Track Day Tyres

Had the ns2r on a starlet and they were very very good for the money.very impressive grip

 

the 235 is predominately a road size tyre if drop a size to 225 you'll find whole range of good track tyres

 

This should be an easy one then as tyre posts are usually straightforward enough I have had 595s on my Mini R53 around a couple of tracks and they were pretty good. I have now got AD08Rs on the R26 but as the mentioned above I went to 225's purely for cost otherwise I would have stayed with the Federal's based on previous experience but could then stretch to the Yoko's. Having said that... not yet had them on track but they have been pretty impressive on the road thus far compared with PS4's but seem to generate more noise.. not a biggy I guess.

 

I'll throw my two pence into the ring - used NS2Rs and AD08s on my M135i and found them to be pretty equal in terms of performance. I run R888Rs on my R26 and it grips infinitely better, but it's impossible to tell how much is due to the better chassis vs different tyres. Will be sticking with the R888Rs for the foreseeable.

 

Out of interest and of-thread, did you go from M135i to a R26 or have you got both? I ask as looking to a M135i for my next car.

 

Hah, way off topic, but I had it as my daily before the Merc. I did use it on track a few times before I got a Caterham, that was ultimately replaced by the R26! Clear as mud?!

Decent daily driver the M135i and nicely tuneable - babybmw.net is a pretty active forum which is useful too - this was my build thread on there: http://www.babybmw.net/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=56468

 

Nice car! Got to admit clinging on a bit with the explanation Caterham to R26 is even more confusing.. but hey.. each to their own :-)

 

I have a Trophy-R, which I’ve fitted with 18” track wheels and have recently fitted Nankang AR-1 tyres in 245/40 (also available in 235/40). These are a much more track-oriented semi-slick, with 80 treadwear rating. After 2 track days, I rate them very highly — equal or better than the R888s I’ve had on a previous car. Wet/cold grip is about equal to the Cup2 tyres I have in 19” for the road.

 

After eight track days on a Trophy R. Very pleased with them for consistency and wear.

 

I’d agree — if you’re doing, say, 4+ trackdays/year, it’s worth getting a second set of wheels, and tyres such as semi-slicks well-suited to that use.

 

Ive had Nankang AR-1s on my 225 for trackdays last year and they were amazing. I only got 3 trackdays out of the fronts though due to no LSD and pushing too hard through tight bends. The rears are good for another 3 or 4 days id say.

 

I am just considering what to use for track tyres too - have been using RSRs and pretty happy with them tbh apart from knocking the outer edges of the fronts real quick (I do realise that the front is having to do an awful lot) Thus I have to move the tyres round regulalry to even out wear. Never seem to wear out the middles !

Car is used for trackdays only and running 225/40 18s on std rims. Would 235s be better? - or worse due to more flex in the tyre?

RSRs are great value but was wondering whether can get more even wear with other tyres.

 

those RSR are an ok track tyre especially given the cost, other tyres are more grippy if need it but cost much higher, odd you wearing edges first, what pressure you running them, should wear evenly across tyre even on FWD vehicle

 

Have experimented with a range of pressures from 2 bar (hot) up to standard (cold) . The latter may sound odd but conscious soggy tyres are going to wear outside edges more due to distortion of the tyre. To be fair the car does get driven very hard in the bends...............maybe it's just something I have live with?

 

i have used ado8rs and r888rs and ar1s and v700s and have some trefeos to finish off this friday
going 225 40 18 does save you some money and only marginal difference of grip
ado8r...cheaper but work well and good, last 3-5 days, much more tread to start with
ar1s...expensive but very good, last 2 days on clio 172, and 3+ days on R26/250
R888rs...expensive but very good...seem to go off at the end, wear similar to ar1s
v700s...expensive but good, used on rears mainly....lasted a good bit of time, 6 plus days
Trefeos....will use first time this friday so dont know yet but very expensive but supposed to be really good
RS3s...use these in very wet conditions and standing water...brilliant but not so great in the dry.....have to quickly switch back to semi slicks as soon as the line starts to dry

been using the ado8rs on two cold trackdays in feb and march and they got really hot and gripped well...probably good on the road once you have some heat in them

 

Interesting.
Btw what pressures do you run?
Do you have standard suspension/geo? I'm guessing not by the pic of your car!

 

I am still experimenting on tyre pressures on the 250, hot i am testing from 29 to 34. I find the lower pressures seem to give more grip but some think 32 34 is more optimum. running bilsteins at the moment until i move to AST's, currently have lots of camber. Not sure if i get the tyres too hot and grip goes off. from cold at 30 i typically end up taking out close to 14psi or in that region to stay around 3031

 

I have generally been running at the top end of this - 34 - 36, but am thinking I should get adjustable top mounts to give more camber.

 

I sense the tyres have less grip at those pressures on mine with ado8r as an example

 

Ok. Thanks for the insight.
I'm coming to the conclusion that more camber will even the wear and allow me to optimise the pressures for grip.

 

I agree about trying lower (hot) pressures (max of 32psi). It’s worth getting a cheap laser thermometer to measure temps across the tread. That’ll give you some sense of any alignment and suspension tuning issues

 

Whilst the infra-red thermometers give you a rough idea of what's going on, you need a proper pyrometer with a probe to get down into the carcass of the tyre to get the true temps.

 

That’s correct, and if you’re racing in a competitive series, a pyrometer is a must. But, for the purposes of track day tuning, a laser thermometer is fast and very effective for identifying hot spots across the tread of your tyres.

 

My eBay lazer thermometer does the job ok for me

I think a sweetspot for me is somewhere around 28-31 but still experimenting

 

For those of you checking the temps of your track tyres what temps are you seeing? my fronts were up at 70 on Friday. Is there a view on what temp is too hot?

 

I’m not sure my experience (from Australia) is totally relevant to you, but I’ve seen 80°C on a very hot track day here. That was on the l/h front, which does most of the work at that track. Ambient temp was 33°C and the track temp was around 45°C. My tyres (AR-1s) held up well

 

90c would be about the sweet spot measured with a probe.

Guessing that 70c was at the surface with an IR temperature gun?

 

Yes so prob not as accurate as your probe. I think I have had the tyres hotter to the touch in the past but didn't take a reading. I am going to do the ducting the same as Jamie has done when I get time as I really think that will help the brakes

 

Probably not far off then when you take into account it will have lost some temp driving into the pits. It might be about right if measured inside the rubber down at the carcass.

Even temps across the tyre is more important. You don't want more than a 10c difference across the whole tyre if you can.

 

Yes I did do quite a bit of a cool down run down the runway and back so probably cooled down a bit. The temps were even right across the tyres front and back which was good. As the weather was so hot I didn’t go out for my usual long stints ha ha

Ad08r in 2254018 are 460 on camskill

 

I'm looking for AD08Rs at the moment as well, that Camskill price is the best price I can find delivered. Protyre (multiple branches) and Dartford Tyres (localish to me) are doing them fully fitted for £490

 

Lovely looking track!

 

This is easy. Nankangs all day long as with the difference you would’ve paid for the others you’d get another TD out of them.
I’ve only used the Nankangs on my R26 for that exact reason. Shit in the cold/wet though. :-)

 

Had my set over a year.Street compound. Done 10k plus 5 track days. Swapped front to rears once. Not sure how much more value for money you can get.

 

Thats impressive that is...am hoping you wont be offended though if I dont use you as getaway driver for my next bank job