Man, the fact you guys run little 3000lb cars on that much rubber makes me so jealous. I just went up to 255's on my 4000lb M5. I could go bigger but I would need new wheels and the stock M5 wheels help brake cooling. Then again, I still don't drive my car anywhere near the limit even on 235 RA1's. Anytime a better driver takes out my car I am shocked at how much more grip there is in the tires. Sometimes that is the best way to feel confident about incrementally increasing speeds.

By the way, anyone in San Jose area that runs Toyo RA1's I have a good source. He sells them from his house. If interested, email me and I will give you his contact info.

 

quite a few of us in the bay area run RA1's on the street.

When I am done with the current set I am going back to S02's for the street. Now that I have 2 sets of wheels, I don't need to keep running r-compounds on the street.

 

Yes I would be interested...

 

What were you guys getting on RA1's on the street in terms of mileage? The source I have uses them on his Miata and gets 15k. However, I have a friend with an M6 (3600lb+) that only got 6-7k with track days included.

I can get S03's for about $210 in 245/40/18's (street wheels). I am running Ecsta 712's right now. Actually a good, cheap street tire and only about $125 each. I am actually pretty happy with them but they are noticeably bad under hard braking (at least in my car). I was forced to run them once on the track and they scared the crap out of me. I was also running pretty low pressures but they still sucked. Under braking for T7 at Sears I could hear them trying to get grip.

I know RA1's are the stickiest but they wear like iron and I have 15+ track days on my current set. They had a bit left in them (1-2 days) but I got the new ones mounted so I wouldn't end up cording a tire in the middle of a weekend. Off to Buttonwillow this weekend.

 

Thanks for the props 330iGuy Yeah, that was me, but I really wasn't happy with the tires I was running. I felt like I could have been ~2 seconds faster on the Toyo T-1Ss that I use to drive on. I guess that's what I get for going cheap with my tires. Boy, did it get to me that Eric was faster on street tires than I was!!! Not that he didn't deserve it, 'cause he was crazy fast, but I just couldn't figure out how to get any more out of my treads than a 2:03 without risking my life. Every time I tired something radically more aggressive, I'd only gain maybe a tenth. My suspension wasn't helping matters much either, as the stock .5 degrees of neg camber were causing the Kumhos to wail like banshees while understeering (every corner). Crappy tires + stock suspension = frustrated Kevin. And then there was the Z06 on street treads doing 1:59s...

It was awesome to see so many great drivers in the fast group. Actually, I rarely "saw" anyone, since we were all running comparatively fast lap times. Nothin' but clear track most of the day. God, I love that!

Turn 6 was, in fact, fairly different for me. Part of it was my tires, which couldn't hold the new pavment for $hit, but part of it was also due to the slightly more gradual transition from slope to straight. Those two factors combined made for a much later apex. I used to apex around 5ft under the bridge, but Sunday I was about 20ft later than that. even then, i wasn't able to get on the throttle nearly as early for fear of understeering off of the track. again, most of that may have been due to my tires, but there is a difference in the track.

The walls are still fairly close, but they're further away than they were during the short course construction. This is especially welcome in the esses.

Full lap video forthcoming tonight on www.trackfreak.com. I'll make sure to let y'all know when its up!

Overall, excellent event Aaron and John! Thanks for having me instruct for the weekend, I really enjoyed it. Not to mention the tons of uncluttered track time, excellent lap timing setup, and great social company (all the S2k guys especially)! Oh, and thanks again to 330iGuy and Krazik for the heads up regarding the event!

Cheers,

Kevin

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by E34M5
[B]I am running Ecsta 712's right now. Actually a good, cheap street tire and only about $125 each.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by E34M5
[B]What were you guys getting on RA1's on the street in terms of mileage? The source I have uses them on his Miata and gets 15k. However, I have a friend with an M6 (3600lb+) that only got 6-7k with track days included.

 

Kevin,

That hopping also happened to me. I ran them on the short track and imagine throwing an M5 around with that happening with all those walls nearby. Yikes. And yes, they squeel unbearably and it as really embarrassing going through T7 when the paddock was right there.

I have pretty much decided on giving the S03's a try or possibly some Falkens a friend is going to buy. The Pilots are great but $280 a tire is just too much. I would consider anything around $200 or less. Interesting point about ride quality. I found them better than my AVS Sports so I guess I would really like the high quality tires.

I spoke with a Speedvision driver (the local guy, Mezzeti or something like that) and they all run T1-S's in that series. He positively hates them but this is a racecar so any street tire is not going to feel very good. Once you have driven on R compounds there is no going back.

 

Good guess. Mazda mania over there.

 

Well the times were just posted.. Looks like I beat C3 by 2 thousandths of a second on sunday.

Glad to see the hooisers were worth something

LOL

I still stick to the fact that I wasn't driving the hooisers anywhere near as hard as they were capable of.