Hey!
Is anyone thinking of going to LRP for the races over Memorial Day weekend (which starts Friday)?
I am planning to go, with someone special, on Friday to see the practices and qualifying. It would be great to meet up with others...

 

I'm leading a LBC rally on Saturday, the 29th, with Sunday as a rain date if needed. Thinking Friday may be the best day to go to LRP, weather permitting...

 

GKP, your interior doesn't have quite the same panache without it...

 

I haven't been to the Trans Am weekend in years. If I go, it will be on Friday — I like watching practice and usually you get more freedom to walk around. I'll keep you posted.

 

Maybe I'll hang an air freshener from the rear view mirror.

 

I am hoping the weather is good for that Friday before the races. Sounds like we may have a good group of people there...

 

Fingers crossed for some nice weather ahead...Friday appears to be the winner at the polls. I'll bring my earplugs!

 

This coming Friday, yes... But it is end of May for the Memorial Day weekend races or are you thinking of something else?

 

Looking forward to end of next month!

 

Anybody considering WGI May 3rd and 4th to have a crack at the short course for one of the days?

 

I thought the short course was a no-go for you? Right now I am home bound; day trips only.

I think I said this before... The short course is interesting and worth doing if given a chance. It has 3 high speed straights and going into T10 is a lot different. I found top speed was still on the back straight, and the NASCAR and Front straights were about the same, and a few MPH lower. Hard braking needed for T10, which just adds to the demands on the brakes; like there isn’t enough with the long course... . Weather should be about perfect if the long range forecast holds true. Maybe GBuff will be there.

 

Yeah, I wasn't really considering making the trip initially, but the more I thought about it, eliminating the boot appeals to me and the MINI said the same thing. Never braked for T10 before, so it'll be interesting, I'm sure! Good idea about GBuff; I'll PM him and hope he checks the site at least once in a while. I feel bad for anybody running Palmer today in the rain

Adding that GBuff not accepting PMs, so, if you happen to see this, let us know if you're planning on being there!

 

If I do WGI this year, it will likely be in August, like last year.

 

Go, it will be fun.

The Toe of the Boot is miserable in a MINI and none too good in any other car. Eliminating that is a bonus for frustration, but takes way some of the technical aspect of WGI.

Braking for T10 is a lot like braking for the Bus Stop, but maybe a little less aggressive. Fortunately if you get it wrong, there is plenty of drive-off space. Whatever you do, don’t try to “save” the turn if you are too hot. Just drive off straight. The curb at track out will bounce the car and if the wheels are turned to the left when you go over it, it has a good chance of sending the car across the track and into the left side guardrail. I’ve seen that one happen. And I have used that runoff on occasion to my benefit...

You can look at taking the outer loop differently too. For the short course, the apex is way later. There is a trade off between tucking in early into the pocket that is there before the flagger stand, and staying out on the radius longer and truly apexing the corner. And remember, the track-out is crazy far from the turn so the apex is sooner than you might think.

 

Those are great tips, Eddie07S; your advice is always appreciated and spot-on.

GKP, last August @ WGI was a great event; I may make two trips this year...

 

Thanks.

I will see how things are going here before saying if I’ll be going to WGI. But, I will still prep based on the thought I will go, though.

 

You are ALWAYS prepared!

 

Confirmed for WGI next Mon/Tues. No snow in the forecast as of today...

 

Go You!

70ish for temps.... Should be a good couple of days.

 

He does, and he will be there

He also has no idea how he was not accepting PMs but he thinks it's fixed now.

I have been following along incognito, especially re the tire situation.....did 3 days at Mid-O a couple weeks ago and now realize how much I'll miss the RE71Rs after what I have left is gone. I've read Eddie's posts about the RT660s with interest and also have done much add'l research on them.....Andy Hollis from GRM, who's a nat'l champ autoxer and great track driver thinks they are pretty awful in the wet. TR rates them behind the Yokohama A052 (also unavailable for the next few months) and calls them "edgy" which sounds like what Eddie felt. TR also rates the A052 as fabulous in the wet which mystifies me a bit, as if you look at its tread pattern it's almost non-existent! How does it drain the water? That compound must be like warm bubblegum even in the wet.

Moral: I guess you just have to take the plunge and try them to really find out. I've considered going back to the Direzza IIIs that I've used in the past--they were actually quite good in the wet but the dry grip really wasn't close to the RE71R. And on and on.....

I think Joni Mitchell was referring to the RE71Rs when she sang "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone"

So I hope to see some/all of you at the Glen--the short course is just amazingly fast. You come out of the Bus Stop and the Outer Loop just goes on and on until it straightens out, and yes, you do have to brake for T10.
I did it a few years ago with a PCA group (don't recall which) and I had done it the week before so was familiar. I was catching Porsches (who obviously had never driven the layout before) in the base Mini coming out of the Loop and down that long straight--there was a marshal right in the middle there on track left and I could see him smiling! Eventually they figured it out, though, and order was restored

 

WOW! This made my day! I am stoked you will be there, gbuff1. I thought you might have blocked me from PMs

Looking forward to seeing you and the Justa reel in those GT3s and vettes as you clock in at under a minute/lap👍

 

Hah! The only sub-minute laps I'll be doing will be from the garage to the can

 

GBuff1 - In the dry the Falken 660s are amazing. I have run the RE71Rs and the 660s at LRP on the Gray MINI which I have a lot of experience with on that track. On the downhill to front straight, at speeds where I would have felt like I was at the limits of the RE71Rs, I was feeling like the 660s were just coming into their own. I wish I had taken data that day to know for sure. The seat of the pants said I was was quicker. And I think the Lotus Exige owner, who I walked away from, probably wishes I was running on some other tire. The 660s also seem to be very forgiving of pressure and car setup and how one is driving. They do seem to like about 2 psi more than the RE71Rs.

In the wet with the 660s, let’s just say it is easy to practice being at the limits of the tires without fear of hitting anything and, if one does, it will be going a speed that slow enough to not do any damage. But, still expect to be a lot faster than any Porsche or Corvette out there. The RE71Rs will walk away from the the 660s in the wet.

For the price, I wouldn’t bother with the Yokohamas A052s. I understand that between the RE71Rs, the Falken 660s, the Falken 616s and a the Yokohamas around WGI, the Yokohamas are the fastest (in a endurance racer; I talked to the driver/owner). But, being 50% more expensive for the 215-45 17, I’ll pass.

Also, I saw a tire review that said the Toyo R888Rs are not worth it over the 200 TW tires.

Unfortunately, it is looking like it might be a couple of RE71R days next Monday and Tuesday. Whatever you are driving on, hope you guys have a great time...

 

Eddie, in 205/50-15 the A052 is $30 more than the 660--not insignificant but I'd pay it if they were as good as TR's test shows. Too bad they are months away from coming back.

I never really considered 888s as I understand they are next to lethal in the wet and are also make the car sound like a Panzer on the road to/from the track. It IS an R-comp, though, so it must be awesome in the dry. I've never driven R-comps in my life--I'm afraid to try b/c I'd probably never go back to streets!

Hey, if it's wet, so be it--that track still has wet grip even after all these years since the repave. Plus, if you can drive Mid-O in the wet and keep it on the track you can drive anywhere! Two weeks ago it stayed dry there but the first-run-of-the-day starting temps were 34, 34, and 39 deg so it felt like ice until the sun was out for an hour or so.

Some interesting reading for all:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/ar...oss-and-track/

And a short bit from TR's test, which ranked the 052 and 660 #1-2:

Driving in the wet didn't change the rank order in any way, but it did provide further separation. The ADVAN A052 led the test by a considerable margin, delivering traction that allowed our testers to drive the tire as they wanted to, instead of accommodating the expected delays and slipping resulting from the wet surface. The Azenis RT660 also provided strong traction, though struggled somewhat when trying to combine two disciplines at once, requiring the driver to take care to separate inputs. Power-on oversteer was noticeable, though not significant, but combined with ultra-quick steering made the tire feel edgy.

 

Gbuff1...

Just my experiences....

I just read the Grass Roots article... Seriously - They run the tires at 28 psi hot? I once ran my ZIIs at 36 psi and thought I wasn’t going to make it safely one lap around WGI... For WGI I have typically run 215-45x17 tires on my MINI with 7” wide wheels and -1.5 deg front camber and -2.5 rear camber. Hot, with those I target 38 psi. This has been with ZIs, ZIIs, RE 71Rs and Toyo R888s. If the tires got over 39 psi hot they became really greasy. A side note, most people I talk to run tires in the low to mid 30 psi range.

When I ran the Falken 660s I left them at the street pressure (I was being lazy). With street pressure, the hot ended up at about 42 psi. At WGI I did a few sessions at that pressure and then dropped it to about 38 psi. I felt the tire became less precise, but wear was better.

Compared to the RE71Rs, I always felt they would give up before the end of the session. Over heated? Maybe I am running them at too high a pressure, even at 38 psi hot? The 660s did better in this respect. The other thing about the RE71Rs is that they seem to heat cycle out before they wear out. The ZIIs did this too.

I had no problems with trailbraking deep into corners with the 660, like going into T1 at both WGI and LRP. They felt similar to the RE71Rs. The car feels stable. Now, I don’t do a really hard initial brake as that upsets the car. Too much forward pitch.

The best rain tire... The RE71Rs, hands down. The ZIIs did really well too; don’t know anything about the ZIIIs. The 660s were noticeably not as good.

The Toyo R888s were a waste of money for me and my car. Maybe, with my car setup, I couldn’t get their full performance out of them. Whatever it was, I was the same or marginally faster around WGI with them than the ZIIs. Not worth the $220 price for the 215-45x17s. Stay with the 200TW tires. I am sure there are some 100 TW tires at there that will give a noticeable improvement in performance, but not those and likely not the cheaper R888Rs.

I think that, for the extra $30 a tire for the Yokohama A052s in the 205-50x15 size, they are definitely worth trying. But in the 215-45x17 size, the Yokohama A052s are $75 each more over the price of the 660s.

Mid-O sounds a bit like skiing in the NE. If you can ski the NE, then you can ski anywhere. Maybe some day I’ll get to Mid-O...