Goodyear Racing Tires

[ack fia]

I'm planning to buy some racing tires for track days. Can someone tell me the upside/downside to Goodyear G7's vs. "cobra" vs. "cobra hand cuts"??
Presently I am leaning toward the G7's (700-15 and 800-15).
Most of my driving is on the track.
Thanks,
Pat

[JCoop]

The Cobra "A" size tyres have a harder compound and are useable in rain. I got a set of the hand-cut Good Year C2 (Stock Car Specials) that are really slicks that may pass tech for a vintage event but are a much softer compound, definitely for serious track events and maybe get you back to the pits when it rains. A lot less money too, although no longer available in white letters. They come in yellow letters but can be painted white.

http://www.rogerkrausracing.com/gyCobra.html
http://www.rogerkrausracing.com/CobraSheet.html

[Rick Parker]

The G7's are the best handling bias ply tire for track work. They are the Blue Streak Sports Car Specials. They are NOT for anything remotely wet. The "chicken scratch" tread is the closest thing to a slick that you will find, and when warm they will pick up stones. But they are what all the Vintage Trans am cars utilize and he FIA Cobras are running in the Historic/Vintage classes (may be required?) They do not like uneven tarmac and will get a little "darty" if the road is irregular. Otherwise they are the "Cat's Meow".
6:00 15's are universally used for the fronts on 289 FIA and the 427's, with 700:15 rears for FIA and 800:15 use on wider rear 427's.

[RACER X #99]

If you are considering track only tires you might just a well go with the Goodyear slicks from Roger Krause. They offer the best traction in a bias tire. I have tried all the different tires available over the last 15 years and the pure slicks are the best available. I have run Hoosier TD's, BFG COMP TA R1's (no longer available) and now the Winston West slicks that Krause sells as Cobra race tires. I tend to run pretty hard and I only got 235 miles out of the last set so I am thinking of going to the Hoosier R6 radials next year. Twice the price but I should get much better mileage than the bias ply Goodyears.

[scott coyle]

Does anybody have experience using the R6 hoosier radials versus the Goodyear stock car slicks? I have been thinking about trying the R6,s like Roger is but I am concerned that the Hoosier will not work as well because it is a DOT tire, not a true slick. Any comments?

Scott

[Clois Harlan]

Scott,

I used them several years ago and they actually did pretty well (much better than a Z rated tire). However, I prefer the standard slicks (Goodyear or Hoosier). I have two sets of Hoosiers (35 and 55 compounds ??) and 1 set of Goodyear A25XX I think.

The Goodyears are the newest and work really well on hot tracks.


Clois

Clois

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Scott;

In the last couple of weeks I bought 2 sets of the R6 tires, only have heat cycled them once and my air pressure was way off, so I don't have much expirence with them yet...........Looking at them, they look exactly like a slick, but with 2 "grooves" down the middle to make them DOT legal.........It well states on the tire, "for racing purposes only", even though they are DOT legal..........they do seem to "stick" pretty well, tire wear seems to be better than with the Bias Hoosier TDs...........

I was running 22psi front and 20 psi rear with the bias street tds, and it was recommend that I run at least 35psi front/32psi rear for the radials, of course I did not listen and ran 26/24 and the car was all over the place..........one guy running a late model Mustang which is about 350 lbs. heavier than my car is running 38/36psi air pressure says the car handles just right!!!!!!!!!!

One other thing I did find is that the radials air pressure after a run does not go up nearly as much as the bias tires..............next time out will be for expirementing with air pressure to get things right.........unless things go really bad, I'm going to stick with the R6 radials for now, the street tds do not have enough life in them and I could easily use 3 to 4 sets a year @ about $650.00 per set. .......

David

[bobt427]

Call Roger Krause He will steer you in the right direction.Thats what I did when I bought my goodyears. Ask about the tried depth.and tire life.

[scott coyle]

David,

Let me know how it goes. I spoke with Roger and he said he was not convinced that the R6 tire would have more grip. He did not know for sure. He did say the R6 should last longer but only a few heat cycles. I get about 8 heat cycles out of the bias ply goodyear slicks and they are out of grip in back. On the 9th or 10th heat cycle, its dicey and getting to the cords sometimes, so I pitch them at 8 cycles.

Scott

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Scott;

The main track I run on has a very abrasive surface and my Hoosier Street TDs would last 3 race days......(30 minute practice,I usually run about 4 to 8 laps, qualifying, 4 laps and the race itself, 12 laps (1.8 mile course,14 turns)..... they still have "some' rubber left, but are too hard and have very little grip......some guys stretch them to 4 race days, but that is a stretch and they are not competitve on those tires.......I have found from new tires to 3 "race tires" I would lose about 2 seconds a lap!!!!!!!!!!!! right now the top 6 or so cars are all within 2.5 seconds on their lap times!!!!

The few laps I've run so far with the R6 tires feel good and the grip feels better, did not get to time those laps and was not running 100% anyway....... I did notice the air pressure stayed more consistant with the radial than the bais tire and others have confirmed that..........price wise they, the R6 tire is about 30 bucks per tire more, but should pay-off with quicker laps times and better tire wear........I do not race again till the first part of November, have 2 races in Nov. and one in Dec. and I'll know a lot more then..........

Also,going to change my front springs next week, going to a little stiffer spring to help with body roll......

All in all, with the tire and spring change I'm looking for about 2 seconds a lap and hope to get it, that should put me right up there with the top 3 cars..........also,going to have another guy drive my car a few laps for a second opinion.........could be the driver and not the car!!!!!!!! , no one else has driven my car,yet, so I have no feed back as to what they think it's doing or what improvements I could make......

David

[scott coyle]

David,

Have you run the goodyear bias ply slicks ? I have run the hoosier bias ply street td's and the goodyear slicks are much better as far as grip goes. I was looking more for a comparison of the goodyear slicks to the hoosier r6 radial dot tire.

Good luck and let me know how it goes,

Scott

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Scott;

No,never have run a true slick cause in Vintage Racing we are required to run a DOT legal tire and most rules state it has to be a 60 series tire........

David

[ack fia]

I've mounted my new Goodyear Bluestreaks (600x15 front and 700x15 rear) and would like some advise on the air pressure to start with for my next track day.
I know that tread temperature is the way to adjust, but where do you start?
My next track day is October 20 at Loudon, NH (anyone else going?).
Thanks,
Pat

[Scott Hatcher]

I've got the Blue Streaks and start with 24#s cold and adjust after each run if they get more than 30#s. They seems to work best for me if they stay around 28 hot.

jusy my .02.

Scott

[Johan]

You do not want to go below 21 cold and shoot for 25 hot.
If your car was lighter, you could go below that and shoot for 20 hot, but it is not. They will drive like crap and wander until warm. It will be hard to turn the wheel until warm. If it is winter and you are doing a track day, go up to 23 rear and 24 front .