Continental Extreme Contact Force (200TW Hoosier track tire))
06-05-2021, 02:54 PM
#1
Drifting
Thread Starter
Continental Extreme Contact Force (200TW Hoosier track tire))
Continental has recently announced they have a new 200TW extreme performance tire aimed squarely at endurance racing; this tire was developed jointly by Continental and Hoosier based off Hoosier R7 DOT racing tire, and is quite literally the vaunted 200TW Hoosier. Despite our fears, it looks like it will probably be a pretty good tire, set to compete against Hankook RS4 and Michelin Sport Cup 2, and will probably be the-tire-to-have for endurance racing for at least the immediate future. It's likely to be a very popular HPDE tire as well. Several of the sizes available this summer were selected especially to appeal to Porsche drivers:
https://continentaltire.com/tires/extremecontact-force
There was an online tech session earlier this week with one of the product managers at Hoosier responsible for this tire. It's a very good video, but here are my notes from the tech session if you don't want to watch a 42 minute video about a tire:
https://community.hagerty.com/t5/mot...com/td-p/81858
Jeff Speer from Hoosier starts ~ 5:30
Continental Extreme Contact Force was jointly designed between Continental and Hoosier with Hoosier compounds and development. Hoosier started this project about 5 years ago with their R7 tread compound, and did about 2 years of testing & development of a 200TW street tire. It failed to pass Continental’s safety standards and was put on pause for about a year, then picked up by Continental Germany for further development. Continental adjusted the compound. They’re manufactured in Germany. Very safe on the street for summer use.
Continental considers this a street tire, but they’re designed for endurance racing (lasted 7-10hrs during Hoosier’s track testing). Not an autocross compound, but grip comes on immediately, 1st lap is a good lap. This version has the best grip, wear, and feel of all the tires they tested. Easy to drive tire. They didn’t have any issues with overheating. Track temps were typically about 160-170 during testing, no higher than 180.
ECF is designed to compete against RS4 and Direzza Star Spec. About a half second quicker than RS4 lap times, and better wear than RS4 on track. ECF is much better in the wet than RS4, with less drop-off in the wet. ECF is faster than Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 with way more life.
Runs at lower pressures than A7/R7. These tires like a lot of camber, and are not sensitive to increased camber settings. Better when scrubbed in/heat cycled on track during a test session. Same compound to the core, performance should be consistent until they cord. The tread pattern is directional, but Jeff has seen a set run backwards without issues, but he would not recommend it.
Not competitive for time attack or autocross. Slower than A052 on one laps, they’re designed for endurance racing. Jeff Speer actually recommended people use other competitor’s tires for time attack.
Continental tested against freezing – they were shocked Hoosier’s compounds had issues as none of Continental’s other street tires ever had problems. They’re more susceptible to cold cracking than any of Continental's other street tires, but less susceptible than other Hoosiers. Continental tested ECF down to around 20 degrees without issue. They can sit static at much colder temperatures in storage without issue.
They wear very well and are expected to last a lot of heat cycles, but Jeff suspects they heat cycle out before wearing out for HPDE.
First production tires (15 & 17”) are expected into the Hoosier warehouse this month (June). All 18” sizes should be available by Aug/Sep. Jeff’s trying to make 20” sizes for Spring 2022. No 16” sizes planned (not enough demand). Autocross version planned for 2022 – same tire, different compound. The new president of Hoosier has a C8 Corvette and is pushing to make bigger ECFs.
Preorder prices are posted on one vendor's website, the one that cosponsored the tech session; I won't post the link because they're not a sponsor here and I know the mods don't like that, but they're not cheap. Comparable to A7/R7 prices, unfortunately. But if they last 8+ competitive hours on the track, may not be that bad a deal.
https://continentaltire.com/tires/extremecontact-force
There was an online tech session earlier this week with one of the product managers at Hoosier responsible for this tire. It's a very good video, but here are my notes from the tech session if you don't want to watch a 42 minute video about a tire:
https://community.hagerty.com/t5/mot...com/td-p/81858
Jeff Speer from Hoosier starts ~ 5:30
Continental Extreme Contact Force was jointly designed between Continental and Hoosier with Hoosier compounds and development. Hoosier started this project about 5 years ago with their R7 tread compound, and did about 2 years of testing & development of a 200TW street tire. It failed to pass Continental’s safety standards and was put on pause for about a year, then picked up by Continental Germany for further development. Continental adjusted the compound. They’re manufactured in Germany. Very safe on the street for summer use.
Continental considers this a street tire, but they’re designed for endurance racing (lasted 7-10hrs during Hoosier’s track testing). Not an autocross compound, but grip comes on immediately, 1st lap is a good lap. This version has the best grip, wear, and feel of all the tires they tested. Easy to drive tire. They didn’t have any issues with overheating. Track temps were typically about 160-170 during testing, no higher than 180.
ECF is designed to compete against RS4 and Direzza Star Spec. About a half second quicker than RS4 lap times, and better wear than RS4 on track. ECF is much better in the wet than RS4, with less drop-off in the wet. ECF is faster than Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 with way more life.
Runs at lower pressures than A7/R7. These tires like a lot of camber, and are not sensitive to increased camber settings. Better when scrubbed in/heat cycled on track during a test session. Same compound to the core, performance should be consistent until they cord. The tread pattern is directional, but Jeff has seen a set run backwards without issues, but he would not recommend it.
Not competitive for time attack or autocross. Slower than A052 on one laps, they’re designed for endurance racing. Jeff Speer actually recommended people use other competitor’s tires for time attack.
Continental tested against freezing – they were shocked Hoosier’s compounds had issues as none of Continental’s other street tires ever had problems. They’re more susceptible to cold cracking than any of Continental's other street tires, but less susceptible than other Hoosiers. Continental tested ECF down to around 20 degrees without issue. They can sit static at much colder temperatures in storage without issue.
They wear very well and are expected to last a lot of heat cycles, but Jeff suspects they heat cycle out before wearing out for HPDE.
First production tires (15 & 17”) are expected into the Hoosier warehouse this month (June). All 18” sizes should be available by Aug/Sep. Jeff’s trying to make 20” sizes for Spring 2022. No 16” sizes planned (not enough demand). Autocross version planned for 2022 – same tire, different compound. The new president of Hoosier has a C8 Corvette and is pushing to make bigger ECFs.
Preorder prices are posted on one vendor's website, the one that cosponsored the tech session; I won't post the link because they're not a sponsor here and I know the mods don't like that, but they're not cheap. Comparable to A7/R7 prices, unfortunately. But if they last 8+ competitive hours on the track, may not be that bad a deal.
Last edited by sjfehr; 06-05-2021 at 05:58 PM.
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bill3 (03-06-2023)
06-05-2021, 04:25 PM
#3
Rennlist Member
Originally Posted by Geneman
thanks for this distallatuion of alot of information. really excellent synopsis
08-17-2021, 12:44 PM
#4
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Heat Cycle and Tire Pressures
- I saw the recommendation in the notes to run a heat cycle and am assuming to let them sit 24 hours before using them for HPDE track time. Can anyone verify this process?
- Any recommendations on cold (pre-track) and hot tire pressures? I'm running them for the first time on a '05 997.1 at VIR in a couple of weeks.
Thank you
- Any recommendations on cold (pre-track) and hot tire pressures? I'm running them for the first time on a '05 997.1 at VIR in a couple of weeks.
Thank you
08-18-2021, 11:16 AM
#6
Rennlist Member
In my other car, I did not heat-cycle my TW200 tires before running them, but I also corded the insides prior to cycling-out the tires. YMMV
Last edited by Dre01SS; 08-18-2021 at 11:17 AM.
08-18-2021, 10:58 PM
#7
There are so many better priced 200TWR tires. I can't see spending 400 for the conti.. SCCA has hoohoo as a sponcor. I guess that means Conti since conti owns Hoohoo. In the Touring classes we use expensive short lived A/R7 tires. I would buy the conti only if our classes went that way. A street tire isn't a racetire and would give longer life, lower cost, low grip, higher laptime but negate the advantage of guys with big tire budgets to burn tires.