Discussion
minitici said:
Tonto1 tried Dunlop HC100 slicks on his PR6 for last season's sprints - haven't heard whether this was a success or not...
I've been asked this questions a few times, so here's a copy/paste of my now 'standard' response:""I only did a very limited number of events and most of the events I did were sprints, typically 60-100 seconds long and for this I thought the HC100's were great. In general I was very happy with my times and very confident these could be further improved on with more development of car/settings etc as well as my own experience in the car, but the tyres were certainly not the limiting factor and I felt that the tyres could have been leaned on even more. I managed to win the British Sprint Jnr Championship after only doing 2.5 BSC events and at the last one my PR6 was the fastest Sports Libre car by a good margin, so definately no complaints there.
In general I found that once warm the tyres were nicely progressive, gave good feeback before letting go and ultimate grip was excellent. Main critism I had was that I don’t think they warmed up quickly enough to be used for short sprints (ie under 45 seconds a run) or hillclimbs as it was quite noticeable that they took the first few corners to warm up and begin to work, prior to which they did feel 'wooden', which was greatly exacerbated when track/ambient temps where low.
Set-up wise, I spoke with Dunlop & Radical, both of whom recommended that I stuck with the standard Radical settings for Radial Dunlops (2-3deg neg camber etc), and this seemed to work well with good even wear and heat across the tyres surface. In terms of pressures I was still playing with those but found running 14-15psi alroudn worked well. I did try going lower as advised by a few people but I could feel what perceived to be the tyres rolling on the side walls too much when pushing hard and grip didn't appear as good. If using the HC100's I would also strongly recommended spending time between runs to clean and shave the tyres for max' performance (no.2 wood plane and soapy water are your friends here).
• Price– Relative to Avons price is excellent. I believe that Avons have gone up in price again this year, so if the HC100's are still the same price (I paid around £650 a set) then they are pretty much half the cost of Avons.
• Longevity– Seems good, only did limited number of events and did a lot of scrubbing and cleaning and still had plenty of fresh looking rubber left on them.
• Weight– Despite meaning to many times, I never got round to weighing them to the compare to equivalent size Avons, so unfortunately can't comment on this one.
• Supply– I did struggle to get all my tyres delivered in time and ended up having to source my second front tyre via a very helpful chap in Malta in order to complete the set. So would advise if going this route to order them long before your first event and get supply confirmed.
In conclusion for longer sprints I would definitely use them again, but for hills I would opt for something softer ie avons (especially if doing Scottish hills where the chances of it being chilly/damp are higher).""
Edited by tonto1 on Saturday 25th February 02:56
SportsLibre said:
There is no real proven alternative in the UK.
AVON tyres for Sprints I find the A15 compound to be the best, any softer and the Radical will tend to overheat and damage the fronts.
There's not a lot more to say except that, having agreed with each other four times already this year, Angus and I are getting married AVON tyres for Sprints I find the A15 compound to be the best, any softer and the Radical will tend to overheat and damage the fronts.
If you are desperate for a few tenths and are a kind driver, then on a short track (eg Curborough single lap) and on a cool day you can get away with Avon A92 on one or both front wheels (NEVER the rear though). Other than that, A15 is the way to go.
Just remember that the carcasses tend to hold heat for 24 hours or so. Therefore, for optimum performance, you need two sets (or at worst, 2 sets of fronts as they get a beating in a Radical), one for practice in the morning and one for competition runs after (a substantial) luch!
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