Often the hottest topic anywhere about any motorsport. TIRES. What tires are those? Are they any good?

After wasting the original dry street tires in a auto-x and doing donuts in the parking lot of my work, I started looking for the best tire I could get for my size without going with an R tire.

My choice was the Falken Azenis 215. size 205/50/15 treadwear 200

They were $58 each from tirerack.com and are the best street tires I’ve ever used. So far in my first auto-x I got 3rd place behind 2 cars with r-compounds and I was only a few secs off their time. They are great tires. Falken does not make them anymore, they got replaced with the 615’s and are now $98 each! They are still the best DOT non r-compound tires available.

************* UPDATE 02-20-07 **************************

I have decided on racing with VARA (vararacing.com) and recently completed my liscening race school. My first race will be in March. Rules regulate 205/60/13 max. tire size. Also I cannot run "slicks". Most of the field run TOYO RA-1. Usually shaved for increased performance. The other choice is the Hoosier but at $50-$60 more than the toyos per tire it's a personal decision. The hoosiers will be faster but might only last 1 maybe 2 race weekends. The Toyo on the other hand might be a bit slower but will last almost a full season on racing on our cars. The low weight with the low power of the 2002 makes the tire life extend past what other heavier more powerful cars have to deal with.

Competition Tires

Now that I'm vintage racing I need some race rubber!

So that Brings us to the dilema of the day. Bias-ply cantilever slicks or R-Compound radials?

Luckily I have the large amounts of negative camber needed by these tires for them to work properly. They might have a shorter life than the bias ply slicks from what I’ve heard. Other wise they kick ass. Hoosiers are the best and have consistenly won national titles and are usually the choice of the top 3. Unfortunatly Hoosier only last at best 2 race weekends. They still have rubber but they are sensitive to heat cycles and become unusable. The other choice are the TOYO RA-1. Favorite amost my C-Sedan competiors because of the exelent predictablilty and long lasting compound. People in my class have reported 1 full season on 1 set of tires! Not that many other people still making the 205/60/13 size in R- compound.

I will be running the TOYO RA-1

Or...

(As I recently found out they are not legal in my organization-VARA)

GoodYear Bias Ply Cantilever Slicks (G-19) size 23x8x15 or 23x9x15 or Hoosier Bias Ply Slicks.

From the research I have done they are faster and put more rubber on the road than the radial R-compounds and they should should last longer! They do not require the large amounts of negative camber that radials need since they have much stiffer sidewalls. This might also be a problem. Since I have camber plates in front this is easy to fix and adjust. From what I gather only around –1 of negative camber is needed for the tires. In the rear my sub frame is currently non- adjustable (stock) so as with any semi-trailing arm suspension design the more the car gets lowered the larger amount of negative camber you will gain. If I hope not to destroy the inside on the tires I will have to install adjustable camber plates for my trailing arm from Ireland Engeneering. It would require me to remove the trailing arm and weld the plates and would be a big job. Additionally the bias ply tires operate at higher "slip angles" giving them a slow turn in. The slip angle of a tire is the angular difference between the wheel direction and the contact patch direction. What this means to the driver, you have to 'lead' the corner more to account for the slip angles. Also, they also have a larger section width so they buldge out like you see in the picture. I might present some issues in regard to fender clearance.

Check out this great website for more info on radials and bias ply tires.