Originally Posted by
GAC
Selfish thinking? Are you a complete hypocrite? How does allowing people to choose their tire size selfish? Making people run the tire size you want is selfish. If people want to run a 205 or a 185, let them. Why don't we just require everyone to race Swift DB1s? This class is not a spec class. If you want to introduce a rule to decrease the cost of tires, it is fine, but turning around and forcing people to run a more expensive tire on the rear is hypocritical. I am as low budget as it gets. If we can save money by running a smaller rear tire, then I am all for it. If you have the money to spend on bigger rears, good for you.
By the way, if we are going to try for a DOT tire rule, make it a DOT tire, and not one specific brand. Contingency drops when there is only one manufacturer, and they can raise the prices, too. Again, the point is to keep the costs low.
As I stated earlier, in some respects there isn't really that much of a choice in DOT tires unless you want to go to 15" wheels.
So far I've found the following options for DOT tires available in the US.
BF Goodrich G-Force R1S. A non starer as they don't make tires for anything smaller than a 15" wheel.
Hankook Ventus Z214. Narrowest 13" tire is a 225/45, which is way too wide for a 5.5" wheel.
Hoosier R6. Comes in 185/60r13 & 205/60r13 sizes. The 185's are slightly (around 0.6") taller than the current Hoosier slick fronts, and the 205's are about the same diameter as the slick rears
Hoosier R7. So far only available in 16-18" sizes.
Kumho Ecsta V10. Smallest (and only) 13" is a 215/50. You might get this to fit on a 5.5" wide wheel.
Pirelli P Zero. Only comes in 17 & 18" sizes.
Toyo Proxes R888. Comes in 185/60r13 & 205/60r13 sizes. The 185's are a little bit shorter than the Hoosier R6's (21.6 instead of 21.7").
Toyo Proxes RA1. This tire's been around forever. The only avalable 13" tire is a 205/60r13.
Toyo Proxes RR. Only available 13 is a 205/60r13.
Yokohama Advan A048. No tires under 15".
If you're going to have sizes available that are close to what you're running now, the only two options are the Hoosier R6 and Toyo R888.
If the goal is to significantly reduce costs, then the R888 seems to be the best choice: roughly double the tire life of the R45 slicks, and at 2/3 the cost per set (which makes the tire cost 1/3 as much).
By all accounts, the Hoosiers are faster, but cost more and and don't last as long.
Currently you're looking at around $970 a set for slicks, plus mounting & balancing (in the pro series it's $60 a set). A full season of pro races needs a minimum of 6 tires (or 1.5 sets) per race, so for the 14-race, 7 weekend schedule you're looking at a tire budget of just under $11,000 to be competitive.
If you could get Toyos that last 2 weekends a set, you could do the same season on a minimum of just over $3,000. Even if you had to buy a new set of Toyos every weekend (or thought you did), you're still talking about under half the current budget: About $5,300.