Alternatives To Hoosier SO4"s
05-31-2005, 03:53 PM
#31
Rennlist Member
I dont think a lot of pros would chance it, or even have a choice. all i can offer is results. my times at a decently fast clip for a club car at Laguna, (within a second of Grand Am cup GS winning time with similar mods ) is only .5 seconds or less for toyos vs hoosiers. I think there is no question that the hoosier is slightly faster when new, BUT, after a couple of heat cycles i would argue that they are the same (RA1 vs hoosier S03 or S04)
another data point to back it up is Mark anderson whom regularly visits Sears and Laguna. when on the toyos in SpeedGT, he was only 1 second faster vs his slicks!! (goodyear, or pirellis) if hoosiers are better, they are going to be close as they are not as good as slicks. Anderson has done this comparison many times. However, at tracks like Willow springs, the difference is more dramatic. again, look no farther to the 1:31 that was posted by the motorsport upgraded cup car at laguna SpeedGT or 1:41 (long track) at sears, or how about the 2:14.5 at road america for those of you familar with east coast tracks..(* :54 limerock, 1:26 mid ohio, etc) all on toyos with cars much heavier than ALMS or Grand AM and with restrictor plates or boost reductions as in with the Audi RS4 .
Personally, i still run a set of Caddy throw aways (andy pilgrims) and have got over 1000miles of street driving on them and several track days, as well as my Speed GT laguna race too! I want to toss them, but they just look too good!
(and they were shaved to begin with!)
Mk
another data point to back it up is Mark anderson whom regularly visits Sears and Laguna. when on the toyos in SpeedGT, he was only 1 second faster vs his slicks!! (goodyear, or pirellis) if hoosiers are better, they are going to be close as they are not as good as slicks. Anderson has done this comparison many times. However, at tracks like Willow springs, the difference is more dramatic. again, look no farther to the 1:31 that was posted by the motorsport upgraded cup car at laguna SpeedGT or 1:41 (long track) at sears, or how about the 2:14.5 at road america for those of you familar with east coast tracks..(* :54 limerock, 1:26 mid ohio, etc) all on toyos with cars much heavier than ALMS or Grand AM and with restrictor plates or boost reductions as in with the Audi RS4 .
Personally, i still run a set of Caddy throw aways (andy pilgrims) and have got over 1000miles of street driving on them and several track days, as well as my Speed GT laguna race too! I want to toss them, but they just look too good!
(and they were shaved to begin with!)
Mk
Originally Posted by M758
Jim B,
I am pretty sure those toyo's are regular RA-1's
However they shave them down to nothing. 1/32rd maybe. Then run them for only few heat cycles. I have seen some used ones on friend BMW. He got them as left overs.
I still don't consider them to be as fast as Hoosiers no mater what Mark says. Seems to me that mark is ONLY one saying toyo are as fast, but most folks say hoosiers. Sure Mark says they are fast in speed GT & touring cars, but if the race teams did not have spec tire and could run ANY DOT tire which would they run? Everything I have seen were folks can run any DOT tire the Hoosier is among the list of the most desired. Toyo's are not. Toyos are always at or near the top of a good value tire given the tire life and grip.
I am pretty sure those toyo's are regular RA-1's
However they shave them down to nothing. 1/32rd maybe. Then run them for only few heat cycles. I have seen some used ones on friend BMW. He got them as left overs.
I still don't consider them to be as fast as Hoosiers no mater what Mark says. Seems to me that mark is ONLY one saying toyo are as fast, but most folks say hoosiers. Sure Mark says they are fast in speed GT & touring cars, but if the race teams did not have spec tire and could run ANY DOT tire which would they run? Everything I have seen were folks can run any DOT tire the Hoosier is among the list of the most desired. Toyo's are not. Toyos are always at or near the top of a good value tire given the tire life and grip.
