Goodyears,Hoosiers and BFG's

["Carl Buckland" <buckland@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have been a loyal BFG R1 user for years, but when rubber got scarce of
late, I started looking around for alternatives.  This past week, I had a
chance to try several different tires, and would like to share my
thoughts.  I was in Denver for the National Tour, for two full days of
practice, and the Solo Trials Nationals.  The surface was all medium grip
concrete, temperatures from 85 to 105.  The Tour courses were 45 to 60
seconds long, all second gear (in my then 3.23 geared M3. I borrowed a diff
from
good friend Bob Tunnell, who certainly had nothing to worry about from me,
but what a great thing to do.  He let me take it right out of his T2 road
race car!)  The practice course, on Monday, was the Sunday Tour course. 
The Solo Trials courses were about 1.28 miles long (guess), with times
running about 82 to 90 seconds (speeds up to 85++).  It was a good forum
for tire testing.

First, the word on BFG's:  the R1 compound is history after 
September.  Team TA will supply tires to those who place early orders for
the SCCA Solo II Championships, and then they will be gone forever.  After
that, the g Force will be available, but not in plentitude until after the
SCCA runoffs in October.  If you need tires in the next few weeks, and
want BFG's, better put in your order immediately (it may already be too
late).  BTW,  I have used the new g Force, and found it to be somewhat
stickier, needing less air preasure, and to wear like iron!  They are a
whole size larger across the board, so if you used a 255 R1, better plan
on going to a 245 g Force.  This past week,  I did not race on any R1's
(all mine 
were too warn or heat cycled to be truly competitive), but I did use them for
practice, so that I could compare them to the other  two tire brands that
I used for the races.  For reference,  I let my R1's heat up to 34
front, 33 rear, and keep them there (or slightly lower on occation).

On Saturday,  I mounted  some sticker Goodyear GS-CS tires on my 
new Fikse FM 10's.  The rims are 17 x 9, with a 44mm offset.  I use 
15mm spacers in front (I hear that 5mm will do the job).  The rear 
fender lips are seriously squashed; 1.8 degs neg camber.  Fronts:  
4 degs neg camber.  The fit is perfect.  The tires, 245/40's, are 
about .5 inch wider than a BFG 255.   The contact patch of the 
Goodyears, mounted on the 9" rims,  is *visibly* flatter and wider 
than the 255 R1 mounted on the 8" BBS.  The tires come with 
3/32 tread, and are not shaved.  They "appear" to be asymetrical AND
directional, but all of the tires that I got were "lefts!"  I found out
later that the *direction* of the "tread" is unimportant, and that only
newbies and geeks complain to Goodyear about their "mistaken shipment"(I
was warned, but too late, by Alex Long at Fikse).   All they have ever
made were "left" tires. The *asymetry* is only important for the first few
miles of use; when the grooves are warn down,  they can be remounted. 
This is a HUGE advantage over the truly asymetrical R1's, which have
asymetrical sidewalls, and are NOT reversable. 

The Goodyears are a true *road racing* tire, and require a fair 
amount of heat to work well.  They also require negative camber;  if you
are running a pure stocker, you may want to add plates.  Don't count on
BFG to bail you out of this dilema, either, for the "built in" negative
camber of the old R1 will not be there in the g Force (at least that is my
information.  Correct me if I am wrong, on this or anything else for that
matter, accept for my spelling, which is my own buziness).  Back to the
GS-CS's.......they work best at lower air preasures than R1's.  I used 30
front, and 29 rear, and kept it there all day, regardless of how heated up
they got. Pyro readings across the tread bore out the wisdom (or luck) of
this approach.   The problem is this, and it is a big one:  until they get
a bit warmed up, they are very sluggish, and tend to feel like they are
rolling over, and they growl like an old dog.  If you start off on higher
preasures, they are like ice skates (ask Todd who went into a truly lurid
three-quarter spin at 80+ on hard tires) .   So, I started out with low
preasures,
and kept them there.   Once warmed up,   they stick like baby shit on the
wall!  I found them "ok" for autocrossing (on a very hot day),  and
sensational for Solo Trials, especially after they got hot.  In Solo
Trials, you drive around the course on recon laps for a sufficient amount
of time to heat them, so that by the time you race, they are almost hot
enough, and by the second lap (of 2 for qualification, 5 for the race) ,
they are what I would imagine slicks to feel like.  

Goodyear is busy supplying Mr. Schumacher and his lesser pals, so 
any race tires from them are VERY hard to come by.  I bought mine 
through Roger Kraus Racing in California. 
                              510-582-5031
Their man Burt went WAY beyond the call of duty to get Todd and I the tires, 
and deserves all the business that I can send him.  Expect to pay full
retail (we 
did) of about $200 each, plus shipping.   Goodyear's director of racing,  Bob 
Shaffer, told me that they lose $40 for every GS-CS that they make, so the
price 
is firm.  However, they plan to start producing tires in Chile soon, and will
be able to drop the prices to compete more directly with BFG and Hoosier. 
But these tires, at least for road racing, are in a class of their own, and
probably 
worth the extra dough.  I have not yet tried the Hoosier road racers, but
plan to, 
and will report.  

I did, however, have a chance to try the sensational Hoosier 
autocross tires on Sunday.  Ron Vermon of RS Racing:
                                   1-888-261-1243

had a tire shop at the track, and mounted up some 245/40's on my 8" RC rims.  
These tires are also wider than a BFG 255, but (like the Goodyear), 
slightly shorter.  They didn't get the desired heat cycling, but were
ultra sticky right out of the truck!  We started with 60 lbs in the front
and 50 in the rear (believe it! ), and after each run, dropped the
preasure, settling in at 48 front, 43 rear as optimum for MY car, on THIS
day, on THAT surface.  The grip is amazing, and helped me to a third place
finish (out of 14) in the National Tour.  Not bad for a 3200 lb luxury box.
 As a 
side benefit, the Hoosiers weigh 18 lbs, whereas the BFG's in the same size
weigh in at  24 lbs.

more to come.

Carl





Carl Buckland
Salt Lake City, Utah
FAX 801-531-6690 
   

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