I had about 80 runs on my v700s and they would have lasted longer except for 2 things...

1. I should have rotated them more often...

and 2. on a very hot day in Atlanta with a codriver and short turn arround times I took a huge chunk out of the outside edge of a front tire... totaly my fault for not having water to cool down the tires between runs...

so properly cared for and fliped over when the edges are getting thin 100 runs should be easy.

that said I am VERY VERY excited (they felt real good on my heat cycle route) about trying the 710s this weekend (on an HS cooper... 205/50/15 ) look for a full report Monday next week.....!!!!

 

What size victoracers are you people running? or are you running the ecsta v700? I am about to order, and I keep looking at the price for the Hoosiers, and I don't know if I can do it. I'm thinking that I would end up having to do something different about mid season. So the price goes up even more.

 

I was running the v700 205/45/16

 

>>I was running the v700 205/45/16
What is a good start pressure F/R for asphalt verses concrete on a complete stock suspension setup?

 

>>>>I was running the v700 205/45/16
>>What is a good start pressure F/R for asphalt verses concrete on a complete stock suspension setup?

I ended the year at 50 front and 45 rear... I would guess a good starting point would be mid 40s all arround... then adjust from there for your driving style/ pyro meter readings....

 

Okay, I am a tire ignorant girl -- are any of the above mentioned tires run-flats? My husband and I both raced my MCS in 3 autox last year and want to do a lot more this year. I have 16" all-season run flats and would like to upgrade. The problem is this is my work car (I drive about 80mi/day for work). I still need run-flats, b/c I am not about to put a spare in my car. Do I have any options? This tire lingo is killing me! Layman's terms would be appreciated.

 

We are talking about RACE tires. Only good for racing. We mount them on extra sets of wheels and change tires at the event when we go racing.

If you want runflats you are pretty much stuck with what you have. There are not alot of choices. If you want a dual purpose tire (occasional autox, mostly street) the Falken Azenis or Bridgestone S-03 are good choices but are not runflats.

 

boilermini,

The runflats (especially the all-seasons) are not ideal for racing and are VERY expensive if you have 2 drivers tearing them up on race days.

Your best bet would be to get another set of wheels and tires that you only use for racing. That way, you have the comfort and security of your run-flats for everyday driving.

I'd suggest finding another set of used 16" MINI wheels and mounting some cheap but great tires on them. The Falken Azenis in the appropriate 16" size are fantastic for auto-x and can be had for about $100 each (your runflats are about $250 each)

Often, you will find someone who has upgraded to aftermarket wheels and is selling their original MINI wheels for a very good price and you can pick these up and use them for your race tires.

 

Boilermini,


This is exactly what I did. I got the the wheels and Azenis tires for a total of $700. They should last me through a couple of schools and a full season (or two), plus you can drive them on the street. I call them my "training wheels"

See ya out there in INR or SBR region events!

 

I started this thread, so I might as well update on what I have done. I went for a set of Kuhmo Ecsta <sp?> v700. I was going to go for the Hoosiers, but I couldn't handle the price AND having to replace them half way through the season. The biggest problem with the Hoosiers seems to be the heat cycles. The Hoosiers will only handle 9-10 heat cycles (A compound). I bought a set of extra wheels (five spokes mounted with run flats) that I am going to put on the car. I'll use my x-lites as my race wheels. I got the Ecsta's shaved and heat cycled. I just went to a competition clinic where quite a few engineers from tire manufacturers were present. The opinion was that heat cycleing wasn't needed, but that the shaving on these tires was. I could have saved $60.

Total cost: stock wheels, tires, and shipping $500, Kuhmo tires, shaved, heat cycled, shipped, $650, 1/2 inch torque wrench $60. So for $1200 I replaced my torn up run flats, and have my race tires as well.

 

The V700's are sweet. 45 psi in the rear and 50 up front. With 50 pounds I'm still rolling the chalk all the way to the edge, but probably because I'm overdriving the course. This being my third event I have loads of learning to do. Fast GS time was 49 done by a S with 225/50/16 Victor Racers, I came in at a low 54. I could feel the speed scrubbing off exiting the turns but the tires didn't break loose. I need to work on entry and exit stratagy.

 

How does he fit the 225's under the car? I have the same problem much of the time. If you haven't read the course set up manual you really should read it. It's important to know what the "key" cones are. My other problem is that I go to the line thinking "go slow to be fast" and then go and drive like a maniac.

 

The person running the 225/50 Victo, had no problems in the front, sometime he said he got slight rubbing on the black plastic fender flairs. I looked and didn't see much if any rub marks. I don't remember what rims he had on though. The offset of the rims would be important..

 

>>How does he fit the 225's under the car? I have the same problem much of the time. If you haven't read the course set up manual you really should read it. It's important to know what the "key" cones are. My other problem is that I go to the line thinking "go slow to be fast" and then go and drive like a maniac.

Update, took some pictures today, these are 225/50/16 victoracers. The driver says they are a little slow to heat up, but by third round they are super sticky.

_________________

 

can't see the pics!

 

I have the 205/45/16 Hoosier A3SO4's on a set of 16X6.5 SSR comps on my cooper s. We have ran them 113 runs so far this season.


Here are the driving styles..............................

5 runs by my bro, who barely broke the speed limit

40 runs or so by my paps, who overdrives every corner

68 runs by myself, I'm not the smoothest chap in the world but I know how to get 99% out of my Mini most of the time, sometimes, I tend to overdrive.

Keep in mind, all these runs were on asphalt with the exception of 8 rain runs on concrete and probably 30 of these 113 runs total in the rain. ALSO, very important, we have not seen but one day over 75 degree's or so. If I were ever on concrete and 95 degree's, I'm sure I'd have been done long ago.

The above being said, I'd say 100 runs is definitely feasible on asphalt, if flipped and rotated as needed, if your on concrete, who knows. I kept a very close watch and rotated as needed. The outside edge started to show very very minimal cording on one pair right at 95 runs, actually, you could see the cording barely peaking through the pores of the rubber. I flipped them around and I'm currently at 113. The 2nd pair has probably 30-40 more runs on them if I had to guess so they will probably see 150 runs if I'm lucky!!!

The last 2 events, I can definitely tell they are not performing nearly as well as they were when new, although I did manage to PAX 1st on the last local event regardless, but I REALLY had to work at it and nearly lost with the exception of my last clean run.

I've got a new set patiently awaiting for this weekend at the Peru National Tour!!

 

The key to them, now that I've corded a set quickly, is the pressures. Where the S03's were durable at any pressures, the S04's corded VERY quickly on concrete when we ran low pressures.
They not only require higher pressures for performance, they require higher pressure for life. Low to mid 50's in the front will do. On cold days in the past, I'd run low 40's on the S03's for VERY fast times. The S04's just shred away when doing that.
A VERY expensive lesson. Fortunately, I won 4 tires in the Pro Solo Challenge the same weekend I corded two

Brian

 

Brian

I have been running 38-40 front and 35-38 rear. I tried 46 front 43 rear and felt like I was skating on ice and basically poor traction when accelerating out of corners and sweepers on asphalt when compared to 40/38. When visiting Peru this weekend on my new set, It sounds like I'll have to run 50/45 to preserve them on the concrete.


Do you think higher pressure might comprimise performance or am I just not use to them yet???

Or, maybe the A3SO4's are not right for the cooper on concrete with no camber becuase the higher pressures are to prevent the rollover on the outer sidewall and the O4's seem to have a softer sidewall than the SO3's. Even at 38, I'm seeing VERY little wear on the inside edge after 113 runs on one set which has not been flipped yet.

 

You may not be used to them, and where they feel slippery, you're actually going faster.

What I can tell you is this:
On concrete, I was running 47/43 and corded the tires and lost to Mark by .6 at the Toledo Pro. For the Challenge, I upped my pressures to 53/47 and beat Mark's left/right times every single run (we checked the times afterwards). There is no doubt in mine and my co-driver's minds that the pressures were the reason for the faster times.
Not to mention the fact that during the Challenge, I'm very careful not to cone or redlight, so I'm technically NOT as aggressive.

All of this said, I'm sure they operate fine at lower pressures on the asphalt, but your good tire life is very much attributed to the temperatures you were in.
Many of my runs for this set were in the rain. All told, we had about 32 wet Pro Solo runs and about 37 dry runs. Not actually that bad, especially if we were underinflated, heating the tires MUCH quicker.

I definitely am expecting more life from the next set, a lot more.

Brian

 

Ok, I'll try running them again at 53/47 in Peru this weekend on the new set.

Now that I think about it, there were too many variable to blame only the pressures. The course may have exposed all my weaknesses with several accelerating sweepers and no LSD or camber. My Hoosiers did also have 100+ runs on them as well, and heck, maybe I just had a bad day, although I did beat the 3rd place by .8 on the 65 second 2 day event and he just missed a trophy last year at nats.

So, who knows, I guess we will find out this weekend in Peru, unless it rains of course, I suck in the rain!!!

 

Yeah, that's how it always is. There are many variables in this sport and most people never realize that. It's good that you do.

That's why I always stress: do NOT make any decisions based on local event results!
Not to mention, National events are not even a good place to make decisions, a class can be soft at those as well.
Solo II Nationals in September at Topeka is the ONLY time that you can hope to cancel out many variables and make performance judgements. Even there it's not perfect.

By the way, after a long talk with Jeff Spear, I think the mold of this new tire lends itself to higher pressures simply by where there is more rubber. It seems that since the 04 is more square in mold on the shoulder, the lower pressures destroy it faster.
I don't think I'll be going below 50 psi in the dry anymore on the S04.

Brian

 

I wanted to update the V700 saga. Using pressures 40 F / 45 R. I've run them this year 63 runs total so far, 22 being on concrete. The tread is gone and I maybe have 1/32" of the groove left. Runs 47-57 were done at Castle Air Force Base (Atwater). After this event I noticed that the grip was going away in the rear. I have had to compensate by lowering the pressure in the rear to 35-40 psi. The reason I ran higher pressures in the rear was to get rid of some of the "push" problems I was having. I know this is backwards from the norm, but it worked for me. The loss of grip could be due to tires that are done and the cooling temperatures, but it hasn't been that cold.

(edit)
These tires are finally done 70 runs total. I'm switching to Hoosiers.

 

Brian,

Do you mean 53/47 cold, or that's the temp on your next run after they've warmed up?

 

No, that's still a cold pressure. They sat for awhile waiting for the Challenge to start, then I set those pressures.

Brian

 

Tire Rack has the 215/16 V710's in stock. When did they get there? It figures, a week ago they wern't there.

I went with Hoo$iers instead. At least Hoosier has their act together, they sent me decals within a week of my request.

Kumho on the other hand hasn't responded to my two email requests, the first of which was 8-18-2004 & 1-27-2005. I used to use their tires.