mikew968

I have a race at Mid Ohio this upcoming weekend. While the race temps look good, the mornings will be lower 30's to upper 30's. i run Pirelli DH slicks and am wondering what temp are too cold for the tires on the car static (in the paddock or in the trailer) and what is the min temp I can run the tires for warm-up or practice?


Thanks,

LuigiVampa

I was at LRP for a DE just last week in the same position with Pirelli DH slicks as well.

Although we are told never to let the tires freeze here I was with the car sitting in the paddock and the temp was 30!

I did the following for the first session:

1. Drove around the paddock and got my brakes good and hot.
2. When I went out on track I started off really slow and with each lap I added 5% or 10% more speed.
3. I took my time and by the fifth lap I was leaning into it.

I want to say that by the end of the first session I was driving normally but definitely not 10/10ths.

If you are going to be racing I would make sure you utilize a practice session to get some ambient heat in the tires. I don't know how long it lasts for but every little bit can help.

gbuff

I'll be there on Friday on my street tires, which will be bad enough until it warms a bit--you most definitely have to get some heat into those slicks as (being from Ohio you prolly already know) Mid-Ohio can be wicked in the wet and/or cold.

Gary

AudiOn19s

Mike, I'll be there too this weekend and attempting to run DH's for time trials...not looking forward to trying to put heat in them in short sessions but it is what it is. I've run them in this setting many times so as others have stated start off slower than you'd expect and you'll be fine. The first lap or two when you turn into the keyhole don't expect the car to want to turn.

Do you have scrubs or new DH's. I exclusively run scrubs (cause I'm cheap) which seem to be less prone to cracking since they've been heat cycled a few times. I wouldn't run new DH's in less than 50 degree weather as I know far too many people that have cracked sidewalls by doing so. They'll take 2 laps to come up on really cold mornings before you can start to drive hard. Luckily it's looking to warm up to nearly 60 both afternoons so you should be good after lunch and have a much better time on them.

P.S. Mid Ohio has cracked down on bedding brakes on the entry road, don't expect you'll get that luxury should you plan on it. If you've got plates on the car they can't stop you from driving outside the gates and going onto Steam Corners to do this :-)

Frank 993 C4S

bgiere

Better call Demonspeed Motorsports and get some tire warmers asap !

Veloce Raptor

I agree with Frank

LuigiVampa

Do you give any wiggle room for scrubs versus stickers?

Veloce Raptor

No opinion either way. I just think running slicks in 30f weather is a low probability move

LuigiVampa

I agree. Frank is smarter than the rest of us.

Frank 993 C4S

Not from my side (again my personal opinion). IMHO you can damage these tires as you warm them up by either too much lateral load or hitting curbs at low pressures. This gets amplified by low temperatures. I've had several tires fail on me last year so I am just overly cautious. These tires don't immediately fail after you damage them and it can take a couple of heat cycles for the sidewall cracks to appear and the tires to lose structural integrity. I haven't blown a tire since WGI last year (knocking on wood).

LuigiVampa

I cracked a Hoosier sticker two years ago at LRP on the uphill when it was about 45 degrees. I was about 5 laps in and thought I had been taking it easy. It wasn't a fun experience but luckily it only cost me the price of a new tire.

NaroEscape

We ran a DE at VIR a couple years ago and it got down in the low 20's at night...and was supposed to only get into the low 40's daytime. Based on tire sizes, we can only run slicks so i didn't have much option. When we got there I took the wheels/tires off and brought them into our hotel room overnight. (luckly we were staying at the track).Left the car on jack stands. That way they never got a full, solid freeze. Was cold in the morning - skipped the first session. Left the tires off the car and sitting in the sun until just before we went out, then warmed them slowly on a couple slower laps.

mikew968

Temps are now predicted to be in the high 20's. I think a small disc heater in the trailer should keep temps above 35-40 and maybe skip the 1st morning session! Thanks for all the feedback.

Frank 993 C4S