tyre recommendations ?

[JeffC]

I have always run one tyre as we had a control tyre which was Toyo 888s and used them in both dry and wet conditions and found them pretty good in most conditions.

this year the race series I am going to do this year permits any Any MSA List 1A, 1B or 1C tyre , with a more open choice I was going to get a dry and a wet tyre.

on an open tyre choice what would you go for for wet and for dry ? the car will be 1,000kg race weight running on 8x15 front and 7x15 rears.


thanks in advance

[Kraken]

Personally I wouldn't bother with separate wet tyres in a non-slick series. It's far too easy to get caught out on the wet tyre when conditions are fine for the "dry" tyre and you'll be nowhere if that happens. The whole idea of racing on those tyres is that you don't need to change hence why no time is given to do so.

Best to stick to one type of tyre and keep a set new ready to use in very wet conditions (make sure you've done a couple of medium pace dry laps to scrub off release agents etc). IMO a tyre like an R888, DZ03G etc with sharp edges will outperform any "wet" 1a/1b/1c tyre unless it's an absolute monsoon and then visibility and balls are more important.

As for tyres themselves the best MSA tyre I've used by far is the Dunlop DZ03G.

[df76]

Get yourself some proper wet tyres. Uniroyal Rainsports will be very cheap in those size, and once there's standing water, you'll be saving yourself several seconds a lap.

For the dry, the Avon ZZR and Dunlop Direzza are both list 1c. A few options to research.

[andy97]

Kraken said:

Personally I wouldn't bother with separate wet tyres in a non-slick series. It's far too easy to get caught out on the wet tyre when conditions are fine for the "dry" tyre and you'll be nowhere if that happens. The whole idea of racing on those tyres is that you don't need to change hence why no time is given to do so.

Best to stick to one type of tyre and keep a set new ready to use in very wet conditions (make sure you've done a couple of medium pace dry laps to scrub off release agents etc). IMO a tyre like an R888, DZ03G etc with sharp edges will outperform any "wet" 1a/1b/1c tyre unless it's an absolute monsoon and then visibility and balls are more important.

As for tyres themselves the best MSA tyre I've used by far is the Dunlop DZ03G.

Whilst I agreed with this approach for many years, I have had a couple of scary races in really bad conditions on both Toyos and Yoko A048s. Dangerous. As a resu,t I bought myself a set of Uniroyal Rainsports for very wet conditions and found these to be very good.

On the flip side, I have been caught out when I expected drizzle to become heavy rain, when actually it dried up and the Rainsports were very poor in the dry (but not dangerous).

On reflection, the Dunlop Direzzas, Yoko A048s and Toyo 888s are good in the dry and probably OK in the damp but for real wet conditions it's worth a set of Rainsports. They are pretty cheap too.

An option for the dry might be the Nankang AR-1 which appear to be pretty cheap (not tried them) but despite being List 1c seem to have even less tread on them that Yoko A048s!

[JeffC]

cheers , yeh noticed others on the grid last year had used rainsports for the wet.

I have heard good things about the nankang ar1s the downside is the widest 15" is a 205 I really need a 225.

I have used the direzza s before in the dry as but I seem to recall I didnt like the feel of them however I did set my fastest lap on them !

I used Kumho V70s on a Caterham many years ago and they were quicker than most 1bs back then.

[Kraken]

Whatever gives you confidence at the end of the day. As I say though bear in mind that the working range for the wet tyre is much narrower than the dry tyre so it's far easier to end up on that at the wrong time. Especially when you're in the paddock trying to guess what the weather will be like once you've sat in the holding area for half an hour, gridded up etc. If you think you'll lose time by being on a "dry" tyre in standing water you haven't seen anything until you try to compete with a "wet" tyre on a track with a dry line.

[Dan BSCS]

I personally think the Nankang AR-1 is the best dry tyre on the market if you can get them in the right sizes.

If you want a standing water, full on wet then the Rainsports are the best bet but, as has been said, they aren't great in drying conditions. If you want a more flexible tyre that you can run from full wet into full dry then Toyo R1R is the best bet.

/2p

Dan

[JeffC]

JeffC said:

cheers ,

I have heard good things about the nankang ar1s the downside is the widest 15" is a 205 I really need a 225.

thanks for the replies, I got a set of rain sports for the wet and I have just realised that they do an Ar1 in a 225, anyone compared them to 888s/ao48s of dz03 to see how they compare in the dry ?

[RobM77]

Kraken said:

Personally I wouldn't bother with separate wet tyres in a non-slick series. It's far too easy to get caught out on the wet tyre when conditions are fine for the "dry" tyre and you'll be nowhere if that happens. The whole idea of racing on those tyres is that you don't need to change hence why no time is given to do so.

Best to stick to one type of tyre and keep a set new ready to use in very wet conditions (make sure you've done a couple of medium pace dry laps to scrub off release agents etc). IMO a tyre like an R888, DZ03G etc with sharp edges will outperform any "wet" 1a/1b/1c tyre unless it's an absolute monsoon and then visibility and balls are more important.

As for tyres themselves the best MSA tyre I've used by far is the Dunlop DZ03G.

My info is out of date as I've been slick shod since 2009, but in terms of the principle you describe, this is exactly what I used to do. Back when I ran in a list 1a championship (2001-2006) we picked the best tyres for the rain (Yoko 21R is what I used I think) and kept them lightly scrubbed for full wet conditions, and ran on tyres known for their good dry grip and characteristics the rest of the time (which for me was the Yoko 008, 32R and 48R).

[Dan BSCS]

JeffC said:

thanks for the replies, I got a set of rain sports for the wet and I have just realised that they do an Ar1 in a 225, anyone compared them to 888s/ao48s of dz03 to see how they compare in the dry ?

They are definitely faster than 888s, A048s and ZZRs. I've never run DZ03s as they don't so them in my sizes.

Dan