Howi

The R6 is much faster than R1, but only good for about 8 ~ 10 heat cycles....

Sterling Doc

+1
In the 225/50/15's we run, the R1's are more square, thogh I'd agree the sidewall is a bit softer. The RR's are just as fat, but with a more rounded shoulder, and a bit stiffer sidewall.

VR explained the handling differences well.

KaiB

Not THAT much faster and mine last 4.

951and944S

I banged out that post in seconds and had to get away from the computer.....just back and I can see how my post could have been misinterpreted.

I was comparing the BFG and the Hankook.

Y;all should have given me the benefit of the doubt before the thread took off with so many new messages , if you'd have just kept in mind that I'm never wrong....

Compared to the Hankook, the sidewall of the BFG is round, night and day difference.

Here's two stacks of 944 Turbo S wheels, with same sized F/R Hankooks on the left (yellow wheels) and BFGs on the right (green wheels)



Hankook sidewall -



BFG sidewall -



Difference between the stacks with a straight steel bar across for reference -



T

951and944S

Agree....and the slide/hop is because the sidewall is soft and gets on a very acute angle in hard cornering....the carcass (tread width) is not strong enough to transmit this force to the other sidewall and the tread bunches up.

This give an elastic effect that grabs lets go grabs and lets go.

You can see the effect across the grain of the tire....there is a circumferential wear ring where the diameter is less than the rest of the tire.

The Hankooks show this too but way less severe and is way more responsive L/R than the softer/rounder BFG.

The strength of the sidewall between the two is very obvious when mounting the tires on the rim.

As stated originally...., never used Hoosier. Too pricey.

Different conditions for sure, two years apart but my son set 944 track record at TWS on BFG, 1 heat cycle, 2.00.600 and could only get within 1 second of that a few weeks ago at the Texas Two Step on the Kooks.

That said....he just bested his lap record at NOLA last weekend on Hankooks by 1 full second. Two new fronts and several heat cycled rears left over from TWS and beat a nationally renowned fast SP2 driver on brand new Hoosiers.

T

Rokket

I have ran on all of the Hoosiers, Hankook, Toyo, etc. Won several races at Sebring/Homestead on Hoosiers & Han kooks (PCA/PBOC/NASA) in the SP3, R5, and GTS-3 Race series.

Although I have won the races on Hoosiers R6, I have just about had it with them & am going to try to BFG R1. The problem with the R6 is that when you run them REALLY hard, the tread distorts and on occasion will separate the tread & a great big wart will appear in the middle of your tread. This mostly happens in the front on 245/35-18. So far, the Hoosiers have cost me 2-wheels. The first was a BBS E-30 Magnesium Cup Car wheel that cracked from the intense out of round vibrations, and the 2nd was a BBS Motorsport wheel (inner barrel) from a tire blow out on the sidewall. The Hoosiers had MAYBE 5-heat cycles total.

My BEST lap time at Sebring (2:27.003) was set on an old ratty set of Hankook C-51's on 275/40-17 & 245/40-17. The problem with Hankook though is that they go out of stock & are a bitch to find. Also, you need about 2-3 full laps before they start to get sticky.

Woe to he who tries to set a lap record on the second lap with Kooks...You will spin.

SO...I am going to try to BFG R1 for the next NASA Race at Sebring in September. BFG's contingency plan is excellent! 4-New tires with 5-6 starters.

This will be interesting because I have a BRAND new set of R6, C51, and R1. I will try them ALL that weekend & record the data on my Traqmate for each set.

One last thought on Racing Lap times vs DE. I have NEVER ran my fastest lap at ANY track during an actual race. In fact, the last Sebring event my best RACE lap time was a 2:31 on the R6's. That is a full 4-seconds slower than my personal best. Rarely in racing do you get to drive the ideal line.

So my though is, if the BFG's are a little bit slower 1/2 second per lap (heard arguments contrary also) to that of the R6...does it REALLY make that big of a difference in a 35-minute sprint race with 70-cars on the track??

Hopefully, I can report back with all of the Lap time on ALL of the tires used on the same day on the same track. I do have an opportunity to run them at PBIR DE in July, but as an instructor I doubt I will have the time to mess around with tire changes between sessions.

BTW, my car is an 89 944TS (2,978 lbs with driver-NASA/PBOC and 3200 lbs with driver PCA)

Cheers! Rokket

Vampire

I run Hoosiers. I heard that the Pirelli tend to delaminate.

caymancyr

+1

usctrojanGT3

Anyone know where I get find some BFG R1s? Looks like the RS sizes are out of stock just like the NT01s. WTF is up with these tire shortages!!??

Izzone

I'm about to be forced to try these....Hoosier is out of stock on 245/16 in r6

And R7 in the exact same siE are much bigger....and don't fit

Bill Lehman

I recently purchased some R1 245/40 x 18 F and 275/35 x 18 R from Jackson Motorsports https://jacksonmotorsportsgroup.com/tire_sales. Fronts were in stock, R were back ordered for about 10 days. This is my 6th set. Ran a set of Hankook Z-214 last time and had problems.

wanna911

Isn't there an R1S now and an R7? I heard the R1S is much faster. Close to A6 speed.

LuigiVampa

I ran BFG R1 on my 944 turbo and currently run Hoosier R6. BFG would last longer and provided lots of warning but were slower. Hoosiers were quicker but I had to learn that they have grip and then they don't have grip - not as much warning.

I think the BFG were better to learn on and Hoosiers are better as I gained experience.

disasterman

Something is wrong with that photo of the BFG. It looks like a 245 on a 10" wheel. I ran 275/35/18 and they look just like your Hancook, square shouldered. I ran several sets of these over the course of the season and they don't look like that.

I sent a mounted set to Dr. Sterling, maybe he can upload a photo.