Club Ford restricted tire choices???

[mdwracer]

Hello all,

I am looking to bring out my club FF for this event and was wondering......
If I am going to put on new tires on my Club Crossle 45F and have no experience with any of these tire choices - what should I choose ??

I would like everyone interested to answer the following based on the fact that I the driver will have tested them and tuned car for them then buying fresh set for this race:

1) What is your opinion of the fastest?

2) What is your opinion of the most forgiving/ predictable for a new to car/class entrant?

3) What tire lasts the longest when driven in anger before going off in the race?

I think this info will help a lot of us guys at the back of the pack esp with safety in mind

Thanks, Mike Winebrenner

[Don Denomme]

Every driver and car combination reacts differently to a given tire. We can only offer our own experiences. Having run my Van Diemen RF80 in both Club Ford and Formula Ford, I found the Hoosier R60 to be my best choice for CF. The R60's have a good feel, take a nice set in the corners and last the race. If you brake them in properly and care for them well between events, you should get 8 to 10 heat cycles of respectable lap times out of a set. Last year I won a race and set fastest lap on the 10th cycle, though I was hanging my butt out a bit on that one.

ALL tires are best in the first heat cycle or two. But the Hoosier R60s don't seem to go off that much. BTW, I consider a heat cycle to be a practice session, qualifying, etc. If you go out for 4 or 5 sessions on a test day, that's 4 or 5 heat cycles. One set should easily last a new driver the entire weekend, even with a couple of Thursday practice runs.


Don

[mblanc]

........... the Hoosier R60 to be my best choice for CF. The R60's have a good feel, take a nice set in the corners and last the race. If you brake them in properly and care for them well between events, you should get 8 to 10 heat cycles of respectable lap times out of a set.

I agree.

But after those 10 race competitive cycles, I would take that set, and relegate it to 10 + or more good cycles for testing and practice sessions, if you have the luxury of an additional set of wheels for two sets of slicks to be rotated, keeping your 2nd set fresh for Qual and Race for LOTS more events.

Cycles 10-20 are only slightly slower, and easily consistent enough to use for practice and still finding a good balance setup. They slow down a little, but don't go 'off' a lot like a soft slick does.
I don't think the 'don't test on really used tires' rule applies to the R60's.

Some guys that might not run up front just keep racing them into these cycles also. = $ saved.

RE: Your specific questions:


1) What is your opinion of the fastest?
--guess we'll find out at the 40th, I'll be on Hoosier, and if I was betting.........you'll see some EWC regulars at the front, on Hoosiers.

2) What is your opinion of the most forgiving/ predictable for a new to car/class entrant?
--predictable, I'd go with Hoosier, and for consistency also. re: forgiving, I'm not sure.

3) What tire lasts the longest when driven in anger before going off in the race?
--There could be something that lasts longer than Hoosier, but checking the cycle counts above,
I don't think it is necessary.

Two common paths I would see for tire strategy.

1
Buy a new set,
run them for test day,
practice,
qual,
race.
Simple, and fine for most.

2
show up a used set with 5-15 cycles.
run test day,
practice,
put on new set
qualify,
race

2a?
show up a used set with 5-15 cycles.
run test day,
practice,
qualify,
race
have fun

[Roux]

In the last two years I ran Dunlops and Hoosier R60's. Sometimes back to back on the same day. The Dunlops have only one drawback. they are slightly slower than Hoosiers. If you want to slide a car that is forgiving and on the limit but under your control then you cannot beat the Dunlops. They go for a riduculous number of heat cycles and remain consistent. Ask any of the Canadian guys or Mike Rand. Mike was able to lap within 1/2 a second throughout 25+ heat cycles. Mike, jump in if I am remembering wrong. They are ~10lbs lighter than a set of slicks so your acceleration at the green flag on a rolling start will often result in 3 or four spots gained. Fun at least for a while among the guys on the slicks.

I was able to kill a Hoosier R60 rear tire on its 3rd heat cycle at the Thunderbolt track and in retrospect started it at too high a pressure. By the way, I started lower than what Hoosier rocommends but it still crowned and blistered on the inside edge. The Royale has a lot of camber gain in the rear and the numerous hard fast rights finally overwhelmed the tire. Otherwise I cannot say that I prefer the Hoosier over or under the Goodyear R600's which I don't think are available any more.

So when we role into RA in July I will probably run the test day on the Dunlops that I have from last year. That way I can run aggressively and find the line and get comfortable with the track. I know I can get myself out of trouble much more often on the treads than on slicks. Then towards 'show time' I will adjust the front ride height and put on R60's and it will likely result in quicker laptimes .

After my Dunlop experiences I am still convinced they are the way to go for CF, but there is no progress in getting the movement going, and the R60 speed advantage in the early stages of its life makes the Dunlop a weak option. Alas, longevity, parity, low wear and tear on rod ends and suspension parts and tremendous fun for the same or lower price is being traded for 2 seconds a lap, an easier transition between SCCA reg'l and national racing (for a 5?% of us) and the right to say that tires are "restricted" but not "spec". I admit that there are more Hoosier trackside support guys than there are Dunlop guys and so have to add that in, but it is a moot point given the lack of support for the tread tires

[Michael Rand]

Steve is spot on regarding the Dunlops.
I led the charge here in the northeast to get the Dunlops approved as an alternate tire in Club Ford as Goodyear was not going to make any more 600's.
And the guys in Canada running the OFFC series fly on the treaded tires, witness Klye Marcelli's efforts at Road Atlanta in a Brian Graham run VD on Dunlops at the spring National a year or 2 ago.
Personally, everything Steve says about Dunlops rings absolutely true, great fun, very predictable, highly catchable slip angles, long life, so many heat cycles you lose track, but unless everyone is in them, ie OFFC, they do ultimately lose out to slicks. Like .5-.8 at Lime Rock on a 56-57 second lap, and they get greasy on a hot day when beat on hard for lap after lap.
But that means a spec tire and there is no desire to go that way within NARRC [North Atlantic Road Racing Championship] Regional Club Ford racing currently.
Can't say I disagree about no spec tire rule, but if the front half dozen runners ran Dunlops by personal agreement the positions wouldn't change and we'd all save enough money to race another event or three each year.
My .02......
See you in Wisconsin in July, on Hoosiers, with Dunlops ready to go as intermediates. They aren't much as a full rain tire [the OFFC doesn't allow rains] but if it's wet but not flood and either likely to get a little worse or a bit better they are probably better than cold slicks on a wet/damp/cold track. But if the line is going to dry and a slick shod car can survive until it appears, and some heat can be generated in the slicks, watch out, that car will fly.
So they don't replace real rain tires in serious weather and raining and flood conditions and that means I am bringing three [3] full sets of mounted tires to Elkhart.