RE: tires for autocross, oh my

["Brian Shorey" <bshorey@domain.elided>]

Few comments:

> one given compound (say, R1s). Some tires are intended for rain, and some
> are better for dry. If you take a treaded rain track tire and shave it,
> it will behave quite decently in the dry. Some tires behave very very

Careful here.  I don't believe rain track tires are intended to be run in
the dry - I believe they're somewhat dependent on wet conditions to keep
them cool, within their operating temp range.  If the track is dry they can
overheat.

<snip>
> Also, 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

It has been a while Tess.  There are certainly differences between track and
autocross compounds.  Autocross compounds heat up *much* quicker, and are
not intended to be run for extended sessions.  Take them on the track and
you'll cook them pretty quickly.  Track compounds, on the other hand, may
not even be heated up by the time your autocross run is over..

<snip>
> However, if the track tire has no tread it is not going to grip in the
> wet because there are no grooves for the water to be expressed away from
> the tire. I do wish to point out that if you only have two tires, this

Not entirely true.  I ran on R1's in the wet at Lime Rock a few years ago,
and the tires had astounding grip.  However, big caveat here, there was no
standing water.  The track was wet, but no real puddles, and the tires had
great grip.

On the ride home I hit some standing puddles and the car almost launched
itself into the guardrail.  Not fun.

bs
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