FV tire discussion

[Pragmatist]

The internet wasn't even around when I dropped out and to be clear it was only one of the many reasons. If there is a question of tires only active drivers should have a say. It's their wallet.....

[BLS]

1) You do not race on intermediates at some point when the rain is falling moderately heavy. You will not be racing on these radials with any semblance of effectiveness in a good rain event. The Yoks make no pretense of being all season street tires.

2) $236 is about what they cost in 2024. I do not think the 25% tariff has been applied. Current inventory could have been in country before the tariffs went into effect.

3) The Yoks have been in use for a number of years and Hoosier seems to be doing fine. They did signup for another three years after all.

There is no requirement that Hoosier start a new product line. That is a silly premise, nice try.

Frankly, Hoosier can make any oversize tire that fits any oversize rim. The oversize tire is what provides the added longevity. Competitors would have to accept the cost of new rims. The FVS users just have to weight the pros and cons of such a transition. The basic concept is more important than the actual tire chosen.

Brian

1) I routinely raced FV in the rain on slicks when I was young because A) I could not afford rain tires that were seldom used and B) unlike slicks there were no takeoffs to help with tire cost. The Yoko is a great improvement over slicks...

2) Neither of us know the answer, but you may not realize that A) the tariff is imposed on the wholesale import price which is probably half the retail price and B) sellers often raise the price of current inventory to the current replacement level. In either case we are not taliking about a huge difference and the Yoko's are far, far less expensive than the Hoosier.

3) I'm sure Hoosier is fine, never thought anything different. I doubt the FV tire is a very large part of their business.

I don't recall suggesting Hoosier must start a new product line. It does seem they are interested in doing so however as I understand several people are testing new design tires...

"I do not think the size of the run has much to do with the cost..."
I cannot say what it means for Hoosier, but as an engineer involved with manufacturing I can say it is often very difficult to make small numbers, small runs, and do so profitably. We very often design special machinery so companies can make small runs and at least break even... YMMV

[brian styczynski]

Tire survey was emailed out. It appears it was sent to all FV drivers, not just SCCA

[BLS]

Tire survey was emailed out. It appears it was sent to all FV drivers, not just SCCA

I wonder how you get on that mailing list as I didn't receive an email...
Maybe because my license lapsed some time ago? I am in process of reviving it this year.

[pacratt]

Tire survey was emailed out. It appears it was sent to all FV drivers, not just SCCA

Hey, Brian.
When was this?
Glenn

[Steve Davis]

Talking about stacking the deck....
SCCA's "survey"...

We the SCCA Club Racing Board want your opinion on Formula Vee Tires

		2025 FV Tire Survey
	We're running a survey and would love your input. Please let us know what you think below. Thanks for participating!
	Is it your preference to race a slick or treaded radial tire?
? Slick
? Treaded Radial
? No Preference

Certainly an 'exhaustive query'? No?

[FVRacer21]

Talking about stacking the deck....
SCCA's "survey"...
Certainly an 'exhaustive query'? No?

Steve,

I fell prey to that. Once you answer the first question, the rest of the survey opens up. A lot of questions.

don’t know who formatted the survey, but it was not a good opening question.

I also hear some of the questions are not easy to put in ranked order. Maybe if you take a lot of surveys, but I specifically don’t take all the ones they send you after you buy something or visit a medical provider….

for anyone who has taken the survey, do they give a cutoff date? Can you start the survey and save but not send?

I am testing some radials this weekend and would like to wait until Monday before filling it out.

I also think people who are not current SCCA, but are considering it, should be included, with the ability to filter these people. Maybe some way to invite those active who either were left off the mailing, or people outside the set of current SCCA drivers.

Again, not having done it, it would have been nice if the email had some instructions.

ChrisZ

[brian styczynski]

There are about 20 questions. It should be open to all fv drivers since you can answer "I have raced 0 scca races last year, and 5 drivers cup races last year". But it seems like they only sent it to people who have ran scca fv recently.

I would email roadracing@scca.com if you are thinking about running an fv in scca in the next 5 years and tires choice is stopping you from participating, maybe they will send it to you.

[DannyPip]

The way the email comes through it does appear to be a one question survey(It is NOT one question once you click an answer it opens the actual survey).

Is that just the way it happened or is it by design?

The answer to that question is unknown to me, although I can certainly see some people being confused as to the seeming simplicity. I can certainly see people deleting the email simply because of the one-question look.

There are 39 questions.

The "General Tire Considerations" in the preamble to the survey is full of anti-street radial bias.

I did not answer question 17, as the question is immaterial and improperly worded. I do believe the intent was what lap time increase is acceptable, not lap time reduction. The lap time differential of Yokos to Hoosier FVS varies from nil to maybe .5 seconds, depending on track and conditions. It is honestly within the margin of error and doesn't matter a whit. At LRP the fastest lap of the weekend was on 25 heat cycle Yokos. "Assuming" indeed.

And answering questions about how many races of which series might I attend or would I go to the runoffs is difficult at best. It is hard to predict the future of this guy on his 3rd season of racing starting at 59 years old.

But hey, I did the survey.

To answer ChrisZ, there is no indication of a deadline in the survey.

[Mace Gjerman]

Even though I bleed purple I'm very interested in seeing more comments of the performance of the 2 tires before I submit my survey.

I find these comments very surprising!

"The lap time differential of Yokos to Hoosier FVS varies from nil to maybe .5 seconds, depending on track and conditions.

And

At LRP the fastest lap of the weekend was on 25 heat cycle Yokos."

I like the FVS tire because it has made some easy flat out sections on 55's less than flat out and therefor more challenging.

[FVRacer21]

For those who have completed the survey, does it automatically submit with the last question or do you have to press a "submit" button?

ChrisZ

[BLS]

Somebody post up the rest of the survey for those of us that did not get it. I'd like to see what is in it.
Thanks!

[BLS]

There are about 20 questions. It should be open to all fv drivers since you can answer "I have raced 0 scca races last year, and 5 drivers cup races last year". But it seems like they only sent it to people who have ran scca fv recently.

I would email roadracing@scca.com if you are thinking about running an fv in scca in the next 5 years and tires choice is stopping you from participating, maybe they will send it to you.

I sent an email, we'll see if they return a survey

[B Farnham]

Even though I bleed purple I'm very interested in seeing more comments of the performance of the 2 tires before I submit my survey.

I find these comments very surprising!

"The lap time differential of Yokos to Hoosier FVS varies from nil to maybe .5 seconds, depending on track and conditions.

And

At LRP the fastest lap of the weekend was on 25 heat cycle Yokos."

I like the FVS tire because it has made some easy flat out sections on 55's less than flat out and therefor more challenging.

There are far too many variables in the situation described above. The draft itself can amount to 1-2 seconds per lap.

General rule of thumb is the radial is 2-7+ seconds per lap slower depending on the track. (This is lap record vs lap record of slick vs radials)

The radial is a great tire and has a lot of advantages but its not as fast as a slick. No one is showing up to a competitive major and winning over slick cars.

Brian

[DannyPip]

For those who have completed the survey, does it automatically submit with the last question or do you have to press a "submit" button?

ChrisZ

There is a "DONE" button at the very bottom to submit your answers.

[DannyPip]

I uploaded the pdf of the survey I saved. Cheers.

[BLS]

Thanks Danny!

It appears to be a good survey in spite of the apparent misleading way it first appears in your inbox. I find that content creators often cannot see the forest for the tree's - and I am also guilty of that.

I'll just wait and see if SCCA responds to me, but they may be keeping it exclusive to current licensed drivers. If so since there is no current time frame I will send a response in when I receive my license.

Barry

[Hardingfv32]

"The lap time differential of Yokos to Hoosier FVS varies from nil to maybe .5 seconds, depending on track and conditions And At LRP the fastest lap of the weekend was on 25 heat cycle Yokos."

At LRP, which is a very fast track, the extra drag from the wider Yokos causing a loss of track time was not apparent. The FVS and Yokos were equal for the fastest competitors.

Yokos are a DOT street radial. Hoosier is testing a racing radial. Same size as Yokos but non-DOT with race tire construction and compound. It will be fast than the FVS at all tracks except maybe Road America.

The essence of this possible spec tire change is: Do competitors want use a wider tire that has equal or better performance and has much better longevity, 2-4 X the heat cycles. There is no requirement for a DOT tire. So for Hoosier at least, any combination of performance and longevity is possible.

BUT all these gains that come from a wider tire, require the purchase of a $600-$800 set of aluminum wheels.

I have a set of the Hoosiers to test on the West coast. Check PM if you are interested.

Brian

[nhJohn]

Thanks Danny!

It appears to be a good survey in spite of the apparent misleading way it first appears in your inbox. I find that content creators often cannot see the forest for the tree's - and I am also guilty of that.

I'll just wait and see if SCCA responds to me, but they may be keeping it exclusive to current licensed drivers. If so since there is no current time frame I will send a response in when I receive my license.

Barry

To ALL:
Here is how you can get the survey, note from SCCA
<snip>
"John - While I can't provide a link to the survey, folks are welcome to email roadracing@scca.com with their FV participation connection and we will send them a survey. The survey is linked to the email we send it to.."

[grapefarmeral]

At LRP, which is a very fast track, the extra drag from the wider Yokos causing a loss of track time was not apparent. The FVS and Yokos were equal for the fastest competitors.

Yokos are a DOT street radial. Hoosier is testing a racing radial. Same size as Yokos but non-DOT with race tire construction and compound. It will be fast than the FVS at all tracks except maybe Road America.

The essence of this possible spec tire change is: Do competitors want use a wider tire that has equal or better performance and has much better longevity, 2-4 X the heat cycles. There is no requirement for a DOT tire. So for Hoosier at least, any combination of performance and longevity is possible.

BUT all these gains that come from a wider tire, require the purchase of a $600-$800 set of aluminum wheels.

I have a set of the Hoosiers to test on the West coast. Check PM if you are interested.

Brian

You can pay $600-800 dollars a set, but I found these new for $75/per and they meet all the requirements