Track Tire Article

[nsxtasy]

The new (August) issue of Grassroots Motorsports has a comparison test of three track tires, tested on a Spec Miata at Roebling Road: The Yokohama A032R-Soft, the Toyo RA-1, and the Hankook Ventus were tested. During morning qualifying (5 laps), they started with the Toyos, then the Hankooks, then the Yokos, then the Toyos again to determine any effects of the track heating up. The Yokos were fastest, followed by the Hankooks; the first Toyo run was the slowest, but even the last Toyo run was slower than the other two tires.

They ran 20-lap sessions in the afternoon, to see how the tires would hold up in a simulated race. In that test, the Hankooks were the fastest, the Yokos the slowest, and the Toyos less consistent but generally in between the other two.

The Yokos wore more than the other two tires.

Interesting stuff.

 

[nsxtasy]

At the time I posted the above, I did not realize that Hankook has more than one tire called the "Ventus" (just as Bridgestone has with the Potenza, Michelin with the Pilot, Yokohama with the AVS, etc). I do not know offhand which Ventus was tested, sorry.

 

[ncdogdoc]

It is the Ventus Z211 R compound tire that is the basis for the Hankook Miata challenge series, ie, why they tested on Miatas. It is presently only availably from Vilven Tire in Royal, Illinois and is only available in 205/50/15. Hankook is supposed to be coming out with multiple other sizes, but I do not know when. All SCCA members can get this tire $10 off in lots of 4 until the end of the year.

 

[NSX-Racer]

As a Yoko race tire user I'm not really glad to read this. My guess is that the compound of the A 032 R soft was just too soft for this afternoon test, apparently it did get too hot (maybe they should have reduced the pressure).

OTOH these tires are not really race tires in my eyes - you will be much better in race situations with real slicks like Yoko A 005. If they tend to get indifferent after some hot laps you can "recover" them by driving a "not so hot"-lap. Afterwards they stick nearly as good as in the beginning.

I didn't try that with A 032s but this may work for them too.

 

[NSX2play]

The A032R - S is really designed for autocross. It is too soft for track use. The H compound is designed for track use.

A more relevant test would have been to use both the S and the H compounds or just the H compound.

 

[RacerX-21]

As a frequent Robeling driver I have seen various tire tests here, because of its lower cost of rental and its safer layout for pushing cars to the edge. The track is very very abrasive, and can ruin a poorly broken-in set of soft slicks in one session. That said- in the previous test (Also with a Miata) the tire with the least grip was the fastest, because it allowed the car to be looser. The Miata is a low powered momentum car that did worse lap times with more grip. (I’m just paraphrasing the editors) In fact the RA-1 won in that competition against the Hoosier and the Kumo (I think) Evaluate what you read; tests vary depending on car and track conditions.