Hi Folks,

I am headed to the track to instruct a bit than I have the past few years and to try to learn the finer points of front wheel drive. After years of motorcycles, rear wheel drive cars and quite a lot of all wheel drive experience the MCS lured me in to try and learn something else new on the track.

I don't wish to haul and switch to track wheels and tires before and after each event at this point so I am thinking Toyo RA1 for my dual use tires for summer when the Nokian snows come off. Whatever the tire is it needs to come in a 17" size as I have TCE's very pretty Plus 4 kit with some upgrades and I need 17" wheels to clear these brakes. Also thinking about Toyo T1R or other tires favored in STS like classes as well... but will need one of these that can take the heat of track use.

Experiences?

Dave

 

RA1s are an excellent choice. The 205-40-17s are one of the lightest RA1s available and are very quick on the track, especially shaved.

Will you be driving these on the street all the time, or just to the track? ( Ooopss, see that you will use them all summer. They do wear a bit fast)
Also the Rota Subzero is a great wheel with plenty of clearance for the TCE BBK.

 

My current favorite is the BFG g-Force Sports. A very nice street tire that holds up respectably on the track. More of a street tire, really, but I have a couple of track days on them and they're holding up well. Grip is not exceptional, but they're very predictable and linear when they start to slip. 205-40-17's are like $77 @ TireRack. Made in Japan. Just my $.02

 

Thanks guys.

I will drive whatever tire on the street but my wife and I do not drive to work, rather we walk to work in Boston so our Cooper S only has2k miles on it since Dec 05 when we picked it up... thanks to new car enthusiasm and some trips to relatives in NYC, CT, and travel up north in New England. All of it is highway with occasional slow city trips but those are rare since we walk to the grocery store and nearly all restraunts/bars/etc.

My past experience on track with my own cars is BFG R1s, BFG gForce, Yoko A032Rs, lots of Hoosier R3S03s (my favorite race tire and gawd they drained the wallet for a while), Toyo RA1, and of course the might Kumho Victoracers of years past. I actually used Victoracers for street tires for a summer but they picked up too much junk on the roads, flung sand and such which made noise, and were slippery as heck when cold.

Dave

 

I use the Kosei K1 TS wheels ...14.1 lbs and clear the Big Brake Kits with NO spacers ... Can be bent if you really hit as huge hole

I used the Bridgestone S03 Pole Postions last year ..worked well but a bit stiff at 215-40-17

I use Pirelli P Zero Neros 215-45-17...Daily driven, for all-season tires and winter, with winter wheels too

I am now mounting a set of Dunlop SP Maxx 215-45-17 for the track and street and the OneLap of America in May

I will likely get a set of Toyo RA1 to compete with. pure track use though

 

I would say Hankook z212's or Kumho MX's, personally... cheap and great!

RA-1's are in a different league, but will wear quickly on the street. If it's all highway, it's probably not too bad.

 

I use RA-1's for dual use. Thunderhill is about 150 miles from home and Infineon about 25. I don't think driving to and from the track has put much extra wear on the tires. They are pretty easy miles.

 

Right now the contenders are:

Toyo RA1
Falken Azenis RT-215 (225/45-17) I think this may be too big
Hankook Ventus RS2-Z212 (215/40-17)
Kumho Ecsta V70A (205/40-17) hated these on heavier cars
Kumho Ecsta MX (205/40-17)

Right now with the Kosei K1 Ts wheels in 17x7 with +42mm offset and 205/50-17 Nokian Hakka RSi tires the rears rub occasionally over a good sized bump and it will do it often with 3 people of about 150 lbs average weight in the car when you turn pretty hard or hit a bump. RedFury, did you trim the fenders? The offset of these wheels visibly adds some track width to the car and it seems they only run on the outside.

Dave

 

A few of our local track junkies are running RA-1's in 235/40R17! I'm not sure what wheels they are on, though - one's a stock SS+ suspension car and the other is riding on coilovers... They're wiiiiiiide, but NICE!

 

I won't go that wide as I really don't want to have any clearance issues... if I were racign I might try them for greater heat dissipation but for driving schools (where I figure 75%+ of the wear will come from) and street driving I will stickw ith 205 or 215 for this first set. That said some Kumho V710 in 235 would be rather amusing.

I STILL haven't bought any wheels and tires for this use as jaydm.com only has the subzero 17x7.5 in flat black and gold which I don't like. I may go gold or just call up my regular ture guy and get a set of Kosei 17x7.5 K1.

Dave

 

I really like my Toyo T1-Rs in 215/40-17. They have great grip on the track (don't overheat too easily), and are still good on the street.

I have about 9-10 hours of track time on them (20 or so heat cycles, for those who count), along with 8-9k miles, and they're holding up well.

 

Thanks again for all the input guys. I was sooo tempted to go RA1 for street and track but decided to try my hand at these Street Touring tires that are so popular these days. I ordered up a set of Rota SubZero in 17x7.5 and Falken 615 in 205/40-17 from JayDM.com. Dealing with them has been a pleasure so far and my hopes are high.

Dave

 

I've got a set of 235/45/17" Toyo T1R's sitting in my garage.
Any chance they will fit on my MCS with 17 x 7.5" aftermarket rims? Will I have clearance issues? Interested in hearing opinions...

 

They would be a tight fit, even with the stock suspension, as they're about 1" taller than stock. It depends on the offset of the wheels and the suspension you have on the car.

I'd imagine you would have some rubbing, but you might be able to get away with it on stock suspension and a not-agressively-offset wheel.

Here's a comparison:

Specification | Sidewall | Radius | Diameter | Circumference | Revs/Mile | Difference
205/45-17 ----- 3.6in --- 12.1in -- 24.3in ----- 76.2in -------- 831 ------ 0.0%
235/45-17 ----- 4.2in --- 12.7in -- 25.3in ----- 79.6in -------- 796 ------ 4.4%

 

They might fit if you cut away a bunch of the plastic well, lips of the arches, and bang out the fenders a bit in the rear, and depending on your offset, use a spacer.
Fronts take a bit less. Maybe a spacer and cutting of plastic fenders and lips of the arches.
I have17" 235 RA1s on mine, but they are 40s, not 45s. $5s might be a problem beyond what I described

 

Hello,

A bit off topic but...My wife and I have AX'd the 03 MCS for 3 years with Falken 215-40-16's. I think it is a great "cheater" tire when running w/ BMWCCA, keeps you in the street tire class. Last yeat my wife took the plunge and did 4 track days and I put the Goodyear Run flats on as she was learning and wasn't going to be driving that fast. She is going to a 1 day event at NHIS in about a month. If I put the Falken 215's on will she have too much pressure build up due to heat? Any thoughts would be welcomed, thanks.

 

Just start them at say 5 or so psi lower than you want them and then check after each session, especially the first session. Depending on the tire profile I have had pressures rise from 8-12 psi from track sessions and racing but this was with more powerful and heavier cars. After it comes up I would bleed them down to where I wanted them.

Don't forget to add air for going home as they will be low when they cool.

Cheers,
Dave

 

Thanks Dave, We'll just keep an eye on the tire pressures and start a bit lower. I'm not driving that day. I'm the pit crew.

 

How old are they?
How long have they been off the car?
Did you drive them hard when they were on?

I'm asking because street tires like these get hard and quite tricky to drive if they are more then 12 months old, been driven hard, and then left to sit.
Just be careful that you don't send you wife out on bad tires.

 

Age, 2 plus years. Stored in cool dark place. They have been Ax'd about 16+ days. Only driven hard last summer, my wife was just learning to AX. I have the tires on the car at the moment and they seem to have good grip. I plan to order the Falken Azenis 615's soon. The 215 have plenty of thread left but they are staring to get old as you asked. My intention is to let her do 4 20+ minute sessions in a PCA Yellow run group and maybe get in a few AX's. Hate to throw tires away until 1) cord them like my Hoosiers 2) they get to be a safety issue due to age and lack of grip. Can't let anything happen to my wife, she's a keeper, always lets me go to the track, understands that Hoosiers are a "neccesary expense".

Off Topic PS. I remember the ruckus that started on Rennlist with the video of your MCS and the Porsche 996 on track. That P-car guy never lived it down.

 

.... actually the biggest 'ruckus' was on the Cobra forum ....

 

I remember that. It was GREAT.

 

Well the Rennlist "conversation" was shall we say animated? And it was also refered just recently. The driver who posted the vid last year asked something about something and was immediately reminded of his "Mini" experience. He just surrendered with a comment "I'll never live that down" BTW, thanks for the questions and comments about the 215 Falken Azenis. I plan to take the MCS out for a "spirited" drive this weekend and see just how much stick they have left.

 

I got a set of 17x7.5 Rota Sub Zero with 205/40-17 Falken 615 Wednesday night and took them to NHIS Thursday. They were great! Certainly not anylike like a Hoosier or V710 but they were fun and while they got slippery when heated up they were still predictable. The wear looked ok even though the edges took most of the abuse with my stock suspension and tragic lack of negative camber. Thanks all!

Dave

 

Not sure I've seen this..... where is that...