, I hate the lack of traction
in the wet! I can think of no other reason for my ABS to keep kicking in
so often on hard braking (in the wet) than the fact that I changed from
Eagle Mud & Snows to a Yoko Intermediate. &:-)
 
That said... I'll digress into my "why spend so much time splitting hairs
on tires when the real proof is in the driving" lecture. The reason I say
this is I've had an ongoing banter with one of my instructors from the
Porsche Club who insists it is more important to drive well at speed in
all conditions and on all kinds of tires than it is to *rely* on a track
tire to get you around the track with the fastest lap time of the day. I
must say I agree with him. Although, driving is much more fun with a
stickier tire, because the capabilities of the car will allow you
to do much more, overall, with a grippier tire. Brake later, turn
snappier... you know. It is just important to remember to take those track
tires off once in a while and see what you can do to your lap times on
street tires. Smoothness (or lack thereof) *really* shows up on this
tell-tale test, in my opinion.

I have really wanted to try the BF Goodrich G-Force, because it is a 
symmetrical tire (were you aware that the T/A is asymmetrical? The outer
sidewall is stiffer to compensate for suspension characteristics --  
if camber is a suspension characteristic -- of the BIG race cars). I
think that might contribute to the faster wear on street-legal coupes. On
the 911, Comp T/A R1s develop a "groove of doom", which is a startlingly
obvious wear pattern but which might have as much to do with the owner's
poor grasp of proper tire pressure than some fault with the tire compound.

Arguing against buying 2 more T/As: How old are the two you have? Don't
forget the compound degrades over time, especially with uv exposure.
You probably need four new tires anyway!

Okay, one last note. Whatever tire you choose will ultimately provide a
very personal driving experience, and it may affect the way you drive the
car at any given event, right? You've driven on performance tires before.
Regardless of what kind of experience each tire provides, and regardless
of what tire you choose (even street), I'm arguing each experience will be
unique and ultimately interesting. I went to Colorado this summer and
drove two identical 996s (that new rear-engine, water-cooled Porsche,
gum-sucking relative to the 911). The cars had different Yokohama tires on
them, and even though they were identical in all other respects, the two
cars drove completely differently (we were allowed to run on an autocross
course to compare). Believe it or not, they were both street-compound
tires, but one had a stiffer sidewall and could be driven *much* faster
according to *my* driving style. You might have preferred the softer
walled tire -- it provided a very emotional, visceral experience. For me,
the soft walled tire was slower because I don't like all that emotion
business and I don't know how to use it to get through a corner.
(Unfortunately also, I really don't like the 996, so I didn't try to
remember what the tires were!)

That's my take, and whether you can use any of the info or not, I hope you
at least had fun reading!

Tess

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