959fan

monsoon rain in sf bay few weeks ago. should have gone slower... since my tire wasn't full thread. it is about 50% worn...

Skibum1963

I watched the California 8 hours yesterday. Was very impressed with the driving. The top drivers seemed to have 1" of outer tread hanging off the edge of the track out curbing on every turn. Holy cow. Such precision. I was very impressed.

RyanZ06

Veloce Raptor

Bueno! Pirelli DH?

RyanZ06

yeah, 488 challenge size on 19" Forgeline GS1R

Veloce Raptor

Super sweet! I haven't driven the new GT2RS yet but expect to this summer

RyanZ06

it's a fast car, but i still prefer .2 GT3RS

SkeerRacing

Personally I am 100% in this camp, and it's surprising just how many people are as well!

CrazyFast

So I just started driving on Hoosiers, and finished my first event with them where I was able to really start to push the car and tires with them.

Initial observations:
1) need to get used to the “shhh” sound of tires sliding, or just focus on visual / universal cues of over and underwater vs the screaming of street tires when they’re at the limit.

2) definitely more grip, but they feel like you can be much more aggressive about throwing the car around and getting it to rotate rapidly through tighter turns

3) really need to manage tire temps. Once they get greasy, bad things happen like instability in threshold braking and very loose rear end.

So questions for the coaches - are these observations accurate? Any other guidance on driving technique differences between street tires and Hoosiers?

For reference, I’m driving a GT4 with track alignment. Started with Cup 2’s, then RE-71r’s before the Hoosiers. I’ve already read the threads about cost, performance, heat cycles, etc. so really interested in driving technique advice.
Thanks!

anthony42hat

Interested in this as well!

Veloce Raptor

Coaching today, will respond later

Veloce Raptor

Great questions and observations. Here are a couple of thoughts & other folks may have more.

1) Correct, you lose most if not all the audible clues that street tires give to indicate degrees of slip angle. However,(not knowing your experience or pace) I hope that with street tires you have learned to "feel" the car..to feel weight transfer & its effects on all 4 contact patches, etc. Hoosiers and other super grippy tires will mask a lot of driver shoddiness & mistakes due to high grip and low sound. So yes, pay attention to oversteer and understeer, but also really focus on the feel of the car now. This is also something a good coach can help you develop and refine.

2) Yes the tires give you the POTENTIAL to be more aggressive. However, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. These tires like most really reward fluidity and flow, not throwing the car around. Which leads to related item 3

3) You are correct. However, by making sure you are NOT hyper aggressively throwing the car around, you will reduce the tendency for tire temps/pressures to spike, and grip to get greasy. Also, a probe-type tire pyromenter (use when tires are at full track temperature...come into the hot pits after some full pace laps to get an accurate reading...not after a cool down lap) will help you fine tune starting pressures as well as help you analyze whether your set up is compatible with the new tires.

Edited to correct typos

CrazyFast

Thanks VR - this is helpful. Will continue to work on the car control, and look into the pyrometer for some fine tuning.

mrRed

Good morning! I recently did one of the Racers360 analysis and gave me a ton of stuff to think about. I got 2 big takeaways from the service:

1) I really need to start working on pushing that brake zone down closer to the apex. I'm trailing a little overlap during turn in, but need to stretch that out to help with understeer and rotation issues I'm having..
2) I could use, in many cases, a slightly earlier, progressive turn in to help, with the above, in getting more rotation done sooner and allow myself to unwind more progressively and get to full throttle earlier.

That being said, I'll be at WGI this weekend and want to start working in T1. Do you have any cues/ideas you've used in the past to help move past that mental barrier that keeps me jumping on the slow pedal so early that trail braking into T1 becomes a slow saunter rather than a nice fast turn? It feels like if I'm not really waiting for that braking zone longer than I think I can, I'm going too slow to have trail braking do much good as I'm way under the limit of the tires.

Veloce Raptor

One of the most important tools to help understand the Glen, and to help go faster there, is walking the track. If you ever get the chance to go on a track walk led by a competent pro, take it! I have conducted literally dozens of track walks there (my favorite track in the United States) and it literally opens everyone's eyes in so many ways. The terrain features of a track are usually not fully apparent in a car at 100 mph, and the Glen T1 is a prime example.

We all know that it is a downhill entry. Let's take that in the abstract, as we consider the weight transfer in our car into T1, and its effect on our contact patches. We are already going downhill, which loads the front tires, and when we are on the brakes, that load increases. And thus, the rears unload. However, the slope of the downhill increases about halfway down. We also know that T1 leads to the fastest part of the track, and the longest (optimally) full throttle zone, which begins with a steep uphill. So we know we need to get onto some throttle as soon as possible, initially to fight gravity in the esses and then to build momentum all the way into the Bus Stop By the way, another little known WGI terrain feature is that is it uphill literally all the way to the middle of the Bus Stop...something not apparent in the car.

But one more terrain feature of T! is the extreme beneficial camber that begins right after we turn in and extends through the apex all the way to track out. That means grip grip grip...a lot more than our eyes tell us. .The mistake a lot of people make into T! is braking way too hard & too late, and being unable to then apply throttle because the car is way up on its nose, and the rears have no grip until the chassis settles. Or they brake way too early & too much, and then have to drive to the corner.

In an ideal world, pick your initial brake marker, and don't stand on the pedal. Really focus on a less dramatic weight transfer, getting the car to squat on all fours under braking rather than slamming down the nose. And also really focus on purposely using ALL of the flat apex rumble strip. Every single inch. Most folks THINK they are using it, but in reality are barely touching it. As you're going down the downhill brake zone, focus eyes on that apex rumble strip & begin fading off the brake pedal. There may be a very brief moment where the back of the car feels slightly unsettled, but this is actually necessary rotation...and will go away instantly as you approach the apex when you hit the on-camber. Transition to positive throttle and use ALL the apex, and move your eyes ALL THE WAY DOWN to the far end of the track out curbing. If you use ALL of the apex, you can begin unwinding the wheel slowly and EARLY...and by the time you get to track out, you'll be wheels straight and on full throttle. If you don't use all the apex, you'll notice a good degree of steering angle at track out (which slows your acceleration all the way to the Bus Stop, and you may not be able to use full throttle yet. Alternately, if you don't fade off the brakes in time...or if you fade off the too soon...the chassis won't be ready to accept full throttle yet. All of this will affect your MPH into the Bus Stop.

I hope this helps! Further questions? Ask here or reach out to me via email dave@racecoach.net