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Driving the point home about tire break in..

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I can't go into real specifics but at Sebring we were shocked at how long tires did not last. It was not a comment on the track over all but rather the method of break in.
As an example ( and like I've said before) the best laps in your tires are in the first 5, with a set of stickers, it was pretty clear that if you were to run a fast qualifier then it would be in the first 5, if you got blocked (Buford) and you couldn't get a clear lap in you were really screwed. Now, that being said, we also ran a set of stickers new to used (in one long stint) and when they fell off, it was very dramatic, and they were pretty much toast from then on. (the amount of time/laps/wear/ temps and pressures are proprietary so just take my word for it). Lastly, tires that were broken in by running a short stint lasted quite a few laps longer than expected.
So it is pretty clear, if you want to go fast, do it in the first 5 laps of the tires life (and don't forget you have to anticipate the temp/pressure to do that..hope you've been working on your graphs) if you want them to last, break them in , in one or two 3-5 lap stints and let them normalize.
 
Should the break-in 3-5 laps start at say 5/10s then progressively faster with the last lap being at race speeds? Then take off the car and let sit for 24 hours or more? I did this last year with sticker R6s and set a PB two days later in competition.
 
Does it make sense to have modern street tires or R comp DOT legal tires shaved for track days? What about having someone like Tire Race heat cycle tires in advance?
 
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Cloud9:
Not necessarily, it seems that the outlaps are slow enough that it doesn't matter, but I would def limit them to say 8 laps, it depends on the track. We ran stickers as our qualifiers (because we had to) but they lasted OK for the event.

NFSBOSS:
Yes it absolutely does make a difference, because of "tread squirm" ( the tread movement at the surface level that allows the tire to actually squirm sideways, which builds heat and effects handling) but you will definitely cut down on tire life, if it was me (and I'm a very low buck guy) I hate to cut off useable rubber, I would just break the tire in and run it, not the fastest way around the track, but probably the cheapest. I don't know about the "heat cycling" from Tire Rack, I guess it would work and save some time at the track, it depends on how they do it.
 
blacksheep-1 said:
Cloud9:
Not necessarily, it seems that the outlaps are slow enough that it doesn't matter, but I would def limit them to say 8 laps, it depends on the track. We ran stickers as our qualifiers (because we had to) but they lasted OK for the event.

NFSBOSS:
Yes it absolutely does make a difference, because of "tread squirm" ( the tread movement at the surface level that allows the tire to actually squirm sideways, which builds heat and effects handling) but you will definitely cut down on tire life, if it was me (and I'm a very low buck guy) I hate to cut off useable rubber, I would just break the tire in and run it, not the fastest way around the track, but probably the cheapest. I don't know about the "heat cycling" from Tire Rack, I guess it would work and save some time at the track, it depends on how they do it.
Here's a link to TireRack's heat cycling program. I'm curious if you think it's worth it. I've done it both ways but not convinced their heat cycling helps or not since I end up cording before heat cycling out the tire. That said, if it stays fast longer, it's still worth it. I need to order tires this week so appreciate your input if you have time to respond.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=66
 

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