Track Tyres - Feedback and Recommendations

[-Jamie-]

If you are a good consistent driver in regards to lap times and know how to use your car and tyre to its full potential then you can make them last a long time.

I got 10k miles plus 4 trackdays out a set of front RSR's on the Megane and they still had enough life for another TD in them, Very impressive. On of my mates got even more out a set on his E36 M3 Evo

 

[-Jamie-]

Just to add to that, Tyre pressure plays a massive role in how long a tyre will last as well. Get them right and you will get ages out them. I have also destroyed a set of RSR's just in one day at KH but it was the middle of the summer heatwave and i was doing long stints and stupidly had pressures far too low so they were just rolling and destroying the outside edges

 

[warwickstingray]

Although there is nowt as determined as a really determined idiot. Anyone see Jordan I think it was drive on top gear that time. Tyre pressures won't save tyres from that sort of cornering lunacy!

 

[imprezaworks]

Exolto 2's? Can get a scrubbed set for cheap

 

[Tony Hunter]

Phew!

 

[imprezaworks]

Have bought a set of Marangoni Zeta Linea track tyres in 15's to try.

 

[roncee]

Nankang ns r2 medium. I have a set to go on in feb then trackday at oulton. Seems a good compromise between daily commute and few track days. At 50 quid a corner its worth a try. On a stripped cup it might be fine. Will let you know how i get on.

 

[Tony Hunter]

Have bought a set of Marangoni Zeta Linea track tyres in 15's to try.

I tried to get these as a control tyre for the French Trophy/Tricolore Trophy, but it wasn't completely down to me, and the deal fell through.
Good tyre, used in the BMW compact cup as a control tyre.

 

[imprezaworks]

Yeah so ive read. Will stick them on the 15's and see how they go. For a set i think ears do them at £280 i paid less than half that with decent tread/

 

[Steve]

I think the guy he us quoting must of been running the NS2 which are rubbish & nothing like the NS2R.
The side walls are rock hard on these by the way.
I use them on road & track & have the soft option, but FM are they noisy!!!
The RSR was a better tyre to live with.

 

[warwickstingray]

I tried to get these as a control tyre for the French Trophy/Tricolore Trophy, but it wasn't completely down to me, and the deal fell through.
Good tyre, used in the BMW compact cup as a control tyre.

Yet the internet say they are terrible. People moaning of understeer and terrible wet grip. Sounds like the familiar comments every single tyre ever made has had by someone at some point [emoji14]

 

[Tony Hunter]

All down to set up.

Any tyre that is "good" in the dry, will be crap in the wet. Fact.

 

[warwickstingray]

All down to set up.

Any tyre that is "good" in the dry, will be crap in the wet. Fact.

Totally agree but these reviews said they were awful in the dry as well! Usual tyre reviews. Several saying they're terrible in any conditions and then a couple of well written reviews by sensible people actually telling everyone what the tyre is like!

Review sites always amuse me.

 

[imprezaworks]

Definitely. 'yeah it's the best tyre I've ever tried '. Flip side, 'awful in the wet, hopeless in the dry' may aswell walk everywhere

 

[gnome]

I think a lot of it is down to how you drive and how your car is set up many years ago I had a Le car 2 turbo that loved lift of over steer for some reason, at the moment on my clio i have Silverstone Type RR tyres for the dry track days however they do like a bit of camber on the front and are down right dangerous until you get some proper heat into them and then they do grip like s**t to a blanket but the wear rate is not the best.For a good all rounder i don't think you can beat Yokohama A008 good in the wet and good in the dry it's also a good tyre to feel your way around a track if you are new to track days/racing,the other plus point with these tyres they are still on the MSA 1A tyre list ,for sprints its a good option when you don't have a long enough run to get some heat into your tyres

 

[imprezaworks]

Agreed. Im looking forward to trying the both sets of wheels /tyres i have to see the difference.

 

[gnome]

I think a good starting point with tyres is to get your suspension set up right and I don't mean £20,000 of ohlins,even if it's only a standard setup make sure is all in the right place and pointing in the right direction only then can you know what your tyres are doing ,from there it's a learning curve .More importantly its about what you like and what your comfortable with,just remember 90% of the time the tyres will out perform the driver ,from my own experience I have seen to many people turn up at sprints/hill climbs/trackdays with thousands of pounds worth of tyres and suspension only to be out driven by someone with more talent and a proper set up ,there is probably more experienced people on here that can advise people but you won't believe the amount of times we have done a geo set up on a car and I don't just mean a clio only to find the castor/camber angle , toe in/ out miles out.In fact my own track day car had a geo set up (By my cousin a lot more talented than me) within six months thinks had started to move and now drives like a pig in the wet

 

[imprezaworks]

Had mine checked and adjusted not long after I bought the car. The rear was spot on, front just needed a tweak. Drives true and seems to handle well. Tbh it's just enjoy the atmosphere when going to a day, that and a day off work

 

[gnome]

I agree with imprezaworks to many people mainly the younger generation worry about have the right tyres and suspension etc etc .Stick some half decent tyres on it ,make sure there all pointing in the right direction and enjoy .Best fun i had was in Mini Cooper and i mean the 1960's one ,around a rally course in mid Wales(1980's ish) came second from last still laugh about it now with my mates also did a track day years ago in my mates T5R estate on road tyres it was the best track day i have ever done ,believe me if you can get a T5R around oulton park without falling off you have done well taught me more about car control than anything else(except for the instructors).The most important advice is listen to people who have been there done that and made the mistakes but most of all enjoy.

 

[Tony Hunter]

Echo above, some on here take it far too seriously.
If you drive the car on the road, no way will it be any good on a track.
Fun yes, but good, no.

 

[gnome]

Completely agree with the above ,at the end of the day most of us drive Clio's for one reason or another and there is only so much you can do with it if you want to go faster buy a faster car ,if not enjoy and more importantly have fun believe you and me I have seen to many people spend thousands and thousands only to be overtaken by someone in a standard..ish car and disappear off into the sunset .The whole idea of Motorsport is to enjoy ,make friends and chew the fat ,don't worry if your not the quickest and don't be to concerned about going faster and faster because eventually you will run out of talent and that gets expensive!!!!!

 

[Tony Hunter]

VERY expensive.

 

[Steve]

Spend money on tuition rather than modifications, you will be quicker.
Don't agree with if you want to go faster buy a faster car, for me this is the fun part mixing it with cars that should leave me for dead.

 

[Tony Hunter]

That's why I like my little 106 Steve.

 

[MicKPM]

Spend money on tuition rather than modifications, you will be quicker.
Don't agree with if you want to go faster buy a faster car, for me this is the fun part mixing it with cars that should leave me for dead.

I kind of agree but I would never tell one of my customers to spend £4k modding a Clio and still only have around 200hp afterwards. By all means modify it but make the money you spend count (Tyres, Suspension, Brakes and Trackdays for me rather than ITB's, Turbos and witchcraft).

Tony and Jay whipped me in the Baby Burp 106 around Donington because they did the above and kept it simple... And went everywhere in 3rd flat out hehehe

 

[warwickstingray]

The original post is a dot to this thread

 

[imprezaworks]

Its all good

 

[-Jamie-]

I would also say that if your new to TD's, Use road tyres.


Proper track day R tyres hide a multitude of bad driving habits, Start on road tyres and get smooth, consistent and fast on them. Will be a much better driver in the long term and tbh road tyres are more fun as their limit if grip is far lower than sticky track biased stuff.

 

[warwickstingray]

Best thing about road tyres is as you say they won't hide bad driving and fall into understeer quickly as a result. Just a bit of poorly excuted technique as you start to learn some more skills shows you straight away there is more to come.

 

[TarkMalbot]

When I took the Megane to Knockhill I ran the standard 19" Bridgestone Potenza RE050A still with the 40+ psi in them from the motorway drive up there and nothing but a rage buggy was quicker that day. The only thing I found is that it was wearing the edges of the front tyres but other than that all was good fun. I was letting it spin up a little coming out of corners but know I could have avoided that being smooth but I was having fun and it sounded good. lol

 

[Mini182]

Years ago I did a cheap trackday at an airfield, (can't remember which one).

I didn't have much money at the time and couldn't afford new tyres. I was driving a primera GT with knackered P6000 tyres, oh and it was wet, very wet.

I learn't more about car control in that one day than any other trackday before or since!

 

[warwickstingray]

I've come to prefer wet track days for that very reason. Properly kills the advantage the dry rubber and dry setups have and very few people fork out for track wets. Evens the Playing field as a rubbish Subaru driver found out when he broke the rules overtaking me and someone else and then I got him blue flagged to let me by once I got past the other car safely.

Got the thumbs up from his son who was his passenger back in the pit lane which was nice!

 

[Tony Hunter]

I kind of agree but I would never tell one of my customers to spend £4k modding a Clio and still only have around 200hp afterwards. By all means modify it but make the money you spend count (Tyres, Suspension, Brakes and Trackdays for me rather than ITB's, Turbos and witchcraft).

Tony and Jay whipped me in the Baby Burp 106 around Donington because they did the above and kept it simple... And went everywhere in 3rd flat out hehehe

Oh Hi :smile:

 

[MicKPM]

Are you at Bedford in Feb again Tony?

 

[Tony Hunter]

Maybe, not bringing a car though. Might do some hand holding if needed.

 

[imprezaworks]

So a day at Oulton

Cold, bit damp in the morning but overall conditions were as good as you can expect this time of year.

Re050's. Started with 25 front, 24 rear. First couple of laps were 'ok' but they didn't have the best grip, inspiring not much confidence.

Marangoni zeta semi slicks. Again started with the same pressures. First few laps were good, seemed to grip ok but took a bit to warm up. I appreciate it was a cold day. Once up to temp ish the tyres worked very well, a step up from the above. Lap after lap they got better and I think if it was a warmer day they would cope well. Overall a very good tyre, better than the rsr I've tried and probably on par with ad08's I tried.

The re050's were on 16's, marangoni were on 15's.

 

[imprezaworks]

Used track tyres with say 2mm ish a good or not so good idea?

 

[mark123]

It all depends on price. I tend to regard second hand tyres as false economy but that is because I don't know anyone who can fit them for cheap.
As the tread gets thin they won't hold heat as well. I normally run them until they're bald though to get my money's worth.
2mm is next to nothing though.

 

[imprezaworks]

Ok thanks. Been offered a set for £100 delivered with about 2mm

 

[aucky]

If you are a good consistent driver in regards to lap times and know how to use your car and tyre to its full potential then you can make them last a long time.

I got 10k miles plus 4 trackdays out a set of front RSR's on the Megane and they still had enough life for another TD in them, Very impressive. On of my mates got even more out a set on his E36 M3 Evo

My AD08s have lasted ~8 trackdays I think, and a 1K or road and are still legal!
The shoulders started to wear at angelsey last year so I'll be getting a fresh set for this year.