Dwane

Love the video.....
Can you explain why you run Michelin Slicks?

Chris R.

For sure I can! have you not driven with me? I slide the car with slicks without doing anything weird or strange. I'm smooth and quick and steer the car with my right foot as easily as with the wheel, be it through throttle lift, lots -O-throttle or by trail braking. Ask the 997 GT3 guys how much slower I am.
The problem with the Michelin slicks is I keep breaking them after 10 heat cycles! I'm thinking of going back to Sport Cups and dealing with being slower but having more fun...for a lot longer. I did use one set of Hoosier slicks that lasted a little longer (and I'm not talking about abusing them, just fast driving) without trying to kill me. Or I find 4 space savers and slide around LCMT doing 2:30's and laughing all the way!

utkinpol

i would take nitto nt-01 tires if you got close to yellow group level. those are r-comps but they do 'speak' in the corners and do not drop off traction as abruptly like R6 or racing slicks. you will do fine on NT01.

more 'streetable' tire which is almost as good as r-comp is hankook r-s3, they exist in 235/285 sizes in 18".

for track rims do your research and if you can fit 9" wheel in front - do it, with rear wheel 2" wider than front. if you want to keep costs down look for 245/305 kind sizes, or 235/295 and you may get a full set for under $1K, if you`ll go to 255/315 or 265/335 then costs will go up to $1.5K+ per set. 18" tires are cheaper than 19" but nowdays 18" r-comps tires availability is worse than 19".

tgsmith4845

Pardon a 996TT owner for jumping in, but I've thoroughly enjoyed this discussion on DE tires. FWIW, I run std PS2s for the street, and R888s for DE on the track. Both sets mounted on std wheel 18x8.5 and 18x11. The R888s make a ton of noise driving to the track but are totally worth it on the track.

Rene G

(For sure I can! have you not driven with me? I slide the car with slicks without doing anything weird or strange. I'm smooth and quick and steer the car with my right foot as easily as with the wheel, be it through throttle lift, lots -O-throttle or by trail braking. Ask the 997 GT3 guys how much slower I am. )

Hey Chris,

can you help me to throtle steer my car next season? I'd really like to learn how to do it right.
Rene

Chris R.

Rene, I'm not sure how serious you are...for those of you who don't know Rene, he's real, real fast in his GT3. Faster than me for sure.
if you are serious, then yeah sure, of course! Throttle steering into the esses is super beneficial as well as into carousel as well to set the angle of the car and get a good exit. Not a great idea over the top of 2 though!

DHI

Rene... White 6GT3?

blake

+1. I was surprised that this was the first post to address the "screech" of street tires.

We tend to drive on the street relying on our eyes and ears - not our butts! DE-ing with street tires gives you ample warning (the LOUD screetch) prior to losing grip. This allows the student to match that auditory input with the feel of the car. Once you get a "feel" of the car on the edge, you will be ready for R-comps! (They don't screetch prior to release, so you really have to feel it...)

To this end, my instructor used to make me wear ear plugs before "signing me off" to R-Comps. Guys like LVDell and others really pushed the "learn the limit" on street tires first. The advice was spot-on, and has paid dividends since..

My $0.02,
-Blake

Chris R.

Yes sir! Good guy, nice guy, funny guy...but only a mother could love that face. And only and army could feed that stomach!
I think he was toying with the idea of a new car but I don't know if he has pulled the trigger on one yet.

Rene G

Chris,
thanks for the compliments, but I'm not that fast, and yes I'm serious I'd like to learn how to drive the car better. I've tried a couple times to rotate the car into the Esses but I just cant commit to it fully. well at least not without getting a black flag.


I did not end up getting the new car, there was a little voice in my ear telling me that it was not a good idea. well actually it was a really loud voice with some screaching telling not to buy the car or else.
I was busy eating at the time so I could not argue.
I'll just have to enjoy the 6 GT3.

Dwane

Dude, Don't you know you are supposed to ignore those sounds.
Pretend to be busy with the kids or something

Rene G

Dwayne,

I'll try that next time, but I'm running out of lives only 1-2 left. I may want to keep those for the 918!!!

zhupanov

I have posted this as a separate question before: "How about buying some very slippery tires specifically for track to, essentially, imitate the experiment in above video for learning purposes?" and got a uniformly negative feedback. The reasons given mainly either were safety concerns (which I fail to appreciate, since, naturally, I'd be driving much slower), or pragmatic concerns with the longevity of the tires, mainly stemming from the fact that, say, a random all-season crappy tire will likely just fall apart at the track. However, surely there must be tires out there that have very long life, are slippery, and do not disintegrate due to track-level heat and stress. I doubt spare tires used in the above video are a good candidate, but, surely there is such a thing out there? After all, our local indoor karting tracks purposely use slippery tires so as to prolong their life, so tire engineers do know how to make a long-lasting slippery tires than one can pound the heck out of. Any thoughts?

MSTACH

just use Hohos R6 with 25 Heat cycles :-)
I have few sets for sell with CCW or OZ

tgavem

I am novice like you and I'm surprised your instructor recommended stickier tires. The DE group I'm with just put in a new rule, no tires with thread wear of less than 120 unless you are yellow solo or red. I started with DE one year ago with my 4S, then bought the 6 in November. I have 11 events with the 6 this year, 9 on AD08. I can highly recommend. The first 6 events with max camber the stock set up allows. Then I changed to more aggressive, 2.7 front, see my TWS May 18/19 thread here. Much different behavior. The tires won't talk as much but the car is very predictable. I'm moving to red in my next event or PCA white equivalent and I will continue to run AD08 for probably two sets or more. You can gain time quickly but changing tires, but improving the drivers skill will gain you a lot more in the long run.

My friend, Rovman, has the same car, same set up, and same tires - at MSR Houston, a 2.4mile track, Rovman fast laps are around 1:45/46 and mine are 1:51/52, and Rovman is only 2-3seconds off the very fastest on this track that run on slicks or R-compound.

On other note, see thread here using all thread studs instead of bolts when installing you harness bar, will save you hours.