Autocross tires

["George Schweikle" <schweikg@domain.elided>]

> Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 14:46:04 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Tessie McMillan <tessmc@domain.elided>
> Subject: re: tires for autocross, oh my
>
> (snip) ... maybe I don't get out much, but I've never heard of a "not a
track  tire, it's an autocross tire". It's been a few years since I
autcrossed regularly, but the folks I autocrossed with used the same tires
at autocross events as they brought out to the track. We used to run a
smaller diameter wheel on our car (and hence had a different size tire) when
autocrossing, but we never used a different compound tire. Can someone
amplify what is meant here?
>
> Tess
>
Hi Tess,

Believe it or not, there have been different track and autocross tires for
some time. The early R-Compound tires were a trickle down from showroom
stock road racing, where different tire manufacturers produced these things
for advertising  bragging rights. 10 or so years ago, the Hoosier bias ply
"Autocrosser"  changed to a compound too soft for track use (I discovered
this at Lime Rock, where 2 or 3 laps would overheat the tires, and the car
would slide all over the track). The bias ply Hoosier track compound then
was the "Street TD", and is still used today for vintage racing. BFGoodrich
was next with two compounds for their Comp TA R-1 and, for a while, their
Autocross tire had an even shorter life than the Hoosiers. BFG eventually
went back to one compound, but then abdicated their great popularity by
producing the lesser performance G-Force tire, and serious Autocrossers
deserted BFG like the plague. Currently, Hoosier radials come in Autocross
and road racing compounds. The tread depth is approxamitely .010 inch
(really!), which wears off very quickly, leaving just two circumfrential
grooves around this "DOT-Legal" tire.

In the days of BFG dominence, I remember seeing some of their contract
drivers at the SCCA Solo II Championships having their tires shaved to 1/64
in.tread depth. In other words, a one run tire. This just goes to show that
"extremism" can affect almost anything (surely, you seal your track tires in
garbage bags during the winter, so they don't deteriorate from exposure to
ozone?).

Alfa content: I use Hoosier tires.

George Schweikle
Lexington, KY
'76 Spider

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