DOUG @ ECS

Just curious what most guys are running in the St-1 class? I have a handful of tires stocked away, but sometime mid season I'm going to have to purchase more, and I was wondering what most of the Corvette guys are running.

thanks,

RAFTRACER

For the most part the Hoosier A6 is what most use.....Takes some consideration to tire management especially in high ambient temperatures. Still not worth taking the .75:1 pwr/wt hit for radial slicks.

DOUG @ ECS

That was exactly what I was looking for was whether or not people were taking the hit for slicks or not. Thanks

Lawdogg

Seems strange that the NASA rules seem to encourage the use of an autox tire for road racing.

RAFTRACER

I can understand there being a modifier to the pwr/wt ratio for using slicks , but .75:1 is a strong hit......Especially when in venues such as TT the A6's are actually as fast or faster than the slicks. TT isn't racing though .....and there are trade-offs to make the DOT tire last for 25-40 minutes.

wallyman424

Its not that nasas rules push us to the a6, its hoosier making the a6 such an awesome tire that makes us use it

RAFTRACER

Yes, it is indeed awesome, especially on a ST2 car.....Awesome also on an ST1 car, but easier to overheat with the power...That coupled with the neavy non-DOT tire pwr/wt hit makes it a very easy choice ..

davidfarmer

this sounds like a great reason to make club races longer.....45 minutes! I think Hoosier should discourage A's for RR use as well. The fastest guys (TT or RR) win races and get free tires, they slower guys keep either spending lots of money on fresh tires or simply not being able to compete.

Many of you guys go through more tires than I did when I was racing in World Challenge!

wallyman424

Mid A runs one 45 minute race and one 25 minute one per weekend. I still run A6's with little/no noticeable drop off.

I typically run my A6's double duty w/ TT and racing for 2 full weekends before I let them go. I only really run stickers when I know someone fast is showing up, or I think the weather/track will be good enough to bust out a record lap.

RAFTRACER

Wont much matter unless they step up the performance of the R6....Hoosier will tell you that the A6 driven @ 90% is faster than the R6 at 100%, given that with tire management the A6 will always be faster even in longer races...In TT there is no question of which tire to be on.

Not that I like having to run autocross tires, but these are the choices from Hoosier that we are faced with.

Lawdogg

What if NASA banned A6s for races or reduced the penalty for slicks?

AU N EGL

Reduce the penalty for slicks would be a great option.

but the Good Year G19s are much faster.

Maybe Hoosier should just stamp DOT on the sidewalls of the R80s and R100s

wallyman424

Why in the world would nasa do that? This is racing, you run the best product available. When it comes to DOT tires, IMHO thats the A6.

Reducing the penalty for slicks is an idea, however there ARE tires out there (michelins, GY) that are well worth the .75 adjustment.

Lawdogg

I don't really have a dog in this fight since I'm running a stock Z06 in TTU with street tires (haven't upgraded the dry sump system to handle more stick), but David has a great point about the costs of running competitively in ST1 and ST2 using A6s.

wallyman424

Not to be harsh, or come off as an *** (though I may sometimes) this is racing, not a charity. This whole sport revolves around spending money...

But more importantly, in my experience the A6 lasts LONGER than an R6 (at least when were talking about the number of fast heat cycles you get out of them). When I ran R6's I got 5-10 good HC's out of them. With the A6's I've run some disgustingly fast laps on 30HC tires... Specifically my 1:16.7 at summit was done on such tires.

What make tires more of an arguing point than brake pads or car build in general? Are we going to go on to ban people who bring in 911 cup cars etc?

magnetic1

LOL, reminds me of a thread where someone suggested contingency payouts be structured based on income levels.

Cant find the thread now, but was funny. This isnt socialist racing. There is a set rulebook. Your choice whether you want to optimize to the max.

Lawdogg

I can see the point about optimizing to the max, but isn't a legitmate goal of amateur racing organizations to work at keeping the costs down for everyone? A6s, with the limited run time, seem to have a high cost for all but those who win contingency tires. Wouldn't slicks be a more cost effective choice and, one that more drivers would make, if not for the significant weight penalty? If David is right that tire costs for NASA can exceed tire costs for pro teams in World Challenge would a rule change just possibly be a good idea?

96CollectorSport

The Hoosier contingency is also a big reason why people run the A6's, being able to win a set of tires a weekend is a big plus.

If you could get your hands on the Michelin ALMS slicks it would be worth the .75, but you would spend more $$$ and have no chance at contingency. I know Goodyear has some tires availible but no-one has shown that they are any faster than the Hoosiers.

Every year at Nationals there is talk about running R6's vs A6's but the way I look at it is even in a 45 minute race by the time the R6's become faster you're too far behind to challange, plus it's a lot harder to pass someone later in a race than it is at the start.

I think Aaron has run the R100's the last 2 years in ST1, unfortunately he never get's to finish his races at Nationals. He is typically toward the top of the time sheets even if he does take the .75 hit.

That is one of the fun/interesting things about NASA for the most part the A6 is what everyone is running, however if someone shows up with a different package and kicks butt others will follow, or at least try to.

wallyman424

couple things

- slicks have worse life length than DOT tires like A6's
- In my (and many other peoples experience) A6's are more cost effective than R6's when you take lap times into account

The thing is, if you want low cost racing, ST2 and ST1 are NOT the place to go. There's plenty of classes with spec tires.

Falcon

I remember at a drivers' meeting at the 2007 Nationals at M/O, someone brought up the cost of something and what NASA could do to lessen it. Greg Greenbaum said pretty much what Wally said. He said this is racing and it's expensive and NASA isn't there to create economy runs.

I hate this stuff. It's like a tarbaby, we just can't let go! Last fall I had an ad made up for all my stuff. I was within a day of publishing it. I was getting out.

Now, 3 months later, I put a wad more into the car, brakes, rotors and other parts and can't wait to get started, again!