Tire Tips for Autocrossers!

[Bill Pemberton]

My son's EVO 9 is down waiting on parts ( a constant racer's plight ) so we took the Boss S to chew up my 3 year old gforce R1Ss. They are fairly cycled out , but this was just for fun at the SCCA Solo Nationals site in Lincoln , Ne. since we will not be running the Mustang in the future -- hopefully parts will be here soon for the EVO. For those who are doing more auto crossing than track time , the solid information from DaveW and Dave_W are really holding true and watching some of the guys run on the newish Falken RT660, I can say I was more than a little impressed. Since Bridgestone has had a brain fart and left the fray with their stickomatic RE71R, the choices are down with many feeling the choices might only be the Rival S 1.5 and the Yokohama A052. It appears the Yoke may be the new standard bearer for the cone careening , though as DaveW noted the Rival is still kicking butt with some of the bigger, heavier car. The RT 660 Falken, that Dave_W commented might be a solid runner for those wanting to do more autocrossing than track time , but still doing both, appears to be really strong advice. The National Retail Sales Manager for Falken is an old customer of mine and the best thing going for TMO TrackRats is he is one of us ------not just the Head Retail Sales Dude , but a fellow Conehead. He trophied at Nationals in 2019 and is super passionate about track time and the new RT 660. Watching two Past National Champions on the 660s I was amazed at the stiction , and in chatting with one , he estimates they are 2-3 seconds faster on course than the previous RT615K --- he runs in the SSC Class. The other gentleman was running a Honda and simply killing it , time wise, so hopefully we will continue to get updates from the two Daves throughout the year because as tire sizes or models disappear one always wants to have an alternative ready in the background. Also talked to another guy running the Goodyear F1 Supercar 3 on his Vette and his very stoked about them since he primarily bought them for track use. Surprised it is fairly decent piloting through the pylons , though he felt not likely quite as quick as the Rivals, Yokes or Falkens. At a 220 treadwear it should be good on the track , another suggestion echoed by Dave_W -- track primarily, autocross secondary with the Goodyear.

I will try to post whatever I am seeing when at the Solo Track and later this year will comment if I am seeing changes with the track usage for Time Trialers or those doing HPDEs here in the Midwest.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Oh, yeh, damn Son jumped in my Boss for the first time and beat Dad on the coniferous course! Funny thing was he did not tell me but he mentioned to some of his friends that he needed to figure a way to get off work so he could go with me to an event and get on track with the Stang ---- for 6 years we ran Spec Miata together.

 

[flyhalf]

Thanks for the sharong!
Fwik. This goes alomg fpr what we know here.
A052>1.5>rt660>re71

 

[funksouljon]

Thanks for the update. I can guarantee one thing. All of these options are better than the Aspen All seasons that came with the car when I purchased. Upside, they are predictable when they will let go on the rear (pretty much every time when I really get on it on both the street and track) and they are fairly consistently able to plow away from the cones in the really tight stuff. But it makes for good/bad video.

I was very close to pulling the trigger this weekend and just get new tires while I wait for the new wheels to arrive (1.5+ months). The price is about $30 for the RT660 over the 615s, I thought that was a small amount to pay for the apparent better ability of the RT660.